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How to Write an Essay for FCE Writing

The document provides guidelines on how to write an essay for the FCE Writing exam, emphasizing the importance of purpose, tone, structure, opinion, and coherence. It outlines the typical structure of an essay, which includes an introduction, three ideas, and a conclusion, and stresses the need for formal language and logical connections between ideas. Additionally, it includes an example essay task related to environmental protection, demonstrating the application of these guidelines.

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Adrià JT
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24 views

How to Write an Essay for FCE Writing

The document provides guidelines on how to write an essay for the FCE Writing exam, emphasizing the importance of purpose, tone, structure, opinion, and coherence. It outlines the typical structure of an essay, which includes an introduction, three ideas, and a conclusion, and stresses the need for formal language and logical connections between ideas. Additionally, it includes an example essay task related to environmental protection, demonstrating the application of these guidelines.

Uploaded by

Adrià JT
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to Write an Essay for FCE Writing

An essay is an opinion writing with which we analyse a topic, a


situation or an issue from different points of view, providing
different arguments and expressing our opinion about it. For this
reason, an essay must have the following features:

 Purpose: What we usually do with an essay is to analyse and


assess a topic, situation or issue which, in some way, is
interesting or controversial. It is normally set as a writing task
after a class debate. In the exam, you have to imagine the
debate, obviously.

 Tone and style: Given that you’re writing about a serious or


controversial issue, an essay is written in a formal style, so
we must stick to an objective tone and style. Our language
must be formal, thus avoiding words that are simply too
common or generic (E.g.: things, stuff, get, etc.) and
contractions (E.g.: can’t, don’t, won’t, etc.).

 Structure: Like every piece of writing, an essay must


present a defined structure. For starters, we can choose
either to give it a title or not. Personally, I would say that it is
more appropriate to have an essay with title. Then, the body
must be divided into introduction, idea 1, idea 2, idea 3 and
conclusion. This means that, in general, essays must have 5
paragraphs, although it is not entirely necessary.

 Opinion: There are countless ways of expressing your opinion


in an essay, so you must choose the one that suits you best.
However, it is advisable to remain impartial throughout
your writing and give your opinion only in the last
paragraph, as a conclusion. But, as I say, it is optional. The
most important thing is that you justify everything you say in
your essay.

 Coherence: Coherence is essential in every type of writing, but


especially in an essay. As it tends to be an argumentative text,
you must avoid writing incoherent paragraphs that have
nothing to do with one another. Your ideas must follow a
logical order and be well connected with appropriate
linkers.

FCE Writing Essay Example


Now that we are familiar with the characteristics of an essay for
First (FCE) Writing, let’s take a look at an example of an essay at
B2 level, both at the task and at a sample answer.

Instructions of an Essay

In the following image you can see the instructions of an essay which
involves a typical topic, that of the environment:

In these instructions, we must pay attention to the following:

 The first paragraph introduces the topic: …different ways in


which you can protect the environment.

 The second sentence is usually the same in every task: Write


an essay using all the notes…

 In the box, you are given the main topic as a question and they
give you something to talk about: recycle, using bicycles and
walking, your own idea. As you can see, you have to come up
with the third idea, something connected to the topic which is
not provided in the exam task.

Essay Sample Answer

Given the model task above, each paragraph will correspond to a


different idea, apart from the introduction and conclusion. Again, it is
only natural to have 5 paragraphs. So, the best way to know how to
write an essay for FCE Writing is to take a look at an example of
an actual essay for FCE Writing:

At first sight, the essay has a title and 5 paragraphs (introduction


+ idea 1 + idea 2 + idea 3 + conclusion). And if we stop to read the
essay more carefully, we’ll notice the following things:

 The paragraphs are visual and well defined, which is very


important.

 The title summarises the topic of the essay. Another option


is to use the question (What can people do to help protect the
environment?) as title. However, it usually tends to be too long,
so I prefer to summarise it into a shorter heading.

 Each paragraph has a clear purpose:

 Introduction: it introduces the topic in a general way


and it leads to the second paragraph (first idea).

 Paragraph 2: it deals with idea 1.

 Paragraph 3: it deals with idea 2.

 Paragraph 4: it deals with idea 3.


 Conclusion: we express our opinion to conclude and
summarise the essay.

 It uses connectors to define the development of the


essay: firstly, second, finally, etc.

 It doesn’t use many contractions or pet words.

 Among the useful expressions, we can highlight the following:

 One of the things that

 In the last few decades,

 For this reason,

 First, / Second, / Third,

 Finally,

 By doing so,

 For example,

 In conclusion,

This is a good example of an essay for FCE Writing. By the way,


you must bear in mind that it has been written to simulate a strong
B2 level, without reaching C1.

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