FIRST CERTIFICATE EXAM

I’m going to talk about everything what I’ve done in the previous months. My live could be summed up in only one word: study. Consequently, I couldn’t write in the blog, but now I’m back!!!

Daiana and I were preparing for the FCE (first certificate exam) for  the previous 2 months. It had been a hard times but I don’t regret it and now I’m happy for having done the exam with her. She had been a supportive person to me. Thanks Daiana for your help and your advice.

Two weeks before I did the speaking part. This is the part of the exam that everybody is anxious about. Nevertheless, it could be the easiest part. I understand why people are nervous is because I also was. The situation isn’t easy because you’re in front of the examiner and he/she is asking you some questions and you have to answer him/her. It’s important to keep calm and try to say something. It doesn’t matter what you say. It only lasts 15 minutes. I felt confident although I had a little bit bad luck.

Normally the exam is in pairs but in my case there were three. One of the students before me didn’t appear and I had to do the speaking part in a group of three. Actually it’s the same structure but you never know if the score is the same or it could be less because you speak less than the rest of the people. I reckon that it’s a disadvantage. Any way, I did the best I could and for me that’s the most important thing.

Last week was the main part: reading, writing, grammar and listening. In this case the exam lasts four hours. I know it’s a long time. I’ve heard that next year the exam will be different. The same parts but with less content, therefore, it will be shorter. I believe that it’s better. 4 hours is too much.

The first part was reading. It lasted 1 hour. It was my worst part. I thought that it’ll be my best but in fact it was my worst. There are 3 readings and you must read each part in roughly 20 minutes. I spent almost 25-30 minutes in the first part. The articles were with a lot of phrasal verbs and the vocabulary was very hard and tricky. In conclusion it wasn’t easy. Everybody shared the shame opinion as me.

The next part was writing. There are 2 parts in the writing. The first part is a letter. It’s compulsary. In our exam it was an email and the second part is a report, article or essay. You have to choose what you prefer to do. I chose an essay about the difference between living in a very cold city and living in a very hot city. I think I did very good compositions although this part it’s very subjetive. Consequently, it’ll depend on the examiner.

The third part was “use of English”. I mean, grammar. It used to be my worst part but I think I’ve improved a lot and I did it well.

Afterwards we did the last part: listening. I’m glad about how I did it but sometimes you think that people are talking about something and they say something that it’s completely different but you don’t understand. As a result of that you put one answer and it’s another completely different. I have to trust in my listening and I think that the first impression was right.

To sump up, except for the reading the rest of the exam I did well. I did my best. Could it be enough? I don’t know. Only time will say. I’ll know the results more or less in four weeks. Meanwhile it’s high time I relaxed. I prefer not to think any more about the FCE. It’s done and nobody is going to change it.