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How To Write A CAE Review

The document provides guidance on how to write a review for the Cambridge English Advanced exam. It explains that a review should describe and give a personal opinion on something experienced like a film, product, or website. It recommends that reviews include an introduction catching the reader's attention, paragraphs describing key details and analyzing aspects, and a recommendation on whether the thing reviewed is good or bad. Finally, it offers useful phrases for organizing a review on different types of media, books, films, hotels, and restaurants.

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198 views

How To Write A CAE Review

The document provides guidance on how to write a review for the Cambridge English Advanced exam. It explains that a review should describe and give a personal opinion on something experienced like a film, product, or website. It recommends that reviews include an introduction catching the reader's attention, paragraphs describing key details and analyzing aspects, and a recommendation on whether the thing reviewed is good or bad. Finally, it offers useful phrases for organizing a review on different types of media, books, films, hotels, and restaurants.

Uploaded by

Liz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to write a CAE review?

A review is usually written for an English-language magazine, newspaper or website.

The main purpose is to describe and express a personal opinion about something which
the writer has experienced (e.g. a film, a holiday, a product, a website, etc.) and to give
the reader a clear impression of what the item discussed is like.

Description and explanation are key functions for this task, and a review will normally
include a recommendation to the reader.

Let’s see, how to write successful CAE review:

Introduction:
Open your review with an introduction paragraph that does the following things:
catches the reader’s attention and identifies the thing you’ll be reviewing (e.g., the title
of the book or movie, genre, the author, star, or director, if appropriate).

Paragraph 2:
Here you describe the plot and the action while informing the reader which actor plays
which role. In a restaurant review, describe the setting and the type of food or service.

Paragraph 3:
Here you analyse the film, talking about the director and then the actors, looking at good
things as well as bad things. In a book if the characters are well described or if the
writing is good enough. In a restaurant it analyses the service and the quality of the
food.

Recommendation:
Here you make a judgment about the book or movie or whatever, saying whether it is
good or bad (some reviewers give ratings, like four stars or two thumbs up) and it
recommends that the reader go to the movie or read the book or buy a meal at the
restaurant (or not).

CAE Review: Hints & Tips


● A title is advisable.
● Think what you are trying to achieve and, in the introduction, of the structure of
your review.
● You should also start a new paragraph for every item/aspect you are addressing
in your review.
● Try to make it interesting by using a wide range of vocabulary comparisons to
describe something; specialised topic vocabulary.
● Give your assessment of what you are reviewing and points mentioned in the
task input.
● Include a final recommendation or evaluation
● Don’t forget! The target reader is specified in the question, so the candidate
knows not only what register is appropriate, but also has an idea about the kind
of information to include.
● Language of opinion (positive, negative), recommendation, description is
necessary.

CAE Review: Useful phrases


We will finish it with some useful vocabulary mostly used to organize information.
Although it is taking a shortcut, if you learn several expressions for each paragraph in
each type of text that could be on your exam, you will certainly be able to create a very
consistent and well-organized text.

What I liked
What I liked most was …..

The thing I liked most was ….


I was pleasantly surprised by …..

….. would appeal to …..

If you get a chance to ….

What I disliked
What I disliked most was …..
I was disappointed by ……

I was disappointed with …..

I was very disappointed by …..

I was very disappointed with ….

Reviews of books:
main character

is set in

comedy

science fiction

thriller

romance

comedy:
author

written by

chapter

factual

fiction

unbelievable

bestseller

chapter

ending

Reviews of films, tv programmes, plays:


lead role

star role
star

star actor

star actress

starring

secondary role

He plays a …….

She plays a …….

written by ….

is set in …..

based on a true story ….

believable
true to life

not very believable

far-fetched

comedy

romance

science fiction

ending

Reviews of hotels, restaurants, etc:


location

service

setting

attractive setting
disappointing setting

owned by

run by

head chef (restaurant)

waiters (restaurant)

staff …….

staff at reception …….(hotel

hotel facilities ….

reasonable prices …..

good value for money …..

excellent value for money …..


expensive

a bit expensive

overpriced

not worth the money

poor value for money

always fully booked

book in advance

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