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hello and welcome my name is ben and

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this is to the point english

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and today i'm going to be talking about

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the difference

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between the c1 advanced and the c2

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cambridge

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english exams also known as the cae and

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cpe exams

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now i'm guessing that as you've clicked

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on this video if you're in one of two

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groups of people

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either you have taken the c1 advanced

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exam and you're thinking about

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taking the c2 proficiency and you you'd

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like to know

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how big the step up is from one one exam

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to the other

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or maybe you've never taken a cambridge

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exam before but you have a good level of

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english

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and you're trying to decide which exam

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is the best one for you

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well in this video i hope to answer your

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doubts and your questions

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but first of all i must say that the c1

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advanced exam

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is very tough right it's challenging

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and very demanding but the c2

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proficiency is

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fiendishly difficult i don't think i'm

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exaggerating when i say that if

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many or maybe even most native english

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speakers

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took the exam tomorrow without

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preparation

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they would fail so really you need to be

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even better than

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a native english speaker in this exam

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but you don't need to be perfect

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now that may seem like a contradiction

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but let me explain you need to be

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familiar with and comfortable using the

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type of vocabulary and grammar

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that really native english speakers

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don't use in on a day-to-day basis

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for example fiendishly that i used

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a few seconds ago i think that's

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probably the first time i've ever used

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that word in my life

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it's an impressive word but it's not

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really a word native speakers use

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but because your time is limited in this

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exam

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and you need to demonstrate your level

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you need to cram in

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as much impressive vocabulary and

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grammar

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as possible in the time you have

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available

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but as i said you don't have to be

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perfect you're not going to get 100

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in this exam you will make mistakes you

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will get answers wrong

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this is not about perfection yes the c2

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proficiency

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is the highest level in the cambridge

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exams and i think it's

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one of if not the most difficult english

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exam in general

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but yeah you're not looking for

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perfection so you don't feel that

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pressure but

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as i said you need to almost be better

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than a native english speaker to

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demonstrate what a good level you have i

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just wanted to read what the cambridge

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assessment english says about this exam

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so you get an idea of what's expected of

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you

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okay so they say it is our highest level

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qualification

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it's proof that you are a highly

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competent speaker of english

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so a c2 proficiency qualification shows

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the world that you have mastered english

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to an exceptional

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level it proves you can communicate with

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the fluency and sophistication of a

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highly competent english

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speaker they also say that a c2

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proficiency qualification

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shows that you can negotiate and

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persuade effectively

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at senior management level in

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international business settings

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so you understand the main ideas of

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complex pieces of writing

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and you can talk about complex or

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sensitive issues that's an important

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word sensitive which we'll

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look at more in a moment and deal

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confidently with

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difficult questions okay now i want to

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break it down into different sections to

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compare the two exams

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first of all grammar now actually the

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grammar is not so different

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in the c1 advanced you need to study

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all the grammar you need to have a good

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command of all the grammar

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and of course in the c2 proficiency you

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also need to

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know all the grammar all the different

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grammar grammatical concepts and

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structures

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the difference really is just that the

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grammar is more complex it's a higher

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level of the grammar so

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you will need to study the conditionals

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for example as you need to study them in

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the

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c1 advanced but in the c2 proficiency

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there will be more

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for example mixed conditionals with

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alternatives to

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if not always using if alternatives to

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wood

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just more complicated grammatical

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structures the same with

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passives and inversion

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all those types of things that you need

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to study in the c1

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but you need to study to a higher level

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in the c2 and just have a better

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command of the grammar now the

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vocabulary next

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and this is where there is a significant

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difference really

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and here it's not simply about using

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more

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advanced vocabulary of of course you

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will need to use more advanced

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vocabulary but you also need to use

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the appropriate vocabulary precise

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vocabulary

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and sensitive vocabulary so sensitive to

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the

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subject you're talking about appropriate

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to the subject you're talking about and

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more precise than advanced of course

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here i'm speaking about

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the writing and speaking papers of the

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exam where you are using your your

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english

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actively so i'm just going to give you

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an example now to really demonstrate the

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difference between the advanced and the

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proficiency

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referring to the vocabulary so imagine

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you're answering a writing question or

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it's in a sp

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or in the speaking part of the exam and

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you're speaking about

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the environment okay now an advanced

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learner may

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may say this i'm worried about climate

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change therefore i tried to reduce my

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carbon emissions as much as possible

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okay that's pretty good that's a

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grammatically perfect sentence

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uses some quite impressive vocabulary

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but a proficiency learner would say this

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for example climate change for me

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is a major issue in today's global

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society i strive to cut down my carbon

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footprint

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by incorporating a variety of measures

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into my day-to-day life

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okay so can you see the difference there

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this

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this learner this this candidate has

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used much more impressive vocabulary

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it's more specific more precise um and

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it's more sensitive to the subject

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that we are talking about so that's

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that's the kind of thing

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you should be aiming for so learning

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that kind of vocabulary of course you

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don't know the subject you're going to

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be speaking about in the exam

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so you just need to prepare in general

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okay now let's look at the pronunciation

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obviously this is referring to the

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speaking part of the exam it's quite

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often a misconception about the

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pronunciation

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in the cambridge exams in general but

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the proficiency

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and advanced in particular it's okay to

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have

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an accent okay everybody has an accent i

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have an accent

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you have your own local accent

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this is an english exam it's a cambridge

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exam but if you speak english with

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more of an american accent or an

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australian accent

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that's fine you will not be penalized

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for that it's completely accepted

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and even if you have a strong french

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accent if you're french or italian or

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german or chinese if you speak

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with a strong accent that's absolutely

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fine you don't have to worry about your

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accent

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as long as you speak clearly enough to

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be

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understood okay that's the key there's a

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difference between pronunciation and

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accent

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the the examiner needs to be able to

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understand you

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if your accent is so strong that it's

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difficult to follow what you're saying

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then you have a problem

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but at an advanced or proficiency level

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that shouldn't be a problem

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so there's not a big difference there

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between advanced and proficiency with

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with pronunciation

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finally i want to look at listening and

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the big difference in the listening is

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that

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the conversations you will hear are more

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natural

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closer to the real english so that the

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speakers speak

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much more quickly and more fluently and

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they use more

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complex vocabulary now one of the

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biggest mistakes that i notice people

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make when they decide to take the

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advanced or the proficiency exam

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is being overconfident being a little

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bit cocky because maybe they have a very

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high level

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of english but they don't prepare enough

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for the exam and often they fail for

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that reason

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it's not enough to have a high level you

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need to prepare

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and one of the best ways of preparing is

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to find

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other people who are preparing for this

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same exam

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to help each other and maybe prepare the

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speaking together to practice the

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speaking

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in particular or just helping each other

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with tips and advice

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and i have some good news on that

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because last week i set up a telegram

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group for for people who are preparing

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for the exams in fact it's four groups i

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have

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the general group the general chat group

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which everybody is in

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and then a group for each of the

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cambridge exams so the

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b2 first the c1 advanced and the c2

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proficiency so people with the same

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level

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can can chat and share share information

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and it's great at the moment we're still

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quite small but people are very

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active and participative and it's going

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really well

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i really recommend that you join because

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it's you can get so much benefit from it

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i'll put the link in the description

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you may ask why telegram well telegram

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apparently it's more secure it's safer

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than

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than whatsapp and you don't need to

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share your

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your telephone number so you join the

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group and nobody will know your your

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telephone number you just

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join the group and you can communicate

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there and it's very good for forming

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different groups

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so i hope to build a community there

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it's going well so far i would love to

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see you there

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so click on the link send me a message

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with the exam you're studying for and

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i'll put you in the appropriate

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groups okay so i hope this was useful

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for you

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and i hope to see you again very soon in

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another video

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take care bye