Useful internet pages -- As the internet is a very big place, the quality pages can often be lost among the noise and nonsense. So here is a handy guide for anyone preparing to do a Cambridge exam. These pages are the ones that we at British School have found to be the most useful.
Flo-Joe
Flo-joe has lots of free resources which can help you practice for your exam. The ‘Spotlight on Part 3’ is particularly useful as most students find the Use of English paper the most difficult. You can look at examples of writing tasks that other students have done and view the examiners comments which helps you to know what they’re looking for in the exam. Flo-joe is excellent for everything apart from Listening practice.
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Splendid-Speaking
Speaking is often the part of the exam which candidates fear most. it’s important to know what you have to do in each part and what type of language the examiners are looking for. Splendid speaking helps you to get to know the exam and gives lots of advice on how to go about each part and useful phrases to help your speaking flow naturally and impress the examiners.
They also have a free newsletter and and a daily vocabulary quiz!
Podcasts
In order to speak, first you must listen. Too many students neglect their listening skills and as a result, they have a head full of grammar and no idea how to use it. The only way to speak like a native is to listen to native speakers.
Luckily, you have access to thousands of hours of interesting, natural English in the form of podcasts. Podcasts are radio shows which are available to download and listen to on your computer, tablet or smartphone whenever you like.
How much time each day do you spend walking or driving? Why don’t you use that time to get some contact with English? 30 minutes every day Monday to Friday, would mean two and half hours of listening practice every week. No excuses, get listening!
You can use
itunes for Mac,
Juice for Windows and
Podkicker for Android devices to subscribe to your favourite shows.
You can find hundreds of programmes to download here
OZDIC
Ozdic is a collocations dictionary which is an incredibly useful page when you’re writing and know what a word means but you aren’t sure how to use it. Type in a word and it’ll give you the most common collocations, prepositions and phrases.
Macmillan Dictionary
The best dictionary for English learners on the web with clear, concise definitions, examples of the language used in context and a list of common phrases containing the word you’re looking for. Unfortunately there is still no smartphone app but the page loads quickly and is easy to read on small screens.
If you have any suggestions for useful pages please let us know and we’ll add them to this list.
