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hello everyone thank you for joining me

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again this is to the point english with

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ben

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i'm ben and welcome to any new viewers

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now regular viewers will know that i've

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made plenty of videos now on the

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cambridge english exams for the b2 first

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the c1 advanced c2 proficiency

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and i've covered many areas from

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how to prepare how long it takes to

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prepare

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a book recommendations and even what to

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do the day before an exam

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but there's one big question that many

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people have asked me um and i think it's

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time to make a video about it and that

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question is is it better to take the

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computer-based exam or the paper-based

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exam

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and in this video i'm going to analyze

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that question but for those of you who

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have no patience and don't want to watch

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a video they just want the quick answer

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the answer is computer-based exam

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without a doubt but in this video i'm

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going to explain why i think the

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computer-based exam is the best option

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now obviously i've never taken a

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cambridge english exam and i'm not

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planning to but i've helped many people

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prepare and i've received a lot of

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feedback from different students on on

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both the paper-based exam and the

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computer-based exam also i have to thank

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frank the exam expert frank who i

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interviewed a couple of months ago you

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can check out the video there

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he helped to explain why a

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computer-based exam

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is the best the best option now the

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first thing i must do today is address a

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couple of misconceptions about the

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computer-based exam you can't do it at

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home

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and it's not internet based it's

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computer-based it's not done via the

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internet it's done on a computer but not

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connected to the internet

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so yeah many people think because it's

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computer-based you can do it anywhere

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but no you must go to the exam center

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your local exam center to do the exam

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now

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also i need to talk about some things

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which are the same

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that both the computer-based exam and

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the paper-based exam have in common

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and the first most important thing is

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that the content is the same

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one exam is not easy easier than the

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other the content is exactly the same

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also the length of the exam is the same

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so the timing is the same there's no

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you don't have more time in the

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computer-based exam or less it's exactly

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the same the marketing criteria is the

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same so you're not going to have any

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difference there the examiners will look

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at the computer-based exam in exactly

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the same way they look at the

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paper-based exam

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and the preparation is basically the

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same you all the advice and tips i've

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given in my past videos on how to

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prepare for the cambridge english exams

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they are all valid whether it's the

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paper-based exam or the computer-based

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exam

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and finally the speaking paper the

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speaking paper is exactly the same in

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both paper in both

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options in fact there is no

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computer-based option for the speaking

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paper it's exactly the same you must be

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in a room with an examiner and your

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partner and the assessor

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doing the exam in person

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okay but now let's look at some of the

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differences

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and really i'm just going to list

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first of all the advantages of taking

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the computer-based exam now one of the

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biggest advantages is related to the

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listening paper and that is you in a

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computer-based exam you will have

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headphones

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now in some paper-based exams depending

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on the examination center you may have

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headphones

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but usually not and it can be very

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difficult to hear if you're sitting if

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you're unlucky to be sitting in at the

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back or sitting next to someone who's

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rustling their papers or coughing at

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just the time the the moment of the

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answer that you're listening for

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that can be a big problem in the

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listening paper

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but in the computer-based exam you're

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guaranteed to have headphones

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not only that but you will see on the

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screen in the computer-based exam in the

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top right hand corner that you have

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a volume control so audio control so you

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can turn the volume up or down to your

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preference which again is a big

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advantage

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you have more control of the listening

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in general another advantage that many

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people don't realize that you having a

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computer-based exam is that you have a

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little screen timer at the top of the

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screen

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uh counting down from the moment you

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start each paper it counts down and you

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can see exactly how many more minutes

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you have

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left

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so it helps you to plan your time as you

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know if you've watched my previous

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videos

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the reading and use of english in

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particular it's very important to have

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good time management because you have

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90 minutes to do a lot of reading

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and a lot of questions answer a lot of

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questions so you need to manage your

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time well so if you have the minutes

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there

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ticking down it will help you another

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advantage you can highlight the text

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now what sometimes happens in these

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exams you have so much text in in the

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reading paper especially

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you can get lost a little bit and but if

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you can just highlight the text when

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you're going backwards and forwards

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between the

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the text and the answers

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the options you have it can really help

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you organize how you approach the the

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test

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you don't get lost so easily you can

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highlight the parts that you think are

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important for the the question

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and also you can take notes on the

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screen so if you think you have seen

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something important but you're going to

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keep on reading you don't want to forget

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that thing that that important

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information you have

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making a note at that moment will help

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you so you can go back later and it will

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remind you

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what you saw what what was that

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information that you saw that you think

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you thought at that time would help you

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and also a big advantage for part seven

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i think it is of the reading and use of

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english for the advanced and part six i

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think for the c2 proficiency is a drag

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and drop feature so drag and drop means

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you can click on a paragraph

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and put it into the position that you

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think is correct in the text and then

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you can see the whole text

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and read through it and check that it

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flows and fits well

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if you don't like

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that paragraph then you can just replace

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it with another paragraph until you're

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happy with the paragraph you've chosen

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that's a huge advantage because

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again with a paper exam you're just

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going backwards and forwards looking at

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the different papers that you have in

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front of you and your notes and you

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could you can get lost

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i'm terribly sorry to interrupt this

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video but i'm just editing it now and it

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just occurred to me that

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in my enthusiasm for demonstrating all

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the benefits and advantages of the

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computer-based exam i may have

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overlooked the fact that some of you may

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have already registered for the

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paper-based exam and you may be watching

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this video and thinking oh no i've made

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a terrible mistake ben says the

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computer-based exam is much better

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much easier to pass etc but no that's

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not what i'm saying that's not the

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impression i want to give

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on the balance of things

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in my opinion the computer-based exam

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has more advantages there are more

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benefits to to taking that exam rather

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than the paper-based exam

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but

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really it doesn't it shouldn't make the

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difference between you passing the exam

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or failing the exam there are much more

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important factors involved your

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preparation your level how well you know

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the exam

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how well you get to know the format etc

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so

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i think i had to say that because i'm a

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bit worried that people will watch this

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video

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and start to panic because they're not

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doing the the computer-based exam

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they're not going to take the

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computer-based exam because they've

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already signed up for the paper-based

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exam

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as i said there are much more important

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factors to consider than

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which type of exam you take okay sorry

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for the interruption back to the video

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another advantage is that it's

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easy to navigate

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you have these buttons along the bottom

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so you can go to any part of the paper

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you're on as i've said in previous

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videos you don't have to necessarily

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follow the order that you see in the

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paper you can

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start at part 5 which i often recommend

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in the reading and use of english

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678 and then 4321

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but you can do it in any order you you

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like with those buttons they really help

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you navigate it's very intuitive you

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also have the advantage of accessibility

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being built in

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so you can adjust the settings um to

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suit you to help you so for example the

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text size you can make the text bigger

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also you can change the color so you can

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for example change it from the

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traditional white and black white

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background with black text you can

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change it to a black background with

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yellow text for example

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and also you can change the screen

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resolution just to help

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uh make maybe make it clearer for you to

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to read now all those advantages i've

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just given uh

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during the exam those advantages you see

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during the exam

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but one advantage that you get after the

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exam is that you

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receive the results much more quickly

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from the computer-based exam so you

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should get them within three weeks

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in a paper-based exam i think it can be

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up to two months

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i've heard people having to wait up to

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two months

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now of course we mustn't forget that

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there are some advantages to taking the

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paper exam

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the paper-based exam

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for example some people are just more

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familiar and feel more comfortable

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using paper and pen

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i'm one of those people to be honest but

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but i think it's worth getting familiar

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familiarizing yourself with the

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computer-based format

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because there are so many advantages on

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the official cambridge website

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you have a tutorial on the

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computer-based exam and you can do a

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sample exam

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which will help you get familiar with

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the format how to manage how to navigate

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the screen before you go into the the

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exam so i'll link to those in the

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description to this video so you can get

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to know the

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exam a little bit better before you

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decide which one you're going to choose

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okay i hope you found that useful as i

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said it doesn't really make any

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difference to me which exam you choose

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but i do think the computer based is the

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best option so if you choose that let me

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know how it goes because i'd love to get

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some feedback put your experiences in

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the comments to help other students

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and i'll see you very soon for another

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video take care bye

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