Students often wonder how to prepare for the exam in the English language, since a foreign language is considered one of the most difficult subjects. Unpleasant associations with this exam are also associated with the typical situation of passing: cameras working in online mode, commissions, not enough time to complete tasks. In addition, unlike everyone else, a single state exam in English includes 2 parts: written and oral. That is why this exam is so difficult for Russian students.
The secret to successfully passing the English exam is the right preparation
Of course, if initially the student does not own a specific base from school lessons, passing the exam will be quite difficult. How to prepare for the exam in English? It’s worth starting with the most basic: the rules of reading, elementary grammar, the necessary vocabulary and training in listening to English.
If you have the basic knowledge, you don’t have to worry much about how to prepare for the exam in English for the year. It will be necessary to focus on the structure of the exam, methods for completing assignments, and work out weaknesses. Since the time limit for the exam is limited, you need to bring the necessary skills almost to automatism, especially for grammar, writing and essay assignments.
The structure of the unified state exam in English
The exam involves a comprehensive test of knowledge of graduates. It contains tasks in 4 sections:
- listening (exercises on the listened text);
- grammar and vocabulary (checks the ability to correctly insert the necessary forms of words and root words into the text);
- reading (exercises on the read text);
- written assignments with a detailed answer (letter and essay).
The presented types of tasks are included in the 1st part of the exam, the 2nd part checks the conversational skill.
All sections include 3 tasks, arranged in order of increasing difficulty level, so that even a student who does not have a large supply of knowledge can pass the English exam at least for a minimum score.
What exercises does the English exam contain?
Listening consists of the following types of tasks:
- A task in which it is necessary to select headings for the listened dialogs.
- The task, where it should be noted, which theses correspond to the content of the heard text / do not correspond / were not mentioned at all in it.
- The task, which involves choosing one of the 3 answers to the question from the interview you’ve heard.
The lexico-grammatical section includes:
- Tasks for transforming data forms of words.
- Tasks for word formation.
- Tasks for choosing the right word or stable expression that matches the text.
Reading consists of:
- A task requiring the selection of a title for passages.
- Tasks for inserting phrases that grammatically and lexically correspond to missing places in the text.
- Tasks for selecting answers to questions on an unadapted excerpt from a work of art (most often) or other sources.
The part with a detailed answer is an essay and a letter to a friend, where you need to answer questions and ask your own on the proposed topic.
The oral part contains:
- passage for reading aloud;
- task requiring the formulation of questions on a specific topic;
- description of the photo to choose according to the proposed plan and comparison of 2 pictures according to the plan.
Exam Rules
To know how to prepare for the exam in the English language, and pass it to a high score, you must consider all the nuances.
There is 3 hours for a written exam. It is worth paying special attention to this and learning how to fit in the allotted time, since the forms are collected at the time the exam is completed. Drafts with tasks are not checked: if the dealer has completed the task, but did not have time to fill out the forms, then 0 points are set for the task.
Tasks with a short answer are transferred to the form as a sequence of numbers or letters without spaces.
The part with a detailed answer has clear criteria described in FIPI. The letter should be written in an informal style and include 100-140 words. The mini-essay is a reasoning with a clear structure and includes 7 paragraphs. The number of words is 180-250.
When writing more words, only those words that fall within the specified interval are checked. In other words, if too much is written, for example, the conclusion will not be counted, although it was present in the composition.
The oral exam takes place on a separate day and lasts 15 minutes. A graduate works with a special program, with the help of which the time allotted for preparation and response is monitored. The dealer can move from one task to another and navigate in time by looking at the slider on the screen. As equipment, the graduate receives headphones and a microphone. At the end of the oral part of the exam, it is imperative to check whether the answers are adequately recorded by listening to the audio file.
How to effectively prepare for the exam in the English language: developing the necessary skills for successful passing
In general, the only way to feel confident in the exam is to practice a lot, especially for foreign languages. Grammar structures, vocabulary and other types of tasks are worked out in the process of an integrated approach to learning, including various types of work.
Listening can be done only on condition of constant listening to texts, preferably in the form of an exam: this way the brain will get used to the speed of English speech and phonetics, it will be easier to catch the general meaning of the texts, even if most of the vocabulary is unfamiliar.
Grammar and lexical tasks are easily given with a decent vocabulary, with frequent reading of English texts. If you engage often, regularly, a flair for the language develops, so that when completing tasks there is no need to recall grammar rules and word formation methods. The more is already known, the more easily new information is perceived.
Reading is determined by the ability to concentrate and quickly navigate the text. The help in carrying out such exercises will be the constant replenishment of vocabulary and the development of logical thinking.
Essay and writing is determined mainly by knowledge of a clear structure. It is important when working out these tasks to rely on the criteria from the official site of FIPI.
What should not be forgotten?
It is worth adding that the horizon plays an important role in passing the exam. Savvy and knowledge in some areas of foreign literature and public life make it easy to understand narrowly targeted information.
All tasks, especially advanced levels, require a large vocabulary. Vocabulary is the backbone on which knowledge of a foreign language is built. Words can be gleaned from any source: passive learning of vocabulary occurs both during listening and during reading. It is very important to apply the learned phrases in colloquial or written language, otherwise they are quickly forgotten. Oral speech is also an activator of vocabulary, that is, it makes you remember everything that has ever been learned.
How to prepare for the exam in English for a month: familiarization with the tasks
If you need to prepare for the exam in a month, then it is best to focus on the implementation of exam options, parsing errors. So the necessary information will be assimilated, and the skill of completing certain tasks will be formed. This will make writing the exam easier.
Of course, it is desirable that spoken language and tasks with a detailed answer be checked by an enlightened teacher. However, if this is not possible, you can compare your work with the work for a high score and use specialized literature to understand how to prepare for the exam in English yourself.
The oral part, essay, writing - in all these tasks, the ability to reason, correctly and consistently formulate your thoughts is required. People who know their native language well can easily master the structure of other languages, which means that they will not tremble at the thought of how to prepare for the exam in English. It is very important to develop the skills tested in the exam in the native language, because it is easy for a person who knows at least one language to understand and master the structure of other languages.
It is worth noting that in recent years there has been a tendency to complicating the exam tasks in the English language, it is not for nothing that it is considered one of the most difficult exams. Therefore, it is worth taking all responsibility to preparation. In addition, it must be borne in mind that the results of the exam are largely influenced by luck, since the exam options are most often different in difficulty. The main task before the surrender is to concentrate as much as possible and not panic.