Full video

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in this video i'm going to give you six

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essential tips on how to prepare for the

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cambridge exams

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so we're looking at the fce the first

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certificate the cae cambridge advanced

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and the cpe

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cambridge proficiency the general

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preparation for these three exams is

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basically the same it's the same advice

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now

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in an ideal world

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we wouldn't need to take exams people

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would just study to

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gain knowledge for practical use

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but it is what it is

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and having helped dozens of students

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prepare for the cambridge exams over the

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years i decided it would be a good idea

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to share what i've learned

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so i decided to make this video

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so without any further ado

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tip number one

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so you need to get to know the exam like

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the back of your hand

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yet you really need to get to know the

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exam inside out you need to know the

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exam better than you know your your own

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mother

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um yeah for the the cambridge advanced

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for example you need to know that it

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consists of four papers

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the reading and use of english which has

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eight parts uh it's an hour and a half

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the writing which has two parts also an

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hour and a half the listening

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which has four parts it's 40 minutes and

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then the speaking which is more or less

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15 minutes and also contains four parts

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and then you need to go deeper in more

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detail you know need to know

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uh

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what each part is looking for what

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grammar you need what what the exam is

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asking of you

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it's extremely important because

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for example i've

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had students who perhaps haven't really

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had the level

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advanced level but they have passed the

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exam because they have prepared so well

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they have really got to know the exam

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and on the other hand i've known people

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who have

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a very high level maybe even proficiency

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but they've taken the advanced exam and

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failed because they were a little bit

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too cocky a little bit too confident and

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they didn't

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really know what the exam was asking of

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them

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so that really for me it's the number

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one tip it's the most important thing

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get to know the exam like the back of

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your hand

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okay tip number two

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so start the preparation early

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yeah i would say at least two months

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minimum two months preparation

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six months would be great

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why not a year start if you're if you're

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thinking next year of technique taking

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the exam start preparing now

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you can't really

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have too much time preparing for this

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exam because it's not really just about

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learning a few grammar areas a little

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bit of vocabulary and practicing your

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speaking

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no these are difficult exams even the

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first certificate is a tough exam

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so you need to improve your level in

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general of english

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so yeah start preparing at least two

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months before the exam

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tip number three

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dig out your old notes

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so yeah this is this is very useful very

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practical tip you've probably all

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studied a lot of grammar at school and

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you're probably bored with it

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and all the vocabulary a lot of the

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grammar that will be used in the exam

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you have studied you know it

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so you need to revise it you need to

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refresh your memory of all that grammar

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you have studied over the years so yeah

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dig out your old notes your own notes

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are the best notes because you wrote

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them you'll remember

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what you were thinking when you wrote

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those notes you'll have a connection to

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that time

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so it's better than just reading a book

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that somebody else has written your own

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notes are more valuable

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okay tip number four

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immerse yourself

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immerse yourself in the language in

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english surround yourself with english

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this should be pretty obvious um

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as i said these are tough exams these

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are not easy exams so

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to prepare you really need to surround

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yourself with as much input

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of the language as possible so very

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obvious things watch films and series in

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english

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youtube videos in english

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join face group groups where you can

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chat to people in english

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read in english a book

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different books if possible or just

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internet articles on various subjects

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you need to expand your vocabulary as

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much as possible

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for the exam because the reading part of

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the exam is is tough there's a lot of

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text to read in little time so

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yeah reading is extremely important but

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just generally immerse yourself in the

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language as much as possible

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and that leads me on to tip number five

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pay attention

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yes

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great immersing yourself in the language

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surrounding yourself with all this input

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all these this material but if you don't

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pay attention it's really a waste of

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time

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you can read a book

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and enjoy the book that's great in

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general if you're not preparing for an

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exam that's fine just read a book enjoy

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the book in english watch a film enjoy

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the film in english that's fine but

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you're preparing for an exam so you need

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to pay attention to the grammar that is

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used the pronunciation

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the the vocabulary as i said when you

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finish the exam

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i would recommend that you don't do that

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actually i recommend you just do things

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in english for fun

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but you're preparing for an exam so pay

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attention

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and the last tip number six

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another very important and practical tip

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find a partner

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ask around ask your friends your family

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your colleagues at work your classmates

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try to find somebody who's also studying

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for the same exam

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if you can't find anyone

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look further afield go on to the

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internet find

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facebook groups there are many many

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people

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hundreds of thousands of people who are

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studying for the

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these exams so

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there are a lot of people that really

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need to practice and find a partner

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the advantages of finding a partner

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they're really for the speaking part of

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the exam more than anything

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obviously the speaking part

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is at least two people sometimes three

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people

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in conversation that's so valuable to

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have somebody who you can practice with

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practice as i said the timing the timing

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is so important for the speaking exam

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because your time is limited

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and also if you have a partner who's

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taking the same exam with you you can

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actually do the exam together the

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speaking part of the exam together which

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is so

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valuable it's such an advantage if you

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can

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go to the exam with your partner you can

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prepare so much obviously you can't

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prepare for the subjects you're going to

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be talking about but

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the timing the vocabulary you can use

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it's really a huge advantage if you can

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you can find a partner to go to the exam

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with

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but if not

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definitely to to help you prepare the

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exam let me know in the comments if you

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have any extra tips

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you can help other people who may be

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reading the comments and watching this

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video

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like and subscribe to this to my channel

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because i plan to make some more videos

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about the cambridge exams in the future

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more specific about preparing for the

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different parts so if you don't want to

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miss those make sure you subscribe

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i also make lots of videos about other

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areas of english just general

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vocabulary grammar general tips on the

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learning process pronunciation etc okay

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thank you for joining me for this video

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and i'll see you again soon

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bye