HOW TO WR IT E A

REVIEW
CAE EX AM PREPA RATI ON
ARGUMENT
ACADEMIC WRITING- is an essential part of the studying process.
it's important for the students to have writing skills and be able to analyze information in order to compose assignment on
the high level.

developing writing skills, students not only increase their chances on getting good grades, but also become able to fulfill
their creative potential, develop logical thinking and put the data in perspective.

composing academic paper is a time-consuming process not each student is able to complete.
 most of the students face difficulties trying to compose one or another assignment, especially being limited in time,
during the Cambridge  exams
CAE WRITING
writing will be the second part of your certificate in advanced English exam. CAE writing is 90 minutes long and it
consists of two separate tasks:
1. CAE WRITING PART 1 you have to read three points on a topic and then write an essay based on two of them. in
your answer you have to point out which of the two points are more important. your essay has to be 220-260 words
long.
2. CAE WRITING PART 2 you get three different assignments to choose from. it must be 220-260 words long.
there are four possible types of assignments:
 a proposal
 a review
 a report
 a letter/ email
CAE WRITING ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
• your writing score depends on four different aspects:
• CONTENT.  Have you developed all the points required by the task?
• COMMUNICATIVE ACHIEVEMENT. how appropriate is your writing in terms of style. have you used the right
register (formal or informal)? does your writing fill the style requirements of your text type (report, review, essay,
letter)? do you understand the purpose of the text you’re writing?

• ORGANISATION. how logically you structure your text (introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion). how well you
connect your ideas in the text (cohesion).

• LANGUAGE. your grammar and vocabulary. how diverse is your choice of grammar structure?  is the vocabulary you
use fairly varied? do you make any mistakes in both and how much do they affect understanding the idea you convey?
REVIEWS ARE FUN !
reviews are fun because reading reviews is fun.
who doesn’t enjoy a few opinions from other people before making
the decision on which restaurant to go to, which film to watch or
which book to buy?

also, in our day and age, we are constantly looking at social proof for
a wide range of topics so reviews are much more natural to us than
they were only a few years ago when the internet wasn’t everywhere
so you might even have written about a few of your own experiences
online.
a review may be about a book, magazine, film, play or concert; it may also
be about a product or a service. a review in the c1 advanced writing paper
does not merely ask for a general description of the thing reviewed, but
requires an evaluation of its suitability for a particular purpose or audience.
 Of course, when writing a review for C1 Advanced you have to follow a
specific structure and fulfil certain requirements, but the good thing for
you is that they are always the same so you can study and practise
them and become better every single day until you get to the official
exam and it won’t be a problem for you anymore.
 We are going to look at different aspects of review writing, from looking
at a typical task and its structure, useful language and mistakes to
avoid.
WHAT A TYPICAL REVIEW TASK LOOKS LIKE
When you see a writing task for c1 advanced (not only
reviews, but really all of them), you should always ask
your self a few very specific questions which can help
you to better understand what you have to do and set
you up for a successful writing exam.

• what is the situation? (topic)

• what exactly do I have to include in my review? • There is underlined the information in different colours as each
colour refers to one of the questions from above. first of all, the
(main points) topic is underlined with red. secondly, the main points or

• who is going to read the review? (target reader) questions you have to answer in your review are green and,
finally, you are writing for a website called great lives (blue).
• to find the answers to these three questions read the • this structure is usually the same in every task so make sure that
task very carefully and underline the key you look for the same type of information whenever you sit
information. down to practise reviews.
 You might ask yourself why it is so important to know who you are writing for, but
this tells you exactly if you should use formal, neutral or informal language.
 Imagine you had to write to your boss or the director of your school. You would
choose a more formal style than if you were writing to your friends. In our
example, we should choose something that is more of a neutral style. After all,
we don’t the people on the website, but we want to keep it light and as interesting
as possible.
 When writing in a neutral style you can use contractions like ‘I’m’ or ‘don’t’ and
you can use phrasal verbs as well as interesting adjectives and adverbs to make
your review more lively.
 However, I wouldn’t recommend using slang words or too many colloquial
expressions nor anything that is too formal as you would in an essay or formal
letter.
ALWAYS PLAN YOUR REVIEW

• it is such an important piece of advice. unfortunately, many candidates simply

ignore or forget about it and find themselves in the official c1 advanced exam
nervous and unprepared

• whenever you sit down to write for your exam preparation, make a plan before you
start your review, report, proposal, email/letter or essay. It only takes 3-5 minutes
and it can save you so much time down the road when you need to make
corrections.

• a plan can be very short and only include a few keywords that you add under each
heading so you know what you want to write about and don’t have to rethink
everything halfway through the writing task.
HOW TO ORGANISE YOUR REVIEW
1. TITLE - impact on reader

2. INTRODUCTION
• he introduction of a review aims to engage the reader from the beginning. you want to create interest and anticipation of what you have to say about the book, film, restaurant or whatever else you
might be reviewing.
• it is always a good idea to start with a question because you can involve the reader’s own mind and, therefore, generate the engagement you want. also, don’t give any spoilers, but hint at what’s
going to come in the rest of the text

3. THE BODY of your review for c1 advanced includes all the main topic points 

Each point gets its own paragraph to make sure that the text is clearly organised.
You also want to make sure that you keep the reader’s attention which you have carefully caught in the introduction. Treat it like something very valuable that you don’t want to lose again until the end of
your review.

4. CONCLUSIONS o finish your review you need a conclusion in which you summarise what you’ve written up to this point and make a recommendation to the reader. After all, that’s why we read reviews in
the first place – we want someone to tell us about a product or an experience and see if they would recommend it or not.
There is some specific language that you should incorporate when you make a recommendation because you want to persuade the reader and make the examiner happy:
• I RECOMMEND/SUGGEST [TITLE/NAME] TO + PERSON
• I RECOMMEND/SUGGEST + -ING
• I RECOMMEND/SUGGEST THAT …
• YOU SHOULD + BASE VERB
• YOU MIGHT WANT TO + BASE VERB
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – a review
Have you ever been so passionate about something that you would sacrifice your very
best years for it? Would you even put it ahead of your family and friends? In the film
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom we get not only a glimpse of Nelson Mandela’s life,
but rather dive deep into who he was and how he changed a whole country.
While the whole film captivated me throughout, there was one aspect that truly stood out
to me. Nelson Mandela and his second wife Winnie had a one-of-a-kind
relationship driving each other to continue and grow the anti-apartheid movement in
South Africa even after Mr Mandela was captured and imprisoned. It is a testament
to their dedication and partnership and something that a lot of us can learn from.
Despite having a strong and driven partner in his wife, I still used to be astonished by the
fact that someone would simply sacrifice themselves and give up a big part of their life to
help others, but this biopic made me reconsider. Witnessing a segregated society and all
the racial abuse the black community had to endure during apartheid, there was no other
option for Nelson Mandela than to stand up and fight for equality.
All in all, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom gives some incredible insight into the life
of one of the world’s most famous and influential personalities of the 20th century. It
would be a shame not to watch it so I highly recommend that you check your
favourite streaming service or buy the film as soon as you can and I promise you
won’t regret it.
NOW IT IS UP TO YOU

 TAKE THE ADVICE IN THIS ARTICLE AND START PRACTISING

REVIEWS.

 WITH MORE EXPERIENCE IT WILL BECOME EASIER AND

EASIER FOR YOU AND WHEN THE OFFICIAL EXAM COMES
AROUND, YOU WILL BE READY.

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