introduction essay c2

Proficiency Essay Writing Tips

Cambridge Proficiency or CPE essay writing is the mandatory exam task in part 1. Here we will look at what you need to know and how to write a proficiency essay.

What you find in the Cambridge Proficiency C2 Exam

In the Proficiency essay question you are asked to summarise the key points in two given texts and to evaluate them with your own supporting opinions. Each of these texts is approximately 100 words each. 

Read the two texts below.

Write an essay summarising and evaluating the key points from both texts. Use your own words throughout as far as possible, and include your own ideas in your answers.

Write your answer in 240 – 280 words . Memory in our future? A good memory is invaluable. An inability to make use of memory and past experience can severely impact how well we perform both mentally and physically. Nowadays, we rely on computers, mobiles and other electronic devices to store our most important information, which is never more than a mouse click away. However, there is growing concern that this reliance on electronic equipment may affect the how our internal memory system will develop in the future. It remains to be seen whether those concerns are indeed likely to figure in our future.

Using our memory Memory is commonly assumed to be a record of our past, but all too often these memories have had our imagination shape them. It is not wise, therefore, to regard memory as a source of knowledge, as we will never be able to confirm the accuracy of a memory fully. Although memory is an unreliable source of knowledge about the past, its importance in our own identity is undeniable. With memory loss as a result of accident or illness, one of the most distressing consequences, for an individual, is likely to be a loss of self. Indeed, it might be said that a person’s true identity is really his or her collection of memories.

Write your essay.

How to write a C2 Proficiency essay

Initially you need to identify the key points in each of the texts. While the truncated nature of texts makes this task reasonably straightforward, be mindful of what the supporting sentences do in the context. Linking them with their respective key information should also simplify the process. Another essential element of this CPE essay and other writing tasks is the emphasis on the use of your own ideas and language. You should avoid “lifting” entire phrases, even individual words from the texts and put your efforts into drafting your own alternatives.  Introduction As always this is just a brief overview of what the essay intends to consider. Some initial comments on the topic for discussion and the overall context tend to provide the best approach. Having a strong initial sentence can also help focus reader attention on what you have to say.

Approaches There are many ways to address this question. A common method is to combine the respective key points together in two paragraphs for discussion. As the initial texts provided context, these points will more readily combine in the exploration of a particular facet of the theme. A second approach might be to place each point in its own paragraph to explore. While such an option potentially facilitates better individual examination of points, the word limits in the question make such an approach a lot more challenging.

Conclusion The conclusion should draw the essay to a natural end with some commentary and thoughts on what has preceded and on the themes provided by the texts. You may also find it an opportunity to add some further ideas that the essay has brought up.

Proficiency Essay Completed Example

For convenience and clarity we’ve provided a sample answer to this question by evaluating the conclusions of each of the texts in respective paragraphs. You can answer the question by following this model or by using any other approach you may wish to choose.

Introduction Memory is something that defines us as humans in many different ways. It informs our perceptions of past events and memories, which in turn help us make present and future decisions.

First Text We are fascinated with quality of having a good memory so much so that some people regularly apologize for poor recall. To add to this perceived flaw in our memories we now have to deal with the potentially less beneficial influence of technology on how we can recall information. No longer do we seek nuggets of knowledge from our memory banks but instead we make a technology source our first call. This has implications for how we may use and train our own memories in the future.

Second Text Our perception of our memory can also sometimes be at odds with reality where we are inclined to believe that memories are perfect representations of past events. Yet, this does not take account of how such memories has been shaped by experiences and the extent to which our imagination may have altered or influenced that memory.  Nevertheless, we cannot imagine the level of loss for those whose memory is disrupted or lost through some type of catastrophic event. Memories speaks to the very heart of who we are and with this often debilitating setback it may hasten further health issues.

Conclusion Memory is unquestionably complex as a concept but it still is one of the most valuable things we have in our lives. Notwithstanding this, we do attribute some remarkable qualities to it which may not necessarily be true. This should not be seen as a personal foible but should serve as a reminder of the need to retain a balanced view of memory.

Some points to think about!

• Answer the question fully This means successfully identifying the key points and discussing them in detail.
• Vary your language Try to use a wide range of vocabulary and structures. Be mindful too to focus on language you can use with confidence and try not to use the essay to experiment with new expressions. Take a look too at our posts on the use of topic sentences and on paragraph writing .    
• Look at examples of essays  Search online for examples of essays. Many quality newspapers and magazines regularly publish such essays, also commonly known as opinion pieces. As always the aim is to look at the structure of such pieces as they can offer a very disparate range of opinions.   

C2 Proficiency Review writing

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C2 – Your Writing Guide For The Proficiency Essay

Writing an essay in part 1 of the Proficiency C2 exam can sometimes a bit confusing. In paper 2 you will be assessed on your skill to draft coherent and cohesive texts.

QUICK INFO ABOUT PAPER 2 PART 1:

• Time: 1 hour 30 mins
• Number of exercises: 2
• Part 1 (Essay) is mandatory
• Part 2 you can choose from 4 options
• Assessment: Organisations, Content, Communicative Achievement and Language
• Marks: 20 x 2

In this post we will just focus on Part 1, writing the essay for proficiency.

PART 1  ESSAY

You will be asked to summarise key points in two short text and giving opinions on what is stated in both texts.

IT’S A COMPULSORY TASK  YOU MUST DO IT!

CONTENT THAT MUST BE INCLUDED:

You must make sure that you identify and summarise all the key points/opinions in the two texts (two for each text). Don’t forget you also need to give your own opinions on what is stated in the two texts. As the opinions given in the texts are closely related to each other, you will not need to use a lot of words to summarise them – try to do this briefly, while making sure you have not left out a key point. When you give your own opinions, you can agree or disagree with what is stated in the texts.

COMMUNICATIVE ACHIEVEMENT

Your essay should be suitably neutral or fairly formal in register but it does not have to be extremely formal. In it, you need to demonstrate that you have fully understood the main points, by summarising them in your own words, not copying large parts from the texts. The opinions that you give must be closely related to those main points so that your essay is both informative and makes clear sense as a whole.

ORGANIZATION

Make sure that your essay flows well and logically and is divided appropriately into paragraphs. Make sure that there is a clear connection between your opinions and the content of the two texts, and that these features are linked using appropriate linking words and phrases, both between sentences and between paragraphs.

The language that you use needs to be both accurate and not simple/basic. You need to demonstrate that you have a high level of English by using a range of grammatical structures and appropriate vocabulary correctly. Don’t use only simple words and structures throughout your answer. Try to think of ones that show a more advanced level, without making sentences too complicated for the reader to understand. It is advisable to check very carefully for accuracy when you have completed your answer.  Also make sure that everything you have written makes clear sense.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

• The content of your essay does not have to follow any particular order.
• Summarise the main points of the text and then give your own opinions.
• Give your opinion on each point from the text as you summarise it.
• You can summarise the points in a different order from how they appear in the text.
• You must include your own opinions but you can put them anywhere in the essay as long as they connect closely with the points made in the texts.

Download our C2 Essay guide and practise with the full sample and correction we have included to writing an essay for the proficiency exam.

If you need any extra practise for the writing part don’t forget to check out our online course to pass the writing paper of the C2 Proficiency.

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Home » Cambridge English Test Preparation » CPE Essay

Table of Contents

CPE Essay Sample 1

Cpe essay question.

Here is a CPE essay question that my student sent me:

" What policies can we follow to reduce traffic in the town centre?

-cycle paths -fines -public transport

Some opinions expressed during the meeting:

"Cycling everywhere isn't realistic - what about large families?" "Fines mean the rich will continue driving." "Nobody uses the existing buses and trams!"

Write 240-280 words."

Write a plan for this question below:

Online Template : https://studentlanguages.com/caewritingplantemplate/

or, if you prefer using pen and paper, print out the hardcopy template below:

Hardcopy Template :

https://studentlanguages.com/caewritingplantemplate2/

Essay Sample 1 - Answer

"It is generally acknowledged that the traffic jams in our town centre are becoming considerably severe nowadays. Governments could take actions accordingly in order to achieve this goal. In this essay, I intend to examine two opinions presented with regards to this topic. First and foremost, modernising public transport would make people’s commute significantly easier. To demonstrate this point, I would like to take Melbourne as an example in which we can witness an up-to-date infrastructure which is served by a variety of forms of public transport, such as trains, trams and buses. As a result, not only do the commuters save time, but they also have a more accessible and convenient transport system, not to mention the environmental benefits of having fewer cars in the city centre.   

On the other hand, insofar as setting regulations and restrictions on the traffic in urban areas is concerned, one option could be the introduction of government toll charges. To clarify this point, by charging drivers, there should be a resultant drop in driver numbers and cars on the roads. Not only this, but the government could also utilize the revenue from the toll charge back into the introduction of technologies that will reduce pollution and thus, protect our mother earth.  In this way, not only could the traffic be reduced, but it also will be helpful for our environment and sustainability. After all the aforementioned matters are considered, it is fair to say that establishing restrictions by tolls is the most effective method to decreasing traffic congestion in the town centre due to the fact that it is powerful enforcement."

Write down the mistakes and corrections for this answer:

Online Template : https://studentlanguages.com/caewritingcorrections/

Hardcopy Template: https://studentlanguages.com/caewritingcorrections2/

Essay Sample 1 - Mistakes

Complete the examiner assessment scale template for this answer: 

Online Scale: https://studentlanguages.com/caewritingscaletemplate/ 

Hardcopy Scale :

https://studentlanguages.com/caewritingscaletemplate2/

Essay Sample 1 - Assessment Scale Critique

Add any useful language, vocabulary, grammar and other tips you’ve learnt from this writing to this online worksheet : https://studentlanguages.com/caewritingtips/ or to this hardcopy worksheet : https://studentlanguages.com/cae-writing-vocabulary-tips-advice/

CPE Essay Sample 1 - Final Analysis

Content - 3

Communicative Achievement: 2

Organisation: 2

Language: 2

Total: 3 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 9/20.

If you can't remember what these scores mean, you can check out this video at the bottom of the page where I go into more detail (for a different essay).

If this student got 9/20 for their part 2 writing in the exam, they would have 18/40 for the C2 Proficiency writing paper.

The student would therefore not pass this exam paper.

To understand how these marks are calculated, check out page 6 of this document : https://studentlanguages.com/passmarks/  

I suggest using that page to mark your scores when you are practising for all the different exam papers.

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C2 Proficiency: Hooks for Articles & Reviews

My C2 proficiency students have just taken a full mock exam and one of the issues their writings had in common was the lack of “hooks” in their articles and reviews to draw the reader in an encourage them to keep reading. So, I put together this lesson plan, based heavily on this great article by Suzanne Davis.

The final task I set my students is on the topic of fame, so you might want to use my “The Life of a Celeb” vocabulary lesson before setting it. Download the handout below:

Have students read the opening paragraphs by Gary Provost to each other out loud and ask them to reflect on the message. Encourage them to attempt a similar range of sentence lengths in their own articles.

Have students refer to the 7 steps to success while writing their article for homework.

Lead students through the different types of hook and field questions.

Draw students’ attention to the need to use an engaging title.

Have students read the writing task and underline the content points. Then put them in pairs and have them discuss which hook would work best for this particular task. Then have them choose an expression about fame for their title.

Some possible answers could be:

Story hook: Imagine the scene, you just want to nip to the shops for a pint of milk but no sooner have you stepped out the door than a mob of paparazzi are hassling you. The constant click, click, click of the shutters, the blinding flashes fill your eyes, it’s enough to make you question if it’s all worth it.

Metaphor hook: Fame is, undoubtedly, a double-edged sword; while it bestows upon you all the riches your heart could desire, it slices away such basic comforts as privacy and anonymity.

Quotation hook: As Clive James once said “a life without fame can be a good life, but fame without a life is no life at all”

Writing Part 2 – 7 Steps to Success

• Read the task, underline content points.
• Organise content points into paragraphs.
• WHAT are you going to say? Add notes to paragraphs. STAY ON TOPIC!
• Register? Formal/informal?
• Inversions (not only/no sooner/not until/seldom)
• Inverted conditionals (Were I to…./Had they known…)
• Cleft sentences (What impressed me most was…)
• Participle clauses (Having visited the city before, I know what to expect. Being a massive fan of cheese, I had a whale of a time in France)
• Double comparatives (The more cheese I ate, the fatter I became. The more I studied the more I understood about French culture.)
• Phrasal verbs. (switch over, zone out, sit back)
• Idioms/similes (like watching paint dry/to be on the edge of one’s seat)
• Relevant vocabulary to the topic (chat show, current affairs, couch potato, remote control)
• Other expressions (Something for everyone, a smorgasbord of options, kill time, etc.)
• Forms and conventions: Report/proposal – paragraph titles, letter conventions.
• Punctuation

An Article “Hook”

Capture the reader’s attention with your introduction, draw them in and make them want to read more.

The Story Hook

Throw the reader straight into a narrative or story related to the topic. The story should be in the 1st person, be descriptive and intriguing:

I got off the train and pulled my luggage behind me.  A cab pulled up to the curb, and the driver got out.  He lifted my luggage and said, “Miss, I’m just going to put your stuff in the boot.”  I didn’t know what he meant until I saw him open the car’s trunk.  Then I realized the boot means car trunk.  I got in the cab, wondering how many other words would be different in England.

Start in the middle of the most exciting part, then go back later:

“Boom, boom, boom,” The sound of my heart beating faster and faster echoed in my ears. How on earth had I got myself into this situation? You might ask. Twenty feet underwater with nothing but a thin metal cage between me and perhaps the most terrifying apex predator on the planet, the great white shark….

Well, it had all started two weeks previously when….

The Descriptive Hook

Similar to the story hook but focus more on describing one moment/thing in great detail. Leave the reader wanting to know more about it.

The dog howled in pain and limped along the side of the road.  His leg was cut and blood streamed down his leg.

Doesn’t this scene make you curious about what will happen to the dog?

The leather strap of the ancient watch was creased and faded from long years in the sunlight. Down the glass of the face ran a long, roughly vertical crack, recalling the blunt impact which had stopped the hands of the timepiece dead all those years ago.

Don’t you want to hear the story of the watch?

The Metaphor/Simile Hook

The metaphor/simile hook engages your readers because it makes them think about a topic in a different way. 

A metaphor is a figure of speech that directly compares one thing to another, but these two things seem unrelated.  An example of a metaphor is: Her boyfriend is a rat.

The boyfriend is not really a rat, but he behaves like one.

A simile is like a metaphor.  Both compare two unrelated things to each other, but a simile uses the words like or as to connect them. For example:  Writing a research paper is like running a marathon when it’s 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

If your article topic is on business blogging you could write the metaphor hook:

A business blog is a magnet pulling clients to a company.

Or the simile hook:

A business blog is like a magnet that pulls clients to a company.

The Quotation Hook

This is a hook where you begin your article with a quotation.  The quotation could be from a famous person, but it doesn’t have to be. You can quote anyone if it connects to what you’re writing about.

If you are writing about the topic of education you could begin with: Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.”

If you want to use a quotation for a hook, make sure you quote the words exactly.  Choose quotations where the words are striking, powerful, and/ or memorable.

Famous quotes:

• “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
• “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
• “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
• “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” – Joe Kennedy
• “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
• “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West
• “You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.” – Wayne Gretzky
• “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein
• “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” – Forrest Gump

Article Titles – Keep it Catchy

Most proficiency articles require a catchy title, try to include:

• Taking the rough with the smooth
• Life in the limelight
• Coming face-to-face with a man-eater!
• The long arm of the law

You recently read an article from an online youth magazine on the pressures of fame for young celebrities. The magazine has invited readers to respond to the topic with a short article of their own, which answers the following questions…

• Is becoming famous worth it?
• Do male and female celebrities experience the same pressures?
• What can be done to shield young celebrities from the drawbacks of fame?

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• Guide to the Cambridge C2 Proficiency Writing Exam – Part 2: Review

• Posted on 02/08/2023
• Categories: Blog
• Tags: Cambridge , Cambridge Exams , Cambridge Proficiency

Are you working towards the Cambridge C2 Proficiency (CPE) exam? Have you been having sleepless nights thinking about what might appear on the writing exam? Do you need some tips to help you with your planning? If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to any of the previous questions, fear not – we’re here to help!

The review is just one of the options in Writing Part 2. However, you can’t guarantee which ones will be on the paper on exam day. Also, it’s not just the structure that’s important. If the topic really takes your fancy because you already know lots of C2 vocabulary, you might go for that one!

Above all, you need to feel prepared. That means understanding a task, planning effectively and having some CPE secret weapons at your disposal . By the end of this blog, you’ll know what a typical Cambridge C2 review question looks like, what to include in your plan, what grammar and vocabulary you could incorporate and how you can prepare for this part of the C2 Proficiency writing exam. Let’s start with the basics!

What is a review?

According to the Cambridge C2 Proficiency exam page :

The review is one of six options you can choose from in the C2 Proficiency Writing paper Part 2, along with the mandatory essay that you’ll complete in Part 1, which we covered in our Guide to the Cambridge C2 Proficiency Writing Exam – Part 1: Essay blog post. Don’t forget to revisit our Guide to the Cambridge C2 Proficiency Writing Exam – Part 2: Report too! Keep your eyes peeled for blogs about the rest!

Review format

• Word count: 280–320.
• Register: neutral – it depends on the target reader.
• Main purpose: describe, evaluate, recommend, suggest.
• General structure: title, introduction to the topic, three main paragraphs – one to describe, one to discuss in more detail, one to recommend.
• Common themes: films, books, restaurants, art, festivals, concerts.

Why choose the review task?

One of the main reasons a lot of students feel comfortable writing reviews is because we use them so often in everyday life. That is to say, we prefer to check opinions before committing to a product or an event.

However, it’s not as simple as giving stars! We need to make sure our writing is upgraded to C2 level. Check out the table below for examples of upgraded language. We’ve used four different review topics.

We’ve used two techniques here: In red , you can see examples of pseudo-cleft sentences . In blue , you can see examples of negative inversions . We’ve highlighted a nice phrasal verb in pink , and you can see lots of underlined examples of descriptive language .

However, it’s important to use these sparingly . In other words, use your planning stage to decide where you’re going to use them or your writing can seem too formal. Remember, you’re writing to convince someone, so you want to communicate on their level. Don’t go overboard !

How can I structure a review?

First, let’s look at a review task.

As the task asks you to do three things: describe the book you enjoyed, talk about the attractions it had for you as a child and explain why it’s relevant today, you’d probably want three paragraphs. Add a fourth for a short conclusion and you have your general structure. Your title can be the name of the book.

You should allocate at least 15 minutes to your plan. Think carefully about what you want to write about and how you can explain your ideas. Make a list of useful collocations connected to the topic. Then, think about how you can use excellent examples of C2 grammar. Plan how you’re going to connect your ideas with linkers. Vary your sentence structure and occasionally add a much shorter sentence in order to add emphasis. It really works!

Remember, your writing needs to have cohesion. The more time you spend planning, the more you can work on the structure. Try to visualise your paragraphs as rectangles. Within these rectangles there are smaller rectangles that vary in size and shape. Imagine that you have to decide on the perfect order and distribution. As a result, your paragraph will be stronger.

What does a review look like?

First, the writer introduces the topic of the review. This helps the reader know what he/she is about to read. Next, the writer gives a brief description of the story. No spoilers please! In the third paragraph, the writer comments on how the story is relevant today. To conclude, he/she links back to the original introduction and summarises the entire review in one neat little paragraph. Beautiful!

We’ve also highlighted some lovely collocations which are appropriate for this task about children’s books. You’ll find lots more inspiration for your reviews on sites like Goodreads , Metacritic , The Guardian and Rolling Stone .

What else can I do?

• Practise! Practise! Practise!.
• Don’t limit your English to a specific time. Instead, do as much of your daily life in English as possible.
• Read in English – it’s a fantastic way to consolidate grammar points and learn new vocabulary. It’s fun too!
• Listen to music in English. What better place to start than Rolling Stone’s 500 Best Songs of All time ?
• Practise! Practise! Practise! Did we mention that one already?! We’ve included some blogs below to keep you busy:

How to Write a Review for Cambridge C1 Advanced

6 Tools To Take Your Writing To The Next Level – general writing tips

Our Year In Review: Top 10 Blog Posts Of 2019 – a different example of a review!

5 Spelling Rules For Comparative And Superlative Adjectives – work on descriptive language

Looking for further support?

If you’re interested in preparing for the C2 Proficiency exam but don’t know where to start, get in touch with us here at Oxford House today! We offer specific courses that are designed especially to help you get ready for the exam. Let our fully qualified teachers use their exam experience to guide you through your learning journey. Sign up now and receive your free mock test!

Glossary for Language Learners

Find the following words in the article and then write down any new ones you didn’t know.

take your fancy (id): appeal to someone.

at your disposal (id): available to be used.

keep your eyes peeled (id): watch carefully for something.

sparingly (adv): in small amounts, without wasting any.

go overboard (id): do something too much.

allocate (v): to give a particular amount of time or money to something.

be about to do something (id): to be going to do something very soon.

neat (adj): tidy.

check out (pv): examine or investigate.

pv = phrasal verb

adj = adjective

adv = adverb

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9 Tips For Communicating With Locals In English-Speaking Countries

• By: oxfordadmin
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25 years of Oxford House – Our Own English Language Community

• Posted on 09/08/2023

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Cambridge C2 Proficiency (CPE): How to Write a Report

• Mandatory task : no
• Word count : 280-320
• Main characteristics : descriptive, comparative, analytical, impersonal, persuasive
• Register : normally formal but depends on the task
• Structure : introduction, main paragraphs, conclusion (sub-heading for each paragraph)

Introduction

A report is written for a specified audience. This may be a superior, for example, a boss at work, or members of a peer group, colleagues or fellow class members. The question identifies the subject of the report and specifies the areas to be covered. The content of a report is mainly factual and draws on the prompt material, but there will be scope for candidates to make use of their own ideas and experience. Source: Cambridge English Assessment: C2 Proficiency Handbook for teachers

Reports in Cambridge C2 Proficiency are, unlike essays , not mandatory in the writing test. Instead of a report candidates might opt to write an article , a review or a letter .

Reports are very schematic

While some of the writing tasks in C2 Proficiency are quite free and open in terms of their paragraph structure and layout, reports follow a pretty rigid form, which makes it fairly easy to write them. With their sub-headings for each section and similar requirements in every task, candidates get a good grasp of report writing quite quickly.

This article shows you exactly how you can navigate those waters and how to score high marks with ease, so let’s get into it.

What a typical report task looks like

A report task in C2 Proficiency is usually very specific regarding the topic and the more detailed points you need to talk about in your text as well as the target reader you are writing for.

The three things I’ve mentioned above should always be the first things to find out when you analyse a writing task:

• the topic of the task
• the detailed points you have to include
• the target reader

The topic of this specific task is a jobs fair for young people . A more close-up look reveals that we need to describe the event a little bit in general as well as two or three promotions in more detail . Thirdly, we evaluate if and how much a fair like this can open young people’s minds to career opportunities .

Last but not least, we are writing the report for our college website meaning that teachers, students and parents are going to read it. Therefore, the style of language doesn’t need to be super formal, but I would also not write in an informal style. Neutral seems to be the right choice so contractions (I’m, don’t, etc.) as well as some phrasal verbs are fine, but colloquial expressions that we would use just in spoken English are taboo.

How to organise your report

The paragraph structure of a report in C2 Proficiency is fairly straightforward. I would simply start with a title and an introduction that states what the report is about (in this case, we could describe the fair in the introduction), then continue with the sections that address the main points and finish with a conclusion.

Title & introduction

Main sections.

For most reports, this structure works very well. Depending on the task, we mostly use two or three main sections and you are free to choose whatever organisational form you think makes the most sense.

Plan your report before you start writing

I can’t stretch this point enough, but I would always note down a short plan to make sure my ideas are already saved somewhere before I start writing. This reassures you whenever you don’t know how to continue and it can save you a lot of time.

The best way to go about making your plan is to decide on the paragraph structure you want to use for a particular task and then to add a few short ideas of what you definitely want to include in each section. For our example task, I came up with this:

• Title & introduction : jobs fair event summary; 10-12 July; 53 organisations; show career opportunities; specialists with valuable information
• First special organisation : English teaching jobs abroad; information about the jobs; people were happy
• Second special organisation : NGO from Peru; literacy and English classes; accommodation and food included; people had done programme before
• Conclusion : everyone happy; event broadens young people’s horizon; visitors surprised by variety of options; definitely recommend it

I’ve decided on four paragraphs as there are basically four things we need to do: introduce the event, talk about two different organisations at the fair and comment on how it opens young people’s minds.

This whole process took less than five minutes, but I know that once I start writing, I have a roadmap prepared that can help me whenever I need it. I won’t have to waste time rearranging my ideas or changing the paragraph structure because it’s all done already.

The different parts of a report

Once you have a plan, you can get started with the actual writing process. Thanks to all the information you’ve already noted down, it should all be smooth sailing, but there are, of course, several things to take note of when writing a report and we are going to look at them paragraph by paragraph.

A report in Cambridge C2 Proficiency typically has a title, which can be descriptive and doesn’t need to be anything special. For example, for our example task from earlier, we could choose a basic title like “Jobs Fair”. That’s it.

The introduction or first paragraph of your text, however, is a little bit more important. Here, you want to show what the report is going to talk about. This can be quite explicit, but you can also give a more subtle description of the subject matter.

Jobs Fair Event summary From 10-12 July, a jobs fair with 53 organisations from all over Europe was held at the college to display career opportunities for the students. The different booths were manned expertly by specialists so as to give the best information possible and to show what the future might hold for graduates of the school.

First of all, there is the title plus the first subheading (Event summary). Subheadings are an essential part of the typical layout of a report so make sure that each section gets one.

Secondly, I state what the fair was about and what purpose the different organisations came to the event for, i.e. to show graduates a variety of future job opportunities, so the reader knows what to expect from this report .

On top of that, I tried immediately to use rather impersonal language , another common feature of reports, which includes passive verb forms, generalisations (It is said that; Many people said; in general; etc.) as well as avoiding personal pronouns like I or we.

With a good introduction under our belt, we can now get into the nitty gritty of the report. The task requires us to point out a few of the organisations present at the fair and explain in a little bit more detail what they were offering.

Obviously, you need to get a little bit creative and come up with some ideas, but as the report is for the college website, I thought it would be nice to talk about some options that are connected to the English language.

Promotions to highlight While the event as a whole went remarkably well, two stands were mentioned by many to be of particular relevance. One provided insights about job opportunities abroad as an English speaker, which includes teaching the language as well as tutoring children and teenagers. There was a wide variety of employment options presented together with the expected salary, working conditions and other things to consider before taking the leap, which quite a lot of visitors commented on in a very positive way. The second organisation that was indicated to me fairly often was an NGO from Peru which runs literacy campaigns and English language courses in rural areas around the country. They were looking to attract young people to their volunteer programme that involves teaching reading and writing to primary school children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Accommodation and food are both included so participants only need to cover the cost for their flights to Peru and back. The people working at the stand had all done it themselves so the visitors at the fair were given first-hand accounts of what working for the NGO is like.

As the two paragraphs belong to the same section of the report, only one subheading is necessary, but apart from that, I really focussed on the basics of good report writing.

I described in detail what the two organisations have to offer using some appropriate vocabulary (remarkably well; particular relevance; a wide variety of employment options; salary; working conditions; NGO; literacy campaigns; disadvantaged backgrounds; first-hand accounts) as well as more impersonal and general language (mentioned by many; visitors commented on it; was indicated to me).

The conclusion is the part where finish your report and make recommendations or suggestions based on the information provided in the previous sections. Here, you can give your personal opinion to round off the text. Again, don’t forget the subheading and use appropriate language.

Benefits of such job fairs After listening to other people’s thoughts on this kind of event I’m of the opinion that job fairs like this can truly broaden the horizon of young people who might not have formed a clear idea of what they want to do after school yet. Several of my friends mentioned that they simply had not been aware of the multitude of options available to them and that they would absolutely recommend it to everyone who needs some inspiration for their future.

I refer back to the previous sections (After listening to …), then give my opinion (… I’m of the opinion …) and make a recommendation (… they would absolutely recommend it …). It is that simple.

It is not that difficult to write a report in C2 Proficiency if you know how to plan the text and what language you should include. Obviously, at this level you should be able to play with the language and adapt each report to the topic of the task, but I hope that this article has helped you get a better idea of what goes into writing this kind of text.

If you want to practise with me, I offer writing feedback as well as private classes and I would love to hear from you soon.

Lots of love,

Teacher Phill 🙂

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