| Book of the Month | ||
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First Certificate Language Practice | |
Publisher: Macmillan
Authors: Michael Vince with Paul Emmerson
341 pages.
£ 12.95
ISBN: 1-405-00766-4
It's coming to the time when the English for Everybody Exam practice section starts getting lots of visitors, and practice CD sales shoot up. It is the time of the year when many of our visitors face the challenge of EFL exams. So this month we decided to look at a new book from Macmillan for FCE students. The authors are both very experienced EFL writers (Michael Vince has been a writer and EFL teacher for at least the last 15 years), and this book is useful both for FCE practice and as a general grammar book. But those who get it for the FCE practice should note that this book covers only grammar and vocabulary. For other parts of the test you will have to look elsewhere.
The book has two main sections. The longest is grammar, which fills pages 1-200 and the other is vocabulary. The grammar is broken into 35 sections, with every fifth section being a consolidation section. Each of the other sections consists of a grammar point (e.g. Articles, Phrasal verbs, Pronouns) with one or two pages of explanation and exercises of the kind that you will see in the actual FCE exam. Pages 203-296 are vocabulary exercises themed around topics such as Restaurants, Crime and Technology. There is a word list at the back, which may not be particularly useful, and an index of the grammar points which will be. There is no information or tips on how to do the exam itself.
There are occasional black and white drawings in this book, but most of it is solid English practice. The book has a white and purple theme, with the consolidation pages a pale shade of lilac.
Who is this book for? The book can be used as a class book, though an edition without an answer key would be preferable. Although it is called a First Certificate Language Practice book, it is in fact a very useful grammar book for anyone who wants to study English at the First Certificate level, whether they want to do the exam or not. If you do get the book to prepare for the exam, you are advised to do some further reading about the exam (for example on this website) as well as doing the exercises in the book.
Verdict: Good FCE grammar book, especially if you like purple.
Assessment 7/10