CHECKPOINT PREPARATION

2019
STUDENT A: SPEAK FOR A MINUTE

• In what countries do you think it is hardest to be a

student? Why?
• In what countries is it easiest to be a student? Why?
• What’s the hardest thing about being a student in your
country?
• Do you think it would be easier or harder to be a home
schooled student? Why?
STUDENT B: SPEAK FOR A MINUTE

 What was your most memorable birthday?

 What do you usually do to celebrate your birthday?
 Do you think that the person having the birthday should pay for the
birthday party or should their friends and family pay for the party? Why?
 Where is the best place to have a birthday party?
STUDENT A

 Would you like to travel into space? Why or why not?

 What do you think about space tourism?
 How important is learning about space?
 Will humans ever travel to different solar systems?
 What is the most interesting thing you know about space?
 What is your favorite space movie or TV show?
STUDENT B

 What was the best thing about your childhood?

 What do you miss most about being a child?
 Do you think that children these days have a better or worse childhood than your
generation? Why?
 What do you think is most important for a happy childhood?
 What about your childhood do you wish you could change?
STUDENT A

 What are some of the benefits of getting older?

 Do you think humans will ever be able to stop aging?
 Is aging more difficult for men or women? Why?
 Which celebrities have aged well?
 Are older people actually wiser?
 What kind of support should children give their aging parents?
STUDENT B

 Where do most people in your country get their news?

 Does the media in your country report the whole truth, mostly truth, or mostly lies?
 How has the internet changed the news in your country?
 Who has the most control over the media in your country?
 How does the media help create a healthy society?
THREE-OPTION MULTIPLE CHOICE

 For this part, you will be given 10 very short texts (today we have 5). 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
MATCHING DESCRIPTIONS

 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
LOOK AT PART 4 IN THE READING PAPER
 In this part 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.
FOUR OPTION MULTIPLE CLOZE

B
D A
C
C
D
A B
A
D

 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.
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!
SENTENCE TRANSFORMATIONS

go
The reason is that 'four years' is a period of time
whereas 'four years ago' is a point in time.
since

doesn’t

cuts

expensive than
EMAIL
• Range: It is important that you use grammatical expressions and vocabulary appropriate to the level
of the exam. Even if there are no mistakes in your writing, you will not be able to get a good grade if
you use only the language and vocabulary that you learnt at elementary level. Even in informal writing,
there is a good range of language you can use (conditional sentences, a range of perfect and
continuous tenses, indirect questions...)
• Informal language, including phrasal verbs, informal vocabulary ("I guess you loved the pics"),
contractions, question tags.
• Simpler sentence structure: I’ll be late for the party. It’s because of my French exam.
• Connectors: All good writing makes good use of connectors. However, many of the connectors you
have learnt for other styles of writing are inappropriate in an informal letter or email. For informal
writing, you need to use some of the connectors that are more specific to spoken language.
To introduce a topic: Well, you'll never guess who I bumped into yesterday. / I know how much you
love tennis, so I've got us some tickets to Wimbledon. / By the way, did you know that John's got a
new job?
To go back to a previous topic: Anyway, as I was saying earlier, I really wasn't very happy there.
/ Now where was I? Oh yes, I nearly forgot, Mary asked me tell you about the cinema.
To introduce surprising or bad news: Actually, he came to the party after all. / I'm really sorry but I
can't make it. / To tell you the truth, I don't really like sports much.
To summarise what you've already said: Anyway, we had a really nice time in the end. / Well, to
cut a long story short, we didn't get there on time.
LISTENING
 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.
 X
X

X
X

X
X
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.
X
X

X
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?
 12th/12/twelfth (of) May

station

Fortescue

9.50

towel

dance
EXTRA

X
X
X
X
X
X