Friday, September 30, 2005

Exam Preparation Tips


This is a list of different things you can do to
improve your English outside class.

1 Use the internet - How ?

a Surf the web on a regular basis - 10 to 15
minutes a day is enough.

b Use chat rooms - Mirc or Yahoo have easy to
use (and FREE) chat services.

http://www.mirc.co.uk
http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/chat/chatbylycos.html

c Listen to radio or download podcasts from the
net.

www.cnn.com/services/podcasting/
www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

Or download a book and listen to it, it costs
nothing

http://freeaudio.org
http://www.scottsigler.net

d Set up your own blog (web page). It's easy and
costs nothing. Also it is a great way to practise
your writing skills.

www.blogger.com

2 Watch DVD's - without subtitles - at least once a
week. This is a great way of preparing for the the
listening test.

3 Read something other than your course books.
literature, short stories, magazines, newspapers;
In fact just about anything you can find in English.
All reading is good practice for the Reading
Comprehension part of the Cambridge exams.
All these things can be found at the kiosks in
Aristotelian square or in central bookshops.

4 Record yourself. If you have a cassette recorder,
mobile phone that can record or a microphone
for your PC, record yourself speaking. It's a
great way of correcting errors in your spoken
English.

5 Speak only English in class. This is probably the
only chance you'll get to speak English before the
exam so make the most of the opportunity.

Nobody expects students to do all of these things
but if you try some of them during the course of the
year then you'll see a great improvment in your
language skills and of course you'll greatly increase
your chances of getting a good grade in the exams.

Tell me again why you didn't do your homework.