Preparing Students for First Certificate

For teachers new to preparing students for the First Certificate Exam it can seem quite daunting. Rest assured it is not that easy for even the most experienced of us. Preparatory classes require not only a sound knowledge of the exam content and format but also considerable forward planning and the ability to exploit the available resources. To help you we have a series of articles covering each of the five papers: To get you started read these general tips.

If this is your first FCE class, don't worry about swotting up on everything students have to do in the exam. That will come with time and you'll learn as you teach. As long as you have a general idea of the different types of tasks in each paper (which can be found on pp4-5 FCE Gold Coursebook and p6 of the Exam Maximiser), you can start your planning.

Forward planning and a good use of resources reduce individual lesson planning time and ensure that each different task is given due attention. The starting point for any teacher is looking at the timescale they are working in. If you are teaching on a very short course, you might choose to start with a full mock exam (there is one provided in the Maximiser p112-127). This way you can identify your students' needs and work on those. For example, if a student scores 2 out of 10 for word formation (paper 3 part 5), you can direct them to the sections of the book which cover this aspect of the language. Language points can be easily located in the contents pages of the Coursebook and Maximiser.

For longer courses you may choose to look through all the papers in class. For students this highlights what is required and allows you to refer to the different sections of the paper through the course - something many course books also include. Although this might seem a lot of information to take on board in the first week, you'll find it doesn't take long for students to remember what each part of each paper consists of. Furthermore, it lets you start using your coursebook straight away.

Effective exploitation of your coursebook from the outset will help your students become more autonomous. It's worth pointing out to them the grammar, writing and phrasal verb reference sections in the coursebook. Not all coursebooks have these but you'd be surprised how many students are unaware of these reference sections.

But what's more surprising is the number of teachers who forget that there are unit tests starting from p118 of the Teacher's Book. These provide an excellent way to consolidate material before moving on to the next unit and the progress tests in the same section highlight any areas for re-teaching.

Finally, FCE preparation is not all about language. There are practical exam skills you might need to explain, such as completing the answer sheets (samples provided on p141-144 Teacher's Book), and effective time management.

Need help for a specific paper? Click on a link below.