Cambridge Advanced essay writing is the mandatory exam task in part 1. Here we will look at what you need to know.
In Part 1 of the exam, the essay question asks you to select two points out of the three given, to include in your answer, along with an evaluation of the merits of one of them. Your answer must also include an opinion on the second part of the question as well.
You must answer this question. Write your answer in 220 – 260 words in an appropriate style on the separate answer sheet.
1 Your class has been having a discussion on the problems facing young people today. You have made the notes below:
Write an essay discussing two of the points in your notes. You should explain which problem is most challenging, giving reasons in support of your answer. You may, if you wish, make use of the opinions expressed in the discussion, but you should use your own words as far as possible.
What are the greatest challenges for young people today?
Some opinions expressed in the discussion.
“Picking what you want to do in life is impossible at such a young age.”
“Many young people are stuck at home with their parents.”
“This generation has even more skills than their parents, especially in technology.”
Before you do anything prepare a plan. Although some people persist with the double copy method you really will not be able to complete two tasks properly in the time allowed. Even assuming you are a fast writer or typist it can take up to an hour to write an essay with that method, leaving you very short of time for the second task.
The method of constructing a plan is entirely up to you. The link above has some suggestions and ideas but choose the approach that suits you best.
As always a writing task should follow the standard layout of
In this case the body contains the two points you’ve selected. As regards the third point where you are asked to choose the most useful/important etc. Many books suggest that this should be incorporated into a final fourth paragraph with the conclusion. We tend to draw attention to a 5 paragraph model , one for each stage, the advantage being that you remember to include all required components. So your layout might look like one of the following.
Introduction
Point 1
Point 2
Conclusion(+ most challenging)
There are two approaches you can choose to write your essay.
Armed with a general plan the next step is to structure each section of the essay.
Introduction
As always this is just a brief overview of what the essay intends to consider. Some initial comments on the topic for discussion and the overall context tend to provide the best approach. Having a strong initial sentence can also help focus reader attention on what you have to say.
Your Points(First & Second)
The simplest approach is to write about the points in order so that point 1 becomes your 2nd paragraph and so on. If you are using the for and against method it’s a lot easier to start with the positive point first and then do the contrast.
Second Part – Most Challenging
Giving your views on this second part, in addition to your two selected points, is essential. An answer that does not contain all three components will not get a pass score.
Conclusion
The conclusion is often quite brief and as mentioned above can be combined with the second part of the task. Every essay should have one as it is considered fundamental to a writing task. Its purpose is to conclude the writing task in a suitable manner.
Being a young person nowadays is filled with difficulties. While some things may be easier than the previous generation there are many greater challenges for them.
One of the most important things in the life of a young person is to make a decision about what career they want to pursue. The biggest difficulty, in a lot of respects, is the fact that they are so young and that such decisions will affect their life so much. Furthermore, what they choose to study may also influence these career choices and people can make mistakes by choosing areas of study that are not right for them.
Once they feel they have addressed the career problem there is a question of trying to find somewhere to live. As many people are aware the cost of living in urban centres has increased, enormously. This can make it difficult for younger groups to find suitable accommodation, often due to a lack of disposable income. They may even be forced to remain longer in the family home than they want. This, in turn, has an effect on the plans that they have for their lives, like developing their career or perhaps starting a family.
Accommodation is perhaps the more difficult one to deal with, in the sense that a young person has no control over that cost. Even with career decisions there is enough personal input to feel that it is your own choice. This is not the case with accommodation and it perhaps is one the most key challenges to all young people today.
Learn all about the Cambridge First exam, how it is organised and what each of the different parts is about.
– Explore each part of each exam.
– Learn key strategies.
– 6 hours of extra practice exercises to improve reading, Use of English and Writing performance.