Write your Essay in a few easy steps
Teresa
31/05/2022
A guide to get the best mark in your writing task.
Infografía
How to write an essay for the Cambridge exam?
In the first part of the Writing skill at the B2 level, you will always have to write an essay. Normally, a situation is introduced together with a few notes as instructions to structure your writing. Keep them in mind! since it is essential that you assess each note in the exercise. Moreover, as you will see in the example, the writing must consist of 140 to 190 words conveying the notes given as well as your personal opinion on the subject discussed.
Example
In your English class, you have been talking about the fashion industry. Now, your English teacher has asked you to write an essay. Write an essay of 140 – 190 words using all the notes and giving reasons for your point of view.
Many people think that fast fashion is harming the environment. Do you agree?
Notes:
Write about:
– Why people are interested in fast fashion
-Possible alternatives
-Your own idea
Characteristics
Your aim is to analyse a given topic. Therefore, you should be able to use vocabulary closely related to that topic. Since if the vocabulary is vague or too general, that will show the examiner that you are not familiar with the required vocabulary.
Additionally, you should create a debate. The examiner will assess how you express your opinion as well as how you contrast it with other arguments.
There are many possible structures to this requirement. For example, you could analyse the pros and cons of an idea. You could also firstly, contrast two different points of view and secondly, provide an opinion finding common points. The key is to separate different ideas into different paragraphs.
Register. This is a formal writing, therefore, you should keep that tone consistently in the text. Consequently, you are not allowed to use contractions in the production (can’t → cannot), the construction very + adjective is substituted for a synonym (very important → essential), as stated before, avoid vague words which do not provide specific meaning (thing, very, big, etc.)
Structure
Normally, essays are divided into 5 paragraphs although it is not compulsory.
Introduction. In this section the main ideas that will be discussed are presented together with a thesis statement, which is a sentence that generally encapsulates the main idea of the text.
Body. Is made up of three paragraphs, each of them dealing with a specific topic or point of view. For instance, if you are discussing about fast fashion you can discuss these ideas in the different paragraphs:
– Why people is interested in fast fashion
-Possible alternatives
-Raise awareness: we need a more sustainable industry
Conclusion. In this last part, you should make a quick summary of the ideas mentioned in the body introduced by connectors such as: in conclusion, in a nutshell, as an overall conclusion… Then, try to create your own concluding statement, remember that you must not introduce new ideas but an ending. Look at this example:
In conclusion, in this essay I have discussed why people are interested in fast fashion, I have also explored some of the alternatives such as second-hand stores, and finally, I have emphasised that we should aim for a more sustainable industry. Big changes start with individual actions.