Writing - B1 Article
Essential strategies and common pitfalls to help you ace the Article for Cambridge B1 Writing exam.
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How to write a B1 Article
In the B1 Preliminary (PET) Cambridge exam, writing part 2 gives you a choice: you can write either an article or a story.
If you choose to write an article, your task will be to write for a magazine or website. Just like in real magazines, your article must be entertaining and informative. This means you need to keep your reader interested and engaged from beginning to end.
The exam will give you one or two questions that you must answer in your article. Here’s an example task:
FILMS
What kind of films do you enjoy? – question (1)
Do you prefer watching them at the cinema or at home? Why? – question (2)
B1 Preliminary (PET) Article: Structure
Any article in the B1 Preliminary (PET) exam can be broken up into four parts:
| # | Section | What to Write |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Title | Write a short and catchy title |
| 2 | Introduction | Start with an engaging question for the reader |
| 3 | Body | Answer the questions given in the task |
| 4 | Final sentence | Give a final comment to close the article |
B1 Preliminary (PET) Article: Writing Guide
We will use this example exam task:
You see this notice on an English-language website:
FILMS
What kind of films do you enjoy?
Do you prefer watching them at the cinema or at home? Why?
Write an article answering these questions and we will put it on our website!
Write your article.
Step 1: Analyse your task quickly
Task analysis is very simple. All you have to do is two things:
Firstly, find the questions you have to answer in your task.
FILMS
What kind of films(question 1) do you enjoy?
Do you prefer watching them at the cinema or at home? Why?(question 2)
Write an article answering these questions and we will put it on our website!
Secondly, find the topic of the article (which in this example is Films & Cinema)
So, now you need to brainstorm all the vocabulary that you can think of related to films.
If you prepare some words in advance, it will be much easier for you to write an article!
Step 2: Add a Title
Every excellent article starts with a good title, don’t worry though — it doesn’t have to be super special or super interesting. It is okay if your title is simple and just gives a general idea of what the article is about.
Here you can see three examples of a title:
Example:
Home cinema or the big screen?
Example:
How to best watch the films you love?
Example:
Home or cinema — How do you watch your favourite films?
Step 3: Introduction
The role of the introduction is mainly to catch the reader’s attention. It can be done in the simplest way — by asking a question.
Why is this a good idea? Because at the same time, you will show the examiners that you can use the present perfect tense.
Here you can see an example introduction:
Example:
Have you ever screamed (present perfect) during a horror film? Or have you watched (present perfect) a comedy and laughed until you cry?
Step 4: Body (answering the questions)
Here you answer the main questions that we identified in Step 1.
- What kind of films do you enjoy?
- Do you prefer watching them at the cinema or at home? Why?
Remember these paragraphs should be the longest in your text and they should contain most of the information.
Also, we use the vocabulary that we prepared earlier in Step 1.
Example:
I know many people who love animated or romantic films, but for me, there is nothing better than an amazing drama or adventure movie(answer 1) like 'Indiana Jones' because I’m a big fan of stories with a fascinating plot.
In my opinion, watching a film at home isn’t the same as going to the cinema(answer 2) to enjoy a great movie on a huge screen with popcorn and cola. (answer 2)
If it wasn’t so expensive, I would go every week.
Vocabulary related films/cinema
Interesting grammar
Step 5: Final sentence
Finish your article with a nice final sentence. It doesn’t have to be anything special — you can simply summarize your article or you can also try to be a little bit funny or end in a more surprising way.
Example:
Everybody loves films, I think you can enjoy them anywhere, even if not at the cinema, it’s still Netflix!
Remember: the more interesting your article is the higher your marks might get!
B1 Preliminary (PET) Article: Full Article
Home cinema or the big screen?
Have you ever cried at the cinema? Or have you watched a comedy and laughed until you cry?
I know many people who love animated or romantic films, but for me, there is nothing better than an amazing drama or adventure movie like ‘Indiana Jones’ because I’m a big fan of stories with fascinating plot.
In my opinion, watching a film at home isn’t the same as going to the cinema to enjoy a great movie on a huge screen with popcorn and cola. If it wasn’t so expensive, I would go every week.
Everybody loves films, I think you can enjoy them anywhere, even if not at the cinema, it’s still Netflix!
B1 Preliminary (PET) Article: What to Focus On
The examiners are looking at the following criteria:
Language
This part of the assessment focuses on the use of vocabulary and grammar.
You need to show flexibility in their use and also include cohesive devices such as because, as, but, however, for example, like, and, in addition, etc.
To get a good grade in this part your grammar and vocabulary need to be accurate, appropriate and easy to understand.
Communication
They are looking at the communication of ideas; it must be clear, relevant to the question and the target reader, and use good simple language with some complex grammar.
Organization
The organisation aspect of the evaluation refers to how clearly you present your ideas.
If it is a letter, it must resemble a letter. You need to do it with paragraphs, the paragraphs must not be too short and they need to be set into separate topics.
If you write a story it can be all in one paragraph but it needs to include a beginning, middle and end.
Content
All of the content in the writing should be aimed at answering the question.
It should be easy to understand and also take into account who is reading it. E.g. if it is a letter to a friend, it must be informal and familiar.
B1 Preliminary (PET) Article: Writing Checklist
After writing your article, you can check it yourself using the writing checklist below by simply checking your text/email and answering the questions one by one:
Content
Communicative Achievement
Organisation
Language
B1 Preliminary (FCE) Email: Useful Phrases & Expressions
If you learn several phrases for each paragraph in each type of text that could be on your exam, you will certainly be able to create a very consistent and well-organized text.
Engaging the reader
Have you ever thought about...?
How would you feel if...?
What would you think of...?
Are you one of those people who...?
If the answer is..., you should...
What do you reckon to...?
What would live be like if...
Just think for a moment...
Just imagine...
Making the article lively and interesting (use adverbs)
importantly
surprisingly
worryingly
the most amazing
absolutely
suddenly
amazingly
fantastically
frighteningly
Developing your points
Another advantage of...
On top of all that...
What is more,...
Above all,…
The reason I think this is...
The reason I feel this way is...
On top of that, ...
Let’s start with ...
Giving your own opinion
In my opinion, ...
In my eyes, ...
To my mind, ...
As far as I am concerned, ...
Speaking personally, ...
From my point of view, ...
As for me / As to me, ...
My view / opinion / belief / impression / conviction is that ...
I hold the view that ...
I would say that ...
It seems to me that ...
I am of the opinion that ...
My impression is that ...
I am under the impression that ...
It is my impression that ...
I have the feeling that ...
My own feeling on the subject is that ...
I have no doubt that ...
I am sure / I am certain that ...
I think / consider / find / feel / believe / suppose / presume / assume / reckon that ...
I hold the opinion that ...
I dare say that ...
I guess that ...
I bet that ...
I gather that ...
It goes without saying that ...
Justifying opinions
because...
the reason is...
the reason I believe that is...
the facts suggest...
the evidence shows...
taking into account what I have seen...
Making recommendations and suggestions
It would be a good idea to...
Wouldn’t it be better to...?
Why don’t we...?
What about...?
How about...?
Shouldn’t we...?
Let’s consider...
Why not...?