How to teach Cambridge exam classes

Cambridge English exams are taken by over 5.5 million candidates per year in 130 different countries. Since introducing the first English language assessment in 1913, Cambridge exams have steadily grown to become the most reputable and recognised English language qualifications across the globe. As a teacher of English, this is great news for you because it creates demand for courses which prepare students for their exams. However, first you need to know how to teach Cambridge exam classes.

Exam classes have become increasingly popular in English language teaching as learners around the world strive to obtain a certification of their English level. Students tend to take their exam classes seriously because their results matter to them. A pass or fail in a Cambridge exam could be an essential factor in getting a job, graduating university or being able to immigrate to an English speaking country. This means the teacher of an exam class takes on a role of responsibility, guiding their students through the preparation process. 

Don’t let that fact scare you. Many exam students are also preparing for an exam because they like learning English and see the exam as a personal objective. And no matter what their motivation is, exam class students are generally dedicated, focused and hardworking.

Regardless of the reason for taking a Cambridge exam preparation course, there is no doubt that it’s not the same as other courses. There is both a responsibility and a expectation of success. While there is always a place for communication, teachers can’t just waltz into an exam preparation course with a couple of photocopies and let their student’s chat away for an hour or two before calling it a day. Get ready for your students to see you as the expert, whether you currently are or not.

The history of Cambridge exams

Although Cambridge University was founded in 1209, Cambridge English exams didn’t become a thing until 1913, when the first Proficiency exam was sat by 3 candidates.

Obviously, the exam was quite different back then. It lasted a gruelling 12 hours and included translation, dictation, literature and phonetics among other things. Unfortunately, all 3 of the candidates who sat that exam in 1913 failed.

Proficiency was joined by the First Certificate in 1939 (hence the now confusing name) and Preliminary had a short lifespan in the 40s until being eliminated and reintroduced in the 80s. In same decade, IELTS was introduced to initial challenges until being reintroduced and experiencing rapid growth. It wasn’t until 1991 that Cambridge introduced the Advanced exam along with other assessments like KET, BEC and the YLE exams over the next decade.

When the Common European Framework was published in 2001, Cambridge already had a full suite of exams and a good hold over the global English exam market. Between then and now, Cambridge exam candidature has increased from approximately 1 million annually to over 4 million, leaving no doubt that it is one of the foremost players in the global English exam market.

If you’d like to learn more about the history of Cambridge exams, ELT News has a detailed article here.

How to teach Cambridge exam classes effectively

The importance of exam practice

By the nature of an exam class, it must include practice for the exam. An exam course without exam practice would never sufficiently prepare a student. However, the course must also include language input. The balance of teaching and testing is different from that of a general English course because students often expect substantial exam practice. 

Don’t make the same mistake I did. After a month or so of the first exam course I ever taught (CAE believe it or not), I had a couple of students come up to me after class and say the course was too easy for them, that they didn’t feel challenged. These were not the strongest students in the class, so I was surprised and asked them what they felt they needed to increase the challenge.

They said they would like to spend the first part of class doing exam tasks. At that point in my career, I was shocked. I’d always thought teaching English was supposed to be about fun, chat and mingle activities. Why would I demotivate a class by doing exam tasks the moment I walked in?  But that’s exactly what they wanted and I respect them for having come to me to say so. And it didn’t demotivate them. In fact, exam practice warmers often led to meaningful and engaging language-focused input.

This doesn’t mean you need to make the exam practice in class boring and repetitive, but it does need to be there in some shape or form. You can’t just expect your students to struggle through all the boring exam stuff at home without your help.

Teaching exam technique is also vital in Cambridge exam classes. In fact, teaching skills and strategies for completing different tasks within the allotted time might take up to 50% of class time. For this reason, exam-style tasks as well as progress tests should be integrated into your Cambridge exam classes. Additionally, conducting practice tests or mock exams has the benefit of recreating exam conditions, which prepares students and pre-empts potential unpleasant surprises on exam day.

In order to avoid negative backwash, teachers must be careful to balance the positive elements of teaching such as rapport, learning from error and communicative cooperation with the potentially damaging elements of testing such as anxiety and potential for failure.

Motivation in Cambridge exam classes

In general, the driving motivation for any exam student is to pass their exam. However, my experience with Cambridge exam classes has shown that students’ motivation can fluctuate. Stress is also a factor in motivation and over time students can become burnt out from the pressure of the exam and the repetitive nature of exam practice.

The variety of motivation and potential for fluctuation in an exam class means that teachers must be aware of individual students. Acting supportively and building into the course opportunity to discuss coping with pressure can help students who feel under stress. I also believe that an exam course should include individual tutorials between the teacher and students in order to personalise their progress.

Learner autonomy

In order to successfully tackle a formal examination, many students must be trained how to learn autonomously. While learner autonomy is beneficial in all learning situations, the sheer volume of work necessary for an exam course means that students who embrace autonomy are often better prepared.

Teach your students how to find resources for their own learning both online and in print. Design a reading log and/or listening log to ensure your students are getting sufficient skills practice outside class. And most importantly, encourage and insist that your students complete and correct time consuming exam practice outside class. This grants you, as the teacher, more time in class to focus on improving language skills and exam techniques.

Skills vs systems

Cambridge exams are heavily weighted towards testing language skills (reading, writing, listening & speaking) rather than systems (grammar, lexis, discourse & pronunciation). For example, the First Certificate exam has five papers, four of which are directly focused on individual skills. This means you need to spend a great deal of time not only practising these skills, but training students in the sub-skills that enable them to improve their results.

That means you need to research and ask yourself some tough questions. How do we read by skimming or scanning texts? How do we listen for general ideas or specific information? How do we deduce meaning of vocabulary through context? How do we connect our ideas together to create effective discourse? How do we organise a writing to increase communicative effectiveness? And most of all, how do I teach these things?

Despite all this, consolidation of language will almost always be necessary because an exam candidate must also feel confident with language systems. Many candidates enter Cambridge exam classes with remedial problems that must be resolved. For example, lexical input is necessary to aid understanding of texts and audios. This type of input should generally be covered in the context of the exam whenever possible and in a way which raises the students’ awareness of language necessary for the exam.

Exam classes at different levels

B1 – Preliminary (PET)

B1 is the standard. It’s the level which almost everyone seems to want to achieve. In Spain, where I work, a minimum B1 is required for most university degrees. It’s the level that shows you have a working knowledge of English in everyday situations. At B1 level, you should be able to maintain an interaction in English without a breakdown in communication.

For exam students, the Preliminary (PET) exam is often the first time they have encountered a Cambridge exam. That means you have to be clear and precise about exactly what they should expect. The benefit of Cambridge exams is their strictly set structure. Show you students how the exam is always the same format and they will start to feel more familiar and less afraid of it.

Being newbies at English exams means that your students might think they can get ready for the exam by just cramming in practice test after practice test. While this might work for some, there may also be underlying language issues which need to be addressed before your students are ready for the exam. Make sure your students are aware of your approach, show them where the language enters into the exam and give them the tools to improve their language and not only their exam skills.

Preliminary (PET) underwent a major overhaul as of January 2020. Read about the updates in our post about the 2020 exams.

B1 is very teachable. Cambridge even provides a word list at B1 level which students and teachers can use to see the type of vocabulary that is expected. They also have a penchant for difficult pairs of words like lend and borrow, which always catch students off guard.

The grammar at B1 is predictable also. I don’t think there’s a PET exam on the planet without comparatives, superlatives, present perfect, relative pronouns or 1st conditional in it somewhere. Use this to your advantage and show your students exactly what to expect. Rinse, repeat and drill that language into your students from day one. And make sure they use it right!

Skills work can be the most challenging part of teaching Cambridge exam classes and PET level is no different. At this level, students may get frustrated that they can’t understand every word, or they may take too long on tasks that could be completed quickly. This is where you come in. Teach them how to read and listen for details they are being asked for instead of worrying about the big picture. Show them how they only really need to understand 50% of a text to answer the questions. Give them the tools to predict what type of answer is needed and how to know when it’s coming up. If you do this, you’ll see a much bigger improvement in results than with repetitive practice.

Finally, B1 is a joy to teach, so enjoy it! You have so much knowledge that your students are just waiting for you to impart.

Find materials for the Preliminary (PET) exam here.

B2 – First (FCE)

B2 is where things start to get challenging. For many learners of English, it’s sink or swim at this level. You might encounter learners who struggle to push past the learning barrier that comes with more challenging vocabulary, grammar and the realisation that not everything can be directly translated to their first language.

The expectations for First (FCE) is that candidates are able to communicate in any everyday situation and somewhat handle complex situations. Their comprehension and ability to express themselves should allow them to communicate effectively with other English speakers. However, they may not be completely ready for difficult academic or professional situations.

At this point, you may be teaching students who have already taken the PET exam so they will be familiar with Cambridge exams in general. However, there are quite a few new task types in FCE which did not come into play in PET. This includes an entire Use of English paper with tasks such as open cloze and expanded key-word transformations which will continue to delight both teacher and students throughout your course.

This is where your students will need the most help. Don’t neglect extensive exam training on these new tasks and on all the tasks in all the papers. Timing becomes more of a challenge and in general the exam is much longer. Course books often have good training sections, but they often lose priority to language work. Make sure that, as the teacher, you are giving time limits and training students in exam tasks both from course books and past papers.

Having said that, don’t ignore language work. There are quite a few grammatical structures and vocabulary areas which will be new for your B2 students. Expect complex passives, unreal conditionals and phrasal verbs to challenge your students. And don’t neglect getting them ready for topics like the environment which Cambridge loves to include in their exams.

Overall, keep pushing your B2 students to learn new language while training them on the exam. Have fun with it and show them that they are capable of breaking through the B2 barrier!

Find materials for the First (FCE) exam here.

C1 – Advanced (CAE)

C1 is difficult. There’s no doubt about it. At this point, it’s not just about communicating effectively or adequately, it’s about showing that you are able to handle simple and complex situations with ease. On top of that, Advanced (CAE) candidates are expected to maintain a high level of accuracy while producing advanced language.

I’ve found that there are 2 types of advanced students. Those who integrate English into their lives, whether at work, home or leisure, and those who continue to view English as little more than a subject. The former are nearly always better candidates for CAE. The fact of the matter is that there is a limit to how much can be covered in a course or in a course book and there is so much that can enter into an Advanced exam.

Does this mean that there’s no hope for the second type of student? Of course not. As their teacher, your role begins to move away from language expert and more into being a mentor. Encourage your advanced students from day one to listen, read and write in English. Give them articles, apps, videos and tasks to challenge their level of English and hopefully motivate them to realise how good their level is.

However, there is still a lot of room for new input at this level. Students need to grasp grammar like cleft sentences and inversion while also increasing vocabulary with advanced collocations, phrasal verbs and fixed expressions.

The two elements that are going to determine a candidate’s success in CAE are accuracy and ability to use complex language. Keep this in mind for your lessons by forcing students to use any new language in exam tasks. Speaking or writing the basics well isn’t enough anymore and it’s a lesson that will take a while for them to learn.

At the end of the day, teaching advanced students is extremely rewarding. They can engage with you, chat about absolutely anything and even challenge your own knowledge. But don’t let that frighten you, everybody has always got something to learn!

Find materials for the Advanced (CAE) exam here.

Dos and Don’ts in Cambridge exam classes

Conclusion

Despite the challenges, stresses and pressure that can come with Cambridge exam classes, enjoy it and make it engaging for your students. Teaching Cambridge exam classes is like a balancing act. Just the right amount of push with a touch of fun will go a long way in showing that you are the best teacher for the job!