CPE in 2019, IELTS in 2020

[Viverra]

From "a peace of cake" to "what the hell":
Equipment such as the tape recorder and stereo ARE very outdated.

Because, unlike in Russian, we take the whole first part of the sentence as a subject, not as a subject and an example.
It's mind-blowing and I am trying to find more information about it. I was 100% sure it must be "is" and I was really incredulous about this, but it seems to be true.

[QwestDay]

I am trying to find more information

Try Advanced Grammar In Use 2 edition by Martin Hewings, Units 40-42 "Agreement between subject and verb" if you haven't yet.

[Viverra]

QwestDay, yep, I bought this book but I haven't yet :) Thanks!

[Viverra]

QwestDay, I looked through all these paragraphs and couldn't really find anything relevant to this example so unfortunately it didn't help at all. Could you please be more specific?
Did you mean part A of unit 40?

When the subject of the sentence is complex the following verb must agree with the main noun in the subject.
Many leading members of the opposition party have criticised the delay

I suppose it's quite obvious, but the problem is that in the sentence

Equipment such as the tape recorder and stereo ARE very outdated.

I considered "equipment" to be the main noun. That's why I am confused.

[QwestDay]

Viverra,
Unfortunately, I haven't seen this theme anywhere else. Maybe more experienced folks can help us..

[Viverra]

I am heading home after CPE mock totally exhausted. We had all the parts today.
Speaking was ok and quite similar to CAE.
Use of English could be better, I definitely made several mistakes. Reading was easy, as for me.
Writing: the fist part - an essay about sports and parents' responsibility for childrens' obesity. The second part included these options: an article about a youth club premises, a letter against building a car park on the place of old classical buildings and a rewiew of a new building for a squash club. Boring. I chose the letter.
Listening was unexpectedly horrible. Or maybe I was too tired because it was the last part.

[Viverra]

Gosh, "review", of course, not "rewiew"

[Viverra]

I wish I could edit my posts, because every time I notice my mistakes when it is too late, and it feels like

[Viverra]

I got my mock results.
They recommend to register for the closest exam if you get 65% and more. I got 66%. Threshold.
I am not satisfied but let's face the reality.
My best part was Speaking, 85%
Reading was really good, these are parts 1, 5, 6, 7. Use of English was much worse, as usual in my case, but together they made 72%.
Listening was a disaster with 43%, but I knew it in advance because I wasn't able to concentrate.
Surprisingly, in Writting essay, which I had trained, was worse (55) than a letter (70), which I hadn't. Total 62%.

I think I will try to take CPE in March. Of course I won't pass it with the flying colours, but I hope for grade C for a start.

[Viverra]

Something was wrong with my articles, but never mind.
This experience helped me to make some obvious conclusions:
First of all, I need to practice writing more (no surprises here) with all the rules of CPE. I mean, to study and follow the structure, coherence, cohesion and all these terrifying words. Let it be my New Year's resolution.
Also I'm ok with reading so it's high time to give more attention to Use of English. Actually, it has become a bit better than it used to be, but it is still not enough.
I am 100% sure I can do listening better than that. Shit happens, that's it, but there is no need to worry, in fact.

By the way, while waiting between different parts of the mock exam I was talking to one girl and she said that IELTS is easier than CPE because there is no Use of English and writing is strictly structured. Well, that sounds reasonable. I mean, if I am bad at UofE, nobody will know it at IELTS at all :)

[Viverra]

I found an awesome speaking partner for extra practice.
Also I am addicted to "Being Human", I just can't stop watching it at nights so I look quite similar to a vampire in the mornings, all pale and sinister with red puffy eyes :)

[Viverra]

Just an opus of mine, an essay. There is no need to check it, it's more to prove to myself that I've been making some progress.

It is often said that our clothes are an extremely significant part of the impression we make on other people. Little did our ancestors know about fashion and phycology but they had a proverb that people are met (and judged) by the way they are dressed, and we can still apply this rule to the modern society.
Ii is rightly argued that dress-code defines the borders between people and points out different social roles. For instance, uniform in a bank distinguishes workers from clients and also establishes an official atmosphere. It is proven that we are relieved when an outfit of a professional lives up to our expectations, to a stereotypical image, because a proper outfit of a representative of a specific area creates the feeling of reliability and trustworthiness.
On the other hand, in some cases, it is more efficient not to demonstrate any formality in terms of clothing. A business suit can become a distraction or even an obstacle for a children’s phycologist because it forms a further distance between them and their little patients. Another bright example is a white doctor’s overall. Being a symbol of flawless hygiene and serious attitude, which are undoubtedly highly desirable in medicine, it terrifies lots of people at the same time.
Nevertheless, many of traditional events and rites require special garments, and that rule must not be ignored. Unconventional dress for funerals has been always considered as a sign of rudeness and disrespect. It also proves that during the history of humankind clothes have been a matter of high importance, and specific types of them have been used to serve special social and cultural needs.

I hate essays, I hate essays, I hate essays

It's about a month to the exam. I'm really dissapointed with my preparation course, to tell the truth, and so are probably all other students in the group. Most of them, who has not quit yet, are looking for an alternative. I will stay but.. there are many buts or one big BUTT instead of learning there.

[Mountbatten]

Viverra, what’s the language school you are having CPE classes? Language Link?
Is your teacher a native speaker?

[Viverra]

Oh, my, my answer has just dissapeared.
Mountbatten, yes and yes.
He is a very polite gentleman with bright and charismatic personality. But we were looking for some intense course with lots of feedback provided. Reality didn't live up to our expectations.
1. Everything is very slow. Mostly because of enormous teacher talking time. I think it is quite common for native speakers, by the way.
2. Feedback is very poor in terms of writing (it can be only "well done!" I'm not kidding) and there is no feedback at all in terms of speaking.

[Viverra]

3. Each task goes with infinite explanation, we can spend 30 minutes listening to the task and 6 minutes doing it.
4. We often spend 2 hours on checking homework although nobody has any questions and we could be provided with keys.
5. Once I asked about the difference between a department store and a shopping mall. He was answering for about an hour, and then another student came late, so the teacher decided to repeat everythink. And such things happen all the time!

[Viverra]

6. Because of this sluggish pace we skip lots of listening and do lots of tasks as our homework.

Actually, many of students had complained to the administration before they quit, and our lesson was even supervised with someone once, but nothing has changed.

Another problem is that I can't, for example, tell all of this directly to the teacher because it would feel like beating a kitten. Really, nobody wants to hurt his feelings. And complaints to the administration didn't help.

[Viverra]

And all of this is damn expensieve and time-consuming. You don't want your time and money to be wasted so unwisely.

[QwestDay]

Really, nobody wants to hurt his feelings.

It's so sweet! I do understand you, but I can't imagine this situation at work. No boss would tolerate not advancing.

But we were looking for some intense course with lots of feedback provided.

So, even in a big city you're not spoilt for choice..

[Viverra]

QwestDay, hell yeah.
And what are the alternatives? One of us joined CPE course of Paul Newson, it is cheaper and faster but it is an online conference with 10 students on Skype, and there are some disadvantages, too.
Another are looking for private tutors but how can we estimate their level and expertise?
Most of us are going to use "do it yourself" moto, and that's a pity because we were ready to work hard guided by a professional in this area.

[Mountbatten]

Viverra, ok, thank you for such a detailed reply. It’s quite useful as I was thinking of joining classes in this school.
If I were you, I would tell the teacher all my concerns as to his teaching style. Perhaps, he would benefit from it. They teach us ( the teachers) to hear our learners and take into account their feedback when it comes to learning material, style, TTT etc.
May I know his name? It’s important.
The courses in LL are really expensive, I know that. However, I have always thought that they provide high quality teaching. Now, I am wondering..

[Eager Beaver]

Viverra, from what I heard Paul doesn't really care about teaching, what he's concerned about is making money, thus 10 people in a single Skype session. I understand (I never tried it myself, though) how you can squeeze so many people in an onsite face-to-face class where you can actually organise group work and give everyone the chance and enough time to speak. But Skype? This is ridiculous.

[Viverra]

Mountbatten, he's Steven from London, I forgot his surname. There is another Steven from America there. It's Novoslobodskaya metro station.
Unfortunately, high quality teaching is not provided there. I used to think the same.

[Viverra]

Mountbatten, another issue is that Steven may be an interlocutor or an examiner during coming CPE sessions. I doubt I am brave enough to spoil relationship with him before the exam.
At the same time, going to the classes helps me to keep up with the scedule, because I am not so well-organised to do lots of tasks without any control.

[Juliemiracle]

another issue is that Steven may be an interlocutor or an examiner during coming CPE sessions. I doubt I am brave enough to spoil relationship with him before the exam.

wow, that's something new. I'm no expert, but from what other people had said, I somehow gathered that such a thing is virtually impossible. Like if an examiner saw their former student on the list of examinees, they'd have to report it and be replaced to eliminate any preconceptions. Am I wrong?

[Viverra]

Juliemiracle, I hope you're right and they check it somehow. Anyway, we were told about this by Steven. But I'm afraid he doesn't know much about CPE prosedure. For example, he was really surprised to found out that there is computer-based CPE, he wasn't aware of it till this October.