Writing a review
A guide to get the best mark in your writing task.
Infografía
How to write a review for the Cambridge exam?
In the second part of the Writing skill at the B2 and C1 levels, you will have to choose what type of text you want to write. Among the types of texts to choose from, we find the review. It is a guided writing, therefore, you’ll be given information about context, topic and target reader. Keep this information in mind!
Characteristics
The tone is a very important component. In order to do it right, think about where the text is going to be published and who is going to read it. For example, if it is for a magazine, you should be semi-formal but also friendly. The text must be catchy to grab the reader’s attention.
To get the highest mark in your review, make vivid descriptions using adjectives and adverbs. However, avoid vague words like good or bad. Instead, use more descriptive ones such as terrific or awful. The first thing the reader sees is the title, so it should be interesting and appealing.
In short, remember that you have to understand the context of the writing (the tone, the reader, the register, etc.) as well as the proper structure. To help you organise your ideas, you could brainstorm some useful vocabulary and expressions that you want to introduce such as I strongly recommend, I wouldn’t recommend, considering…, astonishing, terrific, outrageous… Planning is key when writing so don’t skip it!
Structure
Title: remember that it must be short, interesting and appealing.
Introduction. In this section, the main ideas that will be discussed are presented. It must answer the question What am I going to talk about?
Body. It is made up of the main ideas you will discuss. Therefore, in this case, you should write a paragraph summarizing the experience, book, object, movie, etc. that you have to review. Then, a second paragraph highlighting something that especially caught your attention.
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, in short. You can also make your recommendation at this stage.