Review- FCE Interactive CDROM

Anything that can add a bit of variety to an exam class is always welcome, especially as the stimulus of the exam often prompts students into taking intensive classes. In my experience sticking students in front of a computer screen (just like giving them a dice and some counters) is enough to persuade them to do hours of work that they would otherwise turn their noses up at- so this programme was onto a winner straight away.

The programme doesn’t have much of a game element, fancy graphics or sound effects, but is instead organised around simple exam practise. The main way it seems different from an exam practise book is in the use of some colour pictures and the ‘drag and drop’ element.

After entering their name and choosing a password, students are free to navigate their way around the programme. It is arranged into four papers (Reading, Listening, Writing and Use of English), each of which has separate practise sections for each part (e.g. Key Word Transformations or Multiple Choice Listening) and then practise papers. The practise sections build them up slowly to the exam task, for example by giving them 4 headings for a single reading paragraph. The writing section also gives them language practise on formality and spelling. What students particularly liked about the practise exercises was that they give tips on why your answer is wrong, and also the fact that listening tapescripts were available. The practise papers can be done in practise mode (with feedback) or in test mode, but the best thing about them is that they are a fair reflection in level and format of what the students will see in the exam.

The ‘added extras’ of the programme are a ‘notebook’, a record of scores, and a list of tips. Double clicking on a word also connects you to an on-line dictionary, but no students made use of this function.

There is understandably no practise of speaking in the programme and in writing (the next most difficult part for a computer programme) the programme is at least honest about the limitations of its marking scheme (based on spotting key phrases). Quite sensibly, it suggests you print your answer out and show it to a teacher! There were some slight technical problems, and it can take rather a long time to install on an old machine, but the fact that all the students used it successfully at home (and work!) meant that these didn’t have a major impact on their conclusions, which were very positive.

I would certainly recommend this programme for students and schools trying to add something extra to their FCE preparation. The best thing for me was that it motivated some very unmotivated students to get to know the whole exam well.
Originally published in English Teaching Professional magazine
Reprinted with permission of Keyways Publishing
© Keyways Publishing/ Alex Case