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Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English | |
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Price £9.75
151 pages
ISBN: 0-521-79767-5
As English for Everybody are going to be launching their online practice tests for the Advanced English exam over the next few months, we thought we should give you a look at the 'official' version - the tests prepared by Cambridge University Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) and printed by Cambridge University Press. Here we review Book 3, using the version with answers at the back. (Our free version will be through the EFL exam practice link on the English for Everybody home page.)
What you get in this book are practice exams. The book contains four complete versions of the Advanced English exam. These are very much the real thing. There is no difference at all in the level of difficulty of these papers and the difficulty of the real exam. So if you do these tests and pass easily every time, then you can approach the real exam with confidence. On the other hand, if you keep failing, this is an opportunity to see where your weaknesses are and correct them. One good thing is that you get the listening test in written form at the back of the book, so if you are having trouble with the tapes (which you have to buy separately) you can look at the tape scripts and see the level of vocabulary, idiom and inference that you need to understand when doing the listening paper. Apart from examples of the tests there is not much in the book. If you want detailed advice on exam techniques, for example, you need to look elsewhere.
When using these tests you should take note of how long it takes you do to each paper, and try to keep within the time guides that you find in the book. Remember that after some papers you will be given time to transfer your answers to an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) answer sheet so that your work can be marked by a computer. It is a good idea to practice this as well, as you can lose marks by doing it wrongly.
Who is this book for? Anyone who is thinking of doing the Advanced English exam should look at these practice tests. Teachers who do not want to get a book for every member of the class should at least have their own copy. Even though there will be a free practice test on this site shortly, it is not always possible to work at a computer.
Verdict: As close as you can get to the real thing. Don't expect much helpful advice as well.
Assessment 8/10