ESL Blogs

I’d like to give you my feeling on Cambridge Exams for English. This is about your Curriculum Vitae. I look at it from a very practical point of view.

In this life, you are always going to need a piece of paper for something. Your driver’s license is made of paper (or plastic). It’s a document that says you can drive a car. The car even has its own piece of paper with the car registration, that shows the car can be driven.

With regards to your education and your future, if you are looking for work and want to tell someone you finished high school or university, you need a piece of paper, your diploma or degree to show it. And for every voice you hope to put on your CV to help you find work one day, you’ll need a certificate or something on paper that shows it. You can’t operate on someone’s brain without the paperwork…….and the rubber stamp!

So, for those of you who intend to use your English language skills in your jobs and careers, you would obviously want to put the fact that you speak English on your CV. No? But where’s the piece of paper?

If any of you would ever like to work for an international company, think of this: If you send your CV to some company far away from you, let’s say America and they read it, someone will want to know if you speak English. Thanks to the Internet and things like Skype, you can now interview with companies half way around the world without having to go there. Many companies do this already.

But why should they call you? They have plenty of applicants for the job and they all say they speak English. How can this big company know? I can tell you that if the company doesn’t see some sort of certification that they recognize, they may not even bother to call you. No interview. So you need your piece of paper.

I’m an American and I know Toefl. But Toefl is used mostly for entering a university or immigration to America. But companies all know what Cambridge is. The Cambridge Exams for English are the most widely recognized English exams in the world. Cambridge is the standard of the English language today. So if you want to put English as one of your languages on your CV, You really should pass the Cambridge exams. When employers see that on your CV, they will be more inclined to call you for an interview.

Here in Europe, the recognized scholastic levels are A1-A2 B1-B2 C1-C2. There are several Cambridge exams available today including Business English. But I work with the basic exams which are:

KET Cambridge (A2) PET Cambridge (B1)

FCE Cambridge First Certificate (B2) The minimum you must have to find anything good.

CAE Cambridge Advanced (C1) It would be very good for you if you got this but it is not essential.

CPE Cambridge Proficiency (C2) The Mother of all English tests. I don’t know if I could pass it.

Right now I have 2 students working on PET, a 15 year old boy and 16 year old girl. I hope both of these kids graduate from high school one day with their FCE, as it should be for all high school kids. I am also teaching a First Certificate course to a 47 year old woman who is working in business now but wants to change to a better job. She has realized that she needs the Cambridge certificate.

So I am telling you, it is really important that you get these certificates on your CV if you want to use it professionally!!!

So,,,,, if,,, IF? You are a serious student of English and ambitious, you should be studying towards these exams now. You should try and get a Cambridge practice test book and take the exam (4 exams per book, with answers). Many publishers do offer these books; not just Cambridge. Try Oxford if they are in your area. They can be found. And you should find out where you can take the Cambridge exams in whatever part of the world you are living in. Call their Ambassador.

If you’ve been working so hard all these years to learn English, Prove It and Take the Test! It’s a piece of paper that will help you all your lives.