Ways to pass your B1 Cambridge Writing P.1 Exam.

WRITING NOTES FOR P.1 WRITING

Writing P1 always expects students to write in an email / message format. When practising email writing this can be really daunting for non-natives however; we use emails to write messages all the time regardless which language you are speaking in. This paper will give you tips and tricks on how to write the best possible message to score points in the exam.

In this section I will teach you the format of emails –

We have two types of messages – FORMAL and INFORMAL writing

When writing formally we always start with a greeting that best fits the person we are addressing. When writing formally we are speaking to people we have no personal connection with therefore you do not need to talk to them longer than you expect. Here is some examples of words you can use.

Recipient; Dear (Name), To (Name), Dear Sir/Madam (Not knowing their name nor gender)

Paragraph 1; aspect (content point)

Paragraph 2´; aspect (content point)

Paragraph 3; aspect (content point)

Goodbye, Kind regards, I hope to hear from you, Regards & Name of the sender of the email

Writing informally follows a similar structure – You greet the person, you then cover your content points and then you end it with a goodbye. But you change the words you use because you know the person you are speaking to. For example

Dear (Ana), Hello (Ana), Hi (Ana)

Introduction – Addressing the person you know based on your relationship. You could ask them how they are? How is their family? How is a certain member of their family are? You can even talk to them about something you have seen recently. E.g ¨Hi Ana, how is your family? I saw a really funny video of you last night I can´t wait to show you!

Content points

Goodbye ´´Regards” “Can´t wait to see you” “see you soon” & Name of the person

In your exam you will receive an email from somebody. Examiners are asking you to respond to the email and cover the points that have arrows to the certain sections of the email. You need to respond accordingly because you are obligated in the exam.

Here is some pointers to look out for in the email

1) Keep into consideration the notes that are highlighted in the instructions

2) Identify who the person is you are talking to. Your friend? Your boss? An advertisement?

3) Identify if you are writing formally or informally

4) Identify how many words you are obligated to write

5) Question yourself- How do I write an email?

To identify these pointers are important because this can really help you to structure your writing to the best of your abilities. Try to imagine that you are writing this email in real life; examiners are marking millions of peoples writing every-day. They want to see original work from students learning English and repetition gets boring for them. Try your hardest to showcase your humour and YOUR ENGLISH ABILITY.

REMEMBER

1) Writing below the word count YOUR EXAM WILL NOT BE marked. Above the count will cause loss of points.

2) CLEAR writing. Examiners will not mark writing they cannot understand.

3) In the exam write in pencil this way it will be presented much nicer if you scribble words out.

4) Plan!! If you like to plan and be organised I recommend writing a plan and spending 10 minutes writing down vocabulary to help you.

5) Linking expressions!! Linkers are a great way to structure your sentences plus this is involved more if you would like to take the B2 exam in the future.

6) Cover every content point! Say if you was to cover 1/3 points you will loose marks.

7) Practice writing for before your exam. Only lucky people can get away with no preparation.

8) Make sure to spell your words correctly. Too many slips and errors will cause you to loose marks.

9) Have faith in yourself.

Email writing is very easy, you just need to practice.