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hello everyone uh just a short video for

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those of you who are planning on taking

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a Cambridge English exam in the near

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future because there are some changes

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that you need to know about uh don't

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worry nothing too drastic it's not going

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to affect your preparation that much

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primarily in this video I'm going to

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focus on this new digital exam format

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that Cambridge are introducing which you

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may have heard about um a lot of people

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have been asking me about this new

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digital test uh so I just want to

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clarify a few things in this video but

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first of all I want to talk about a

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couple of changes to the the exams

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themselves so some of the content of the

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exams now I must say that all of my

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online preparation courses have been

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updated so uh they are they are valid

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all the content is valid for the the

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exams as they are now in 2024 at the

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time of making this video um and that's

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one of the advantages of these online

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courses I can add to them and update

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them when necessary

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as I will continue to do in the future

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so although I made the courses about a

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year ago just over a year ago for for

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some uh they will always be valid so

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check out the link in the description if

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you're interested in taking one of those

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online preparation courses for the B2

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first C1 Advanced and C2 proficiency

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Cambridge English exams so the first

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change that you need to know about is

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that in the speaking paper of the exams

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often the first question used to be

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where are you from but now that has

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changed now that question is where do

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you live now in the B2 first and C1

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Advanced that may not be your first

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question it often is but it may not be

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in the C2 proficiency exam if you're

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planning on taking the C2 proficiency

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exam that will be the first question

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where do you live now it may seem like a

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small change not a big difference right

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between where are you from and where do

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you live but if you have been preparing

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for the speaking paper and you've been

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thinking about how you're going to

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answer that first question and then on

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the day of the exam you find that it's a

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different question it may be a bit

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disconcerting or discombobulating so

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that's the first change just that

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question where where are you from is now

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where do you live another change which

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only affects the C2 proficiency and B2

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first for schools not the the normal B2

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first exam the general B2 first the B2

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first for schools which is slightly

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different those two exams used to have

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an option in the writing paper which was

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called the set text option so this was

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in part two where you had the option of

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reading one or two books before the exam

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and then choosing questions on those

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books um to write your texts about so

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you could prepare a little bit for the

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for the second part of the writing paper

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by reading those books that option does

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not exist anymore a few people have

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already asked me this year what are the

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books for the set text options this year

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you don't need to worry about it they

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don't exist that option has been removed

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okay so now let's look at these new

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digital exams a lot of people have been

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asking me about this new format uh so I

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thought I'd take uh the opportunity in

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this video to uh to explain what these

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digital tests are um and when they are

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going to be rolled out now for the last

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few years Cambridge have been offering

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ing two ways to take the exam the paper

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based exam which you do with pen and

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paper or pencil and paper and the

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computer-based exam which is all on

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computer so you do the whole exam on a

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computer not online that's very

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important because many people believe

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that the computer-based format was

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online so you could do them at home or

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or wherever you wanted that's not the

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case the computer-based exam format was

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uh on a computer in an examination

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center and these new digital exams the

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official name is Cambridge English

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qualifications digital uh they are

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basically replacing the computer-based

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exams from February of 2024 so at the

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time of making this video it's in one

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month basically from next month there

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are no more computer-based exams you'll

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have the paper based exam option and the

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digital exam option so what's the

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difference well to be honest very little

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again it's not online you have to take

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it on a computer but not online uh the

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format the the platform is very similar

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it's not the same that there are changes

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to the platform so if you have been

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preparing for the computer-based exam

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but you're going to take the exam after

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febru or from February this year 2024

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then I recommend you go to the Cambridge

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assessment English website and practice

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on their sample digital exam paper so

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you can do the whole sample exam on

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their website and you'll see how the

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platform is slightly different to the

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computer-based exam again not a big

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difference um it's a little bit more

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modern a little bit more

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sophisticated uh but the content is the

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same and it's very easy to use very

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intuitive and it has all of the same

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benefits that the computer-based exam

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had um now I made a video about all the

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benefits of the computer-based exam

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which I'll link to at the end of this

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video and in this video description

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uh cuz I don't want to go through all of

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it again but just quickly some of the

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benefits are that you can use headphones

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or you will definitely have head

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headphones for the listening paper you

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can highlight text you can move text

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around you can delete text which is very

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useful for the writing paper so you

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don't have to cross out and write again

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you just delete it and it's all much

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neater you have a a countdown clock so

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you can manage your time better and

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various other advantages as I said in in

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the other video I made about the

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computer-based exam I explain all the

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advantages those same advantages and

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benefits apply to this new digital

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format so what are the differences

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between the computer-based exam and the

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digital exam as I said very few from

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what I can see I think it's more a

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marketing campaign than anything just to

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sort of Rebrand and and romote this

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option for the the exams so this format

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but as you can see Cambridge does

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highlight that the Cambridge English

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qual ifications digital are fast so you

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get the results delivered within 5 to 10

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working days which is very impressive

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that's good also they're flexible now

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this is interesting they say here that

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the exam sessions are available up to

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365 days a year but you can see that

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little star which clarifies that you

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need to talk to your chosen Exam Center

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about their schedule they also say

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they're preferred the digital features

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help you focus and put you in control so

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yeah as I said there are many benefits I

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I think and also secure so test content

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is randomized for increased security the

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important thing to take away from this

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is that you don't need to worry too much

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they're very similar to the

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computer-based exams there are lots of

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benefits to them so if you have the

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option to take a digital exam I do

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actually recommend it if you don't don't

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worry too much the paper based exam has

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the same content and it's not usually

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going to make a big difference you know

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if you have the level and you've

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prepared well you should pass the exam

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whether you take the paper based exam

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the computer-based exam or these new

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digital exams okay hope that clarifies

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everything for those of you who had any

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doubts let me know if you have any more

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questions in the comments whether it's

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about these new digit digital exams

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about my courses or about the exams in

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general okay I'll see you very soon for

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another

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video