HOW TO TEACH FOR EXAMS 2ND EDITION B1

What do teachers need to consider? Teachers should find out about student’s priorities and how
many students intend to take the exam. They should then
1 What do you do when not all students in a class are find out about individual student’s respective strengths and
taking the exam? weaknesses in order to focus as much time as possible on
those areas students have trouble with. Information they
Teachers should make sure that students who are not taking need includes:
the exam are still engaged with the work done in class and
feel they can benefit from the specific practice that exam a) The format and content of the exam.
students need. This means explaining clearly exactly what • How many papers are there, and what skills does each
is being tested in exam tasks and how these skills also one test?
benefit students outside the classroom. Cambridge English • How many different parts are there in each paper?
Qualifications exams test skills that are transferable to the Are they all compulsory or is there a choice?
real world, and this should be explained to students. Once • What is the grammar syllabus for the exam?
an exam task has been completed, it could be followed by
general discussion on the topic or extended vocabulary • How are the skills tested – multiple choice questions,
practice so that non-exam students feel the benefit. gap-fill … ? What techniques are required for dealing
with each one?
2 How is teaching for exams different from teaching b) The practicalities of taking the exam.
general English classes?
• How much time is allowed for each part of the exam?
• Exam classes often place more emphasis on reading, How should students balance their time?
writing and grammar. General courses often include more • Where do students write their answers? Is there
speaking activities and general listening tasks that aim to transfer time?
develop communicative skills and fluency.
c) Marking the exam.
• An exam course is fixed, with an exam syllabus that must
• What is the weighting of different papers?
be completed. This means the teacher may feel there’s
little time to do many extension activities from the • How many marks are there for each question?
Student’s Book that are either optional or not in exam • What are the assessment criteria for each part where
format, even though these are clearly useful. When doing there is no ‘right’ answer, especially when testing the
these activities, it’s important that teachers explain their productive skills of writing and speaking?
value clearly to the students so that they understand how d) What happens after the exam?
they relate to the exam.
• How are the results presented? Do students receive
• Exam students may not be interested in learning English feedback? Are the grades linked to the CEFR? What level
for its own sake – they may simply want to pass the exam. are they linked to?
This means they may be keen to do exam practice but
• What can your students do with the qualification? Is it
may not see the value of spending time on communicative
recognised internationally?
or fluency activities. Non-exam students, on the other
hand, will want to do fluency work that improves their • What is the next exam that your students should
communicative ability. progress to?
• Students may feel under pressure to succeed. This could 4 What makes a successful exam teacher?
come from parents, teachers or from the students
themselves, and leads to a feeling of frustration if they’re Teaching for an exam is very rewarding, but it is also
not doing well. challenging. A good exam teacher:
• There can be problems if students are not at the level • knows and understands the exam well, including the
of the exam they’re studying for. Students can become testing focus of each part and what techniques students
demotivated, and teachers can feel frustrated. need to deal with each one
• There is a very clear end goal which creates a shared • understands how to achieve a balance between developing
bond among exam students. It also means that non-exam skills and doing exam practice in lessons so as to engage all
students can see a progression through the course, and gain students in the work
a sense of progress and achievement in their overall ability. • enjoys teaching towards a goal
• manages their own and their students’ time effectively
3 What do exam teachers need to know at the start of
and efficiently
a course?
• listens to students’ concerns and worries
It’s vital that teachers know about the exam before they start
• gives honest and direct feedback on students’ performance
the course, so they can make crucial decisions about how
much time to spend on the different aspects of the exam, • motivates students and fosters confidence and
when to start exam practice and so on. They also need to independent learning
know the balance of exam and non-exam students.

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HOW TO TEACH FOR EXAMS 2ND EDITION B1

5 How important is balancing teaching and testing? Development of language

Students enrolled on an exam course will expect to go Exam tasks require students to demonstrate a range of language
through a lot of practice tests and exam practice. However, at the appropriate level. Gold Experience 2nd edition has
if this is all you do you will produce excellent test takers but grammar and vocabulary sections that develop this range in topic
poor language users! You may also risk losing the interest of related units, which makes it easy for students to apply them to
non-exam students. When time is restricted you need to make exam tasks and to the real world.
the most of the time you choose to teach, and the time you
need to be testing. This balance is different with every class. Focus on the process as well as the goal
• A class below the level Learners are helped to understand not just the point of what they
The priority is teaching. Students may lack both test taking are doing but also how to be successful. Understanding the point
skills and language knowledge, so you need to identify their of each task type, and the process they need to follow in order to
needs and try to fill in the gaps. Testing too often might complete it, enables students to reach the overall goal.
de-motivate them, although you may want to set progress
tests for your own assessment of what they need to study
Graded exam tasks
more. Make sure that they have realistic aims and that they Exam tasks are introduced to students early in the course, but in
maintain a sense of progress. You may decide not to mark a graded way. This may mean that a task has fewer questions or
their work using exam criteria, but to mark constructively a simpler text, or that it tests a more limited range of structures.
which will also benefit non-exam students. This helps them to understand the exam task, and therefore deal
• A class at the level with it more effectively.
Students have the basic test-taking and language skills, Developing confidence with exam tasks
but they need to consolidate and review these as well as
extend the range of structures and language they can use The clear learning goals for each skill established at the start of
productively. Regular testing can give these students a each unit, plus the frequent models throughout the book for the
sense of progress. However, you need to consider how you productive skills, show students what they need to do in each task
mark their work in order to provide positive feedback and and how to do it.
foster improvement, possibly by not marking to the level of Students are often nervous about certain parts of the exam, such
the exam too early. as the speaking and listening papers. There are often specific
• A class above the level reasons for this:
The emphasis is on enabling students to achieve the • Speaking – students may be embarrassed about speaking in
highest mark they can. Their language and test-taking skills front of an examiner, or may be nervous so that their mind
should be good, and the problem may be to keep them goes blank and they say too little.
motivated. Challenge them by setting them tasks above • Listening – students often feel that they are not in control
the level of the exam, and involve them in understanding as they can’t stop the recording to play it again, and this can
what they have to do to get a higher than average mark cause them to panic if they are unsure of an answer.
in the exam. They should be aiming high, extending their Gold Experience 2nd edition provides plenty of practice in these
range of language and not settling for ‘good enough’. two skills, and clear advice on how to deal with the problems
students find with them. In this way students develop confidence.
6 Helping exam students help themselves
Encouraging a collaborative approach to developing exam Regular exam tips
skills will improve students’ confidence, enable them to There are exam tips in every unit which deal with specific exam
help each other and make each task seem more familiar tasks. The tips focus on aspects of the task that will help students
and achievable. By involving students in understanding deal with it effectively. These often precede practice in that
what exam tasks involve, teachers can foster confidence particular task, so that students can see the tip in action. These
and facilitate success. It is really crucial that students feel tips build throughout the Students’ Book and help students to
comfortable with the tasks, and that there are no surprises understand exactly what is being tested, what to look out for, and
when they enter the exam room. develop a bank of appropriate exam techniques that they can
refer to. As they work through the Students’ Book and become
How does Gold Experience 2nd familiar with the tips the tasks will become easier.
edition help with exam teaching?
Focus on the process of writing
Gold Experience 2nd edition works in a graded and supportive
way, and provides a number of resources that help to develop the To help students identify good practice in writing tasks, lessons in
technical skills students need to deal with exam tasks, while also the Students’ Book provide model answers. There are also tasks
improving and extending their general language skills. The course that encourage students to analyse the model answers, which
is beneficial for both exam and non-exam students, and provides gives them greater understanding of how to complete the tasks
supportive and extended practice in real-life skills. The topics are themselves. These analytical tasks focus on the approach, content
engaging and give students the opportunity to read about and and language required by the different writing genres. There is a
discuss interesting and relevant topics. task at the end of each writing section which mirrors the model
so that students can practise writing an answer themselves.
There is also an Improve it section which guides students and
helps them review and improve their work. In these sections,
students are encouraged to work together to review and analyse
each other’s writing tasks, and to cooperate in understanding
where improvement is required. There is a Writing file with
further tips on how to approach the tasks, with further models.

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HOW TO TEACH FOR EXAMS 2ND EDITION B1

Focus on speaking Student A

Throughout the Student’s Book there are discussion questions 1 Arrive – don’t be late or you will
that encourage students to talk about ideas related to topics they be stressed.
have been reading or writing about. This is particularly beneficial 2 Say and make yourself comfortable.
for non-exam students. In sections specifically devoted to exam
tasks, there are model answers for students to analyse. These 3 Listen carefully to the instructions. Ask the examiner
answers give clear models for long turns and give examples of the if you aren’t sure.
best ways to interact with a partner. 4 If you’re taking the exam with a partner, .
5 Give answers. Don’t just say yes or no.
Explanatory answer keys
6 Try to use a structures and .
There are clear keys provided for the exam tasks. In the reading
7 Smile! , you’ll do better.
and listening tasks the lines where the answers can be found
are quoted.
Student B
Practice test 1 Arrive in good time – don’t be late .
As well as working through regular unit tests, students complete 2 Say hello to the examiner and .
the course by doing a full exam practice test in the Workbook, 3 Listen carefully Ask the examiner to repeat
which they can check against the answer key. if you aren’t sure.
4 If you’re taking the exam , interact
Resources for self-study with them.
There are a number of resources which provide opportunities for 5 Give interesting answers. Don’t .
self-study, and also give supplementary information and further
6 Try to use a range of and vocabulary.
practice. These can be used in class or at home. They include:
7 Smile! If you enjoy it, you’ll .
• A Wordlist at the end of each unit in the Student’s Book
• An Extended Vocabulary section at the back of the
Student’s Book
2 Remind students of the exam tips
• A Speaking file section at the back of the Student’s Book Ask students to work in pairs and write down as many exam
tips as they can remember. Discuss which tips they have
• A Writing file section at the back of the Student’s Book
found most useful, and why. You could do this regularly
• A Grammar file section at the back of the Student’s Book through the course so that students become very familiar
• A full practice test in the Workbook with them.
• An Exam Practice booklet 3 Use the marking criteria
• Audioscripts for the listening tasks
The writing tasks are marked under criteria which include
• The Workbook organisation, style, language and content. Share these criteria
• Online practice activities with students early in the course and explain what they
mean. Give examples from the models in the Writing file.
Extra activities Ask students to check their own work against these criteria
Here are five activities that might help your students with their before they hand anything in. This will develop good habits
studies for exams. as well as foster understanding of what the tasks require. Use
them yourself when you mark students’ written work.
1 Developing confidence with the Speaking test
4 Share students’ experiences
When students feel comfortable with the practicalities of
taking the Speaking test, they feel more relaxed and can Ask students to share things that they find easy, and anything
focus on their performance. This activity will help them to they have found helpful when they do exam tasks. This will
understand the practicalities. also boost their confidence as they realise how much they
do actually know, and will give both exam students and
1 Put students into pairs (A and B). Give out the
non-exam students a lift!
appropriate worksheets.
2 They read through their own sentences and predict the 5 Help students understand what is best for them
missing information.
Write the incomplete sentences about doing exam tasks on
3 They dictate the sentences to each other and complete the board. Students should complete them for themselves.
the gaps. Then discuss their answers with the whole class. This activity
will help non-exam students to see the value of exam practice
for them. It will also give you valuable information about how
your students feel about their English lessons.
1 I prefer it when the teacher with exam tasks.
2 I understand language most when .
3 I like/don’t like doing speaking activities in class because
.
4 When we do practice tests in class I feel
because .
5 I feel confident about the exam because .

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