I’m very busy preparing for my school exams in Literature and History. To pass them successfully, I have to remember a lot.

Write a message to Ben and answer his 3 questions. Write 100–120 words. Remember the rules of letter writing.

It’s nice to hear from you. I’m sure you’ll pass your exams successfully.

In Russia we have different number of exams each year. In my grade we have two. The obligatory one is mathematics (oh, I should prepare so hard to pass it successfully) and the other each student can choose by himself. I have chosen English because I have a pretty strong sense of language and I prefer oral exams, because I hate tests. Plus, the regular practice with you, as an English-speaking pen friend helps me a lot. Thanks! As a preparation for my exams I usually read and reread all the past material in my notebook and try to remember it. And it works!

How to Prepare for Exams
(Как подготовиться к экзаменам)

The most important thing any student can do to prepare for exam is to start early. The days of studying for an exam on the bus going to school are over. Even if you got A’s this way, it’s not going to work very often with college material. College courses require far more effort.

• Start preparing for the next test the day after you take the prior one. Daily preparation is crucial. At a minimum, review material once every week between exams.

• How much time is needed? The classic question. Some recommend 2-3 hours outside of class for every hour of class time. In some cases homework problems will require this much effort. For a straightforward lecture course try the following:

• Every day before class, preview the material for 15-20 minutes.

• Attend every lecture. Seems simple but it’s the biggest mistake students make.

• Take good notes.

• Spend another 20-30 minutes after class going over the notes.

• Use this time to get any confusing points cleared up in your head; much better now than later. This will make later exam prep. MUCH easier.

• Once a week, review the material to get a more complete overview of the information.

Preparing to take an exam:

If you’ve been keeping up on everything on a daily and weekly basis you’re in good shape when it comes time to get serious about preparing for an exam.

The first thing you need is a plan. You need to answer some questions:

• What is my schedule like during the week of the exam?

• Do I have other exams or papers due?

• Will I have all week to prepare or will I have to study over the weekend?

• How many pages of notes are there?

• How many chapters do I have to read?

All of these questions will help you answer one basic one: How much time will I need? The answer will depend on how much work you have done so far. It’s a crucial question because the next step will be to come up with a plan.

Start with the day one week before the exam. That’s the first day to start studying in earnest. Literally plan out how many hours you will spend each day studying until the exam. Make a schedule and stick with it. Be sure to leave time for group study or review sessions. Also break up the material in to parts and cover a little each day. Consider these questions:

• How much material will I cover each night?

• How much time will I spend studying with a friend?

• When are the review sessions?

Once you have a game plan it’s time to get to work. There is no one way to go about this. Remember is important to come up with a system that works for YOU. Here’s a suggested plan of action:

Get a blank piece of paper and outline the material you need to study. This helps develop a «big picture» overview of the material. Start with big topics and leave room for subtopics. Fill in the information as best as you can. Get another sheet of paper and start over if necessary. Once you see all the units of information in front of you it will be easier to organize your studying. This will help you with the next step.

Break the material into smaller chunks and study each one. Only once you understand each one should you move on to the next. Do this part alone in your quiet study place. This is when you start to memorize the information you’ll need later. Write down any questions that you may have.

The next step is to work with someone else to clarify anything that’s confusing. Work with others, go to review sessions, see a tutor, or work with the professor or a TA. At this point it’s important to make sure that everything is clearly understood. This is crucial. If this step is skipped then you’re left with trying to memorize hundreds of useless factoids. It will never mean anything to you later.

Now it’s time to put the information into your brain for retrieval (восстановление, возвращение в прежнее состояние, исправление). If you’ve been working all along you will already remember much of it. Make sure nothing is left out. Many students focus on this step exclusively. It’s called cramming. Just say no.

This next step is not needed by everyone but it’s useful if you are having trouble with the course. You’ve been studying for hours and hours but, do you really know anything? Try working with someone else who will ask you questions about the material. If you can answer and explain concepts without too much effort then you’re in good shape. Usually this help to expose areas that require more attention and study.

If the previous step went well then all you have left is to work on weak areas and a general overview the material. If you didn’t do well explaining the material you’ll need another round of steps 4 and 5. Hopefully you left time for this in your study schedule.

If you planned well and kept up with the work there should be little anxiety the night before an exam. If you started late or waited to get questions answered then you’ll be busy the night before. This will add extra stress and you’ll likely make stupid errors on the exam. At the very least you’ll be more susceptible to getting sick which will worsen your situation.

The only thing that should be going through your mind the night before is a sense of confidence. It’s ok to be a little afraid or anxious but not panicky.

How to prepare for your official English language exam

Updated November 24, 2020

If you’re thinking of taking an official English exam, you might be wondering:

Are the tests all the same?

How do I know which one to take?

What should I do to get ready?

If this sounds like you, we’re here to help! Read on to prepare for your big exam!

How to prepare for your language exam

1. Take an English course

Unsure of your skills? Online courses like the ones offered by Lingoda can help you gain confidence for test day.

2. Use your English every day

Here are some tips to make your English practice stick:

3. Know the details

Find out everything you can about the exam you’re considering – like question types and how long you have for each section.

Most websites also offer training resources like preparation sessions or practice exams.

5 English exams explained

Now, let’s get into the details about some of the major English exams!

1. TOEFL iBT

Purpose: TOEFL iBT is mainly for university admission.

Skills: Listening, speaking, reading and writing

Location: Official testing centres

Delivery: TOEFL is usually computer-based, unless a testing centre has no internet access.

Timing: About 3 hours

Scoring: Your English level is assessed based on your total score from 1 (non-user) to 120 (expert). Scores for university admission range from 61 to 110, depending on the school.

Results: You can view your results online in 6 days. Results arrive in the mail within 11 days.

2. TOEIC

Purpose: The TOEIC test assesses your English skills for professional international work environments.

TOEIC also offers a beginner to lower-intermediate version called TOEIC Bridge, used for students in English-language courses and people who need some English for work or travel.

Skills: The standard TOEIC test consists of a listening/reading exam and separate speaking and writing exams. You can take one test or all of them.

TOEIC Bridge is a multiple-choice reading and listening test.

Location: It’s typically done at an official test centre, but is sometimes offered through employers or language schools.

Delivery: The listening/reading exam is paper- or computer-based. The speaking and writing exams are computer-based.

Timing: For the standard TOEIC test, listening/reading takes around 2.5 hours. Speaking takes 20 minutes and writing takes about 60. TOEIC Bridge is 1 hour.

Scoring: On the standard TOEIC exam, your English level is assessed according to your test score. The reading/listening test is scored from 10 (no useful proficiency) to 990 (international proficiency). The speaking and writing tests are each out of 200.

For TOEIC Bridge, you get a listening score and a reading score. Your total score determines whether your English is CEFR level A1 (beginner), A2 (elementary), or B1 (intermediate).

Results: 3 to 4 weeks

3. IELTS

Purpose: IELTS offers an academic test for university admission and employment, and a general test for migration and travelling.

Some test centres also offer Life Skills tests in CEFR levels A1, A2 and B1 to assess a person’s everyday English communication skills for UK visas and immigration.

Skills: For the general and academic tests, all four skills are covered. Listening and speaking are the same for the academic and general tests, but reading and writing differ. For Life Skills, only speaking and listening are covered.

Location: Official testing centres

Delivery: The academic and general tests are paper- or computer-based, except for speaking, which is face-to-face with an examiner. Life Skills exams are done with an examiner and one other test-taker, face-to-face.

Timing: Academic and general tests are just under 3 hours. The Life Skills exams range from 16 to 22 minutes.

Scoring: For IELTS academic and general, you get an overall score from 1 (non-user) to 9 (expert). Life Skills is a pass-or-fail test.

Results: General and academic paper-based test results are available in 13 days. Computer-based test results are available in 5 to 7 days. Life Skills results are ready within 7 days.

4. Cambridge

Purpose: Cambridge has separate exams for each English CEFR level, from A2 (elementary) to C2 (proficiency), which are for different purposes. For example, to assess your English for university or professional employment, you’ll likely have to pass the C1 (advanced) test.

Skills: Tests generally consist of reading and use of English (one section), writing, speaking and listening.

Location: Official testing centres

Delivery: Cambridge is computer- or paper-based, except for the speaking test, which is face-to-face with another test-taker.

Timing: Ranges from 90 minutes (A2) to 4 hours (C2).

Scoring: This is a pass-or-fail exam. You will only get a certificate if you get a passing score.

Results: Paper-based test results are ready in 4 to 6 weeks. Computer-based results are delivered in 2 to 3 weeks.

Cost: Contact your local test centre for specific pricing details – exams are usually around € 150.

5. Linguaskill

Purpose: Linguaskill is a Cambridge test that assesses your English skills for educational institutions, government bodies and prospective employers.

Skills: You can take the general version or the business version. There’s a speaking section, reading/listening section and writing section. The test can assess one skill or all skills.

Location: Anywhere

Timing: Between 120 and 135 minutes

Scoring: The test assesses your English using the CEFR levels from A1 (beginner) to C2 (proficiency). Unlike traditional Cambridge exams, it is not a pass-or-fail test.

Results: Typically available in 48 hours

Cost: Take the Linguaskill exam for € 69 per section, or € 149 for all four skills.

Practice materials: Have a look here.

Take your pick

Now that you’ve got the details, you’re ready to choose the right test. Good luck!

How to Prepare for English Exams (in 5 Steps)

English is a diverse subject. And in an English class, there’s so much you get tested on.

So preparation has to do with the test contents.

Specifically, you get a test on…

How you prepare for both is different. But, there is a staple routine you can follow for English exams.

We’ll discuss that routine below, in the form of 5 simple English tips!

1. Research the Exam Content.

Get to know what you must study, and what to set aside.

Teachers don’t test you on full curricula. Sometimes, there will be omissions or lessons that won’t be featured in a test.

Of all English tips, this is the most vital, especially for occasional exams (monthly and mid-year).

You don’t want to study things that won’t be featured. That will harm your score in the long run.

Ask Your Teacher.

Get the information directly from your professor/instructor.

You need to be extra sure of what’s included and what’s not included. And there’s a chance you’ll get misinformation if you ask a classmate.

You can contact them by email or directly. In fact, we recommend heading to class to get the info!

2. Prepare a Schedule.

You can’t study without a schedule.

You must assign different times of the day to study. Also, you must assign different study tactics for different times of the day.

The schedule you create is based on many factors. It depends on the exam you’ll take, and the time you have.

Most of the time you assign will be for practice.

This practice isn’t something you can do alone. You need the aid of rubrics and an instructor to improve your English essay skills.

With literature, you spend most of your time reading and analyzing.

Literature tests your understanding of specific content. There are specific books or novels you’ll be tested on.

You need to engage your thinking process with the book. You need to draw links between the story, its meaning, and the evolution of its events.

For both literature and essay writing, don’t forget your class notes.

With English, class notes help you pick up on thoughts and points you may have forgotten. They also make excellent sources to make summaries.

English Exams Are Not About Marks.

Most subjects make you study for marks. And the same applies to English exams.

But with English, practice is key. You need to start studying early, else you fail to pass.

So your schedule has to be designed 2-3 months before exam time. Studying a week before exams is a recipe for disaster.

3. Do Practice Tests.

If you’re getting an exam, use past exams to prepare yourself.

Combine this point with the previous. Schedule consistent practice tests to see how well you do.

This way, you adapt yourself to the question format of the exam. You also adapt yourself to answering in a way that gets you top scores.

4. Attend Revision Classes.

Most instructors hold revision classes to summarize the curriculum.

Sometimes, they hold it to summarize exam contents, or to point out best methods of scoring marks.

You need to attend those revision classes. It’s a chance to fulfill the first point (of figuring out the exam contents).

It also gives you an advantage. You can better tweak your schedule for effective studying.

5. Rest Well Before an Exam.

Study a ton, but don’t overstress yourself.

Too much stress will affect your performance. It’ll make you unable to study or absorb the content of your lessons.

So here’s what you should do…

Don’t expend your energy in social interactions – unless they help with study.

Instead, avoid noisy locations or excess stimuli. This will keep your mind sharp and focused for study.

Socialization is also distracting. If you socialize too much, you risk wasting unnecessary hours that may disrupt your schedule.

Don’t eat food that ruins your energy levels.

This includes very high energy diets that can give you sugar spikes. And with sugar spikes, you won’t be able to focus for hours.

Instead, eat lower calorie meals.

Sleep Well, So that you can sleep better so that you can wake up feeling refreshed and remain focused throughout the day.

Needless to say, this is the most important tip.

Proper sleep is what you need to wake up for better focus.

We don’t recommend over studying beyond sleeping hours. With proper sleep, you recover well in preparation for the next day’s study!

How to prepare for an English exam – The 6 Best ways!

Are you thinking of taking an English exam? Perhaps you should. They’re a good way of motivating you to study. Here are our top tips on how to prepare for an English exam in nine months. This is the first part of a series on doing exams.

Let’s imagine you’ve got nine months to prepare for your English exam. You could be an intermediate-level student who wants to do the First Certificate in English (FCE); or someone who’s already passed FCE who wants to do Cambridge Advanced. You can prepare yourself with just an hour a day over the nine-month period before the exam.

Here’s what you should be doing.

1 General preparation

Most exams test your general ability to communicate in English. So, in order to prepare you for this, you’ll need to work on the four key communication skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking.

The best way to do this is to immerse yourself in the language, and to do a bit every day to increase your general level. Language learning takes time, and in order for it to take place, you need to read and listen a lot in order to get enough exposure to the language.

In fact, language learning takes place through input (reading + listening) and practice (speaking + writing).

2 Vocabulary

For many exams, you’ll need a wide range of vocabulary. So, while you’re reading and listening to English, you should start creating lists of useful words and expressions.

But remember, always write these out in sentences, so you can learn chunks of language (not individual words). In order to learn these words, you could write them out on cards to study while you’re out and about (see the example in the next column).

You could also record them so you can listen to them while you’re walking or driving, or create gap-fill exercises for them, translate them, draw pictures of them – anything that you feel could help you learn them.

Memorising expressions will help with your writing and speaking (so you can reproduce them in written or spoken form) or listening (so you can understand them). Aim to do at least 10 minutes of vocabulary preparation every day for the 9 months before the exam.

3 Listening

There are two types of listening that you’ll need to do in preparation for the exam:

A: General listening to get an ear for the language. This consists of listening to songs, films, the radio, TV series, the news… all in English, of course. The more you listen, the better you’ll become at distinguishing sounds. And once you can do that, you’ll find that you start learning much faster.
B: Focussed listening. This consists of listening activities from course books, Hot English, or other sources. Read and listen at the same time so you can see and hear the relationship between the spoken and written language. Also, listen to a variety of accents (as you’ll find in Hot English), not just British or American English accents. Aim to do at least 15 minutes of listening practice every day for the 9 months before the exam.

4 Reading

Another great way to improve your general level of English is to read. You should choose things that you’re interested in and read as much as you can. You can read articles from news sites on the internet, books, magazines, Hot English, guides on hobbies… anything.

Reading is a great source of language, and while reading, you’ll see how the language fits together, and how structures and words are used. Try to read quickly and without looking up too many words. This will make it interesting for you. Above all, read something you’re interested in to keep up your motivation. Aim to do at least 15 minutes of reading every day for the 9 months before the exam.

5 Writing

In preparation for the exam, you should aim to do lots of free writing. Writing is a great way of consolidating your learning – of showing you where the gaps in your learning are, or which words and expressions you need in order to express yourself freely.

You can write out anecdotes or stories in English that you can use later when you’re speaking. Or, you could write a blog entry, an e-mail to a friend, a Facebook update, a text message… anything, as long as it’s in English. Aim to do about 10 minutes of writing every day for the 9 months before the exam.

6 Speaking

During the nine months before the exam, you should try to get as much speaking practice as you can. Once again, do a bit every day (rather than leaving it all for the last four weeks or so). You can practise speaking English with other English learners, your friends, your teacher, a private teacher or foreign students.

These days, with the internet, you can also speak to people from other countries through Skype. Talking to yourself in English can also be very helpful. Describe how you’re feeling or what you’re doing. For example “I’m feeling a bit tired today. I’ve got to go to the post office later to post a letter. It’s raining again, so I should take my umbrella.”

You could also record yourself speaking English, and then listen back to it. This will help with your pronunciation and hopefully you’ll also hear mistakes that you can correct! In order to help with your speaking, you can also do lots of listen-and-repeat activities with any useful expressions and chunks of language. This will help you internalise them, so they’re ready to use in conversation spontaneously. Aim to do at least 10 minutes of speaking practice every day for the 9 months before the exam.

With just one hour a day for the period of nine months before the exam, you’ll increase your chances of passing by 100%… guaranteed!
■ Vocabulary = 10 minutes
■ Reading = 15 minutes
■ Listening = 15 minutes
■ Writing = 10 minutes
■ Speaking = 10 minutes
Total = 1 hour!

Copyright © 2019 by Hot English Publishing

How Learn Hot English can help with your English exams

By reading and listening to Learn Hot English regularly, you’ll improve your chances of passing exams. But how? Simple!
■ Hot English will help you build up your range of vocabulary.
■ It’ll give you lots of useful reading and listening practice.
■ Hot English is broken down into levels, with carefully selected language for each level.
■ The type of language used in each level is the sort of language you’ll find in the corresponding exams.
■ Hot English is written in an informal, spoken style, giving you the type of language you need to communicate effectively in English.
By reading and listening to Hot English texts, you’ll improve your chances of passing the exam by 100%… guaranteed!

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