Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE)

The best way to prepare for your examination

This course is designed to prepare candidates for the Cambridge FCE (First Certificate in English) examination. FCE is widely recognised in commerce and industry, and by educational institutions in Britain and overseas as proof of language ability. The examination is aimed at an upper intermediate level of competence.

We offer preparation for the Cambridge FCE examination three times a year.

This is a short and very intensive course and we advise you, if possible, to take a month on the Intensive General English course immediately before it. During this month you can improve your General English ability and vocabulary knowledge which will help you when you start the FCE course.

All course participants take a written pre-course test (which may be combined with an interview to assess their level of spoken English) before we can guarantee their place.

We only accept people onto the FCE course who are serious and prepared to show the necessary commitment in order to maximise their chances of achieving good results.

Fact check

Group size:

Maximum 12

Course level:

Levels 5 - 6 on the school's level scale

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Fees:

2010
£2600 (8 week course)
Exam fee £110 (except for December 2010 which is to be announced)

2011
£2720 (8 week course)
£3060 (9 week course)
Exam fee £120 (except for December 2011 which is to be announced)

Participants age:

Minimum age: 18
Average age: 28

Course length:

8 weeks (you must do the full course)
or
9 weeks (you must do the full course)

Hours per week:

24 hours per week (24 x 60 minutes)
09.15 - 15.45 Monday - Friday

Location:

Westcroft Square

Sample Timetable

Who's it for?

This course is aimed at hard working, motivated adults who would like to prepare thoroughly for the Cambridge First Certificate and maximise their chance of succeeding in the exam.

Course content

The course is a highly intensive but broad programme of language development, focusing on all of the main skills that are required in the FCE exam. A lot of attention is given to developing the different forms of writing tested in the exam, and to achieving a high degree of grammatical accuracy. Vocabulary development is another extremely important aspect of the course. Listening and speaking are also significant parts of the course.

As part of the course, you will take a full mock examination to give you an idea of what to expect, and to get you used to working under examination conditions. You will also concentrate on developing good exam techniques and practise with past examination papers.

Throughout the course, you will be regularly set a wide variety of exercises for homework which will enable you to identify the areas that you particularly need to focus on improving. You will receive a lot of individual feedback, correction and advice.

The benefits

By the end of the course you will be able to:

take the exam with greater confidence
approach the 5 different components of the Cambridge FCE exam (Reading, Writing, Use of English, Listening and Speaking) with greater confidence
handle the language more effectively and with greater confidence
understand what you read and hear more easily
speak and write more accurately
speak more fluently
use a wider range of vocabulary in your written and spoken English
understand the areas you need to work on the most

The exam

The examination

The examination consists of the following five components and types of questions and tasks:

Reading - you will practise reading a variety of different texts, such as advertisements, brochures, fiction, newspaper/magazine articles and reports. You will practise all of the different reading style questions that you will come across in the exam.
Writing - you will practise writing formal and informal letters, articles, discursive compositions, short stories, reports and proposals.
Use of English - you will practise all of the task types in Paper 3 of the exam, designed to test vocabulary and/or grammar: the multiple-choice cloze, the open cloze, key word transformations and word formation.
Listening - you will practise listening to a variety of different texts, such as instructions, answer phone messages, public announcements, lectures, discussions, interviews and informal conversations; all of which may come up in the exam.
Speaking - You will practise all of the task types in Paper 5 of the exam, which are designed to test your ability to respond to questions, speak and interact.