🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 A useful schedule for self-study in preparing for exams 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
When studying for exams such as FCE, CAE, CPE there are somethings best avoided whereas there are some areas we must heavily focus on.
Put down your classics, put down Harry Potter, switch off Friends or Big Bang Theory etc. While these are still great sources for practicing your English, you should spend your course time on sources relevant to the exam to build up your topical vocabulary, become familiar with grammatical structures no matter how boring the theme may be. Remember, in the exam, you don’t have a choice.
A
Make sure that you spend at least 30 minutes a day on the following (don’t forget to record vocab, underline useful collocations, copy them into your vocab book, analyse grammatical structures):
MONDAY
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ (National Geographic): select THEMES and randomly read an article whether science, travel, adventure, animals etc.
TUESDAY
http://time.com/ (Time Magazine): click the box top left next to TIME and randomly read an article whether politics, business, tech, health etc.
WEDNESDAY
https://www.theguardian.com/international (The Guardian): Randomly select different themes and select an article at random to read
THURSDAY
http://www.bbc.com/ (BBC): randomly select a news article to read.
FRIDAY
Continue reading a book of your choice PROVIDING it’s not a classic (continue with that after your course)
B
In addition to reading stuff, you need to watch/listen just as much (record vocab, pay attention to grammatical structures, pay special attention to collocations)
MONDAY
BBC Panorama (example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKbj-dSYq-A)
TUESDAY
A documentary of your choice (think about what you might have read and type the theme into Youtube)
WEDNESDAY
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002vsmz/episodes/player (BBC 5 minute news)
THURSDAY
Watch an episode from one of the following series: BBC Planet Earth 2, Countryfile, Who do you think you are, The Cruise, Britain’s Busiest Airport, The Force, The Great British Bakeoff.
FRIDAY
Watch a film of your choice but still have pen and paper ready!
C
SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS
Focus on doing your grammar and vocab exercises, practice tests as well as go over the vocab and things you have recorded during the week. Use the weekend to write your essays.
There are many more sources you can watch/listen to and read. Get into the habit of making this a routine and keep to your schedule. YOU MUST GET USED TO REAL SOURCES to pass these exams even if you’re tired after school/work!