Full video

0:00

hello everyone thank you for joining me

0:02

again and welcome to any new viewers

0:04

my name's ben this is to the point

0:06

english where i give

0:08

tips and advice on how to pass the

0:10

cambridge english exams

0:12

and today i'm going to be answering a

0:15

question that i've been

0:16

getting a lot recently both from my

0:19

students

0:20

and from members of my telegram group if

0:22

you're interested in joining that group

0:24

then

0:24

hit the link in the description send me

0:26

a message and i'll add you to the

0:28

appropriate group

0:30

that question is related to preparation

0:33

and it's simply where to start

0:36

and it's a good question and i'm going

0:38

to answer it right now

0:40

okay let's do this

0:44

[Music]

0:46

now deciding to prepare for and take an

0:49

english exam

0:50

is quite similar to other decisions you

0:52

take in your life

0:54

for example if you decide you want to

0:56

get fit and healthy

0:58

there are many things you need to think

1:00

about for example what exercises you

1:03

need to do

1:04

whether you should join a gym if you

1:06

should get a personal trainer

1:08

or if you can do it on your own at home

1:10

following youtube videos

1:12

then you need to think about the

1:13

equipment you need if you need weights

1:15

or exercise bands or if you prefer

1:19

nike shoes or adidas shoes which ones

1:21

look better so

1:22

important decisions like that and then

1:24

you have to think about nutrition and

1:26

your diet

1:27

so many things to think about and with

1:30

english exams is quite similar

1:32

you may think well should i join an

1:34

academy

1:35

should i get a private teacher can i

1:38

study by myself

1:39

using youtube videos but which channels

1:43

should i follow which website should i

1:45

look at what books should i buy what

1:48

podcasts

1:49

should i listen to so there are so many

1:51

things to think about that

1:53

sometimes you're in danger of suffering

1:55

from analysis paralysis

1:57

analysis paralysis is basically what

2:00

happens if you

2:01

spend too much time and energy thinking

2:04

about

2:05

doing something analyzing all the

2:07

details

2:08

about what you need to prepare before

2:09

you start that

2:11

in the end you don't start you're

2:13

delaying the actual

2:15

beginning the activity itself

2:19

so my first piece of advice today is

2:22

just do it now i might get in trouble

2:25

for using that i think that's

2:26

copyrighted that that slogan but yeah

2:29

just just start

2:31

stop analyzing and just start but

2:34

you've clicked on this video because you

2:36

probably want a more

2:38

specific answer to the question where do

2:40

i start

2:42

so what i would really recommend the

2:44

first thing you should do

2:45

is spend the first couple of weeks

2:48

really getting to know the exam as well

2:51

as possible

2:52

as i've said before get to know the exam

2:54

like the back of your hand that's the

2:56

most

2:56

important thing so the first two or

2:59

three weeks of your preparation

3:01

you should find some example papers

3:04

an example exam you can find these on

3:07

on the official cambridge exam website

3:11

i'll link to a handbook it's a teacher's

3:15

handbook it's for teachers but it's very

3:16

useful for students it's completely free

3:19

it's from the official cambridge english

3:21

exams website

3:22

and you have all the details you need to

3:24

know about the exams

3:26

go through that handbook and look at

3:28

each individual part of the exam

3:32

spend some time going through each part

3:35

don't worry about the timing this is

3:36

just an introduction

3:38

and don't worry if you get questions

3:40

wrong you will get questions wrong

3:42

don't get disheartened or discouraged

3:46

this is not a test this is just an

3:49

introduction

3:50

to the exam so you will get a lot of

3:52

questions wrong you will realize

3:53

that these exams are very difficult but

3:56

it's just the first

3:58

introduction so you know what you need

4:01

to

4:01

to prepare for you know what you're

4:03

doing you you can

4:04

start thinking about your weaknesses you

4:07

need to identify your weaknesses and

4:09

your strengths

4:10

so you can start focusing on your

4:12

weaknesses but

4:13

without forgetting your strengths but at

4:16

the same time

4:17

in those first weeks you should start

4:19

building a habit of

4:20

watching everything in english listening

4:23

to everything

4:23

in english so all the films series

4:26

youtube videos

4:28

listen to all podcasts and radio in

4:30

english

4:31

and start keeping a vocabulary notebook

4:34

your own personal dictionary so you can

4:36

do this simultaneously

4:38

you don't need to do one thing and then

4:41

the next thing

4:42

consecutively you can do them in

4:44

parallel

4:45

um so this should just be part of your

4:47

life now watching everything and

4:48

listening to everything

4:49

in english and being proactive

4:53

paying attention to what you're

4:55

listening to and of course

4:56

reading in english this is so important

4:58

again actively reading

5:00

it's possible to read a book and enjoy

5:02

it without necessarily understanding

5:04

every word but

5:05

as you're preparing for an exam you need

5:07

to pay attention to the vocabulary and

5:09

the grammar

5:11

so everything in english at the same

5:13

time as getting to know the exam

5:16

then after those first few weeks i'd

5:18

recommend that you start

5:19

dedicating one day of

5:22

the week for each area each skill

5:26

so maybe for example monday or the use

5:28

of english so it's really

5:29

grammar and vocabulary maybe tuesday for

5:33

the reading maybe wednesday for

5:36

practice one at least one writing task

5:40

thursday could be listening friday

5:42

speaking

5:43

and at the weekends just whatever you

5:45

feel you need to focus on more

5:47

and again as i've said before it's okay

5:49

to take a break at the weekends take

5:51

sunday off if you like it

5:52

you don't want to burn out and overload

5:55

yourself with english

5:56

so try to organize your time so that you

5:58

have some kind of system

6:00

some kind of routine and it just becomes

6:03

part of your life

6:04

but then i recommend as you get closer

6:06

to the exam

6:07

to start going back and doing as many

6:10

practice

6:11

tests as possible find old

6:14

sample papers to do as many as possible

6:17

and start developing

6:19

a strategy for each part of the exam so

6:21

thinking about the timing

6:23

that your approach to each part and

6:26

really get it

6:27

down to specifics not just

6:30

general idea what you think you will do

6:33

make sure there are no surprises in the

6:35

exam that when you turn over the page

6:37

you know exactly how you're going to

6:39

approach

6:40

each part and of course go back and look

6:43

at all my old videos i have lots of tips

6:45

in those videos to help you

6:47

with each part of the exam and don't

6:50

forget to subscribe because i'm going to

6:52

be making a lot more videos because

6:53

there are still a lot to

6:55

look at in these exams let me know in

6:57

the comments if you have any other

6:59

recommendations maybe you have a

7:00

different perspective i always like to

7:02

get the students point of view

7:04

so share your ideas in the comments to

7:06

help other students

7:07

so thanks for joining me again and i'll

7:10

see you very soon for another video

7:11

take care bye

7:18

you