CAMBRIDGE CHECKPOINT

OVERVIEW AND PREPARATION

 WARMER

You are going to race to make sentences using ONLY words that begin
with a certain letter. The first team to make a grammatically correct sentence
scores one point for each word.
For example – if we choose the letter M, we could write a sentence like this:
My mother makes my morning meal. 6
FIVE STRANDS

 Reading
 Listening
 Writing
 Speaking
 Use of English
SPEAKING

 Use formal and informal language registers in their talk on a range of general and curricular topics.
 Speak with a good degree of fluency and accuracy in social interaction with peers and other
speakers of English.
 Explain and justify their own and others’ point of view on a range of general and curricular topics.
 Analyse and evaluate the views of others in a growing range of contexts.
 Modify language mistakes in their talk which cause misunderstanding.
 Interact with peers to make hypotheses about a growing range of general and curricular topics.
 Use a range of appropriate subject-specific vocabulary and syntax to talk about curricular
topics
SPEAKING: PAIR WORK
Student A
 Where do you live/come from?
 Do you work or are you a student in
(place name)? What do you do/study?
 Do you have a job? / What job do you do?
 Do you study English at school?
 What subjects do you study? Do you like
it?
Student B
 Do you live in a house or an apartment? Do
you enjoy studying English?
 Do you think English will be useful for you in
the future?
 Tell us about your school.
 How many hours a week do you study?
 Tell us about your family.
 What do you enjoy doing at the weekends?
 Where do you meet your friends?
 What did you do yesterday / last weekend?
SITUATION & PICTURE CUE

 You won a competition to visit a new country.You’re going to travel together for one week.
Talk together about where you would like to go and decide which place you will choose.
 Here is a picture with some ideas to help you. Just think for a few seconds.
MONOLOGUE A

Student A: Look at the

picture and tell your
partner what you see.
Student B: Just listen
MONOLOGUE B

Student B: Look at the

picture and tell your
partner what you see.
Student A: Just listen
 LISTENING: QUESTIONS 1-10 - MATCHING
 In this part, you will be given 5 short
listening texts, and for each one you will
have a question with three pictures (A, B or
C). You have to listen to each recording and
choose the right answer from the 3
choices.
 Because the answers will always be visual,
this might make it sound easy. However, you When deciding the answer, there are certain things you will need to
will have to pay attention to the details remember or do:
in each small picture. Here’s an example Always read the question carefully and look at the pictures before
of such a question: you listen.
Know the answers can be at the start, middle or end of each
recording. They might try to trick you by putting what could be
the answer at the start, when the key information is at the end.
You might need to listen for a lot of information, or sometimes
only one small detail. If a picture is quite detailed, then you will
have to pay extra attention to the details.
LISTENING: QUESTIONS 11-20 – MULTIPLE CHOICE

 This part has 10 multiple-choice questions. For questions 11-15 you will hear individual short one
monologues, for 16-20 you will hear one long monologue or interview.You have to listen to the
recording and choose the right answer (A, B or C) for each question.You will need to listen to identify
specific information and detailed meaning.

 The questions will often use different words from the recording, so think about synonyms
and paraphrasing.
 If you don’t hear the answer to one question, don’t worry about it. Keep focused or you
could miss the answer to the next. Remember you always get two chances to listen to the
recording.
 Before the recording starts, you get some time to read through the instructions and
questions, you should use this to help you focus on and understand what you are likely to
hear.
LISTENING: QUESTIONS 21-25 – GAP-FILL

 In Part 5, you will hear a longer monologue and will need to fill in 5 gaps.You will have to fill them in using one or
two words and to do this you will need to identify, understand and interpret information

When deciding on the answer, there are certain things you will need to remember or do:

 The words you write will always be the same as you hear on the recording. However, the words
around the spaces may be different, so make sure you are ready to listen for paraphrased texts.

 Guess what kind of words you need to listen for. For example, is it a verb, noun, adjective, adverb
that is missing? Is it a place name, address, location, number, amount, or activity that’s missing?
 6:30 / half past six (p.m.)
(in the evening)

museum
garden(s)

(local) painting

drink
 PART 6
 The questions will often use different
words from the recording, so think about
synonyms and paraphrasing.
 If you don’t hear the answer to one
question, don’t worry about it. Keep
focused or you could miss the answer to
the next. Remember you always get two
chances to listen to the recording.
 Before the recording starts, you get some
time to read through the instructions
and questions, you should use this to
help you focus on and understand what
you are likely to hear.
READING
CHECKPOINT PREPARATION
HOW TO DO PART 1 (FOUR-OPTION MULTIPLE CHOICE CLOZE)

 In this part of the test you have to fill in gaps in a text. You are
given four options for each gap. You are tested on both
grammar and vocabulary. It is very important to read what comes
before and what goes after each gap.
 Let’s have a look at an example of Part 1. First, do questions 26 –
30 yourself. Once finished, check with your partner.
26. B first is correct. Just and already are usually used with the present perfect. Once cannot be
correct because it means that it was popular then and never again.
Here are two typical questions from this part:
27. D decided is correct. The others are followed by different prepositions or don’t need a
preposition (imagine + doing, suppose + to do, dream + of doing). This is an example of how
important it is to read after the gap to help you decide on the correct answer.
28. A realised is correct. In this example, it expresses that photographers discovered something
that they didn’t know before. They did not remember information from the past, persuade someone
to do something, or wonder about something that might happen.
29. B so is correct. But and although are used to express contrasts and since can be used to
express a reason. In this example we need to express a result, so ‘so’ is the correct answer.
30. C of is correct. This is part of a collocation i.e., sell + amount + of + something. The other
answers can’t be used.

As you can see from the examples above, you will need to have good knowledge of both grammar
and vocabulary. This will help you get those marks you need to get a top grade in the exam
 Part 2
1. Look at the words that come
before and after the gaps. Think
old about the missing word, is it a
of noun, verb, adjective, adverb,
than Her preposition, etc?

to

a
for at
me
as
PART 3

 In this part of the exam you are G

expected to complete a
conversation between two people
using the available options. F
 Read the example first because
this will begin the conversation B
and set the context.
 Sometimes you may need to read
ahead to understand better what D
needs to go in a gap.

A
PART 4: THREE-OPTION MULTIPLE CHOICE

 For this part, you will be given 10 very short texts. They could be signs, messages, postcards, notes,
emails, labels, etc.

You will be tested mostly on functional language and synonyms. Remember, functional language
is language that delivers a type of message.
If we look carefully at the options we may be given we can predict what language we might see:
Signs – warnings and requests
Messages – requesting, apologising, ordering
Postcards – describing a situation, informing
Notes – offering information, asking for information
Emails – apologising, persuading, suggesting, recommending
Labels – warning, giving advice.
These are only some of the options which may appear, but pay attention to what the message is.
EXAMPLE
Is there an invitation?

Does she tell Sam what she’s doing?

PART 5

 In this part, you are given 5 items in the form of descriptions of people and you have
to match these to eight short descriptions. This means you will have 3 extra short
descriptions that you won’t need.
 It is also important to remember that no text can be the answer to two
questions. Also when choosing your answer, check that the texts match on all
points.
 Think of synonyms and paraphrases
 A typical trick is to mention a description/characteristic in more than one option,
you will have to read carefully to see the difference.
F

C
PART 6

 In part 6 you will be given a long text with multiple choice questions. Generally, the text will be about
someone’s attitude or opinion, and what their purpose is.
 You may have to read for specific information or to get the general idea of what they are
saying.
 It’s important to recognise the type of question you are being asked so you don’t waste time
looking for specific information when you need to focus on the general idea. And you don’t focus on
the general idea when you should be looking for some specific information.
 Another good tip is to use the process of elimination. This is where you mark off the answers that you
are sure are not correct. For example, if you know A and B are not the answers, you will be left with
two options to choose from. This obviously now makes it easier to choose (or even guess) the correct
answer.
WRITING
SENTENCE TRANSFORMATION

 In Part 1 of the Checkpoint Writing paper you will have FIVE sentences.You must
write each sentence so that both sentences have the same meaning.
 Look at how many words are allowed
 Cross out the words that are the same in meaning, this way you know what you have
to focus on.
 Collocation is important here
EXAMPLE

To spend time somewhere, you must

‘go’ there. The past form of go is
‘went’
TIP

 The important thing in key word transformations is that you keep the meaning the
same - EXACTLY the same. So it's important that you read through the first
sentence and your second sentence to ensure you have kept the meaning the same.
Look at these two sentences:
Tommy said he was ready for his driving test and would take it in July.
Tommy said he was ready for his driving test and could take it in July.
 One letter has been changed, from "would" to "could" but it changes the meaning of
the sentence totally. Be careful of this!
 which/that

has

how to

the same

because
EMAIL

In this part of the test, you are given an extract of a letter or email from an
English friend or relative, and you are asked to respond to it in about 100
words.
The topics are usually not very difficult, as you’re expected to write at an
intermediate level, about topics you are familiar with: sports, hobbies, TV
programmes, the weather, your town/city, etc.
EXAMPLE
DIFFERENT PARTS OF AN EMAIL
•Greetings: we greet the other person (i.e. say “hi” or “hello”).

•Opening paragraph: we react to the other person’s news and ask them how they are feeling and
whatever else you feel is appropriate.

•Main paragraph 1: in this paragraph we deal with the first important point, which we can identify in the
instructions.

•Main paragraph 2: if there is a different point to deal with, this paragraph will do so.

•Closing paragraph: in this paragraph we “start” to say goodbye by wishing the other person well and
asking them to reply to your letter.

•Goodbye: we use a short expression to say goodbye.

•Signature: we sign the letter with our name.

GREETINGS

In order to start your email or letter in Writing for Cambridge Checkpoint

English, you can use different expressions, which are really typical and easy to
remember. We have 3 basic ways to greet in this kind of letter, which is usually
for a friend or family member:
•Hi John,
•Hello John,
•Dear John,
Notice how “hi” is less formal than “hello” or “dear”. Also, don’t forget to write a
comma (,) right after greeting your friend or relative. After greeting the
addressee (i.e. the person who will read the letter), you must start the
opening paragraph in a new line.
OPENING PARAGRAPH
The opening paragraph is the place to react to your friend’s or relative’s letter. In order to do
so, you can use a number of different expressions. Here we have some examples:
•It’s nice / great / good to hear from you.
•It’s nice / great / good to read your letter.
•I’m glad to hear your news.
•I’m excited about… (your news.) Also, it’s a good idea to ask your friend or relative how
they are feeling, which you can do like this:
•It’s great to hear that…
•I’m sorry to hear that… •Hope you are doing well.
•How’s it going?
•I’m really sorry to read your news. •How are you (doing)?
•How are things (going)?
•Thanks a lot for writing!
•It was good to receive your letter.
MAIN PARAGRAPHS

For the main paragraphs, there aren’t any fixed expressions which you must
use, as it depends mostly on what you have to write about. However, you should
try to make use of connectors and appropriate punctuation.

Can you think of any?

CLOSING

As we mentioned earlier, a closing paragraph in this Writing is used to start saying goodbye to
the addressee and to ask for a response to your letter. So we can use the following expressions:

•Well, it’s time to say goodbye.

•Anyway, I have to go now. SAYING GOODBYE
•Well, it’s time to go. •Best wishes,
•Best,
•Anyway, gotta go.
•Sincerely,
•I really hope to hear from you soon. •Take care,
•I’m looking forward to hearing from you. •All my love,
•I hope you write back soon. •Love,
•Make sure you write back soon. •Lots of love,
•See you soon,
•Regards,
QUESTION 6:YOUR TURN

• You can only write between 35-45 words.

• You must answer the three points
• You need to use language and vocabulary at
Intermediate level
QUESTION 7
•[INTRODUCTION and CONCLUSION]
- Effective introductory and concluding
paragraphs - In the introduction, state the topic
clearly, give a brief outline of the issue, saying
why it is important or why people have different
opinions about it.
- DO NOT express your opinion at the beginning
of your essay (develop you essay in such a way
that it guides the reader to the conclusion you
draw).
- DO give your opinion in the final paragraph.
•[SECOND and THIRD PARAGRAPHS]
- Structure your argument. - Each new
paragraph has one main idea, stated in a topic
sentence.
- Include relevant details to support the main idea:
these might include examples, rhetorical
questions (do no overdo it), controversial or
surprising statements... If you include a drawback,
give a possible solution, too.
•[GENERAL]
- DO use a relatively formal register and an
objective tone. Do not be too emotional.
- Remember to use linking adverbials to
organise your ideas and to make it easy for the
reader to follow your argument.
- In the exam, allow yourself time to check your
grammar, spelling and punctuation thoroughly.
YOUR TURN