How to Approach the CAE Writing Section

The CAE writing section tests whether you can produce clear, well-organized English under time pressure, with accurate grammar and a register that matches the task. The test lasts an hour and a half and is split into two parts, and knowing exactly what each part expects before you walk into the exam room makes a real difference to how confidently you write.

Part One: The Compulsory Task

Part One is a question you must answer, and it typically includes a short reading input of up to 150 words, which might be an extract from a letter, an advertisement, an email, a diary entry, or a short article. Using the information in that input, you have to produce a piece of writing such as an article, a proposal, a letter, or a report. The task tests whether you can select the relevant points from the input and reshape them into a new, appropriately formatted piece of writing, rather than simply copying phrases from the source text.

The best way to practice this part is to read short articles regularly and write short responses to them, ideally with a teacher who can check whether you have picked out the right information and used an appropriate format and tone.

Part Two: Choosing Your Task

Part Two gives you five questions, and you only need to answer one. Four of these questions include a short reading text of around 80 words describing a situation, and you use that information to produce a report, an article, an information sheet, a proposal, or a review, depending on what the specific question asks for. Choosing the task that matches a format you feel most comfortable writing in, rather than the one that looks most interesting, is usually the safer strategy under time pressure.

Matching Format to Purpose

Structuring Your Answer Under Time Pressure

With 90 minutes for two pieces of writing, planning matters more than it feels like it should. Spend two or three minutes outlining your main points before you start writing either task. A short plan with three or four clear points, one per paragraph, produces far more organized writing than starting to write immediately and hoping a structure emerges as you go.

Getting Feedback That Actually Improves Your Score

Writing improves fastest with regular, specific feedback rather than simply producing more text. A teacher who can mark your work against the real CAE criteria, formal register, task achievement, organization, and range of language, will catch patterns in your mistakes that are hard to see in your own writing. Cambridge exam preparation lessons at Live English give you that kind of consistent, structured feedback, and pair naturally with practice in the CAE Use of English section, since both reward precise, well-chosen vocabulary, and with the CAE Reading test, where the same range of formats and registers appears again.