Preparation for successfully passing the Unified State Exam in English. The Internet will help you prepare for the Unified State Exam in English...

English is not the most popular subject in which the Unified State Exam is taken, but interest in it among graduates is growing. Moreover, they promise to make the English exam compulsory soon. What are the features of preparing for the Unified State Exam in a foreign language? What mistakes should you avoid when completing exam tasks?

Why learn English?

Modern society clearly requires workers in many areas to know English. In some schools, its study begins already in the first grade; even non-linguistic universities choose to enter a number of Unified State Examination specialties in English language. Moreover, we are promised that in the near future the Unified State Exam in English will be on a par with mandatory exams in the Russian language and mathematics.

Most of those taking the Unified State Exam in English are in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Moscow, 29.2% of all graduates take it, in St. Petersburg - 21%. The results in these cities are also higher: on average in Russia - 57.8%, in St. Petersburg - 60.44%, in Moscow - 64.55%. But high school students from other regions are much more reluctant to take English; there are 10 times fewer people willing to take it! Only 6% in all regions.

“Surveys show that students from schools outside Moscow and St. Petersburg are afraid of the Unified State Examination in English,” says Irina Zotova, adviser to the MAXIMUM company, candidate of philological sciences. “They don’t want to take it because they are not confident in their results. Thus, they themselves limit the circle of leading prestigious universities for themselves. And this happens from year to year.

Compliance with the Unified State Exam according to English international standards

But you can’t learn a language in one day. It is best to start preparing for the Unified State Exam in English two years in advance, that is, in the 10th grade. Despite many unflattering reviews about the Unified State Exam, this exam is very similar in structure to international ones, such as TOEFL, which clearly confirms its ability to determine the real level of proficiency in a foreign language.

In accordance with documents of the Council of Europe, assignments Unified State Examination of the highest difficulty levels correspond to level B2 according to international standards. In practical life, this means that only a small part of the Unified State Examination tasks in English requires an understanding of the content complex texts, including highly specialized ones, and the ability to talk about them.

All texts used in the exam are authentic and undergo three stages of content examination, which is always carried out by a native speaker and reveals the textual consistency of the text. The exam checks the level of students' competence in three types of speech activity: listening, reading and writing. Lexical and grammatical skills are tested separately. Each section contains tasks of varying difficulty, which allows you to most accurately determine the student’s level of knowledge.

Typical mistakes in the Unified State Examination in a foreign language

Analysis of the Unified State Examination, typical mistakes, the opinions of parents and students, and especially the sales volumes of various teaching aids show that preparing for an exam is often understood as endlessly completing tasks - without a sufficient stage of studying, developing a strategy and algorithms of action, and subsequent analysis. But such popular collections of test materials themselves do not teach anything; moreover, they often do not even reflect the realities of the exam, and certainly do not allow one to develop all the necessary skills. Unfortunately, in many schools, preparation for the Unified State Exam is reduced to solving “options” - very often without subsequent analysis of errors and the reasons for their occurrence. This means that the root of the problem when passing the Unified State Exam in English is not the exam itself, but the way of preparing for it.

No matter how trivial it may sound, the basis of preparation for the Unified State Exam in English remains language learning. Without this, it is difficult to expect a good score in the exam. But there are also typical mistakes in the Unified State Exam in English that graduates often make.

Judging by the number of points received, the easiest section for schoolchildren is “Listening”. His tasks are aimed at testing the general understanding of the listened text and the information requested from it. Typical errors in this section show that students strive to “catch” individual words from the text and do not pay attention to its overall meaning. So, in 2013, for many, the difference between the British and American versions of the word " mobile phone": mobile phone and cell phone. Appealing with just one word, not general meaning statements, many chose the wrong answer.

The “Reading” section is similar in structure to the “Listening” section, only here instead of oral text you need to work with written text. The main difficulty in these tasks was working with words that were similar in meaning, for example, return - recovery - come back. In one of the tasks, the answer to the question posed was contained at the end of the text, but a similar incorrect answer was in the first paragraph, which led to a large number errors in this matter.

The “Grammar and Vocabulary” section turned out to be not as difficult in 2013 as in 2012. His average success rate increased to 58%. Despite this, typical mistakes remain the same from year to year: forms irregular verbs And passive voice. Such a result is evidence of insufficient or incorrect work with errors, which should include determining the cause of the error, appropriate work with theory to eradicate this problem, and consolidating exercises. And you need to learn: there is a strictly defined set of irregular verbs that you just need to learn!

Particularly difficult are tasks devoted to lexical compatibility. The reason for this is, first of all, insufficient work with the “real” language. It is necessary to constantly work with authentic texts and analyze those linguistic features in them that confuse the exam. This is one of the most interesting aspects of the language, which is often “hidden” from students, which reduces their passion and interest in learning foreign languages.

“Writing” is the last section, which most clearly reflects the level of language proficiency. It includes tasks C1 and C2. Due to the fact that the time for passing the exam increased by 20 minutes, many began to take on these tasks, but so far not very successfully, as evidenced by the decrease in their GPA. To complete the assignment of Part C, you must not only correctly express your thoughts on paper, but also strictly follow both the requirements of the assignment itself and international standards for writing letters in different styles. Training the skills necessary for this should be carried out constantly and in different formats, which is quite possible if the overall approach to the exam is sufficiently thoughtful.

Here it is important to mention the “Speaking” section, which was canceled in 2006, but will definitely return to the Unified State Exam in a few years. Since this section is not currently included in the exam, many schools simply “don’t speak” the language. But through speaking and only through it, you can expand your vocabulary, on which the entire exam is based, you can learn to formulate your thoughts, listen to someone else’s speech and watch for mistakes. All this is the basis not only for successfully passing the Unified State Exam, but also for real proficiency in a foreign language.

Algorithm for preparing for the Unified State Exam in English

1. You must start preparing for the Unified State Exam no later than two years before the exam.
2. Language knowledge cannot be divided into specific tasks and prepare only for them: all skills are interconnected, and only complex work allows you to cover and practice the maximum of necessary skills.
3. In the “Listening” section, it is necessary to perceive the meaning of the statement as a whole, and not “catch” individual words from the text.
4. In the “Reading” section, you need to pay special attention to working with words that are close in meaning.
5. In the “Grammar and Vocabulary” section, you must learn the theory: forms of irregular verbs and passive voice.
6. In the “Writing” section, you need to train your writing skills and study international standards for writing letters in different formats.
7. It is necessary to constantly work with authentic texts and analyze those linguistic features in them that confuse the exam.
8. Develop speaking skills in English.

Discussion

When you do extra work, there won’t be any problems. If you are lucky with the school, then you don’t even need to worry at all. My child has been studying separately for three years now, at the Yazykoved-I foreign language school. Goes to group classes, already level C1. And at school this is A2 maximum. And in general, if you want the child to know the language and be able to use it. Then you need to do some extra work. My daughter didn’t struggle at all, she’s now the best in the class, they found an approach or maybe the program was structured differently, that’s why.

Return-recovery-come back - different parts of speech!!! I mean the second word recovery

Everything that is written above is correct and has long been known to everyone.

Comment on the article "Unified State Exam in English: common mistakes and 8 preparation tips"

preparation for the Unified State Exam. what to do? Daughter in 10th grade. Is it a violation for the school to organize paid preparation for the state exam - I do not PROadvanced preparation for the Unified State Exam in Moscow in Russian and English, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography.

Discussion

We are preparing through Maximumtest (there is a website), 11th grade, classes remotely. If you are interested, I can then report on the results of the Unified State Exam.

My daughter, studying at a humanitarian gymnasium in the 11th grade, after the New Year, sharply changed her priorities and decided to take mathematics. Considering that mathematics at school was very basic, we hired a tutor via Skype. From January to May we trained two to three times a week. 76 points. Very smart tutor. If we had started earlier, the results would have been better; time was running out.
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Preparation for the Unified State Exam, Unified State Exam assignments with a tutor. Relieving stress during exams. Alena Zanina, English tutor and the most students taking the Unified State Exam in English in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Moscow, 29.2% of all graduates take it, in St. Petersburg - 21%.

English via Skype. Preparation for the Unified State Exam. We DO NOT pore over thick dictionaries, we DO NOT read Oscar Wilde in the original in the first lesson, we DO NOT draw seven-story diagrams of tenses in the English language - we train, repeat OUT LOUD, we participate in language sparring...

Recommend trusted tutors in social studies, English and Russian to prepare for the Unified State Exam. Boy in 11th grade. If the tutor is really good, we will travel to any region, or consider classes via Skype.

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English is the most popular of the four languages ​​taken as part of the Unified State Exam. The current test is almost no different from testing in 2015, with the exception of some improvements in the wording of the oral part task and the fact that the passing score for the entire exam has increased to 22 points compared to last year’s 20. Passing English is no more difficult or easier than German, French or Spanish . The structure of the Unified State Exam in English is also no different from the Unified State Exam in other foreign languages.

Testing is spread over two days. On the first day, the student takes a mandatory written part, consisting of four sections:

1. listening;
2. reading;
3. grammar and vocabulary;
4. letter.

There are a total of 40 tasks in the written part, and 180 minutes are allotted for them. If they wish, students can come on the second day of the exam and take the oral part, which consists of four tasks (to test speaking skills). You have 15 minutes to complete the oral exam.

It is worth noting that only for the written part you can get no more than 80 points.

The conditions for taking the test in 2019 are no different from last year. But before you start taking practice assignments and online tests, study general information about the exam.

Unified State Examination

To pass the exam, you need to correctly solve at least 17 tasks from section 3 or 2 and 3. Thus, you gain 17 primary points, which, when translated into test scores, give 22. Use our table to reflect your results in a convenient five-point score.

Structure of the Unified State Exam written test

In 2019, the written part of the test consists of four sections, including 40 tasks.

• Section 1: Listening (1–9), answers to tasks are a number or a sequence of numbers.
• Section 2: Reading (10–18), the answers to the tasks are a number or a sequence of numbers.
• Section 3: Grammar and Vocabulary (19–38), the answer to the task is a number, a word or several words written without spaces or punctuation.
• Section 4: Writing (39–40), consists of two tasks - writing a personal letter and a statement with elements of reasoning.

Preparation for the Unified State Exam

• Take the Unified State Exam tests online for free without registration or SMS. The tests presented are identical in complexity and structure to the actual exams conducted in the corresponding years.

• Download demo versions of the Unified State Exam in English, which will allow you to better prepare for the exam and pass it easier. All proposed tests have been developed and approved for preparation for the Unified State Exam by the Federal Institute of Pedagogical Measurements (FIPI). All official versions of the Unified State Exam are developed in the same FIPI.
  The tasks you will see most likely will not appear on the exam, but there will be tasks similar to the demo ones on the same topic.

General Unified State Examination figures

Are you taking the Unified State Exam in English? This means that you need to master such a difficult section as speaking, or the oral part. These are tasks C3, C4, C5 and C6 in the Unified State Exam version. It is in these tasks that graduates make the most mistakes.

We have prepared for you two real Unified State Exam tests in English and examples of how to perform these tests. Each of them contains 4 tasks. On this page - Test 1

Task C3 - reading.

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Task 1. Imagine that you are preparing a project with your friend. You have found some interesting material for the presentation and you want to read this text to your friend. You have 1.5 minutes to read the text silently, then be ready to read it out aloud. You will not have more than 1.5 minutes to read it.

Many lands that had once been swamps were drained or filled in. There are different reasons why people drained swamplands. Some were drained to fight diseases caused by insects that lived in them. Because swamps were considered unpleasant places in which to live and harmful to health, many people thought that unless they were drained the land was worthless.

Other swamps were drained to make new land. As the population grew and more land was needed, people drained swamps or filled them to make room for more farms and factories, more roads and airports.

Few people thought that it might be harmful to get rid of swamps. As swamps disappeared, other things happened. There were both more floods and more droughts than before. There were also more fires, for swamps had acted as firebreaks. Hunters noticed that there was less wild game. Wild life that once lived in the swamps was dying out, because it had no place to live.

Task C4 – make up questions.

Task 2. Study the advertisement.
You are going to visit Japan this summer and you’d like to have more information about the flights to Japan. In 1.5 minutes you are to ask five questions to find out the following:

1) departure dates
2) travel time
3) return ticket price
4) discounts for students
5) buying the ticket online
You have 20 seconds to ask each question.

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Example of completing a task:
1. What are the days of departures? (What are departure dates?)
2. How long will it take to travel?
3. How much does the return ticket cost? (What is the price of the return ticket?,
How much is the return ticket?)
4. Do you offer any discounts for students? (Are there any discounts for students available?)
5. Is it possible to book the ticket online?

Task C5 – description of one picture.

Task 3. Imagine that you are showing pictures of your pets to your friend. Choose one photo to present to your friend. You will have to start speaking in 1.5 minutes and will speak for not more than 2 minutes. You have to talk continuously. In your talk remember to speak about:
when you took the photo
what/who is in the photo
what is happening
why you took the photo
why you decided to show the picture to your friend
Don’t forget to start with “I have chosen photo number...”

Example of completed task C5:

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I have chosen photo number 1.
To begin with, people keep pets for different reasons. They make our lives more exciting and become the members of our family. They can also be our closest friends forever.

I took this photo last summer in our country house. We have got several pets and this dog is among them. All our pets are friendly and cute creatures.
Let me tell you a few words about this photo. In the background you can see a wonderful Russian landscape. In the foreground there is a wonderful lawn framed with lovely birches and bushes. In the center you can see my elder sister Sveta and our dog Snowflake. We called him so because he is as white and fluffy as snow.
The weather is fine, sunny and warm. Snowflake likes to go for a walk very much. In the photo Sveta is telling him something to keep him calm. You can’t see me as I am taking the photo.
Taking this photo I wanted to start a collection of our pets’ pictures and to display it on the wall in our living room. Besides, the photos will always remind us of our pets.
I decided to show this picture to you because you told me a lot about your dog. Now it’s my turn to give you the first impression of my pet. Isn’t he friendly and cute?
I believe when you come to our place, Snowflake will accept you as his best friend.
That is all I wanted to tell you about this photo.

Task C6 – comparing and contrasting two photographs.

Task 4. Study the two photographs. In 1.5 minutes be ready to compare and contrast the photographs:
Give a brief description (action, location)
say what the pictures have in common
say in what way the pictures are different
say which kind of life you’d prefer
explain why

You will speak for not more than 2 minutes. You have to talk continuously.

Example of completed task C6:

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In our modern world some jobs are very important for our society.
Here are two pictures to compare and contrast on the topic. This is a photo of a man doing his job outside and that is a photo of a policeman standing on the side of the road.
These two pictures show jobs and this is the first similarity. The people in both pictures are wearing uniforms, and that is also what these pictures have in common. The weather is rather warm.
However, the pictures are somehow different. The main difference is that in picture one we can see a worker, while in picture two there is a traffic policeman. Also, their actions are different: the worker is paving a sidewalk and the policeman is on duty watching the traffic on the road.
As far as I am concerned, the job of a traffic policeman (cop) is more important for the society because people of this profession are responsible for our safety and order on the roads. Besides, they control all drivers to keep and obey traffic rules. It is very important for all drivers and passengers’ lives.
I’ve come to the end of my speaking. Thank you for listening.

The Unified State Examination, in any language, has always raised many questions. But the Unified State Exam in English does not cause so much negativity. It’s just that most schoolchildren studied from textbooks, in which a huge number of tasks were written in a test version. Since schoolchildren are accustomed to such tasks, taking the Unified State Exam is psychologically comfortable. But many questions remain for future employers. Are tests capable of showing the level of language proficiency? After all, written language is one thing, and pronunciation and speaking skills are another. But the rules are the same for all subjects and this is the format of the final exam, and you need to prepare for it.

Types of preparation for the Unified State Exam in English

Since oral skills will not help you pass the exam, classes with a tutor may be wasted. If classes consist mainly of oral communication, then they will not help you prepare for the Unified State Exam. The same is true with English language courses. A huge amount of online has appeared on the Internet. Since they mainly improve oral skills, their USE results will not improve. This raises the question: what is the best way to cook To Unified State Examination in English?

How to prepare for the Unified State Exam in English?

The first step is to identify gaps in your knowledge. After that, start eliminating them. The best way to see your problems is by taking online test tests of the Unified State Exam in English. On educational portal Uchistut.ru you can take trials Unified State Exam tests in English an unlimited number of times. During the test, your time is not limited, and you can open the textbook to refresh your knowledge. You do not need to register or send SMS from your phone to take the tests. Once you have identified topics in which you do not feel confident, you can turn to specialists or improve the material yourself. But studying on your own can lead to mistakes that can cost you dearly in the exam. Therefore, it is worth choosing English courses that will focus specifically on knowledge gaps and help you prepare for the Unified State Exam. Preparatory courses will best help

I managed to finish school even before the Unified State Exam was introduced. Of course, there are many more opponents of such an examination system than supporters, but this is our reality, which is much easier to put up with than to resist.

The Unified State Exam in English is a difficult exam. In 2017, enter a good university with basic level It is unlikely that you will be able to pass the English language exam. To get a high score, you need to start preparing for the exam as early as possible.

As we know, the written part consists of 40 tasks, for which students are allocated 3 hours, and includes:

• listening test;
• reading test;
• lexical and grammatical tasks, also in the form of a test;
• letter consisting of two stages.

It is worth saying that for the first part of the English language exam, a maximum of 80 points is given; if a student needs to increase his score, then he must come on the second day to pass the oral part.

If the written part can be trained by studying independently using all kinds of manuals, then for the oral part you need a teacher.

This post will be devoted to the most successful study guides for preparing for the Unified State Exam in English on your own.

1. Macmillan Exam Skills for Russia

This is the only book to date for preparing for the Unified State Exam, which consists of 15 full tests in the new format of the Unified State Exam, including the oral part. When working on the tests, all changes in the exam format were taken into account. The tests were created in collaboration with M.V. Verbitskaya, chairman of the subject commission on foreign languages ​​of the Unified State Examination. The website Macmillan.ru provides additional materials on the Unified State Exam for students and teachers: online tests, audio files, video tips, etc.

2. A.I. Nemykina, A.V. Pochepaeva - Unified State Exam. Oral part

The manual is a collection of tests for testing oral speech skills, as well as a simulator for practicing the skills of passing the oral part of the Unified State Exam in English on a computer. It is with this textbook that you should start preparing for the oral part if you study on your own. At the beginning it is given full analysis oral part tasks, and then 20 tests with explanatory materials.

3. Afanasyeva O., Evans V., Kopylova V. - Practice Exam Papers for the Russian National Exam

Given training manual with an audio application contains 20 versions of English language tests in the Unified State Exam format.
Distinctive features of the textbook are variable tasks corresponding to advanced and high levels of preparation for the Unified State Exam, as well as texts of various genres for listening and reading. It should be noted that there are excellent examples of completing tasks in all types of speech activity.

Download the 2010 manual from this link.

The 2007 textbooks are available along with audio.

4. Muzlanova E.S. - English language. Unified State Exam textbook

The manual is compiled on a thematic basis and consists of 16 thematic blocks that cover the entire range of topics provided for by the Unified State Examination codifier in English. The blocks consist of 5 sections: reading, listening, speaking, grammar and vocabulary, writing. Each section includes exam-type tasks, as well as useful tips on their implementation, which will allow students to successfully prepare for the exam. After completing all tasks, students will be able to check the answers with the keys.

5. Verbitskaya M.V. - Unified State Exam. English language. Typical exam options. 10 (30) options

This textbook is part of the “Unified State Exam” series, known to all graduates. FIPI - school", which was prepared by the developers of control measurement materials for the unified state exam. Available in 2 types: 10 test options and 30 options. The difference, as you understand, is only in the number of tests. The collection of 30 tests contains 15 thematic options for all sections of the Unified State Examination, 15 standard exam options, oral part tasks, instructions for implementation, answers to all tasks, etc.

You can download a textbook from 2015 with 30 options.

6. Yuneva S.A. — Opening up the world with English. 150 essays for the Unified State Exam. Getting ready for the Unified State Exam

The manual is addressed to students independently preparing for the Unified State Exam in English, as well as to teachers who can use it in class and when preparing students for tests, exams or Olympiads. It includes 150 essays compiled in accordance with all the requirements for a written statement with elements of reasoning. The main purpose of this guide is to help students excel in essay writing.