Full video

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what do successful cambridge english

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exam students have in common

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what is it that they do that

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unsuccessful students

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don't do well i've been helping people

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prepare for the cambridge english exams

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for about 15 years now and over that

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time

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i have observed what common

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characteristics

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the successful students have that the

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unsuccessful students don't have

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what do they do differently and today

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i'm going to share what i've learned

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with you okay let's do this

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[Music]

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now the first point i would like to make

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today is probably the most important

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and it's probably not what you're

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expecting it's not exactly what

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successful students do or don't do it's

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what they are or what they are not

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and successful cambridge english exam

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students

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are not cocky now when i say cocky i

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mean

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overly confident and i'm speaking

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specifically about their

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level of english not in general

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yeah successful cambridge english exam

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students

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are not overconfident and cocky they

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understand

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that they need to work hard to pass the

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exam

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i've noticed that some students think

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well i've been

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studying english for all my life i have

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a good level or maybe

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i speak to english people in english all

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the time i don't have big problems

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maybe even i've lived in an

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english-speaking country for for some

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time

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so you know i have a good level and

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imagine if they're preparing for the

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advanced you know i

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have a strong advanced level i don't

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really need to prepare too much i

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i'm i can just go straight in and pass

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and that's the biggest mistake you can

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make because

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passing a cambridge english exam is not

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just about having the level

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it's about being prepared and knowing

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the exam very well

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so if you're cocky if you're overly

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confident you're not going to take it

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seriously enough

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to pass and i've seen that so many times

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that

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students with with a good level a good

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strong advanced or even proficiency

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level

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fail the exams just because they don't

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prepare enough and they're too confident

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they think their level is enough

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it's not enough you need to prepare so

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that's the first and probably the most

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important

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point i want to make today the second

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point is that

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successful cambridge english exam

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students

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are organized now when you decide that

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you want to get the certificate you want

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to

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take a cambridge english exam you may

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sit down and look at what you have to do

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you look at the format of the exam

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and you'll see you have reading and use

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of english which is seven or eight parts

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you have

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the writing which is two parts you have

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the listening which is four parts the

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speaking's four parts

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and all the grammar you have to learn

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all the vocabulary you need to learn or

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to to revise at least

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and you think where where do i start

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what do i do where do

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where do i approach this from and that's

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why you need to be organized you need to

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have a plan you need to think about

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how you're going to approach your

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studies your preparation

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because you may find if you're not

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organized that a week before the exam

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you realized i haven't

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practiced an article in the writing or i

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haven't really

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done part four of the use of english or

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well i kind of know part three of the

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speaking but not very well

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because maybe you missed it out in your

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preparation because you weren't

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organized and this leads me on to the

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next point

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is that a successful cambridge english

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exam

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student keeps a vocabulary book their

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own

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personal dictionary so to speak

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because you need to expand your

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vocabulary

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it's so important of phrasal verbs

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collocations

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linking words common expressions

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so any new word any new expression you

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learn you have to add to your

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dictionary it's very important partly to

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learn new words but also to

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move passive vocabulary into your active

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vocabulary

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because you know a lot of words you've

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probably been studying english for a

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long time

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but you're going to need to use them now

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not just know them not just have them in

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the back of your mind you're going to

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need to use them

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and also related to organization is

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starting your preparation early it's a

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big mistake to think you can prepare for

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the cambridge english exams in

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a couple of weeks or a month or even two

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months you need

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you know you need to give yourself about

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six months or a year

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to prepare i mean if you have recently

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taken another cambridge english visa

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maybe you're studying

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for the cambridge advanced and you took

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the first certificate the b2 first

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six months ago or a few months ago and

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within the last year

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then then you have an advantage because

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you know the structure and the format of

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the exam they're very similar exams

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um so maybe you'll need less time

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depending on the real level you have

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but generally you need a lot of time to

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prepare for these exams so

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successful cambridge english exam

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student starts preparing early

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and they also study the exam it's not

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that they study for the exam that they

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study the exam

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as i said you need to know the format

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very well you need to get to know this

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exam

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like the back of your hand as i've said

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in a previous video

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that's extremely important again a cocky

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student will not really

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take it seriously enough to to get to

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know every detail every part of the exam

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what is expected of you and how to

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answer each question how to approach

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each part of the exam so that's very

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important and a successful student will

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focus on their weaknesses without

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ignoring their strengths

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okay maybe that's quite obvious you need

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to focus on your weaknesses because you

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need to

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get all your skills up to a good level

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so if your listening is your

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weakness then you know practice

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listening

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do the practice tests watch films in

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english listen to podcasts in english

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etc

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that's quite obvious i guess focus on

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your weaknesses but without ignoring

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your strengths

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now to pass a cambridge english exam you

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need to

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get over a certain threshold a certain

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points threshold

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and if you have a disaster a really bad

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score in for example the the speaking

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your speaking is your weaknesses it's

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just that you have a really bad day you

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can compensate by

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getting a really good score in the

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writing so you don't necessarily have to

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do well in all the skills

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of course it's much better if you do

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well in all the skills that's the

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objective that's the that's what you

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need to try to achieve

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but that's why it's important to not to

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ignore your

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strengths you may think you know i don't

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need to improve my writing i'm very

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that's my

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strong area that's my forte

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but you do you need to get that as high

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as possible because

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that could be the difference between a

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past and a fail

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to compensate for your weakest area so

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yeah focus on your weaknesses of course

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but don't ignore your strengths you need

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to work on all your skills

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and successful cambridge english exam

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students are also

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consistent with their studies i've said

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in other videos that

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consistency is more important than

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intensity

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that's true in learning english in

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general but also when you're studying

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for an exam

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many students make the mistake of

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obsessing with

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the exam with their studies with their

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revision and

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every day studying intensively

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and in the end they burn out because

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they can't maintain that level

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for enough time to to get to the exam

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often you have other things in your life

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you have

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school university your work your family

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it's very difficult to to maintain that

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high level of intensity

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consistently over the the months that

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you are preparing for the exam

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so it's better just to do something

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every day

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something little every day maybe just

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study one part of the exam or read one

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article in english but consistently

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more or less every day i'm not saying

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literally every day but

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something regularly so consistency is

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more important than

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intensity and that leads me on to the

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last point

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a successful student knows when to take

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a break

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again i spoke about this in a very

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recent video about generally

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studying english again with the the

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cambridge english exams

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it's important to take a break sometimes

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that's not contradicting my last point

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consistency is important so

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to study regularly but to take a break

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occasionally take a day off

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a weekend off that's okay um

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you don't want to burn out you don't

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want to create a bad relationship with

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the exams you want to enjoy your studies

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if possible so

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you know if you feel it's getting a bit

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too much stop take a break and then go

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back when you feel more energized and

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more motivated to continue

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okay let me know if you have any other

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tips that you can share with us

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maybe you've taken a cambridge exam in

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the past and now you're studying for the

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next level

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um you can all help each other in the

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comments don't forget to join my

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telegram group

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lots of enthusiastic and motivated

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students there helping each other

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hit the subscribe button because i'm

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going to be making more and more of

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these videos to help you with the

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cambridge english exams okay thank you

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for joining me and i'll see you again

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very soon

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for another video bye