How to Survive FCE

How to survive FCE

Are you interested in taking the First Certificate? If you are, we could help you in our capacity as former students. Taking the FCE is not exactly a piece of cake, but there is a little glimmer of hope. In fact, by following a few tips, everything will be much easier.

Firstly, you should get used to the idea of studying a lot at home. There are plenty of useful sites, such as flo-joe, TED and lyrics training, that can help you to improve your English. In order to improve your listening abilities we encourage you to watch as many TV programmes in English as you can. Remember, language is like a plant: the more you take care of it, the more success you’ll have. 

Secondly, we recommend you pay attention during the course, so as not to say “If only I’d been more attentive!” For instance, a lot of phrasal verbs will come up during the course, so it would be a brilliant idea to take note of them in order to be more prepared for Use of English. You should have two copybooks: the first one for your vocabulary and grammar exercises, the second for your writing.

What’s more, never (and we mean never) miss a lesson. Are you coming down with flu? Wear a warm jumper. Do you have to study? Come on dude, we all know you’ll study later. Are the aliens stealing your car keys? Go on foot. Unfortunately for you, there’s a solution for every problem you try to make up. Your teacher is looking forward to seeing you sitting on that chair.

Finally, we’d warn you not to underestimate the exam. When it’s time to stun the examiners, don’t get so nervous that you stop speaking. Concentrate on the simulations that you’ve done during the year in order to do your best. The most important thing is to think positive and believe in yourself. Try to let your light shine!

We hope that we’ve convinced you that First Certificate is nothing to be worried about, provided that you’re well-prepared. Personally, if we hadn’t attended the course, we wouldn’t have such a great knowledge of English!

By the class of 2014: 

Nina, Armando, Antonio, Flaminia, Paolo, Vittoria, Guglielmo, Alberto, Giorgio, Marco and Egle, with their teacher Suzanne.