How to Write a Story for B1 Preliminary (PET)

Writing

The B1 Preliminary (PET) exam has suffered some changes that become effective
in January 2020. Among the parts most affected are Speaking and Writing.
However, the B1 Writing part we will be reviewing today hasn’t suffered any
changes, except for now belonging in Part 2 instead of Part 3, as there is no Part 3
in the new exam. So today I will teach you how to write a story at B1 level for
your B1 Preliminary (PET) exam. We already saw how to write an email, so it’s
now time to focus writing a story for PET.

Instructions for Writing B1 Preliminary Part 2: Story

In this part of the test, you are given some instructions to write a story in about
100 words. These instructions may involve the title or the first or last sentence of
the story. Why do they give you this prompt? Well, if they asked you to simply
«write a story», you could memorize a story at home and simply write it out in the
exam, which isn’t really fair.
The good thing about choosing the story over the letter is that you have more
freedom to write. But first, let’s take a look at an example taken from Cambridge
English sample papers:
How to write a story for B1 Preliminary
Now, before seeing a sample task, we will focus on what is a story, so we can
understand this kind of task better and have a more accurate expectation of what is
expected of us in this part of the Writing for PET.

What is a story?
According to the Lexico.com (before Oxford Dictionaries), a story is «an account of
imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment«. For this reason,
precisely, you have plenty more freedom to write, as you can make up most of the
story. But just like it happens with every other type of writing, a story must follow a
particular structure which makes sense to the reader. So let’s move on to the different
parts of a story.

Parts of a Story
A story can roughly be divided into the following parts:
 Title: The title should either summarize the whole story (without spoilers!) or
have something to do with the main theme.
 Exposition: This is the beginning of the story, where the characters and
setting are established. It serves as the introduction to the next part, the
action, and the so-called conflict of our story.
 Action: In this part, the characters deal with conflict and do things to solve it.
  Resolution: This is where the conflict is resolved and the story concludes
with an ending, normally without any loose ends.

Now that we know the different parts of a story, we should see an example.

Sample Story for B1 Writing

Let’s take a look at the following example of a Preliminary (PET) Writing Part 2
task, where we can see an answer to the sample task we saw above:
In the example above you can see the different parts of a story very well defined.
Just like with emails or letters, your story should be visually appealing. For this
reason, I recommend the following:
 Write your title in capital letters.
 Leave a clear space between paragraphs.

Expressions to use in your story

In this section, we are going to focus on different expressions you can use in the
different parts of a story. While the vocabulary used in the story will vary
completely, depending on the topic, there is a set of expressions which you can
make use of quite frequently if you memorize them beforehand. Let’s take a look:

How to begin a story

When you start a story, if the first sentence isn’t given to you, you can use
phrases like these:
 It all began…
 When I first…
 At the beginning…
 It was a hot/cold summer/winter day. 

Just to be clear, these are only some simple examples which you can use, as
there is no right or wrong way to start a story. That’s the beauty of it! 

Time phrases
One of the great differences between writing a letter, essay, article and so on, and
writing a story is the need to pay careful attention to the time over which the
story develops. In order to define the order of the events in the story, we must
use time expressions or time phrases. So let’s see a few:
 Then
 After that
 Not long aftewards
 As soon as
 While
  Meanwhile
 As
 Some time later
 A little later
 ____ minutes later
 a moment later
 Later (that morning/afternoon/day/night…)
 Just then

It is essential to use these expressions properly. Otherwise, it won’t be clear exactly

how the story develops.

Creating suspense
When writing a story, the aim is not to inform or to convey information; the real
purpose is to entertain the reader, just like when you read a novel you expect to be
entertained. For this reason, a story, even a story for Preliminary (PET) Writing
Part 3 should aim to do so: entertain. And a cool way to entertain is to create
suspense, which we can do by using some of the following expressions:
 Suddenly
 All of a sudden
 Without warning
 Just at that moment
 Unexpectedly 
 Out of the blue
 Out of nowhere
 Right away
 Straight away

Direct speech
In every story there are characters and they usually interact with each other, so it
is always good if you know how to use direct speech, that is, reproduce the words
the characters actually say or think. The tricky bit about this is the punctuation
and the verbs to choose, because it’s good to use some verbs other than «say».
Let’s take a look at some examples:
  «I’m coming with you,» she said.
 She said, «I’m coming with you.»
 «Do you like it?» he asked. 
 «Don’t do it!» he screamed. 

Pay close attention at where the comma (,) or other punctuation marks go (?, !).

Also, don’t forget to use inverted commas («…») to enclose the direct speech. In
British English we normally use single inverted commas (‘…’), but it’s not important
so choose the one that suits you best.

Finishing your story

This paragraph, the resolution, should be separated from the rest, and it’s a good
idea to start it with one of the following expressions:
 In the end
 Finally
 When it was all over
 Eventually 
 After everything that happened
 Luckily
Again, these are just a few examples. There’s no right or wrong way to conclude
a story, as long as it makes sense with the rest of the piece of writing.

Verb tenses
One of the reasons why stories are particularly challenging for B1 students is
that they tend to take place in the past, which makes it necessary to use a range
of past tenses appropriately. The main three past tenses you should really try to
use are the following:
 Past simple (-ed/irregular form)
 Past continuous
 Past perfect
If you take a look at the example of Writing Part 3 above, you’ll see how I used
these tenses in combination, when possible:

 Past simple and continuous: 

It was midnight and I was trying to sleep. 
  Past perfect and simple: 
I had completely forgotten it was my birthday.
 Past simple: 
This time I picked up the phone quickly and shouted, «Hello?!».
So that’s how you should try to tell your story. Please avoid a simple succession of
past simple tenses alone, like:

I woke up and got out of bed. Then I went to the kitchen and made some coffee.
It’s not wrong, but it’s just not good enough for a story

Top 5 Tips for Writing a Story for PET Writing

1. Learn, memorise and use some of these expressions. Make sure you

already know a set of expressions to use in your next story. This will not only
avoid you making mistakes, but also it will make your story so much better! It
will give you points to use those expressions.
2. Write a well-structured and visually-appealing story. One of the things
Cambridge English examiners pay attention to is the organisation of your
piece writing, so make sure not to write an incoherent story. Also, remember
that punctuation matters, so be sure to separate your sentences with stops
and commas and don’t write sentences which are too long.
3. Brainstorm before you write. Before starting to write your story, brainstorm
a couple of things and write down some ideas. This can include vocabulary
related to the topic, connectors, time phrases, etc. Also, decide before writing
how the story is going to end.
4. Revise, edit and improve. Don’t write all at once and then move on. Once
you have finished your story go over it. Look for possible mistakes. Look for
ways to improve it, maybe adding adjectives here and there. You can save
many points by simply reviewing what you’ve written.
5. Experiment at home, be conservative in the exam. Homework is the best
chance to be creative and experiment with stories. So make sure you try your
hardest to keep improving when you write at home. On the other hand, when
you’re doing an exam, don’t risk trying out new words or expressions, as you
may be making a terrible mistake. So be safe in your exam and stick to what
you already know works.

How to write an email for B1 Preliminary Writing

(PET)
As we have already seen in the Writing guide of the B1 Preliminary, updated to 2020,
this component of the exam consists of 2 parts. The first of these is an email and the
second can be a story or an article. Therefore, in this article I am going to teach you
how to write a B1 level email for the B1 Preliminary (PET) exam of Cambridge English.

How to write an email for the B1 Preliminary (PET)

To know what steps to follow when writing an email for the B1 level exam, the first
thing you have to do is know what the instructions are like and what exactly is
expected of you. And although we already saw it in the Writing guide of B1, now we
are going to review it and deepen something more.

Writing Instructions B1 Preliminary Part 1: Email

In this part of the exam, you are given an email that you have received from an
English friend or relative, and you have to answer in approximately 100 words.
This email contains annotations that tell you what you have to respond to and which
points you should pay more attention to.

On the other hand, you should know that email topics are not especially difficult,
since you are expected to write at an intermediate level (B1), so they are topics with
which you should already be familiar: sports, hobbies, television, weather, your city,
etc. Here's an example of a real Cambridge English writing: Preliminary (PET)
 As you can see in this example, taken from the official Cambridge website, we
have received an email from a person named Sandy, who is supposed to be our
friend. In addition, we have annotations made, which are the points that we must
touch in our response email:
 Me too!
  Say which I prefer
 No, because...
 Ask Sandy...
In this sense, Cambridge makes the task much easier, since we cannot stay blank
and, in addition, it is practically indicating the structure that our email will have,
which we will see below.
Structure of an email
The first thing you have to know to write an email is the different parts of this type
of writing. They are as follows:
 Greeting: We greet the other person.
 Opening paragraph: We react to the other person's news and ask them how
they are doing and, if necessary, some other questions.
 Main paragraph 1: In this paragraph we respond to the first important point
that we will have identified in the instructions.
 Main paragraph 2: In this paragraph we deal with another important point, if
there is one in the instructions.
 (there may be more main paragraphs, depending on the task)
 Closing paragraph: In this paragraph we "begin" to say goodbye and wish him
good luck. In addition, we must ask him to answer us, so we can ask him
something relevant as well.
 Farewell: A short expression to say goodbye.
 Signature: We sign with our name.
In general, all emails should follow the same structure. In addition, I recommend the
following:

 Do not put From: and To:, since it is not necessary to indicate this and

Cambridge will not penalize you. In addition, you save words that you can use
in the body of the message.
 Do not indicate a subject, for the same reason as the previous point.
Now that you know the different parts of an email, let's look at an example.

Example of Email for PET Writing

The following is an example of a task and response from Cambridge English
Writing Part 1: Preliminary (PET):
In the example above, you can see the different parts of an email very well
defined. It is important that your writing is visually clear and attractive, apart
from having good grammar and relevant vocabulary. This means that the
paragraphs should be well defined, with a space between them, and that you know
when to start a new one. In this sense, it is especially important to start in a new line
after the opening and closing paragraphs, and the greeting and farewell, as is done in
a real email.

Expressions to use in your email

In this section we are going to focus on the different expressions that you can use
in the parts of your email. Although the main paragraphs will vary completely
depending on the theme of the Writing, most of the other sections will be composed
of expressions that you can practice and memorize almost completely. See:

Best regards
To start an email for Cambridge English Writing Part 1: Preliminary (PET)," you
can use a limited variety of expressions, which are quite typical and easy to
remember. There are 3 basic expressions to greet someone in an email addressed to
a friend or family member:
 Hi John, 
 Hello John,
 Dear John,
Notice how "hi" is less formal than "hello" or "dear". Also, don't forget about the
comma (,) right after greeting your friend or family member. After greeting, we
should start the opening paragraph on a new line.
Opening paragraph
The opening paragraph is the perfect place to react to the news of the person who
sent us the email. To do so, we can use a wide variety of expressions. Here are a
few examples:
 It's nice / great / good to hear from you.
 It's nice / great / good to read your letter.
 I'm glad to hear your news.
 I'm excited about... (your news.)
 It's great to hear that...
 I'm sorry to hear that...
 I'm really sorry to read your news.
 Thanks a lot for writing!
 It was good to receive your letter. 
 Thank you very much for your letter. 

And many more. In addition, it is also a good idea to ask this person how he is,
being able to do it like this:
 Hope you are doing well. 
 How's it going?
 How are you (doing)?
 How are things (going)?
You can also add information that you think is relevant or necessary, but do not go
overboard with this paragraph, since the important information will go in the main
paragraphs that go next.
Main paragraphs
For the main paragraphs there are no fixed expressions that you should use, as it
depends on the topic you have to write about. However, it is important that you
correctly use multiple connectors and punctuation. So let's look at several basic
connectors and how to score the phrases in which we use those connectors:
 ... and... : to connect two similar ideas.
I love reading and listening to music.
My favorite meal is fish and chips.

 ..., but... : to connect two different or opposite ideas.

I love watching TV, but I don't have a favorite show.
I am reading a book, but I don't remember the title.

 tags. However, ... : to contrast two different ideas.

Last month, I went to the cinema. However, I didn't enjoy the movie.
I am a very big fan of this author. However, I haven't read his last novel.

 Moreover, ... : to add more information about an idea.

 ... because... : to justify an idea or opinion.
My mum is the perfect cook because she knows a lot of recipes and has plenty of
experience. Moreover, she experiments with different ingredients all the time.
 tags. Because of that, ... : to justify an idea, opinion or fact mentioned above.
My mum likes to cook using new ingredients all the time. Because of that, she
creates original dishes every month.
 tags. As for.../ Regarding... : to change the subject. For example, you can use
it to start the second main paragraph with a new information point.
As for/Regarding why I like this cookery show, I think it's because it's a great way to
see new recipes.

 Time connectors: then, after that, yesterday, this morning, last summer, etc.
Last night, I watched a very good action film.

Notice how we use many connectors with a comma (,) when we start a sentence. For
example: However, Last night, Moreover, etc.
Closing paragraph
As I mentioned earlier, a closing paragraph in Writing Part 1 is used to start saying
goodbye and to ask for a response to our email. For this you can use the following
expressions:
 Well, it's time to say goodbye.
 Anyway, I have to go now. 
 Well, it's time to go.
 Anyway, gotta go. 
 I really hope to hear from you soon. 
 I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
 I hope you write back soon. 
 Make sure you write back soon. 
Also, if you think you still lack words to reach 100, you can add a question for a
supposed response email. This question should be related to the subject of Writing,
obviously.
Farewell
There are many expressions in English to end an informal email. The most
commonly used are the following:
 Best wishes,
 Best
 Sincerely, 
 Take care, 
 All my love, 
  Love,
 Lots of love, 
 See you soon, 
 Regards, 
Notice again how we use a comma (,) after each expression. Also, be sure to
write your name on a different line. And write your name without a full stop!
Another example of email at level B1
Now that we know what expressions to use in our writing, let's see another example
of response to this type of task, although in this case it is a task of the old ones, but
for this case it is the same, since what interests us is the structure of the email:
Notice how bold words are used. When writing an email, try to use these types of
expressions, and make sure you use them appropriately.

The 5 essential tips to write an email for the Writing of the B1

Preliminary (PET)

1. Learn and memorize a series of expressions. Make sure you already know a

number of made expressions that you can use to say hello, for the opening and
 closing paragraphs, and to say goodbye. This will save you a lot of time while

doing homework, and will save you from silly spelling or grammar mistakes, as

you'll know them by heart.

2. Write a well-structured and visually appealing email. One of the aspects

that Cambridge English examiners evaluate is the organization of your writing,

so I advise you to pay attention to the appearance and structure of it. Also,

remember that punctuation is also important, so be sure to separate your

sentences with semicolons and not write sentences that are too long.

3. Brainstorm, write, read, and edit. Before you start writing an email, write

down a few ideas about what you're going to talk about. This includes

vocabulary related to the topic of the email. For example, if you have to write

about TV shows you like, you can write things like "contestants", "cookery

show", "prize", etc. Then, write your full email. After that, read it and look for

possible misspellings or grammatical errors. In addition, you should look for

ways to try to improve it; for example, adding descriptive adjectives,

paraphrasing some sentences, etc.

4. Pay attention to the instructions. Don't start typing directly. Make sure you've

read the task carefully and identify exactly what you need to do. Sometimes,

we don't pay attention to the instructions and end up writing about something

different. This involves losing points in a very silly way.

5. Experiment with your homework, but not during the exam. Homework is

the best opportunity for you to get creative or creative and experience different

ways of expressing yourself. So make sure you keep improving with the

writings you do at home. However, when you're on the exam, don't risk trying

new words or expressions, as you may be screwing up to the bottom. So to

heal us in health, play it safe in the writing of the exam.