Criteria for assessing the English Unified State Examination letter. Personal letter

English can rightfully be called the most popular of the list of languages ​​that can be taken in the selective Unified State Exam category. A foreign language is an indispensable exam for those who wish to become a linguist, translator, or plan to make a career in the diplomatic field. It is worth noting that this exam cannot be called simple, especially after speaking was added to the written part of the exam.

It is not surprising that the Unified State Exam in English will require many hours of labor-intensive preparation and, quite possibly, additional classes in courses or with a tutor. Another important point concerns the structure of the ticket and changes to it. We suggest that you take a closer look at this issue so as not to encounter any unpleasant surprises during the 2017 exam.

The written part of the Unified State Exam 2017 in English will take place on June 15, and the oral part on June 16-17.

Demo version of the Unified State Exam-2017

Unified State Examination dates in English

The national English exam will be held on the following dates:

• Early period. The early exam can be taken on 03/18/2017 and 03/22/2017, and the days 05/3/2017 and 05/5/2017 are designated as reserve days;
• Main stage. The main exam will be held on 06/15/2017 (written part), the oral part is reserved for 06/16/17/2017.
• Reserve date. The reserve date for the written part will be 06/21/2017, and for the oral part – 06/22/2017.

Let us remind you that only certain categories of students can take the exam ahead of schedule. For example, these include:

• graduates of previous years;
• evening school students;
• schoolchildren who go to serve in;
• athletes who will be absent due to national or international competitions or training camps;
• participants in olympiads or competitions of federal or international significance;
• eleventh graders who go to live or study abroad;
• students who have been ordered by the medical board to undergo treatment, rehabilitation or prevention that coincides with the dates of the main Unified State Examination.

You must write a statement that you want to take the exam ahead of schedule in advance - before 03/01/2017.

Statistical information

The popularity of this exam is confirmed by statistics. About 9% of 11th grade students take English as a selective Unified State Exam every year. On average, graduates manage to score about 64.8 points in this exam, which is a good result. At the same time, the percentage of those who could not pass English even with a satisfactory grade has fluctuated in recent years from 1.8 to 3.3% - a very gentle figure in comparison with other Unified State Examinations.

96.7% of schoolchildren can score at least in English

Changes in the Unified State Exam 2017 in English

The experts did not voice any significant changes in the procedure or layout of the exam. The only thing that can be mentioned is the clarification of the wording in task No. 3 in the oral part: the word “imagine” was removed from the wording.

KIM structure in English

The exam consists of two parts:

• written, which takes 180 minutes;
• oral, which takes place within 15 minutes.

What is included in the written part of the exam?

The ticket structure has several main sections.

• Listening. This part of the exam takes 30 minutes and consists of the following tasks:
  • No. 1, in which the student is asked to identify the correspondence between sounding statements and statements. You need to evaluate 6 statements and bring them into line with 7 answers (one of them is incorrect). The correct answer is worth 1 point, a total of 6 points can be scored for the exercise. The listening technique assumes that the student has 20 seconds to read the answer options, then listens to the recording 2 times and fills out the answers on the form;
  • No. 2 – listening to a short dialogue. Next, you should familiarize yourself with the judgments and evaluate their accuracy with the words correctly - true, incorrectly - false, did not sound - not stated. The ticket contains seven judgments, each of which can bring 1 point, the maximum score for this exercise is 7;
  • No. 3-9 – a high school student must listen to a short interview and choose one correct answer from the three offered on the ticket. This is usually a question that needs an answer or a sentence that needs to be completed. A correct answer earns 1 point; you can score 7 points in total.
• Reading Skills Assessment. To complete the assignments, the student receives half an hour, during which he must complete the following exercises:
  • No. 10, in which you need to read 7 short texts and identify their correspondence with 8 proposed headings (one of the options will be incorrect). For the correct answer, 1 point is awarded, the maximum points for this exercise is 7;
  • No. 11 - the student will have to work with a text with six missing parts. There are 7 fragments to choose from. A correct answer adds 1 point. Thus, you can earn 6 points here;
  • No. 12-18 – you need to familiarize yourself with a fragment of an artistic or journalistic text and work with it. For each of the texts, questions are asked or unfinished sentences are given, to which you need to select answer options from four offered to choose from. Each task can earn 1 point, giving a total of 7 maximum points.
• Vocabulary and grammar. This part is considered the most difficult, therefore it is here that graduates make the maximum number of mistakes in comparison with other parts of the KIM in English. 40 minutes are allotted to complete the work. The section includes the following tasks:
  • No. 19-25 - the student needs to read short texts with missing parts. Words should not just be inserted, but subjected to the correct transformation and the correct answer written down. In total, you can earn 1 point per answer, which gives a maximum of 7 points in total;
  • No. 26-31 - tasks related to the problems of word formation. In them, you need to familiarize yourself with the text in which there are omissions and identify which parts of speech were missed. Students must change one part of speech into another - for example, a noun into an adjective - and write the changed word on the form. The scoring principle is the same as in previous exercises - 1 point per answer, total point - 6;
  • No. 32-38 - tasks testing vocabulary knowledge. Here again you will have to work with texts in which omissions have been made. It's usually a word or a preposition. The correct answer can be selected from the proposed options. The correct answer gives you 1 point, you can score 7 points in total.
• Assessment of writing skills. You have 80 minutes to complete the tasks. In this part you need to do the following exercises:
  • #39 is writing a personal letter of 100 to 140 words. You will have to do it in about 20 minutes (the time is recommended, but, as practice shows, whether you have time to complete all the tasks on the ticket depends on the proper distribution of time resources). In total, you can get 6 points for writing;
  • No. 40 - task in which you need to write an essay of 200 to 250 words according to the proposed plan and topic. The outline of the essay is standard and includes an introductory part, a statement of one’s own opinion supported by arguments, a counter-opinion and counter-arguments, and a final part. It is proposed to complete this task in an hour. You can get 14 points for it.

When passing English, you will not only have tests and essays, but also speaking!

What is included in the oral part of the exam?

Let us remind you that a separate day and time are allocated for passing the oral part. The oral exam takes only 15 minutes, but you will have to wait in line until you get into the classroom. The oral part includes the following tasks:

1. The student is asked to read a short text aloud. You will be given one and a half minutes to familiarize yourself with the passage, and the same amount to voice it. You can get 1 point for this;
2. The student needs to read a short text (usually of an advertising nature) for one and a half minutes, and then formulate 5 questions about it. No more than 20 seconds are allowed per question. The task is worth 5 maximum points;
3. The high school student is offered three photographs, from which he chooses one. The task is to describe the photo according to the proposed plan. Let’s make a reservation right away: you shouldn’t think that here you can turn on your imagination and weave whatever your heart desires. Members of the commission do not welcome it when something is described that is not indicated in the figure, and they really do not like assumptions. One and a half minutes are allotted for preparation, another two are given for the story. Here you can earn 7 points;
4. The student is asked to compare two photos, describing their similarities and pointing out the differences, as well as expressing his own opinion. Preparation takes the standard one and a half minutes, and the answer takes no more than 2 minutes. The maximum that can be obtained is 7 points.

Unified State Examination in English

The latest news suggests that the exam score is going to be transferred to the usual five-point system, and the results will be taken into account when marking the final certificate. This way, you can improve your school grades. According to the points transfer reference system, in previous years they were distributed as follows.

Perhaps in 2017, the results of the Unified State Exam will affect your school certificate

• 0-21 points mean unsatisfactory knowledge, that is, the mark “2”;
• 22-58 points are translated into a mark of “3” - your command of English is satisfactory;
• 59-83 points mean that your level of foreign language is not bad, and the score is “4”;
• Those who know English perfectly (score “5”) earn 84 points and above.

To pass the exam, you need to try to score 22 points or higher. In total you can get 100 points. Let us also remind you that the procedure for conducting a foreign language exam does not provide for the presence of any additional materials - dictionaries, audio equipment, smartphones and other items that may cause your removal from the classroom.

Preparation for the Unified State Exam in English

To properly prepare for the exam, it is worth working through the demo versions of the 2017 tickets (they can be downloaded directly from our website - see the beginning of the article). This will help you better understand the structure and content of real KIMs, as well as prepare mentally for the Unified State Exam, so as not to waste precious time in the classroom. Almost all the wording contained in the task description is given in English, so it is worth translating in advance to avoid fatal mistakes during the exam itself.

To come to the exam fully prepared, solve the demo versions in advance

Remember to spend enough time listening. Not all schools teach students the ability to perceive information by ear. Regularly listen to audio books read by native speakers - such training will help you cope with this difficult task. It is also considered good practice to watch films or TV series with original dubbing.

Another problem is speaking. Among graduates, there are often those who do an excellent job with grammar, but score few points in the oral part. To practice this skill, experts recommend describing everything you see on the way to school, as well as collecting a large number of different pictures and describing one per day.

Dear readers!

The purpose of this article is to help you develop or improve essay writing skills in accordance with the requirements for the Unified State Exam. I suggest that you first familiarize yourself with these requirements, and then with the structure of the essay and the technology for writing it.

In Part C2 of the Unified State Exam, you will be given an essay writing plan that you need to follow to get the highest possible score, i.e. - 14.

According to the explanations for the demo version of the Unified State Exam in English 2014, on the official website, task C2 has been completed in full if you have demonstrated excellent command of written English according to the following five criteria:

1. Solving a communicative problem, i.e. the content reflects all aspects specified in the assignment; the style of speech is chosen correctly (neutral style is maintained). Maximum - 3 points.
2. The text is organized as correctly as possible, i.e. the statement is logical, the structure of the text corresponds to the proposed plan; means of logical communication are used correctly; the text is divided into paragraphs. Maximum - 3 points.
3. Excellent vocabulary demonstrated, i.e. the vocabulary used corresponds to the communicative task; There are practically no violations in the use of vocabulary. Maximum - 3 points.
4. Correct grammar used, i.e. grammatical structures are used in accordance with the assigned communicative task. There are practically no errors (1-2 minor errors are allowed). Maximum - 3 points.
5. Demonstrated excellent knowledge of spelling and punctuation, i.e. There are practically no spelling errors; the text is divided into sentences with correct punctuation. Maximum - 2 points.

The essay must be a minimum of 180 and a maximum of 275 words. It is important to learn how to write the required number of words! If you write less than 180 words, the assignment is not subject to verification and is scored 0 points. If you write more than 275 words, then “only that part of the work that corresponds to the required volume is subject to verification.” In other words, everything unnecessary will be separated by a line and will not be checked. And if what is removed in the first 275 words is not complete, then the communicative task will not be solved and you will not be given the maximum score (3) for this criterion. The organization of the text will also not be entirely correct, which will also lead to a decrease in points in the second evaluation criterion. You will lose 1 or 2 points.

How to count words? The answer is given in the appendix to the demo version of the Unified State Exam 2014: “When determining whether the volume of submitted work meets the above requirements, all words are read, from the first word to the last, including auxiliary verbs, prepositions, articles, and particles. In a personal letter, the address, date, signature are also subject to calculation. Wherein:

• contracted (short) forms can"t, didn"t, isn"t, I"m, etc. count as one word;
• numerals expressed in numbers, i.e. 1, 25, 2009, 126 204, etc., are counted as one word;
• numerals expressed in numbers, together with the symbol of percentages, i.e. 25%, 100%, etc. are counted as one word;
• numerals expressed in words are counted as words;
• complex words such as good-looking, well-bred, English-speaking, twenty-five are counted as one word;
• abbreviations (for example: USA, e-mail, TV, CD-ROM) are counted as one word.”

Well, now let's talk about the structure of the essay. You will be offered the following plan:

Use the following plan:

1. make an introduction (state the problem);
2. express your personal opinion and give 2-3 reasons for your opinion;
3. express an opposing opinion and give 1-2 reasons for this opposing opinion;
4. explain why you don’t agree with the opposing opinion;
5. make a conclusion restating your position.

Thus, we see that this is what is called an opinion essay. It involves the author expressing an idea and defending it. You can defend your opinion:

• through argumentation - but this is usually not enough for the Unified State Exam;
• by arguing and refuting the opinions of opponents, which is required in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the essay outline.

In other words, when refuting the opinion of your opponents, you must first be able to explain why they think so.

Let's take a closer look at each point of the essay plan. Each point is equal to 1 paragraph. Let’s say the topic of the essay is: “Do athletes deserve their high salaries?”

1. First paragraph.

“Make an introduction (state the problem)” - “Introduction”.

Two sentences are enough here, because... the body of the essay will be voluminous. You can address the reader, urging him to think about the problem of the essay. For example: “Have you ever wondered whether sportsmen’s huge salaries should be paid to them?” Or you can simply state the problem: “The issue of high salaries paid to professional athletes has been the subject of a heated debate lately.”

Here are some other useful phrases for introducing a topic in an introduction:

• “It is common knowledge that...” - “Everyone knows that...”.
• “The problem / issue / question of... has always aroused heated / sharp disputes /debates / discussions / controversy” - “The problem... has always caused lively debate.”
• “The sight of smb Ving*… is familiar to everyone. But have you ever wondered whether...?” - “The sight (of someone doing something) is familiar to everyone. But have you ever wondered... have...?"
• “Our modern world is unthinkable / unimaginable / inconceivable without... However, there are plenty of people who believe that it is not necessary / doubt the necessity / importance / use / benefit / good of...” - “Our modern world is unimaginable without... However there are a lot of people who think it doesn't matter/question the importance...
• “Let’s speculate what makes them think so” - “Let’s think about what makes them think so.”
• “There has been a dispute on... Let's speculate who is right: to proponents / defendants / fans of... who claim that... or the opponents / adversaries, who believe in...” - “There is a discussion about... Let's speculate who is right: defenders (of something) who claim that ... or opponents who believe in ... ".
• “…has become an integral / inalienable / imprescriptible part of our life. Let’s speculate, however, what stands behind it” - “...has become an integral part of our lives. But let's think about what's behind it."
• “New technology and advances in... have raised ethical dilemmas” - “New technologies and advances in... have led to a dilemma affecting the ethical side of this issue.”
• “...gaining increasing popularity today, many still dispute / doubt / challenge / bring into question / cast doubt on its use for the society” - “Now, when... is gaining more and more popularity, many still question its benefits for society "
• “It is often difficult to decide which position to take whenever there is a debate regarding a choice between... and...” - “It is often difficult to decide which position to take when it comes to debates regarding the choice between... and...”.
• “Development in... seems to have had an adversary effect on...” - “Development in... seems to have had the opposite effect on...”.

*Ving - Participle I = real participle in Russian. For example: reading - reading, being - being, earning a big salary - earning a large salary.

In our case, you can write the following in the introduction: “The world has often heard about million dollars’ prizes awarded to sports champions.” At the same time there has been a dispute on whether athletes should receive such high salaries at all.”

2. Second paragraph.

“Express your personal opinion and give 2-3 reasons for your opinion” - “Your opinion.”

Here, in the first paragraph of the main part, you first need to state your opinion and give its justification. It is advisable to give at least 2 arguments with supporting sentences. In total, ideally you will get 4 sentences for 2 arguments with their support, or 6 sentences for 3 arguments and sentences complementing them.

For example:

“I personally favor high salaries in sports, providing they are earned honestly. (1) Indeed, sportsmen dedicate their whole life to break records and win golden medals. Far from anyone could stand such heavy loads that professional athletes endure on a regular basis.

(2) Secondly, being a professional sportsman is an art of its own, since only talent together with hard work can bring prominent results; and as outstanding persons, champions should be rewarded adequately.

(3) Moreover, high salaries are usually paid to sportsmen by private organizations or governments who expect to get even bigger benefits later. The athlete wins gold to the team attracting further investments into it, or advertises a company’s product.”

Below I offer examples of phrases that introduce an opinion. This can be either yours, someone else's opinion, or the opinion of the opposite side. Therefore, the pronouns in these phrases may be different.

• “I think / I believe / I consider that...” - “I believe / believe that...”.
• “Some opponents of... might argue / contend that...” - “Some opponents... may argue that...”.
• “They assume / suppose...” - “They admit...”.
• “I am convinced that...” - “I am convinced that...”.
• “I don’t share the above-given view” - “I do not share the above opinion.”
• “You would probably agree with me that...” - “You would probably agree with me that...”.
• “To my mind... / In my opinion... / It seems to me that...” - “In my opinion... / It seems to me that...”.
• “They look upon it as...” - “They look at it as...”.
• “I can’t but agree that...” - “I cannot but agree that...”.
• “They are in favor* of... / They approve of... / They favor...” - “They are for... / They approve...”.
• “I am against... / I don't approve of... / I don't support the idea of... / I personally frown on... - “I am against... / I don’t approve of... / I don’t support the idea of... / I personally don’t approve ..."
• “It is said / believed that...” - “It is believed that...”.
• “...is believed to V1**” - “It is believed that someone is doing something...”.
• “It goes without saying that...” - “It goes without saying that...”.

* to favor - American spelling; accordingly, to favor - British. When writing letters and essays, you should stick to either ONLY the British or ONLY the American version, i.e. ensure uniformity. Otherwise you may lose the point.

** to V1 = indefinite / initial form of the verb (infinitive), for example: to live, to cause, to lead to, to result in. In this expression, the subject performs an action expressed by the infinitive form of the verb. For example: “Sport is believed to take away health and free time” - “It is believed that sport takes away health and free time.”

3. Third paragraph.

“Express an opposing opinion and give 1-2 reasons for this opposing opinion” - “Opinion of opponents.”

In the next paragraph of the body of the essay, you need to give the opinion of your opponents and explain why they think so. It is enough to use 2 arguments, each of which is expressed by two applications. Here again, the table of phrases that introduce opinions, given above, may be useful to you.

For example:

“A lot of people think that athletes’ salaries are really overrated. Firstly, in their opinion, many sportsmen take doping. So their results may not reflect exceptional efforts. Secondly, opponents of high salaries in sport claim that there are occupations which are more important for our society, like scientists, for example, whose achievements help progress.”

4. Fourth paragraph.

“Explain why you don’t agree with the opposing opinion” - “Refuting the opinions of opponents.”

In the next paragraph of the main part, you need to refute the beliefs of your opponents. This is the most difficult part of the essay. Because it is always easier to come up with arguments “for” or “against”, but to find incorrectness, irrelevance or inconsistency in them is another effort of your logic. In some cases, you need to try to be tactful, recognizing the relevance or pattern of opposition opinions. But at the same time, one must be able to find the weaknesses of the point of view under consideration and provide additional information to fill the gaps in their logical sufficiency.

In our case with athletes, the doping argument sounds quite weighty, but it has a logical weakness - doping control is forgotten, as well as sacrificing one’s free time, as in the case of scientists. Therefore, this argument can be refuted this way:

“That may be true, but isn’t there doping control which is aimed at disqualifying cheating athletes? As for scientists, yes, they deserve high incomes for their inventions, but sportsmen, not less than scientists, devote all their free time to get outstanding results, sacrificing rest, health and private life.”

Here are other phrases that can be used when refuting or questioning the opinions of your opponents:

• “To a certain extent, it is right, but isn’t there...? /don't smb V1? / …” - “To some extent this is true, but doesn’t there exist...? / isn’t (someone doing something).”
• “To a certain extent, it is right, but we shouldn’t forget that… / we should consider the fact that… / we shouldn’t underestimate… / one shouldn’t disregard… / one should take into account …” - “ To some extent this is true, but we must not forget that... / we must take into account the fact that... / we must not underestimate... / cannot be neglected... / should be taken into account...".
• “However veracious it sounds, I wouldn’t agree with the above mentioned idea” - “No matter how true it may sound, I would not agree with the above mentioned idea.”
• “Defenders of... may be applauded for seeking to V1, but what they propose would in fact seriously damage / decrease / threaten, etc.” - “We can applaud the advocates... for trying (to do something), but what they are proposing actually seriously harms/reduces/threatens...”
• “However, I disagree with these contentions” - “However, I do not agree (sleep) with these points of view.”
• “While... could lessen / worsen / decrease, etc... this is a small loss that could be offset by...” - “While... can weaken / worsen / decrease... this is a small loss that can be compensated...”.
• “However, this idea cannot go further than being an immature claim because / since...” - “However, this idea cannot be anything other than a superficial statement, because...”.
• “This point has merits on the surface and could be acceptable to an extent. Yet, serious doubts can be raised against this view when one considers...” - “This view has some advantages on the surface, and it can be accepted to some extent. At the same time, this idea can be questioned when we consider...".

5. Last paragraph.

“Make a conclusion restating your position” - “Conclusion.”

Here you need to give your opinion, but in other words, thus stating it again. It is more professional to state a generalization or make an additional observation in conclusion. You should definitely try to avoid repeating phrases that have already been written. According to the 2014 FIPI test and measurement materials specification, “if more than 30% of the answer is unproductive (i.e. textually coincides with the published source), then 0 points are given for the criterion “Solving a communicative problem”, and, accordingly, the entire task is scored 0 points." Therefore, it is not recommended to repeat words in the task. Express your main idea in other words. How to do it?

In our case it might sound like this:

“All in all, sports stars really deserve their huge incomes due to the uniqueness and social value of their achievements. Evidently, it is the feature of a market economy where famous personalities of sportsmen are in demand being used to promote goods.”

Here we have characterized the profession of athletes from the point of view of their value to society, i.e. they looked at it not from the side of the athlete himself or his manager, but from the side of society.

Other phrases for writing a conclusion could be:

• “To conclude / sum up, / in conclusion...” - “In conclusion...”.
• “All in all...” - “In general...”.
• “All things considered...” - “Taking into account all of the above...”.
• “Taking everything into account... / Taking all this into account / consideration...” - “Taking all this into account...”.
• “...is a controversial issue, so it is up to a person whether to V1 or to V’1. Yet, I am convinced that..." - "... is a controversial question, so everyone must decide here personally (to do something or not to do something). And yet I am convinced that...”
• "Although numerous skeptics frown on... our society need(s)..." - "Despite the fact that numerous skeptics do not approve... our society needs...".
• “But to all who... I have only one response: we cannot afford to wait / ignore / neglect / disregard...” - “But to all who... I have one answer: we cannot afford to wait / ignore / neglect...”.

This is what we ended up with:

“The world has often heard about million dollars’ prizes awarded to Olympic champions. At the same time there has been a dispute on whether athletes should receive such high salaries at all.

I personally favor high salaries in sports. Indeed, sportsmen dedicated their whole life to break records and win golden medals. Far from anyone could stand such heavy loads that professional athletes endure permanently. Secondly, being a professional sportsman is an art of its own, since only talent together with hard work can bring prominent results; and as outstanding persons, champions should be rewarded adequately. Moreover, high salaries are usually paid to sportsmen by private organizations or governments who expect to get even bigger benefits later. The athlete wins gold to the team attracting further investments into it, or advertises a company’s product.

A lot of people however think that athletes’ salaries are really overrated. Firstly, in their opinion, many sportsmen take doping. So their results may not reflect exceptional efforts. Secondly, opponents of high salaries in sport claim that there are occupations which are more important for our society, like scientists, for example, whose achievements help progress.

That may be true, but isn’t there doping control which is aimed at disqualifying cheating athletes? As for scientists, yes, they deserve high incomes for their inventions, but sportsmen, not less than scientists, devote all their free time to get outstanding results, sacrificing rest, health and private life.

All in all, fortunes are earned in sports unquestionably due to the uniqueness and social value of their achievements. Evidently, it is the feature of a market economy where famous personalities of sportsmen are used to promote goods."

Only 275 words.

So, we looked at the requirements for writing an essay in the Unified State Examination in English, as well as the features of the content of each paragraph of the essay, and figured out their communicative features. Simply put, we realized how to write an essay. But what exactly to write specifically in each individual topic is another question that will be covered in the article “How to learn to generate thoughts when writing the Unified State Examination in English and other languages ​​and how to maximize the amount of pre-prepared thoughts.”

“My dad and mom!
I live well. Just great. I have my own house. It's warm. It has one room and a kitchen. And recently we found a treasure and bought a cow...”

Now, if Uncle Fyodor had started his letter like that on the English language exam, he would definitely not have gotten the maximum score for the letter. Why?!

The answer is in the most complete article on how to correctly and maximally write a personal letter on the Unified State Exam!

general information

The “Writing” task on the Unified State Examination in English is a task of a basic level of difficulty and is similar to that in the exam, but there are a couple of differences:

• in a letter to the Unified State Exam, you need to write three questions to a friend on a given topic
• since our student is already in 11th grade, both vocabulary and grammar in writing should be used in a more complex manner

I recommend completing task 39 no more than 20 minutes, and after some training, the student will be able to write this letter directly into the answer form for the exam, so as not to waste precious time when copying from a draft to a clean copy, which is what I would recommend.

The maximum you can get for this task is 6 points, and this is easy to do if you correctly understand the criteria by which experts evaluate a letter.

Criteria for evaluation

On the FIPI website you can find the following document with the criteria for evaluating a letter:

Let’s not be afraid of the many books, but let’s analyze each criterion in more detail using the example of the answer to this stimulus letter.

You have received a letter from your English-speaking pen friend Mary who writes

…Summer is coming and I want to look my best: healthy, energetic and physically fit. So I’m trying to eat plain, simply cooked natural food, have enough sleep at night and I have recently joined our local fitness club. Do you do anything special to stay healthy? What makes people healthy and strong? What do you think about a healthy lifestyle? By the way, I’m going to spend a month at the seaside this summer…

Write a letter to Mary.

• answer her questions;
• ask 3 questions about her coming summer holidays.

Write 100–140 words.

Remember the rules of letter writing.

Solving a communication problem (2 points)

Let’s take the first column on the left, “solving a communication problem.” What do the exam compilers want from the student at this point?! So he:

• gave answers to 3 questions (Do you do anything special to stay healthy? What makes people healthy and strong? What do you think about a healthy lifestyle?) + asked 3 questions on the topic (ask 3 questions about her coming summer holidays)
• wrote unofficially(In the letter I used abbreviations, for example, don’t instead of the full form do not and colloquial phrases, like It’s amazing to get news from you!)
• Right issued letter. That is, I correctly wrote the address-date-introduction-conclusion (an example of how to write them correctly will be below)
• neither increased nor decreased volume letters.
  The text of the assignment says that the permissible volume is 100-140 words, but experts allow a deviation of 10% in any direction, that is, in fact, you can write 90-154 words. And if less is written, then the letter will not be checked at all (which means the student will receive 0 points), and if more is written, 140 words will be crossed out, and everything beyond will not be checked. Consequently, if these 140 treasured words do not include the final phrase or a link to further contacts, the inspector will simply put minuses on these criteria. But in fact, if you strictly follow the sample below, it is difficult to write 154+ words.

By the way, about word count criteria. All words are counted, from the first word to the last, including auxiliary verbs, prepositions, articles, particles. In a personal letter, the address, date (the date in the format 08/20/2017 is counted as one word), and signature are also subject to counting. Wherein:

 contracted (short) forms can’t, didn’t, isn’t, I’m, etc. count as one word;

- numerals expressed in numbers, i.e. 1, 25, 2009, 126 204, etc., are counted as one word;

 numerals, expressed in numbers, together with the symbol of percentages, i.e. 25%, 100%, etc. are counted as one word;

- numerals expressed in words are counted as words;

 complex words such as good-looking, well-bred, English-speaking, twenty-five are counted as one word;

 abbreviations, for example USA, e-mail, TV, CD-rom, are counted as one word;

 words spelled incorrectly, for example, without a hyphen well bread, will be counted as 2 words, and words written wellbread as one (i.e. counting is based on the fact of writing).

Did you notice the note under the writing evaluation criteria?! I hope you did, and you will understand that if a student receives 0 for communication aspect, then the entire letter will be given a 0. But this can only be done by a deranged person who got into the Unified State Exam in English because he entered the wrong door, that is, this is unlikely to happen to those who are preparing for this task.

And now " skeleton” letters that I give to my students. I suggest taking it as a basis and simply adding all the requested information.

(red line) Dear Yoda, (appeal)

(red line) Thank you for your recent letter. I was so glad to hear from you again. (thanks for the letter + mention of previous contacts)

(red line) You've mentioned that you ... (here we are responding to news from a friend, in our example she leads a healthy lifestyle, so “You've mentioned that you are trying to lead a healthy life and I totally approve” will fit here of your decision.”) Next are answers to 3 questions.

(red line) I was curious about ... (Smoothly move on to questions for a friend)

(red line) Sorry, I have to go now, it’s time to help jedis my mom. Write back soon! (polite end of the letter + mention of further contacts)

(red line) Take care,

(red line) Luke (final phrases)

We still have about 30-45 words left to write when answering questions + in our questions to get into the required number of words.

Organization of the text (2 points)

Here the student is awarded 2 points if he:

• logical writes (in the sense, answers all questions sequentially, and does not confuse the answers to questions, does not start answering the first question, then answers the second and again jumps to the answer to the first) + uses means of logical communication(because, so, and, that’s why, for, however and the like)
• divided the text into paragraphs+ wrote address-date-introduction-conclusion from the red line (as in the skeleton of the letter above)

Linguistic design of the statement (2 points)

To get 2 points you just need to do no more than 2 rough grammatical and lexical errors, as well as no more than 2 minor punctuation errors. If there are 2-4 of them (lexico-grammatical or punctuation), then the student will receive 1 point, if more than 4 - 0 points for the linguistic design of the statement.

What kind of gross mistake is this? How to distinguish it from non-rough?

This is when an 11th grader makes a mistake in basic grammar or vocabulary - uses tense incorrectly, confuses the word order in a sentence, cannot agree on the number and person of the subject and predicate, writes the indefinite article before the plural, uses a noun instead of an adjective, does not know the meaning or spelling elementary words - in general, everything that significantly complicates the understanding of what is written.

I would also like to tell you how to classify errors in writing.

Lexical errors

Let's look at what errors are proudly called “Lexical”. This:

• incorrectly used word in context (I wouldn’t speak so instead of I wouldn’t say so)
• compatibility error (make homework instead of do homework)
• omitting a word if it does not affect the grammatical structure of the sentence (I am very well familiar (missing the preposition with) the topic)
• errors in word formation if the part of speech does not change (for example, unresponsible instead of irresponsible)
• error in phrasal verb (give in smoking instead of give up smoking)
• a spelling error that changes the meaning of a word (thing instead of think, whether instead of weather)

Grammatical errors

When checking task 39, the expert puts a grammatical error in the margin if the error:

• in any grammatical form, be it the form of a verb, plural noun, degree of comparison, and in any topic from the “Grammar Topics” section of the codifier
• in the order of words in a sentence (for example, I don’t know what are you talking about. – In the second part of the sentence the word order is reversed, although there is no question mark)
• there is a missing word that affects the structure of the sentence (for example, I fond of summer rather than winter. – The linking verb “am” is missing)
• in word formation, if the part of speech changes (for example, they wanted to write “politician” (politician), but they wrote politic (political)

Spelling and punctuation errors

The following are considered spelling errors in a letter:

• All errors that do not change the meaning of the word (for example, collegue, becouse, languaege)
  (If an error changes the meaning of a word, it becomes lexical - for example, thing instead of think, whether instead of weather)
• If a word in a work is written correctly once, but the rest are written incorrectly, this is considered an error.
• If a letter or word is written illegibly, the word is considered incorrectly written

In the entire written part of the exam, the student can choose either the British or American spelling of the word - favorite / favorite, colour / color, drugstore / pharmacy, crisps / chips. And stick to the chosen option until the end. That is, if color is written in one sentence and favorite is written in another, such variability will be recorded as an error.

Now about punctuation. Don’t forget about abbreviations in the letter (unlike, where they will take away points from you) - feel free to write all sorts of don’t, musnt’t, aren’t, etc.

If the work is written “like a chicken with its paw” (hello to the Russian language teachers from my childhood =)) - that is, there are a lot of strikethroughs in it - the expert has the right to reduce the grade by half a point.

In fact, getting the maximum - 6 points - for completing this task is not at all difficult, you just need to practice well.

Sample

And here is a sample letter for a maximum of 6 points, a response to the incentive letter about a healthy lifestyle above:

Thank you for your recent letter. I was so glad to hear from you again.

You’ve mentioned that you are trying to lead a healthy life and I totally approve of your decision. As for me, I also try to stay healthy – I go to the gym after my classes every evening. I believe that doing sport and having a balanced diet makes people healthy and athletic, and healthy living prolongs your life and fills you with energy.

I was curious about your coming summer holidays. Where are you going to spend them? Are you going to enjoy them alone or with your family and friends? How long will they last?

Sorry, I have to go now, it’s time to help my mom. Write back soon!

How to write a letter

So, you get the task of what to do:

1. We read the letter carefully, look at friend's name and we write it at the beginning of the letter. You will laugh, but some people have learned the template and write Dear Yoda everywhere, no matter who the letter is actually from – Leia or Han Solo.
2. We study questions and think about how we will answer them. Please note that there are tricky questions that look like one, but in fact there are two of them! For example, Do you like watching films, why? It is necessary to write not only yes or no, but also justify the point of view. Or Where and when do you usually go shopping? Where and when are two question words, and there should also be two answers to them. Therefore, monosyllabic answers to such questions lead to loss of points.
3. Let's look at topic about which you need to ask questions. Attention! It is not written at the end of the letter, but in the task below the text of the letter! This is where the students make the most mistakes - they look at how the letter ends, and then ask where the friend left off. But the task is different! And they will give them -1 point for failing to complete a communication task. Here is an example of such a trap letter:
   … In our city we have an annual competition for teenagers who make their own short films. This year I got the second prize for a film about my grandparents. Do you think it’s important to record family history? Who do you think should do it? How can it be done best?This month is my mom’s birthday and now I am thinking about a gift for her. I want it to be very special…
   Write a letter to Tom.In your letter-
   − answer his questions-
   − ask 3 questions about his mom
   Do you see the end of the letter? About mom's birthday and a gift for it. And you need to ask questions about mom! Therefore, questions in the style of Where are you going to celebrate your mom’s birthday? What are you planning to present her? Will she invite a lot of people to her party? will be off topic.
   The topic here will be to ask How old is your mom? Where does she work? What does she look like?
4. Write a letter, dividing it correctly into paragraphs and retreating red line(or you can skip a line between paragraphs, it doesn’t matter) and check yourself for errors. The most common mistakes students make when writing letters are:
   – articles (they forget about them altogether, or use the wrong ones)
   – tenses (the time marker points to the present perfect, and they write the past simple)
   – spelling (beautifull instead of beautiful or letters in words are missed due to haste)
   Anyway, I always arm those taking the exam with the golden rule: If you don’t know or have doubts, don’t write! Replace it with a synonym or even remove the unfamiliar word from the text.
5. Count how many words you got. Need – 100-140. I advise you not to count on an error of 90 - 154, you never know, you will be shortchanged due to the haste, and the point will be taken off, it will be a shame.
6. When you copy your answer into the exam form, do not forget to write the task number at the beginning - Task 39. Organize your time so that during the exam you have time to copy the entire written task into the form. An essay written as a draft is not checked.

Preparation

Preparing for this task will not take much time and nerves for either you or the student. Explain the structure of writing a letter and write, write, write. It is also very useful to sort through letters from previous years and let students evaluate this or that work themselves. So that you understand for what and how many points they can be deducted and learn from the mistakes of others. Utopia, of course, but you never know, it will learn. If you haven’t accumulated your own examples of student letters, you can find them

Secondary general education

English language

Assessment criteria for the Unified State Exam 2019 in English

The purpose of the Unified State Examination in Foreign Languages ​​is to determine the level of foreign language communicative competence of examinees. The main attention is paid to speech competence, i.e. communication skills in different types of speech activity: listening, reading, writing, speaking, as well as in language competence, i.e. language knowledge and skills. Sociocultural knowledge and skills are tested in the “Listening”, “Reading”, “Writing” sections and in the oral part of the exam; Compensatory skills are tested in the “Writing” section and in the oral part of the exam.

The examination paper contains written and oral parts. The written part includes four sections: “Listening”, “Reading”, “Grammar and Vocabulary” and “Writing”. Tasks by level of difficulty have a basic level, a level of increased complexity and a high level of complexity. The work on foreign languages ​​includes 38 short-answer tasks and 6 open-ended tasks with a detailed answer.

Basic, advanced and high levels of complexity of Unified State Examination tasks are correlated with levels of foreign language proficiency as follows: basic level - A2+ (that is, closer to B1), advanced level - B1, high level - B2

The sections “Listening” and “Reading” contain tasks related to three different levels of difficulty; in the “Grammar and Vocabulary” section - to two (basic and advanced). In the “Writing” section and in the oral part of the exam, tasks range from basic to advanced levels of difficulty.

The time required to complete the four written sections of the examination is 3 hours (180 minutes). The oral part of the exam is completed on a separate day; task completion time, including preparation time, is 15 minutes. The total time for completing tasks in all sections of the examination paper is 3 hours 15 minutes (195 minutes). Recommended time for completing tasks by section:

• “Listening” - 30 minutes;
• “Reading” - 30 minutes;
• “Grammar and vocabulary” - 40 minutes;
• “Letter” - 80 minutes;
• “Speaking” (oral part of the exam) - 15 minutes.

In 2019, there are no changes to the structure and content of CMM.

• The criteria for assessing the completion of task 40 of the “Writing” section in the written part of the exam have been clarified
• The wording of task 40 has been clarified, in which the exam participant is offered a choice of two topics for an extended written statement with elements of reasoning “My opinion”

The Writing and Oral sections are assessed by experts who have undergone special training to review assignments based on criteria and assessment schemes. At the same time, in the “Writing” section, task 39 (basic level of complexity) is assessed based on the requirements of the basic level of learning a foreign language, and task 40 (high level of complexity) - based on the requirements of the profile level. In the oral part of the exam, the basic level includes tasks 1, 2 and 3, and the high level of complexity includes task 4.

A peculiarity of the assessment of tasks 39 and 40 is that if the examinee receives 0 points according to the criterion “Solving a communicative problem”, the entire task is assessed at 0 points. The same applies to tasks 3 and 4 of the oral part of the exam. When assessing tasks in the “Writing” section (39, 40), one should take into account such a parameter as the volume of written text, expressed in the number of words. The required volume for personal writing in task 39 is 100–140 words; for a detailed written statement in the task, 40 - 200–250 words.

The permissible deviation from the specified volume is 10%. If completed task 39 contains less than 90 words or task 40 contains less than 180 words, then the task is not subject to verification and is scored 0 points. If the volume is exceeded by more than 10%, i.e. if completed task 39 contains more than 154 words or task 40 contains more than 275 words, only that part of the work that corresponds to the required volume is subject to verification. When assessing task 40, special attention is paid to the examinee’s ability to produce a detailed written statement. If more than 30% of the answer is unproductive (i.e. textually coincides with the published source), then 0 points are given according to the criterion “Solving a communicative problem”, and, accordingly, the entire task is scored 0 points.

In the oral part, you should also avoid being topical, since there is a high probability that it will interfere with solving the communicative problem. In this case, you should pay attention to the volume of the statement; the criteria stipulate that the volume of the statement is insufficient, which will lead to zero for solving the problem, and therefore zero for the entire work.

The book contains tasks of different types and levels of complexity on topics whose knowledge is tested on the Unified State Exam, as well as brief theoretical information. Answers are provided for all tasks. It will help you practice completing assignments, review the material you have covered, and effectively prepare for taking the Unified State Exam.

72,500 people took part in the Unified State Exam 2018. The score dropped slightly, but overall the situation is stable. There are fewer high-scoring students. The experience of the exam has shown that receptive skills (listening, reading) are developed among graduates better than productive ones. According to the 2018 Unified State Exam statistics in English, the majority of examinees successfully completed the tasks of the section « Listening" (average percentage of completion - 76). This year, students coped well with task 1 of the basic level, but experienced certain difficulties when choosing individual answers for task 2 of increased difficulty - understanding the requested information (the average percentage of completion of the entire task 2 is 79.1). This mainly concerned the task in which, based on the text, it was impossible to give either a positive or negative answer and one had to choose option 3 - “The text does not say.” Tasks 3–9 are tasks of a high level of complexity and test the ability to fully and accurately understand a fairly complex authentic text. The average percentage of completion of these tasks is, for obvious reasons, slightly lower than for tasks 1 and 2. Not all exam participants were able to cope with the task. Exam participants with poor preparation react only to individual words that coincide in the question and answer, and do not grasp the meaning of the statements, because the level of language proficiency does not allow them to fully and accurately understand the authentic text. Thus, the participants generally successfully cope with listening tasks, despite the fact that listening is one of the most difficult types of foreign language speech activity. An analysis of the results of completing tasks in the “Listening” section showed that examinees with poor preparation mainly cope with those tasks in which the same words and phrases appear in the text itself. Unfortunately, when choosing an answer, they rely not on the meaning of the text, but on individual words and phrases and do not take into account the fact that, as a rule, paraphrases, synonyms, and antonyms are given in the answer options. The task of establishing correspondence is especially difficult for examinees when the correct answer is “The text does not say.” Here, too, examinees often rely on the same words and phrases in the question and answer, or on their personal experience. The analysis shows that not only the low level of communicative competence, but also the lack of development of meta-subject skills in working with information (general educational competence) prevents participants from choosing the correct answer. These include, first of all, the insufficient development of critical thinking skills, which does not allow one to quickly distinguish essential information from secondary information, establish cause-and-effect relationships between facts and events, comprehend the author’s position, determine the general idea of ​​the text, etc.

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Reading

Reading (average percentage of completion - 76.9). In general, the tasks were completed successfully; the third text caused the main difficulties. (in task 10 the average percentage of completion is 88; in task 11 - 82.1; in task 12-18 - 60.8).

As in listening, weak students rely on individual words, sometimes not even key words. In task 10, they are prevented from understanding the meaning of the entire text not only by insufficiently developed communication skills, but also by weak meta-subject skills, such as the ability to separate the important from the unimportant, reject unnecessary information, understand how different pieces of information are related to each other, and highlight cause-and-effect relationships . In task 11, the reason for choosing the wrong answers is, as a rule, ignorance of the rules for constructing sentences, ignorance of grammatical structures, often even parts of speech, conjunctions, allied words, prepositions, as well as, in general, logical and semantic means that make the text coherent and logical. Participants do not always take into account that the selected fragment must correspond to the sentence not only in structure, but also in meaning. In tasks 12-18, participants often forget that the correct answers are usually paraphrased.

Errors when completing reading tasks are similar to the errors that participants make in the “Listening” section. This is mainly explained by the fact that these two types of speech activity are receptive and are based on similar mechanisms for perceiving and comprehending texts.

Grammar and vocabulary

The average percentage of tasks completed for the entire section in 2018 was 68.1.

The level of task completion has increased slightly, however, as in previous years, the use of verbs in the Past and Future Simple, Present Perfect, Passive Voice in the Past Simple forms are still typical mistakes. Students make a large number of mistakes in forms, even make spelling mistakes and confuse parts of speech. There are a number of areas in which exam takers have difficulty. To grammar, first of all, we include parts of speech and their functions in a sentence, tense forms of verbs, pronouns (personal and demonstrative), degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs, plural of nouns, ordinal numbers, conjunctions and prepositions.

Vocabulary includes: the skills of correct use of a word in context, taking into account polysemy, synonymy, antonymy, homonymy, lexical compatibility, the influence of grammatical structure and grammatical environment on the choice of the right word, as well as the skills of using frequency phrasal verbs and word formation skills. Moreover, we are not talking about knowledge of the rules, but about practical skills in using

Letter

Written tasks traditionally cause great difficulties for exam participants. Task 39 shows a good trend; students make fewer mistakes in the structure of their writing and use etiquette clichés.

Common mistakes

• Incorrect or inaccurate answers to questions
  The student simply does not understand the meaning of the question and answers inappropriately. What food do you often have? Now I have...
• Combining answers to two questions into one
  Similar in meaning questions like What food do you usually have in your refrigerator? Who buys food in your family?
• Generating questions for a friend
  Questions are not substantive, questions the answer to which exists in the task. Difficulties with correct question formation.

A significant number of shortcomings can be found in the implementation of task No. 40. Proceeding to a detailed analysis of the implementation of task 40, let us recall that it is characterized by a high level of complexity (B2 on the pan-European scale). Accordingly, both the topics of detailed written statements and the vocabulary used in the formulations are quite complex, although they are within the framework of the school curriculum of a specialized/in-depth level (5–6 hours of a foreign language per week).

• Complexity of topics from the point of view of general perception (digital literacy, virtual traveling)
• Logic and means of logical communication
• Failure to follow the plan
• Counterarguments do not support arguments
• Aspects not fully disclosed
• Rhetorical questions
• Violation of the logic of statements
• Incorrect use of logical communications
• A large number of grammatical errors, lexical errors, spelling errors

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Speaking

Analysis of statistics showed that the oral part in 2018 was completed quite successfully, although worse than in the previous year (in 2017, the average percentage of completion was 69; in 2018, 64.9). The performance of basic task 1 has improved somewhat. The overwhelming number of graduates manage to read the text proposed in task 1, and make fewer phonetic errors regarding the pronunciation of sounds, for example, interdental ones. However, examinees still find it difficult to read words that are not pronounced correctly, add endings where there are none, do not read endings, do not know how to divide sentences into syntagms, and do not have intonation skills. There are still answers in which the stress in the simplest words is broken.

When completing task 2, exam participants often failed to cope with the task, both in terms of completing the communicative task (the questions did not correspond to the proposed communicative task), and in terms of grammar, vocabulary, and sometimes pronunciation. inaccurate request for information

In task 3

• reproduction of memorized pieces of text instead of spontaneous speech (this was especially often manifested in long introductions and conclusions);
• incomplete or inaccurate coverage of plan items;
• lack of contact with a friend;
• logical errors;
• misuse of logical communications

Task 4

The introduction of different wording was done in order to avoid the reproduction of fragments of text learned by heart and to encourage spontaneous speech. Task 4 is a task of a high level of complexity and requires both good language proficiency and confident mastery of meta-subject skills.

In addition to these errors, test takers often provided incomplete answers to Item 1, which required a brief description of the photographs, mentioning what was happening and where it was happening. Some examinees described both photographs, but only one of the elements (location, action) or described the first photo completely, and when describing the second, they skipped one of the elements. All this led to a decrease in scores. Just as in previous years, repetitions of both ideas and vocabulary were observed in paragraph 1 of the plan and in subsequent paragraphs (this led to a decrease in scores).

The positive aspects of completing this task in 2018 include compliance by the majority of participants with the structure of the monologue and its volume (on average 7-9 phrases, and not 6-7, as in the previous year). However, the number of lexical and grammatical errors increased, which also led to a decrease in scores for the task.

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The most difficult task, in my opinion, on the Unified State Examination in English is task 40, which is a written statement with elements of reasoning (Opinion Essay). To complete it efficiently, you must familiarize yourself with the rules for writing an essay and the evaluation criteria for this task.

The maximum score you can get for task 40 — 14 points.

5 criteria for assessing a written statement with elements of reasoning:

1) Solving a communication problem (3 points)

Experts evaluate

• Does your work have an introduction with a statement of the problem (paraphrase the problem);
• whether the author’s opinion is expressed on the proposed problem with arguments;
• whether your essay presents an opposing point of view;
• is there an explanation why the author does not agree with another point of view (counterarguments);
• is there a final phrase with a conclusion at the end of your essay;
• have you chosen the right style for the statement (neutral)

2) Organization of the text (3 points)

Experts evaluate

• how logically did you construct the statement;
• whether you used means of logical connection (conjunctions, introductory words, pronouns);
• is there a division into paragraphs ( there should be 5 of them)

3) Lexical design (3 points)

Experts evaluate

• whether the vocabulary you used in the statement corresponds to the communicative task;
• correct use of lexical phrases and word formation methods (e.g. to go on foot);
• your vocabulary and variety of vocabulary used (synonyms, antonyms, phraseological units -give up smoking)

4) Grammar (3 points)

Experts evaluate

• whether the choice of grammatical structures corresponds to the purpose of the statement;
• absence of gross grammatical errors (2-3 errors are allowed);
• variety and complexity of grammatical means used

5) Spelling and punctuation (2 points)

Experts evaluate

• Do you follow the rules of punctuation in English (capital letter, period, comma, exclamation point and question mark);
• Do you follow spelling standards in English?

Undoubtedly, when starting this task, you should be well acquainted with its format in practice. Task 40 is communicative in nature. You will be asked to comment your personal opinion on a specific issue. When completing this task, you must follow the detailed answer plan:

Write 200 - 250 words.

Use the following plan:

• Make the introduction (state the problem)
• Express your personal opinion and give 2 – 3 reasons for your opinion
• Express the opposing opinion and give 1 – 2 reasons for this opposing opinion
• Explain why you don’t agree with the opposing opinion
• Make a conclusion restating your position

On the Internet you can find many different essay samples written by both professionals and ordinary schoolchildren. Check out interesting options and write your own version on a given topic.

In this article, I offer you for your consideration an argumentative essay that caught my attention on one of the educational sites.

Using 5 criteria for assessing a written statement with elements of reasoning, you can determine the approximate score that you can get for this work.

Task 40

Sample answer

Inventions of email and text messaging have been wonderful for communication between people.

Nowadays email and text messaging are widespread all over the world. Thousands of people can communicate, sending each other short and long messages. But some people think that it is not a convenient way to contact and find a lot of disadvantages of it. (44)

In my opinion, email and text messaging is an excellent way to connect and converse with people.
Firstly, this kind of communication can save our time. For example le, if you need to say some information to several people, you can send it using an email and contact a group of people at once. Secondl y, when you do not have any possibility to make a phone call being on a noisy bus or at an important meeting, texting will be a great solution in these situations. Moreover, sending emails and messages are cheaper and sometimes without any cost. For instance, some telecommunication companies make a good offer like free text messages. (154)

However, some people find a lot of disadvantages in using these technologies. They believe that a person who prefers such way of communication loses speaking skills. What is more, he becomes a phone addict as he gets stuck to his phone and does not notice what is happening around him. (204)

I cannot fully agree with this point of view because there are a lot of shy people. They obviously become more sociable using emails than when they talk with others face to face. (237)

In conclusion, I want to say that invention of email and text messages simplifies our life and makes communication between people more convenient. (260)

Remember!

If the examinee receives 0 points on the “Content” criterion, the entire task is scored 0 points!