Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE): How to write a review - Teacher Phill (2023)

Introduction

A review can be about a book, a magazine, a movie, a play or a concert; it can also be about a product or service. A C1 Advanced Writing document review not only asks for an overview of the reviewed item, but also requires an assessment of its suitability for a specific purpose or audience. The intended reader is specified in the task and candidates should be encouraged to use this information when choosing appropriate ideas and language to include in their response.

From: Cambridge English First Teacher's Manual

There are two parts to the C1 Advanced Writing exam. Part 1 always requires you to write arehearsalwhile in Part 2 you can choose between different types of text. In addition to comments, you can also decide to choose aproposal, areportof unoemail/card.

Comments are fun!

Comments are fun because reading comments is fun. Who does not like the opinions of some people before making the decision about which restaurant to go to, which movie to see or which book to buy? Plus, in our day and age, we're constantly looking for social proof for a wide range of topics, so reviews come much more naturally to us than they did a few years ago, when the Internet wasn't everywhere, so you may even have written about some from their own experiences online.

Of course, when writing a review for C1 Advanced you must follow a specific structure and meet certain requirements, but the good thing for you is that they are always the same so you can study and practice them and improve every day until you take the official exam and this is no longer the case. it will be a problem for you.

Let's look at different aspects of review writing, from a typical task and its structure, to helpful language and mistakes to avoid. If you are interested, keep reading.

>>>Find out how your C1 Advanced Writing is graded.<<<

What a typical review task looks like

Speaking from my experience as a teacher and preparing several students for the exam, I can say that most revision tasks are quite similar. The structure is very similar and once you know what to look for, you can use that to your advantage, saving a lot of time and going to the test ready and hassle-free.

When looking at a writing assignment for C1 Advanced (not just reviews but really all reviews) you should always ask yourself some very specific questions that can help you better understand what you need to do and set you up for successful writing.

• What is the situation? (issue)
• What exactly should I include in my evaluation? (main points)
• Who will read the review?

To find the answers to these three questions, read the assignment very carefully and underline the key information.

I have underlined the information in different colors as each color refers to one of the questions above. First, the topic is underlined in red. Second, the main points or questions you need to answer in your review are colored green, and lastly, you are writing for a site called Great Lives (blue).

This structure is usually the same for all assignments, so be sure to look for the same type of information each time you sit down to practice reviews.

You may be wondering why it's so important to know who you're writing for, but this tells you exactly whether to use formal, neutral, or informal language. Imagine that you have to write to your boss or the director of your school. You would choose a more formal style than if you were writing to your friends. In our example, we should choose something that is more neutral in style. After all, we are not the people on the site, but we want to make it as light and interesting as possible.

When writing in a neutral style, you can use contractions like 'I am' or 'I am not' and you can use phrasal verbs as well as interesting adjectives and adverbs to make your criticism livelier. However, I would not recommend using slang or too many colloquial expressions, or anything too formal like you would in a formal essay or letter.

How to organize your assessment

Now that we know what the assignment is about, exactly what to include, and the tone in which to write, it's time to look at the structure of a review. Fortunately, this can be repeated from review to review and you simply need to change the content depending on the theme and main points.

See Also

Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE): How to write a report - Professor PhilEjemplo de revisión CAE (Cambridge Advanced C1): Guía 2023WRITING C1: WRITING A REVIEW FOR ADVANCED EXAM TASK 2CAE - review • Learning English

Remember, there are two main questions you need to answer here (Did you learn anything new about the person's life? Did the book or movie help you understand why this person made their important contribution?) It makes perfect sense to give each of These questions have their own paragraph as they talk about different aspects of your review.

Also, you should add an introduction (with a title) that builds anticipation and engages the reader, as well as a conclusion that summarizes your main points and makes a recommendation (because that's why we read reviews). In total, there are four paragraphs that might look like this:

1. Title/Introduction
2. What new things did you learn about the person's life?
3. Do you now better understand why the person made their important contribution?
4. Conclusion/Recommendation

Of course, your main topic paragraphs should be longer than your introduction and conclusion, and remember that there is a word limit of 220-260 words.

Always plan your evaluation

I say this in every article I write here on teacherphill.com and I'll repeat it in this post because it's very important advice. Unfortunately, many candidates just ignore or forget about this and are nervous and not ready for the official C1 Advanced exam, so I want you to incorporate this into your practice.

Every time you sit down to write for test prep, make a plan before you begin your review, report, proposal, email/letter, or essay. It only takes 3-5 minutes and can save you a lot of time when you need to make corrections.

A plan can be very short and just include a few keywords that you add in each title so that you know what you want to write about and don't have to rethink everything in the middle of your writing assignment.

1. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom - Ask a question to engage the reader. Brief life story.
2. New things I learned: his job as a lawyer, marital problems, his trust in Winnie.
3. Why did he do all this? The oppression in South Africa was terrible.
4. Conclusion: The film offers a great insight into Mandela's life. I definitely recommend it

There is. It only took me a few minutes to jot down my thoughts and now that they are on paper we are ready to write our review.

The different parts of a review

Once you've seen how to review an assignment, as well as organize and plan your review, it's time to start writing it. We're still working on our example task, and of course you may need to adjust your language and content for different topics, but you should have a good idea of ​​what's expected of you when writing a C1 Advanced review.

Introduction

The introduction of a review aims to engage the reader from the beginning. You want to build interest and anticipation for what you have to say about the book, movie, restaurant, or whatever else you're reviewing.

It's always a good idea to start with a question, as you can engage the reader's mind and generate the engagement you want. Also, do not give away spoilers, but hint at what is to come in the rest of the text..

Let's look at a possible introduction.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – A Review

Have you ever been so passionate about something that you would sacrifice your best years for it? Would you put it ahead of your family and friends? In the film Mandela: London Walk to Freedom, we not only get a glimpse into the life of Nelson Mandela, but we also take a deep dive into who he was and how he changed an entire country.

I gave my review a title, which doesn't have to be fancy, and I didn't do anything crazy in the introduction either. Start with a few questions to build interest and don't give away too much of the plot. Obviously, many people know something about the life of Nelson Mandela, but that is not the point. Give the reader just one sample so they want more and keep reading.

Body

The body of your review for C1 Advanced includes all the main points of the topic that we gleaned from the example assignment earlier.

• What new things did you learn about the person's life?
• Do you now better understand why the person made their important contribution?

Each point has its own paragraph to ensure that the text is clearly organized.

You'll also want to make sure you hold the reader's attention, which you've carefully captured in the introduction. Treat it like something very valuable that you don't want to lose again at the end of your review.

WhileThe whole movie had me captivated all the time, there was one aspect that really stood out to me. Nelson Mandela and his second wife, Winnie, had asingle relationshippushing each other to continue and grow theanti-apartheid movementin South Africa, even after Mandela wascaptured and imprisoned.is a proof oftheir dedication and collaboration is something many of us can learn from.

althoughhave a strong andmanagedYour wife's partner still wasamazedfor the fact that someone endssacrificeand giving so much of his life to help others, but this biopic made me reconsider. witnessing asegregated societyand allracial abusethe black communityhad to endureduring apartheid, there was no option for Nelson Mandela butstand up and fight for equality.

I have highlighted some of the most important features of the language for you. At the beginning of each paragraph, I play withcontrasting statements(while, despite) as this keeps the reader guessing. I also tried using somevocabulary specific to Mandela's life(anti-apartheid movement, sacrifices, segregated society, racial abuse...we had to resist, rise up and fight for equality) and somewords and expressions to make the review more interesting for the reader(unmarried, captured and imprisoned, is testimony of..., astonished).

All these little things together create an engaging review that the reader wants to read thoroughly and thoroughly.

Conclusion/Recommendation

To end your review, you need a conclusion that summarizes what you've written so far and makes a recommendation to the reader. After all, that's why we read reviews in the first place: we want someone to tell us about a product or an experience and see if they would recommend it or not.

There is specific language that you should incorporate when making a recommendation because you want to persuade the reader and make the examiner happy.:

• I recommend/suggest [title/name] to + person
• I recommend/suggest + -ing
• I recommend/suggest that…
• You must + base verb
• you may want + base verb

Nothing crazy, but you want to cover all the bases.

All in all, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom offers an incredible look into the life of one of the most famous and influential personalities of the 20th century. It would be a shame for her not to see it, so I highly recommend checking out her favorite streaming service or buying the movie ASAP and I guarantee she won't regret it.

You see that it is very simple. The first sentence summarizes what I like about the movie and the second sentence makes a recommendation and tries to persuade the reader (“I promise you will not regret it”).

How your review is rated

The marking scheme in C1 Advanced is quite complex and there are many things that the examiner must consider when reviewing your review. For this reason, I decided to write an article on how writing paper is marked in the CAE and you can consult it by accessing the following link.

>>>Find out how your essay is graded in Advanced C1.<<<

Now up to you

Follow the advice in this article and start practicing reviews. With more experience, it will become easier for you, and when the official exam comes, you will be ready.

Lots of love,

Professor Phil 🙂