#308 Pass the Cambridge English Exams with Ben Gill
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Hello everybody and welcome back to the Level Up English podcast, the best place to come to practice the English language, learn about the British accent and culture with me, your host, Michael Labors.

I have a special episode today that I've been planning or trying to plan for quite a long time, perhaps even more than one year. And I finally found the perfect guest to join me in this episode. So today we are talking with Ben Gill from To The Point English. You may have come across Ben before, especially on YouTube.

Ben has quite a popular YouTube channel where he primarily, mostly, looks at topics around the Cambridge English exams. And this is exactly what I wanted to ask Ben about today. Of course, Ben has a lot of knowledge in different areas, but I thought I would make the most of this opportunity and talk with him all about these exams. So specifically, Ben is, as he says in the episode today, quite...

knowledgeable when it comes to the B2, C1 and C2 exams. So these are the higher level Cambridge exams. And these are quite common. I know many of you either have taken them before or are taking them right now, or maybe you're considering taking the exam in the future. And for you, this will definitely be a useful episode because we cover...

As much as we can in this short time together. So I try to make the most of the time with Ben and ask about each section of the exam. And I try to cover some common problems or questions that students might have on the exams, such as how to manage your time during the writing exam, different accents that you might hear in the listening exam, and how much

advanced English you need to learn to prepare for the exam and how much time to give for the exam as well. We cover so many things in this short episode and I know you're going to find it useful. So don't forget to check it out and Ben gives all his secret tips in today's episode.

So I hope you enjoy it. If you're not taking the exam, I still think you could get some benefit from this episode because we talk a little bit about general English learning and maybe taking the exam just to test yourself as well. But I do appreciate that this is a more specific topic today, so I hope it will help some of you. And if you're not taking the exam, I hope it still

somewhat interesting. And if nothing else, maybe you can go follow Ben on his social medias. Again, it's ToThePointEnglish on YouTube and Ben's website is TTPEnglish.com. So I think I'll leave my introduction there. Let's get right into the episode and hope you enjoy it.

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Level Up English podcast. I have a special guest today, Ben from To The Point English. How are you doing?

I'm very well, Michael. Thank you for having me. It's very nice to meet you. Yes, likewise, likewise. Thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate your time. You have kindly come on today because we're going to be maybe talking a little bit about the Cambridge exams. And this is something that I have helped students with in the past, but this was kind of several years ago and very rusty at the moment. So I'm really hoping that I can

hoping that I can rely on you a little bit to maybe educate our audience today, if that's okay. Sure, I'll do what I can. Nice. Well, maybe if you don't mind, could you give a little bit of an introduction as to who you are, maybe where you post online as well and that kind of stuff?

Sure, yeah. I'm Ben. I'm an English teacher. I've been teaching English for over 22 years now. So I live in Spain, but I was born in England on the outskirts of London. But I really grew up in a village near Cambridge. Yeah, I've been teaching English for a long time. And a few years ago, I think just over four years ago, I started a YouTube channel, which I call To The Point English with Ben. And I started making general videos.

YouTube videos for English learners of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, the typical stuff. But I have, I had, and I have a lot of experience with the Cambridge English exam. So I made one video on how to prepare for the Cambridge English exams that really, it got more interest than, than other videos. I noticed there was a demand and a need for more help with the Cambridge English exam. So I started

focusing more and more specifically on the, um, B2 first C1 advanced and C2 proficiency. So the higher level Cambridge English exams, um, because they're big exams and there's a lot to think about in the exam. So I started focusing more and more on those, those exams and helping, helping people. And yeah, it's, um,

It seems that, as I said, people really need a lot of help with these exams. So I'm doing my best to help them. And I've been offering sort of courses and classes and really focusing on those exams for the last three years, I would say. Fantastic. And is a lot of your work now online or are you working more so in person? Yeah.

No, it's all online now. I started the YouTube channel during the pandemic, like a lot of people, I think a lot of English teachers and other fields, people starting to offer, starting to do podcasts or YouTube channels and things like that, because they had a bit more working from home and having a bit more time. So pretty much from that moment, I started transitioning away from in-person classes and doing everything online. So

I have some sort of regular classes like traditional, but through Zoom or through video conferencing platforms. But also, yeah, a lot of people specifically, most of my students specifically are preparing for the Cambridge English exam. So it's just helping them prepare for those really.

I see. Okay. From what I understand about the exams, it might depend on where you are in the world, like what country you are. I think different countries will, you know, some countries will focus more on the IELTS exam, maybe some on the Cambridge. I might be wrong, but that's my understanding. And also, maybe it will be good to quickly mention

who might want to take the exam. I don't know if it is only for specific reasons like getting into university or maybe it could be a good exam to take just out of interest and to test yourself. I don't know. Do you see those kind of students too? Yeah, yeah. I'd see a variety of reasons for taking the exam. And also depending on the level. I mean, B2 first is often...

sort of secondary school students um but also highly older students too but and the higher levels the c1 advanced for example is the one that you know most many companies and institutions like universities require a c1 level and many specify that they not just any c1 exam they want the cambridge c1 advanced exam as you said ielts is very popular with sort of for sort of

immigration purposes and also some universities. But I think generally the Cambridge English exams for, you know, if you need C1 or perhaps a C2 level, it's less common for companies to require a C2 level. It does, it can happen.

But then the Cambridge English exams are very prestigious. I think that the most prestigious exams are the most respected. For example, in Spain, where I live in Spain, they have their own official language school, C1 level. But in my experience, the C1 level for the official language school in Spain is not the same level as the C1 advanced Cambridge English exam. C1 advanced, it's more demanding, the Cambridge English exam.

So therefore, it's more respected. It's more prestigious. If you just need a C1 level, maybe there are easier exams. They shouldn't be. C1 should be C1 wherever you are, wherever you prepare. But the Cambridge exams are more... They're big exams and they're very demanding. So I think if you really want that level of

prestige, I would go for the Cambridge exams. But you were asking, there are also a lot of people who take the C2 proficiency, which is the highest level. They're just doing it for a personal challenge. You get a lot of English teachers who have been teaching English for many years. They have a very high level of English, but they just, maybe they've got stuck in a rut a little bit. They're just teaching lower levels and they don't really feel that they're challenging themselves. And they just want something to focus their studies and give them

give themselves that boost. And that's, that's probably the most common reason for taking the C2 proficiency exam. It's like a, like a personal challenge. So yeah, many different reasons, but yeah. Yeah. I can imagine that I've had students before too, who are like that, where their English in some ways is better than mine. Like their vocabulary is so good and yet they still want to go further. And it's, it's, I think at that stage, it's more just like a hobby and interest and not to say that that exam is only for that purpose, but yeah.

I guess, yeah, as you said, it's more common. Yes, it's very good to see, though. Yeah. But I think it would be nice. I should say, first of all, it's such a big exam. And obviously, as you said, there are different levels and different sections in the exam as well. So it's way too much to cover in one episode. So I kind of thought we could cover...

maybe try to get to each section and just do some general questions there we'll see if we have time i don't know um but obviously it won't be that uh detailed but sure maybe to uh decide where we start what section of the exam do you see students having the most trouble with is it possible to point one out

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Hope you find it useful. Thank you so much. It's difficult because it does depend on the student, but I mean, there are basically four papers for, I mean, whether we're referring to the B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency, there are four papers. You have the Reading and Use of English. So some years ago, there were two papers. There was the Reading was one paper. The Use of English was another paper. Now they're together. There's the Reading and Use of English.

the writing, the listening, and the speaking papers. So those are the four papers. But within those papers, like the reading and use of English for the C1 advanced, there are eight parts. In the writing, there are two parts. Students have to write two compositions. In the listening, there are four parts. And in the speaking, there are also four parts. So there are a lot of

parts of the exam. But to answer your question, I think it's the writing paper that most students struggle with. Well, I'm sure actually when I, you know, students often share their results statements with me when they get them, when they've passed, hopefully their exams. And I would say over 90% of the statements I see, it's the writing score is the lowest. It's not, not a hundred percent, but I would say around 90%. It's,

I think that's just because we don't write that much these days. I mean, we write lots of text messages and maybe emails, but actually sitting down and spending 45 minutes to write an essay or a report or a review in any language, whether it's your own language or English, we're not familiar with it. So students really struggle with just how to write and how to organize their compositions.

So, unfortunately, it's the one area that I recommend students focus on and really practice, but most people hate it. So they kind of try to avoid it at all costs and always looking for any sort of shortcuts or tips to make it easier. And there are tips for strategy and things you can do to make it a little easier, but at the end of the day, it's practicing and practicing.

and making the effort and really doing as many sample tasks as possible. So yeah, that's probably the most difficult paper or the most challenging paper, I think, is the writing. But individual parts, in the reading part, there's one kind of infamous, it's called the gapped text, where students have to choose paragraphs to complete a long text and it

It's really tough. In the listening, there's the last part of the listening. Cambridge can be really cruel because you have the reading and use of English, the writing, and then the listening. Speaking is sometimes on a different day, but then the last part of the listening, so you've been maybe three hours to taking this exam, and the last part of the listening is probably one of the most difficult parts of the whole exam. So you're tired and

Maybe getting a bit distracted and you have to make this really big effort to focus on this last listening task. And that's a big part of it, just staying focused throughout the exam. And as I said, it's a big, big exam and people really underestimate it sometimes how challenging it can be.

Yeah. And I think with many exams, I know more about the IELTS exam personally, but it's not just about improving your English. It's also understanding the structure and the format of the exam as well. So I imagine that's a big part of this as well. That's huge. My preparation course is really focused on strategy, the approach for every part, because

You should be improving your English level. You should be expanding your vocabulary, revising the grammar and all those things. Anyway, that should be a part of your English learning journey. But for the exams, as you said, it's a lot about developing a strategy for every part of every paper. So yeah, definitely. Yeah.

uh well speak speaking of that then maybe we could start with writing uh get the hardest maybe the hardest one out of the way um obviously if you think of anything else that you might like to advise you're welcome to bring it up i've just got a few questions in mind like i think one thing that people struggle with is magic managing their time maybe i think they have like 90 minutes is it or something um yeah and

And the time management can be challenging. So do you have any tips or suggestions around time management? Yeah, that is a really good point. It's very difficult to write two compositions in 90 minutes. So basically 45 minutes each. For the B2 first, it's 40 minutes per composition. Well, it depends how you divide your time, but it's an hour and 20 minutes. But for the C1 advanced and C2 proficiency, it's 90 minutes. Yeah.

So yeah, time management is extremely important. I think most students find the first time they try to write an essay, for example, they can't do it in 45 minutes. Sometimes it takes them two hours and they think, well, this is just impossible. I can't do it. But the more you practice, the easier it gets. For me, the biggest tip, the most important thing regarding the writing when we're talking about time management is planning.

before you start writing the first word, you should plan. You should spend... I know most teachers recommend five or ten minutes planning before you start writing. I actually recommend 15 minutes. So 15 minutes of 45 planning, but quite detailed planning. Planning how you're going to structure the essay, for example. I mean, you should, if you've practiced, you should know basically how you're going to structure it, where you're going to include different words

information, but think about how you're going to present the ideas. Think about even what vocabulary you're going to use. Think of linkers and cohesive devices. You can use maybe list five or six cohesive devices or linking words, maybe some adjectives you think you can use, some fixed expressions. Maybe even think what grammar structure can I use to present this idea? Maybe you can use a conditional or a cleft sentence or a

think about the passive voice. So before you even start writing, because a big mistake many students make, they just think, oh, I don't have much time. I just need to start writing. And actually that's going to take them longer in the end because they're going to have to start making changes, crossing sentences out and starting again. And just if you plan thoroughly for 15 minutes, you should be able to write the text.

in about 25 minutes, and then maybe you'll have five minutes. If everything goes to plan, which usually doesn't, but maybe you'll have five minutes at the end just to check sort of any silly little mistakes you've made, like spelling mistakes, or maybe you've used, you know, grammar mistake, maybe you've a basic grammar mistake. So yeah, planning 15 minutes, writing about 25 minutes, and then maybe five minutes for checking.

Mm-hmm. I think that time management is important. Yeah. That sounds really good. Yeah. And it's kind of, as you said, counter intuitive, like not what you would expect that you have to spend time planning, which takes away from your writing time. But yeah, I think, I think there's a, I don't know if you know it, there's an expression, something like that. I can't remember it exactly now, but it's like, you know, a few minutes planning is,

it's gone but it's like basically planning is very important you know what i'm thinking of whether there's one i don't know if i'm going to remember it there's i think it was abraham lincoln or someone said um if you give me if you give me three hours to chop down a tree i'll spend the first two sharpening the axe or something like that i actually haven't heard that that wasn't what i was thinking but i think for um if anyone's watching this on youtube i'll put the quotes i'm thinking of here and also that one as well i like that one

but yeah importance of planning that's a great way to remember it yeah think of that axe exactly yeah if you're trying to cut a tree with a blunt axe so it's not sharp it's going to take you a lot longer a lot more but but if you there i think there are a few quotes like that but that that's the one i like a lot yeah just sharpen spend the time sharpening the axe and it'd be much easier to cut down the tree i mean it's also about um the planning process is really and this thing again seems sort of

contradictory, but it's where you're editing. You edit in the planning. So most people think that you edit a text or something when you're finished, but you can't really do that in the exam because you're going to have to start crossing sentences out. If you're doing the paper-based, if you're doing the computer-based, you can just delete it or copy and paste it. But

But you can edit before you start writing. So editing, because really a big part of the writing in the exams is being concise. Less is more, really, because you don't have many words, you don't have much time. So you have to think, okay, I'd like to include this piece of information, but is it really relevant and do I really need it? So maybe, no, I'll keep that out. I'll take that out. Or not take it out, just don't write it. So edit before you start writing. Again, it seems...

It seems a strange concept, but that's how you need to be thinking. That's a good tip too. I like that. What about, here's perhaps a slightly challenging question, but I actually have no idea what the answer would be.

I think a lot of students might struggle between trying to use more advanced structures like advanced grammar, advanced vocabulary, and potentially making a mistake or sticking with what they know, which is simpler, easier language and not making mistakes. Do you think it's worth taking the risk to try to use more advanced structures in the writing section? Yeah, that's a good question.

I think it's, I would say this, it is worth taking the risk, but only to a certain extent. I mean, you don't want to, if you're not confident with the grammar, like the conditional is a typical example. If you think I'm going to try and use the third conditional that you really can't remember the structure, then...

then perhaps don't risk it. But if you're relatively confident, but I think the examiners appreciate the effort with grammar and vocabulary. So even if you don't get it 100% right, you may still gain some marks for using it appropriately in the context, even if perhaps you forget to use the past perfect and you use the present perfect. So in general,

Yes, but it has to be a calculated risk. You don't want to just... I think it's a very good question because some students... I read some writing compositions where students have just obviously tried to fill their text with advanced grammar structures and advanced vocabulary, and there are a lot of mistakes, and they've used inappropriate vocabulary. It's very difficult to read. So in that case, no, they take it too far, but...

It's a balance. You have to use common sense a little bit. Yeah, that definitely makes sense. So I guess if you are somewhat confident that you can understand it and get it right, then maybe use it. But if you have no idea, yeah, maybe don't try and stick to what you might get right. Yeah. One more thing I would say there. These

He's writing compositions of quite short. So you don't, you're not going to include like 20 advanced grammatical structures. I recommend students just learn three or four, just make sure that it's become really confident with three or four that they, that they know that they're going to be able to use and be confident using them. So as I said, a cleft sentence structure, a second conditional structure or something, just that you,

you feel confident that you can use in any essay, for example, whatever the topic may be. So, you know, you don't need to use all of them. I mean, you need to revise the grammar for the other parts of the exams, but for your writing, you know, it's the same with the vocabulary. Just if you can learn a few adjectives or fixed expressions that you can use in almost any writing composition, then it's going to make it a lot more easy, a lot easier to understand.

to write your text. Yeah. That's a nice way to simplify it. Yeah. I like that. I have so many more questions about writing, but in the interest of time, I think we should move on maybe to speaking. I know this obviously is an area that a lot of people are quite scared of because it feels more live. You can't really edit. You can't change your mind as easily when you're speaking.

Even in my native language, English, I get very nervous speaking. So that's another factor. Yeah, me too. Maybe what I think one question I had is how can people make sure that their answers are good enough? Like, for example, if I asked you a question might be, is it part one? It's like, do you like your job? It's like a yes or no question, right?

So for a question like that, how would you respond? Well, with all the questions, I think you can sort of follow the same structure, more or less the same dynamic is you answer it. So it could be a yes or no question, or it may be like, what do you like most about your job? So you answer it, of course, and then just think, okay,

why. Ask yourself why, or just expand a little. So answer the question, make sure you answer the question and then expand a little. In part one, the examiners don't want very long answers. That's really what they want is the answer to the question and then an explanation or a justification or whatever. So just ask yourself, because you really don't want to hear the question why from the interlocutor, because if the interlocutor asks you why,

They're helping you or they're trying to elicit more information from you. They're trying to get you to speak and you should be forthcoming with that. You should be proactive. So answer the question and expand with why. Why that is the answer to the question. But in the C2 proficiency, for example, some of the questions are quite deep and philosophical, especially later in the discussion part, for example. And sometimes it's difficult to give short answers because sometimes it's like,

question might be, what is the key to success? You could write a book about that, but to answer in sort of 20 seconds in an English exam, it's very difficult. It's difficult to be concise sometimes. I hate to put you on the spot, but since you brought it up, how would you answer that one? Oh God. Yeah. I hate it. I hate it when the tables are turned. I like to do the asking, not the answering. Well, one thing it's,

One thing you have to remember, and I will try to answer it, but it's not really what you say that is important, it's how you say it. You're not expected to be an expert in any topic or a philosopher or anything like that. These questions are to stimulate a response and to get the student, the candidate speaking.

So the questions are difficult in the C2 proficiency because that's part of a test to be able to think of what to say. So, you know, what's the key to success? Most answers to most questions in the exams can start with, it depends. So you could always just say it depends. It depends on the individual. It depends on what area of life we're referring to. Some people will see...

success related to the job or more material aspects of life where others, you could say me, for example, in my case, I consider happiness and having a stable family life to be the key to success, for example. But again, I mean, a lot of people, a lot of candidates worry about that they're saying something a bit silly or not very

profound. You don't have to say anything profound. As I said, it's how you answer the question. It's the vocabulary, the grammar, the pronunciation, the fluency that's important rather than giving what you consider a really profound, complete answer. Yeah, I like that. So even if maybe secretly someone might think the answer is totally stupid and they totally disagree, it's irrelevant in the exam as long as your English is good, right? Yeah.

That's a good point. Exactly. You have to answer the question at all times, but as long as you're answering the question, what you say, it's not so much, it's not the issue. It's how you say it. How about dead air? Dead air, if anyone doesn't know, is like when there's silence and you don't know what to say, maybe when you're thinking or between a sentence. What about that? Yeah, that's tricky. And that's, I actually think the Cambridge exams are a little bit unfair, I think,

For example, in part two of the C1 Advanced, you have pictures. You have three pictures. You have to choose two of the pictures. This is a speaking exam, of course. And you have to compare the pictures and answer two questions all in one minute. 60 seconds is nothing. It's very little time. Some people just naturally, it has nothing to do with their level of English, but some people just need time to gather their thoughts before they speak. I'm that way, for example.

Other people can just start speaking immediately. Again, it's not nothing to do with their level of English. It's just the way they, they are the way they, their brain works, but you can't, you can't spend sort of 10 seconds thinking about how you're going to answer the questions or which pictures you're going to choose. Cause 10 seconds out of 60, it's a big chunk of your time. So, and that's where I feel that the Cambridge exams can be a little bit unfair. I mean, it's, it's,

It is what it is, so you just have to practice and deal with it. But yeah, dead air is never good. In the interactive tasks, when you're with a partner, hopefully your partner can jump in if you're a bit stuck for what to say. But in the long term, when you're on your own,

Yeah, you can be honest. I think it's important to be honest and natural. So if it's a difficult question, you say, just say that. That's a difficult question. I'd never considered this before. But if I had to say something, perhaps we could... So while you're gathering your thoughts, just say something. Just don't sit in silence thinking. Just have some fixed expressions prepared to fill this silence while you're gathering your thoughts.

Yeah, I like that. So basically you're kind of walking the examiner through your thought process to get to an actual idea. Like, let me think about this. Yeah, so you're filling in that space. And I guess that's what we do naturally in conversation as well, which is good. Exactly, yeah. People tend to panic in exams when they can't think of something to say, and that just makes the whole situation worse because your mind goes blank. If you could just relax, take a breath and just...

keep it natural as natural as possible yeah yeah sure for sure uh maybe we can move on to reading now uh there's one here that i really wanted to ask you about this is obviously if there's anything that i'm missing on this you can you can bring it up of course but i wanted to ask you about keyword transformations uh i think that's part of the reading paper is that right

Well, it's the use of English, just reading and use of English. So that's the part four of the... Yeah, part of... It's that paper, the reading and use of English paper, yeah. Okay, because I... Again, I don't really do this exam stuff, but this particular exercise I've done quite a lot in the past. I think it's so useful to look at these. I guess it's training your collocations or your knowledge of expressions and stuff as well. So one example I...

have just just in case anyone doesn't know what i'm talking about i try to find an easy one online you're given a sentence and then you have to usually re uh reword that phrase or sentence using usually one word that they give you right i don't know if i explained that well but maybe i can ask you this one to see if you can help me so that the first sentence is i cannot type very well

And the new sentence you have to make starts with I am, and you have to include the word at a T. So I cannot type very well. Do you know what that would be? I guess it would be, I'm not very good at typing. Yeah. I guess it depends on how many words they give you, right? I'm not good or I'm bad at typing. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Yeah, I mean, sometimes more than one option is accepted. If it's within the word, it depends on the exam, which exam, because B2 first, now I can't remember, but it's from three to six, I think. Each exam has a different word limit for that task. So you have the first sentence, then you have a given word, which you can't change. You must use that word as it's given. And then...

follow-up sentence with a gap in it and you need to fill in the gap with them and reproducing the same idea as the initial sentence. So it's very difficult. Yeah. I mean, as I said, often there's more than one possible answer. If it's grammatically correct and it's following all the rules, it's using the word that's given,

and you're not writing more or fewer words, then it's okay. Yeah, yeah. I don't know why I tried to explain what it was. I should have just left it to you because that was way better than my explanation. But yeah, I mean, I found in the past what problem students have is if they don't know the expression, like, you know, obviously you knew the phrase, a good at, you knew that they come together. But if you don't know the new phrase or expression, then...

How can you answer it? So I don't know if you have any advice on that or to prepare for that type of question. Well, that's what I mean, the use of English part of the exam or the parts are challenging for that reason, because it's often it's sort of grammar and vocabulary altogether. As you said, collocations, phrasal verbs, fixed expressions, idioms, prepositions, etc.

And yes, sometimes, unfortunately, you just, either you know it or you don't. You either know that collocation, you know that phrasal verb, you know that idiom, or you don't. In that part, the keyword transformation, often there's a grammar aspect and a vocabulary aspect, because you get two marks. You can get anything from zero, one, or two marks for each question. So if you get it completely wrong, you get zero marks. If you get one aspect of the

right, which it could be the grammar aspect. You get one mark if you get both. So the grammar and the vocabulary, you get two marks. The grammar, you can, this is the thing, especially with the higher level exams like the C1 and C2, you can study all the grammar. It's possible to study all the grammar and revise all the grammar and, you know,

really get to know the grammar you need. You can't learn all the vocabulary in English. I don't know all the vocabulary in the English language. I imagine you don't know the vocabulary in the English language. We are English teachers. You should, during your preparation process, you should be expanding your vocabulary and keeping a vocabulary notebook specifically for the exam. But even then, there will probably be vocabulary in the exam you don't know.

no matter how many years you spend preparing it. So the only tip is to use your instinct. Often you may not have come across that collocation before. You may have done, but you don't remember it. You may have read it once and there may be something in the back of your mind which just tells you instinctively that it's good at, for example. The preposition with good is at or bad is at or

certain, you know, phrasal verbs, you think, I just don't know this phrasal verb. I don't know what it is. Just write something because maybe somewhere in the back of your mind, you've, you've come across this phrasal verb before. Um, but yeah, at the end of the day, if you don't know it, you don't know it, but that's why you just have to be, that's, I mean, you should be doing this. English students should be

expanding their vocabulary constantly if they're taking, you know, if they take it seriously. But for the exam preparation, it's a big part of it is just, that's why I recommend that you read lots of articles and take notes when you come across any new vocabulary. It's difficult, unfortunately. I mean, that's often...

Sort of my final sentence when I'm talking to students, when they ask me for advice, I give them advice and I say, yeah, it's difficult. It's, these are tough exams. That's the reality of it. There's, I can give tips on strategy and approach, but at the end of the day, you have to, you have to make a big effort to expand your vocabulary and revise the grammar. Hmm.

I like what you said as well about just doing lots of reading and stuff as well, because maybe, I imagine there are some students who might make the mistake of only studying

I would say it's a mistake anyway, only studying like exam specific course books or textbooks. But I think you can, you can improve in any way, right? Like listen to a podcast, read any kind of book and learn through that way. It's not just about for the exam, right? So I guess anything you're doing is going to be helpful in preparation. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I mean, I recommend that you, because reading anything is good. It's really important. It's,

Reading books is fantastic, but I actually recommend reading articles like BBC, Guardian, any sort of website articles on a variety of different topics. Because if you read a book, it could take you like three months to read a book in English. And it's good. You are getting a lot of benefit from it, but it's sort of the same topic, the same style. If you read different articles, you could read one article on artificial intelligence one day, another article on...

gardening the next day, an article on photography the next day. So you're really expanding a wide range of vocabulary. It's more useful in my opinion to read lots of short articles rather than two or three books.

a year for example yeah it makes sense and of course there's no shortage of them on on the internet these days so yeah that's that's a good tip exactly yeah um i wanted to ask you this at the beginning but i forgot but speaking of preparing how how much time in a like in advance of the exam would you suggest people give to prepare and plan or does it depend on the person

Unfortunately, yeah. This is the big question so many people, so many students ask me that I'm thinking of taking the C1 Advanced. How much time do I need to prepare? It depends. Where are you now? What level are you at now? Do you have a C1 level now and you just need to prepare for the exam? Do you have a B2 level and you need to reach a C1 level? How much time can you dedicate daily to the preparation? If you can only dedicate two hours a week,

you're going to need a few months if you can dedicate three hours a day

You can do it in a lot less time. But people do want an answer to that question. So my fixed answer is at least two months. And some people are quite shocked by that because some people decide to take the exam in two weeks. And they think, two months? But it does depend. I mean, if you have your exam in two weeks and you haven't started preparing, I don't want you to think, I don't want you to panic. It just means you need to be quite...

The thing is, people underestimate the exams. As I said before, they decide they want to take the exam and then they start preparing and they realize quite quickly that they're going to need a lot more time. As I said, these are big exams, eight parts in the reading and use of English, two parts in the writing, four parts in the listening and four parts in the speaking. It's a lot to do and you need to...

So yeah, if you want to, as most people do when they ask me that, they just want a short, concise answer, I would say two months, but it does depend on the individual. Okay, I see. It's funny because I used to get a lot of questions regarding the IELTS exam and it was often like, Michael, I've booked my exam. It's happening in six days. Can you help me this week? Maybe we can have a couple of lessons, but we're not going to be able to get to do that much because...

What I used to suggest, I guess it's similar for Cambridge exams. If you split up the sections of the exam into the time you have left, like if there's four parts or four papers and you have four weeks, that's one paper a week if you're doing it evenly. And then there's different sections, as you said. So how many sections can you do in one week? And then it starts to seem a lot less time when you do it that way, right? Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, that example you gave, I had that a lot with people who have job interviews, for example. So I have a job interview next week in English. Can you help me prepare? And yes, that's perhaps a little easier to prepare. But if you don't have the level, you know, that's why people should just be improving their English level, you know, not maybe as intensively as you do when you're preparing for an exam, but just in general before preparing.

in preparation for these situations, job interviews or exams, because you never know when you, when you'll need your English. But, but yeah, it's, uh, it, unfortunately many people come to me like, like when it's too late, not necessarily too late, but they should have really been, as I said, I don't want to be negative and say, cause maybe there are people listening to this who have their exam next week and they haven't prepared. It's possible, but it's, um,

it's you're you're making you know it's very difficult so i think it's and that's really the reason that most people fail is lack of preparation or lack of really understanding what it is to to take these exams yeah yeah and often it's too late when they realize that makes sense anyone hearing it now it's just giving them more motivation to prepare uh regardless of how much time yeah

Very quickly, we can just do a couple minutes on this now. I think listening is the last one we haven't spoke about, right? So...

Yeah, I think maybe I'll link to it. I don't know if you have any resources on this on your website, but just like a quick overview of the exam. We haven't really done that too much today for time, but the format of the exam. But I'll leave that out for now, maybe. But in the listening exam, I've heard you might be faced with different accents. What accents should students prepare for?

Well, the higher level the exam, the stronger the accents you could get. I mean, B2, you may, B2 level, you could get an American accent, Irish accent, English, Scottish, but they're clearer. They're not, they speak, the speakers in the listening or the audios, they speak more slowly and more clearly. The C2 proficiency level, for example, you could get a Glaswegian, for example, a Scottish person from Glasgow speaking.

who speaks quite naturally. So, or you could get, yeah, Canadian, Australian, American. So what should they prepare for? I think they should just be prepared for all accents. And often people say they, they watch British English series because they prefer British English or they watch American films and series because they prefer English, American English series.

I know people have their preferences, but for the exams and again, for your general English, you should be exposing yourself to a wide range of different accents. This happens to me. I live in Spain, so I'm used to the Spanish accent from Spain. And when I have to speak to someone from Colombia, for example, or Argentina, sometimes I

I struggle a little bit because the pronunciation is quite different. So for the exams, yeah. And I recommend you listen to podcasts, of course, because, again, you can improve your listening when you watch films and series. Of course, that's great. But the visual information you're getting helps you. When you watch a film or series, a lot of it is visual, even if you don't realize. So the nonverbal communication, facial expressions,

help you. That's information that helps you understand, which is great. That's part of communication. But in the exams, in the listening paper of the exam, you don't have any of that visual information to help you. So you need to get used to just listening, exclusively listening.

So the podcasts are great and there are so many free podcasts out there. So it's all good. Yeah. Yes. I mean, by all means, keep listening to this podcast and watching Ben's channel, but maybe in addition to that, other accents as well, maybe find creators and podcasters from these other countries as

But yeah, I mean, it is hard. It's definitely practice because even, you know, I'm from the, like you, maybe the South of England. And even when I got to Manchester, it's not even that far away relatively. I sometimes have trouble understanding them. Like, what, say that again? And it might take a couple of times just because I'm not really used to it. So practice definitely is perfect. Yeah. For example, in the C2 proficiency, they do have a range of accents. They're not usually...

I mean, it's not, they're not going to try and catch you out with a really strong dialect. Because it's not just about the accents. Exactly. So I don't want people, again, I don't want to scare people to think that it's not that extreme, but, you know, they try to make it as,

closer to sort of natural conversation or speech than the lower levels, for example. This is kind of a broad question, of course, but do you have any more like general tips for the listening section that come to mind before we move on from this one? Yeah. Well, really it's a lot about, in the Cambridge exams, you get two chances to listen to the audio in every part. In every exam, you know,

even the C2 proficiency, you hear the audio twice. So stay calm because the first time you listen, maybe you'll think you're lost. You haven't got a clue what's going on. You can't hear the answer. You can't imagine where the answer may be. But the first listen, just try and get a general idea. Try to follow what the speakers are saying and the gist to the general idea of what they're saying.

And then the second time you will notice that everything becomes a lot clearer. Sometimes you, okay, so that that's answering that question. That's answering that question. And don't panic if you, if you do get a little bit lost because, and this is true of the whole exam in the Cambridge English exams, it's the global score that counts. You know, everyone has their weakest parts. You may have a disaster in one part or even one paper. You may just think, oh, this is terrible. Don't panic because you can compensate in other parts. So if you get a,

Quite a low score in one paper. You can compensate in another paper. And I say that about the listening because people do panic more in the listening because they just feel they get lost and that they just haven't got a clue what is being said. But if you panic, it's just going to make it a lot worse if you start to... And often it's about, and this again sounds a bit

counterproductive, but not listening too hard. I don't know if this is something you've noticed. When students listen too hard and they try to understand every single word and every syllable of every word, they're not hearing what is being said. They're focusing too much on the individual sounds.

And they need to sort of step back a little bit and try to understand the general idea. That's so relatable. Like for me personally, like I, it was like 10 years ago, I took a Japanese exam and I think listening was my hardest one. And I think it might be why I failed actually, because it was exactly that. I was really listening hard and I was also very nervous and panicky. And yeah, it was just, I was focusing on each word and I couldn't make, I couldn't form it into a sentence. So yeah.

Yeah, that kind of clicked for me when you said that. Maybe take a step back and try to absorb the meaning without giving every word your attention. Maybe that's a good skill to practice. Maybe when listening to us now, listeners can be practicing that skill. Yeah, exactly. It's all about practicing that.

Because, yeah, listening to podcasts in general, but also listening to sample tasks. And on YouTube, you can find lots of sample listening tasks for the Cambridge English exam. So yeah.

Even at first, and people don't like it when I say this, but if you're preparing for the C1 advanced exam, it's not actually a bad idea sometimes to start with the B2 first listening tasks just to get used to it and then step up to the C1 advanced because sometimes it can feel very intimidating and very overwhelming. But, you know, people think, well, I'm C1 level, I shouldn't be doing B2 tasks. But it's just to get a feeling for the tasks because they're very similar. Yeah.

So obviously the level is lower, but the format is basically the same. And it gets the ball rolling and gets you into the feel of the question. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Nice. Well, I try my best to get through a very brief kind of look at each paper and ask you some couple of questions that came to my mind that I've also heard from students. But as I said before, there's so much we could talk about. So it's not...

it's not that complete, but maybe that's a good reason for listeners and viewers to go over and look at, look at your website, your channel and things like that. So would you like to plug that now and share where people can find you? Thank you very much. Yes. Yeah. My YouTube channel is called to the point English with Ben, just to the point English should be enough, but with Ben, if that's the full, the complete title, my website is ttp.com.

English.com, I think. Yeah. TTP English.com. So TTP is to the point, the first letter of each word, TTP English with Ben. Yeah. And you can find, also I have, I am relatively active on Instagram, not as, really YouTube is my platform really. So I have hundreds of videos on there. It's not only Cambridge English exams. I have vocabulary videos and grammar videos, but

They're kind of all oriented towards Cambridge exam preparation, but, um,

But yeah, they can find something, something for everyone. I think. Amazing. Yeah. I will put links to everything so people can find it easily. I definitely recommend your YouTube channel. I don't have it open now, so I can't remember what they were, but there was some videos that I thought was so specific and that really good topics on like particular phrases or something that I don't, I think anyone's ever made before. So there's definitely some unique and good content there.

there i'll have to look and see what i'm talking about but yeah yeah good job on that yeah i try to focus on different like collocations phrasal verbs um idioms just so people can build their vocabulary that way again thinking of the exams but you know vocabulary is not just for exams and grammar is not just for exams it's for or for your life in general so yeah it's all useful i think yeah yeah

Well, Ben, thank you so much. It's been so nice to talk with you and pick your brain a bit on this topic. So I really appreciate it. And maybe we'll chat again in the future. Sure. Yeah. Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. Thank you, Michael.

You have been listening to the Level Up English podcast. If you would like to leave a question to be answered on a future episode, then please go to levelupenglish.school forward slash podcast. That's levelupenglish.school slash podcast. And I'll answer your question on a future episode. Thanks for listening.