CPE
WRITING Task
(Part 1)
ESSAY
WRITING
You are required to base your essay on input material which will take the form of two texts, each
approximately 100 words long. The texts will be based on a variety of authentic, contemporary sources
You need to answer the question with between 240-280 words.
● Step 1: read the two texts below and write down to key points of each extract
Read the two texts below. Write an essay summarising and evaluating the key points from both texts. Use your
own words throughout as far as possible, and include your own ideas in your answers.
Examinations are not fair.
Making judgments about the ability of students based on examinations that take place just once or
perhaps twice a year is simply not fair. So many students fail to show their true ability due to anxiety,
stress and a number of other factors. Many students who do well in exams do so simply by cramming
facts into their heads the week before the exam, to be forgotten by the following weekend. Surely
assessment of the work done in class and at home throughout the school year would be a fairer
system?
Extract 1. Key points:
1) Unfair to judge a year’s performance just once or twice a year.
2) This unfair system forces students to temporary parrot-fashion learning
Classroom assessment is idealistic.
It’s all very well to talk about teachers judging their students work in the classroom, and students
working alone at home on their projects, but everyone knows that continuous assessment doesn’t
work like that. Teachers are only human, and tend to be softer on their students than an examiner
would be (or, in a worse scenario, harder on a student they don’t like). Parents or older siblings
help students with the projects they have to do at home, even if it’s just coming up with ideas for
them. Exams may not be fun, but at least we get to see what each individual student is capable of.
Extract 2. Key points:
3) Continuous assessment depends too much on the teacher who may be either
too lenient or too strict.
4) Parents and siblings may give an unfair advantage to some students over
their classmates who don’t have help at home.
● Step 2: introduction. make a plain reference to the
topic of the two texts
The two texts express contrasting views on the hotly debated issue of school
exams.
● Step 3: Body paragraph (1) = topic sentence plus point 1 + point 2
[Topic sentence] The first author considers the annual assessment of students’ performance
as inadequate. [Paraphrase the first (1) point] Knowing that your only chance to prove your
competence relies on a couple of questions that need to be answered within a suffocating
time limit cannot but fill you with anxiety. [Paraphrase the second (2) point] To make matters
worse, even when the students manage to cope with the stress it is doubtful whether they gain
any academic benefit. All they do is switch off their critical thinking and employ their parrot
fashion learning. When the exams are over they ‘delete’ all this array of incongruent
information. Therefore, they end up with lots of pains and no gains!
● Step 4 : body paragraph ( 2) = topic sentence+ point 3 + point 4
[Topic sentence] Conversely, the second text sees the exams as the only reliable means of
school assessment. [Paraphrase the third (3) point:] If the students were continually evaluated
throughout the year they would be at the mercy of the bias of their teachers. If the professors
are positively predisposed they will inflate the marks and if they have any sort of conflict with
their pupils they could use the marks as a form of punishment. [Paraphrase the fourth (4) point]
Moreover, the project work that has often been hailed as the creative alternative of barren
exams may prove to be a hoax. More often than not it is other family members that do the work
and the students undeservingly reap the rewards.
● Step five: body paragraph ( 3) your opinion
[Topic sentence] While I agree that the exams entail counterproductive stress that may spoil
the true meaning of education, I cannot overlook the fact that they are an objective and
trustworthy method of evaluation. If the written tests accounted for a proportion of the
pupils’ overall mark and the rest was completed with projects and class participation we
could successfully combine the profits of these too seemingly contrasting methods.
● Step 6: conclusion: closing remark- no new ideas
All in all, the examinations can contribute to an objective assessment of
school performance as
long as they are combined with elements of continuous assessment.
CPE Essay: Structure
Introduction
Make a plain reference to the topic of the two texts.
1st body paragraph
Topic sentence + Paraphrase point 1 + Paraphrase point 2
2nd body paragraph
Topic sentence + Paraphrase point 3 + Paraphrase point 4
3 rd body paragraph
Your opinion
Conclusion
Closing remark – No new ideas.
EXTRA TOPICS
AND USEFUL
LANGUAGE
