Five terrible mistakes that students make when writing their C1 Advanced Essays. Let's go!
A B2 First essay requires you to talk about three prompts and one of these prompts you will need
to create yourself in your head. However for the C1 Advanced essay you don't need to do this, you
only need to talk about two prompts! But that's not all! You don't simply need to discuss these
two prompts, you need to compare and contrast them because the question will ask you to decide
which one is more important. Look at this question for example. It's not about including
two prompts in your answer. The whole essay should be based around discussing which prompt
is the most important. Students often forget this. They will discuss the prompts, however
they won't compare and contrast them and they won't come to a conclusion
about which prompt is more important. And that's not good enough. And that's a terrible thing.
So remember the whole point of the C1 Advanced essay is to compare and contrast two prompts and
decide which one is most important in relation to the question. If you don't do that then,
well, you're not answering the question, are you? And that's also a terrible thing.
This may seem obvious but it's not. An essay is one text.
Obviously. But this means that every part needs to be in some way connected to every other part.
There needs to be a logical flow, a logical progression. For example, if I take your essay
and put the paragraphs into a different order someone should be able to read these paragraphs
and rearrange them to put them in the correct order because it should be obvious. Many students
for example will discuss their two prompts separately without combining them together and
well this is actually two essays in one. That's not an essay. Sorry. This is not good enough.
The prompts need to be connected in some way both within the paragraphs and between them.
Look at the Cambridge marking scheme. To get a five in ORGANISATION the text must be a well
organized, coherent whole. An introduction should introduce the topic and state the aim of the text.
This should include which two prompts you have chosen to write about. You should then
include one paragraph for each of your prompts relating them to the topic and the question.
Your fourth paragraph should compare and contrast the prompts in relation to the question. And
finally your conclusion should summarize the essay and present your opinion. Remember your opinion
must be related to what you have already stated in the essay. So again make sure
that your essay has a logical structure and of course I can help you with that right here!
If you want your essay to be logical and to follow a structure then you need to plan. I'm sorry but
you do. I know it's boring but if you don't plan the examiner will know that you didn't.
Trust me the examiner will know. This is because it is very difficult to ensure that
every single part of your essay is connected logically if you haven't planned it before
writing it. So before you start writing your essay make sure you at least understand the following:
Number one: what is the topic? Number two: what prompts are you going to choose? Number three:
what is the question? Number four: how can we connect our chosen prompts to the topic and the
question? And number five: how can we connect our prompts together to form a coherent whole?
And yeah I get it, you're probably looking at that thinking "oh my god that sounds really difficult!
That sounds more difficult than writing the essay itself!" Well, yeah. The work is in the planning
not in the writing. And if you want to learn all about planning then watch this here!
In order to score a five in COMMUNICATIVE ACHIEVEMENT
you need to communicate complex ideas in an effective way. So what are complex ideas?
Well a straightforward idea is "usually concrete in nature" while a complex idea is
of "a more abstract nature" and "covers a wider subject area". So what does this mean? To make
an idea abstract we need to speculate. Instead of talking about how something is
we should talk about how something should be or could be. Instead of talking about how something
was we should talk about how something could have been or how something should have been.
This means you should be using modal verbs. You should be using conditionals. You should be using
the subjunctive. Up there! Subjunctive! Great video! In order to cover a wider subject area
we should refrain from using our personal experiences as examples. Instead for example,
if we are talking about whether museums should receive public funding we should talk about
what the repercussions could be for society in general if museums did not receive public funding
or why it would not matter if money that currently goes to museums went towards public gardens.
Notice in this example how we are talking about wider societal issues and not about our personal
issues and this is exactly what is meant by covering a wider subject area. So remember to
speculate and remember to answer the question as it relates to society in general and not only to
you. If you do that then you will be communicating complex ideas and then you will be on your way to
scoring a FIVE in communicative achievement! And that's a great thing! So well done!
The C1 Advanced essay needs to be between 220 and 260 words long. This is not short. Especially when
you should only be talking about two prompts in relation to the question. In order to reach the
required word count some students may start including irrelevant information. Irrelevant
information is any information not related to the prompts, the topic or the question. For
example in this essay we have chosen to talk about museums and public gardens. If we discuss sports
centers we are including irrelevant information. If we talk about the benefits of museums but with
no mention of how this relates to public funding then we are also including irrelevant information.
Remember everything in your essay should have a point. When including a piece of information
you should ask yourself two questions: why does the reader need to know this? And how does it help
me answer the question? If you can't answer those two questions in your head then don't include that
sentence because it's not necessary. In order to get a five in CONTENT all content you include
in your essay must be relevant to the task so if it's not essential for the reader to know and
it's not essential in order for you to answer the question then don't include it! Yes? Yes! And with
that we are finished! Those were the five biggest mistakes that students make when writing their C1
Advanced essays! If you liked the video don't forget to SMASH that like button, subscribe if
you haven't already, leave a comment down below! My name is Toby and this was SMASH English...