10 tips to dominate your Cambridge Exam
- Malcolm Corbin
- May 30
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 1
General advice
1. Know the Format Inside Out
Familiarise yourself with each paper—Reading and Use of English, Writing, Listening, and Speaking—so there are no surprises on exam day. When the big day comes, keep an eye on the clock. Know how much time to spend on each task and leave a few minutes to check your answers.
Follow the link to the official Cambridge website and from there choose your course: https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-tests/qualifications/general/
2. Build a wide range of vocabulary
Make vocabulary part of your daily routine—create word banks, use flashcards, and try writing your own example sentences. Reading is great for this and so is watching influencial speakers.
3. Why are you using that piece of grammar?
Review key grammar points like conditionals, passive voice, reported speech, and modal verbs as they often come up. Many students make the mistake of focusing only on the structure and therefore use English, but in the same way as in their native language. You should be focusing on WHY we use the grammar in English. What REAL LIFE situations would you use them in? That is how you'll speak like a native.
4. Stay Calm and Stay Positive
Exam stress is normal, but don’t get overwhelmed—breathe, focus, and take each task one step at a time. You've put in the effort so you've got this! Believe in yourself!
Speaking advice
5. Focus on being natural
Fluency usually matters more than grammatical accuracy so don't worry if you make a small mistake when speaking - you will actually LOSE MARKS if you repeat yourself too much trying to correct yourself. Learn some key phrases that use important grammar points for the exam which you can use in a variety of situations.
Below, I've created a helpful sugestions for phrases you could use. Check it out!
Listening advice
6. Little and often
Little and often is the key as you can't practice listing 1 week before the exam. Use English-language podcasts, news clips, or YouTube interviews to improve your listening skills in a natural way. I also enjoy listening to songs, finding the lyrics and singing along. This way I'm not only listening, I'm practicing my pronunication too!
Writing advice
7. Plan Before You Write
The first thing you MUST do is READ THE QUESTION CAREFULLY. So many students fail because they don't answer the question in full and answer all parts. Take a few minutes to brainstorm, organise your ideas, and plan the structure before you start.
8. Argument - Evidence - Analysis
Every point or opinion you make in the exam should follow this structure. Make your argument clearly and concicely. Give evidence to support your point, the give some analysis. What are the consequences? What were the causes?
Reading advice
9. Little and often...again
Similar to listening, little and often goes a long way. Finding things that you enjoy will help a lot with this. If you don't usually read in your native language, start small - a comic book or a magazine article about a hobby - over time you'll probably want to read something longer!
10. Don't give up!
It's easy to feel overwhelmed when you reach a series of words or phrases that you don't understand. Write it down and translate it later as often you can use the context of the word to guess its general meaning. The more you do this, the easier it will get and the more confidence you will have!
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