Tag Archives: exam strategies

New text book for military learners – level 3

We have already announced on Facebook that a new book would appear on the market soon. The time has come. As I promised, this is a hot review of the pre-printed copy I got from the author.

A new textbook for those attempting Stanag6001 exams

If you prepare for any English exam, sooner or later, you must do some pre-exam tests. Not only to test your level of knowledge and your readiness in general. First of all, you must familiarize with the type of exercises you will be asked to do during the actual exam. The same concerns military English exams. Each country developed its own examination models and they are standard ones, that means you can have a look at the earlier exam editions and learn what to expect when your moment arrives. But where can you find the previous exams? The answer was here, on my website. From 2012 I have been trying to fill in the gap, providing English resources for both, students and teachers, but since February 2017 you can reach for another source of knowledge too.

speaking and writing expert – Stanag6001 level 3

This year a new book appeared on the market. It is “Speaking And Writing Expert. How to Pass STANAG 6001 English Exam LEVEL 3” by Małgorzata Mazurek – a Polish English teacher working for the military school of foreign languages in Warsaw. She devoted several years of her professional career to teach military students English. The book is the natural consequence of the scarcity of the resources on the market and her answer to the problem. Let’s have a look at what you can get once you decide to buy it. Continue reading “New text book for military learners – level 3” »

Reading tests – how to approach them

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Reading comprehension tests

Many tests have been already published here, but never any hints on how to do these lightbulb particular tests. I do clarify on that but only face-to-face with my students. Based on the lessons already conducted, I prepared a bunch of tips you should find handy. The presentation below is based on level 3 exam with the main focus on task 1. Firstly, texts in task one are short so it’s easier to analyze them, secondly if you do task one correctly, you will have almost the required number of points to pass the exam. The presentation (and this post alike) is bilingual; each slide is played twice: in English and Polish, to be sure that the Polish students will understand all nuances.

The slides will lead you through the desired way of reasoning which will help you find the good answer. Once you learn the proper methodology, you will be able to deal with the subsequent two slides with some tasks for you. Some hints are still given, but the whole process is up to you. Finally, general prompts are on the last slide which should shape up your preparation and expectations. Good luck!

Wiele testów już tu publikowaliśmy ale nigdy żadnych wskazówek jak je rozwiązywać. Wprawdzie udzielamy takich wskazówek ale zawsze odbywało się to przy osobistym kontakcie ze studentami. Bazując na przeprowadzonych lekcjach, przygotowaliśmy dla was zbiór przydatnych porad. Poniższa prezentacja została oparta na egzaminie z poziomu 3 i skupia się na zadaniu pierwszym. Po pierwsze, dlatego, że w zadaniu 1 mamy do czynienia z krótkimi tekstami, które łatwiej przeanalizować, a po drugie jeśli dobrze wykonamy to zadanie, to już mamy prawie całą wymaganą ilość punktów, wymaganą do zaliczenia. Prezentacja (jak i sam post) są wykonane w dwóch językach: po angielsku i po polsku. Chcieliśmy być pewni, że polscy studenci zrozumieją wszystkie niuanse językowe, które zostały omówione na przykładzie tekstów. Continue reading “Reading tests – how to approach them” »

Level 3 – a new exam model in Poland

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New… but old

I must be honest with you – that exam model is not that new because Polish Armed Forces School of Languages (PAFSL) introduced it as early as September, 2015. Even though I decided to describe it as “new” because some of you, accustomed to the older exam model, while trying to confirm or upgrade your language certificate, might be surprised during the exam. Those who took last exam some years ago, must adjust now to Continue reading “Level 3 – a new exam model in Poland” »

Concise writing – wordiness and redundancy

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Wordiness and redundancy

Generally, when checking the students’ work I try not to interfere with their style. Simple eradication of errors is enough to make them perform much better. But sometimes you need to correct their style, especially when the better expressions save a lot of words thus fit all ideas into the words limit. Getting rid of so called wordiness and redundancy may work a dream and drop your words number from e.g. 100 to 80. Just enough to prevent you from receiving penalty points for excesive wording.

Wordiness and redundancy – how to avoid

Passive voice. First thing you can easily eliminate in your writing is the passive voice. Unless it is absolutely necessary (another example of redundancy) you should use an active voice to present your ideas.

Instead of “It is believed that the new solution may save millions of lives” we can say Continue reading “Concise writing – wordiness and redundancy” »

Good vs. bad writing examples

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Some real writing examples

Last time I provided you some writing samples prepared by native Polish using English as a second language. This time let’s have a look at English native speakers’ performance. All discussed fragments of military texts were taken from real ISAF documents. All of them were attributed to English native speakers, or at least a native speaker approved them. As you suspect, I found perfect, sophisticated language usage examples as well as occurences of minor or even terrible misuse of a mother tongue.

Right place for an apostrophe

Such a tiny element as an apostrophe may cause big troubles to English users. Continue reading “Good vs. bad writing examples” »

Writing task – example answers

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Today samples of my students’ writing are the answers to the task recently published here. It is the first task, part A of the 3^rd level exam. For your awareness, and additional educational effect I publish students’ work verbatim, with all errors

A soldier doing writing task. It's not that easy to write something in English!

A soldier doing writing task in English. Image source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

they’ve made. Hover the cursor over the highlighted part to see the comment on what is wrong with each part and then click the number to go to the footnotes with corrected version of the highlighted part.

First sample of writing (with errors!):

Sir,
I would like to inform you about situation in Forward Operating Base Ghazni (FOB Ghazni). The most important issue is the unacceptable behaviour of the local security company named BAATFA. Our sentry at the gates and in the towers[1] noticed the following occurances[2].
The first, employees of the company very often late[3] for duty giving no justification or explanation.
The second, their weapons are left without attention. Moreover, personel of the BAATFA company use their guns in the wrong way aiming weapons at fellow soldiers.
The third, their[4]often chat with passers-by – local people disturbing them from[5] duties. Even more, they do not observe peremeter during noon prayers. Continue reading “Writing task – example answers” »