Success with BULATS/ Achieve BULATS joint review
MET BULATS review Alex Case
Success with BULATS Summertown Publishing Nick Brieger and Jeremy Comfort
Achieve BULATS Russell Whitehead and Mark Harrison
Since I was told in a workshop for BULATS oral and writing examiners a few months ago that from an examiner’s point of view students should under no circumstances be taught courses on how to get a good mark on BULATS (as it messes up the whole assessment system), I have been very keen to see how soon and how the publishers would ignore that and give the students what they want- which is, of course, exactly to be taught how to beat the system.
The limited number of books available for BULATS at the moment seem to suggest that the market is quite limited so far (and the greatest range of books linked in with BULATS are from Cambridge, who as owners of the BULATS exam of course have their own reasons for promoting it). The two publishers of these books have got in there quite quickly and seem to be taking that opportunity to get out there and play with the big boys. From nothing that came to my notice a couple of years ago, I am seeing quite a lot of new stuff from Summertown (mainly Business English books) and Marshall Cavendish (some IELTS textbooks I have been using), and here their ambitions to make the traditional Big Four British ELT publishers a Big Five or Big Six seem to have overlapped in trying to get in there early with this Business English BULATS exam.
The simpler of these two books to describe is Success with BULATS from Summertown Publishing, which despite its textbook-sounding name is basically a book of practice tests. Three practice tests are included, covering the two sections (Listening, and Reading and Language Knowledge) that are included in the standard written test (students who take the BULATS Standard Test do not necessarily need to take the BULATS Speaking and/ or Writing tests, which can be taken as well as or instead of the Standard Test). Two CDs with the recordings for the Listening test sections are included with the book. There is also an alternative CD ROM version of the course available for people taking the computer-based version of the test, but I haven’t seen this as people will only need and tend to buy either the book or the CD ROM depending on what version they are going to take.
I can’t really comment on the accuracy of the practice tests, as Cambridge ESOL have never released any book of past papers to compare it to (and I was told in the workshop I mentioned that example questions on the websites of examination boards are invariably questions that got rejected at some point during the writing of real papers, and are so not the best guide to the genuine article). I can only imagine the authors were under the same restrictions when they wrote this book, and there is no information to suggest that the authors are BULATS exam writers or even examiners and so have inside information. Nick Brieger and Jeremy Comfort are at least well known ELT writers who I have always enjoyed using the Business English books of over many years, so I am willing to trust them on this one. I can at least say that the practice tests do increase gradually in difficult as they progress (just like the real test is supposed to), and that the difficulty my students had with the test was what I would have expected from their level of English.
Apart from being like the real thing, there is not a lot more you can ask from a practice test, but someone seems to have put some thought into this anyway and the use of some colour (red and pink tinting on titles, illustrations etc.), plenty of white space on the pages etc. makes it very easy on the eye. Having one page per question also makes it easy to navigate, or split up the materials into sections if you are using it in class.
The rest of the book consists of a 5 page introduction, 13 pages of recording scripts, 3 pages of answer key and 2 pages of sample answer sheets. The last page is a more original touch, being a chart to help you covert your BULATS score from the practice test into your ALTE and CEF level, and descriptions of what each level means (taking account of the ALTE and CEF levels of each band of BULATS could also perhaps be how the authors tried to assure the accuracy of the practice tests).
As most of the introduction is quoted from the Cambridge BULATS Handbook, there is certainly no arguing with it, but it doesn’t add a lot to what students could pick up (for free) in that booklet. This and the fact that the key gives no indication of why one answer is right and the others are wrong mean that I would hesitate before fully recommending this book for self-study (as the back of the book does), especially for students who don’t have anyone to go to if they have questions.
Although 110 of the 150 pages of Achieve BULATS from Marshall Cavendish are also taken up with practice tests, the introduction attempts to add something more to students’ preparation for the exam. After a 2 page introduction to the BULATS test (not directly quoted from Cambridge this time, but quite similar content), there is a two page introduction to “How to Use Achieve BULATS”. As well as advice on how and when to use the practice tests and learn from your mistakes when you do them, the introduction offers tips on what students can do outside the classroom to improve their English.
The next 23 pages are taken up with an introduction to each part of the test in order, with the guide to each section being divided into information on “Strategy” and “Preparation”, with a little side box giving a “Fact File” on what that section of the exam is a test of and what it consists of (number of questions, visual prompts etc.).
To give an example, the part on the Reading and Language Knowledge paper Section Two offers strategy hints like trying to analyse if each question is a test of grammar or vocabulary and looking at collocations as well as meaning. The Preparation part then talks the students through a couple of questions step by step, with the Fact File box reinforcing the message with a more precise definition of the types of questions students might see in this section of the test. Students can then check their answers to the Preparation questions with the answer key and then try a similar question from one of the practice tests if they wish.
There are also similar introductionary sections on Writing and Speaking near the back of the book for students who are taking those parts of the exam, but there are no specific materials for preparation for the computer based version of the test. There are answer keys for all exercises and practice tests, tapescripts and model answers for the writing tasks. Like Success with BULATS, however, the key to the practice tests does not give any guidance to students on why one answer is correct and why another is wrong. Although Achieve BULATS does slip some typical language like expressions to describe trends into the introduction, neither book has specific sections on typical grammar and vocabulary needed for the test.
I managed to try these books out on two of my classes, one mixed level class of students who had taken TOEIC a few times and one higher level class of students who had taken BULATS as part of their level check and might have to again at the end of the course to test their progress. Although there is half a page of tips for teachers in Achieve BULATS (there is nothing specifically for teachers in Success with BULATS), neither book gave me any help on how to tie the material here in with the syllabus of my classes nor how to make it interesting and fun for classes who are not very focused on the exam. The fact that there are pictures, that the early tasks are fairly easy and that the topics do tie in with general Business English textbook units on marketing and telephoning meant I was able to bring this material into the class without too many moans from the students, but I imagine teachers with less experience with teaching exam classes and/ or Business English would need a lot more help if they don’t want their classes to turn into a daily repeat of “unconnected warmer, do the exercise, turn the page, do the exercise, check your answers, turn the page” etc. My students also found the rather dry appearance of the material, especially of Achieve BULATS, quite demotivating.
Neither of these books are quite up to the standard of the books for FCE, TOEIC, TOEFL etc. exam practice that have come out in recent years. Although exam practice and information on what they are going to have to do is always useful for students and creative teachers could use this material to tie in with their textbook or other classes without too much pain, both students and teachers could use a lot more help for these books to be the perfect resource for either class or self-study use for the exam.
The first thing they both need is an analysis of each question in the practice exams so that students really learn from their mistakes, for example an indication of which line in the reading text the correct answer is on or an explanation of why each of the other options in a multiple choice question are not possible. This would both motivate students to do more practice tests because they would know they are really learning something, and help improve their general English level at the same time as practising for the exam. It would also cut down on preparation for teachers using the book. Just adding this to the books would make them a much more useful self-study resource. Having sections on various useful and typical grammar and vocabulary points would also help (although there could well be enough material on this to make another entire book). Teachers who wanted to use these books in class (which Achieve BULATS mentions as a possibility, although it is designed mainly for self-study) could also benefit from a lot more help.
As things stand, students who wanted some preparation before the exam could benefit from running through a few of the tests in these books, especially if they had someone to ask why certain answers were wrong afterwards. They could also benefit from a quick reading of the introductions to both books, although as BULATS is an exam that covers every level of learner students with a less than Pre-Intermediate level would at least need to read the same information in their own language before reading it in English for it to be useful.
Of the two introductions, the Achieve BULATS one is considerably more detailed and is recommended reading for teachers and students. Achieve BULATS also covers the (optional) Writing and Speaking tests, which Success with BULATS doesn’t touch on at all.
The main selling point of the Success with BULATS book would be that the visual presentation is better. That printing quality might give teachers and students more confidence in this book than the Marshall Cavendish title. Success with BULATS also has three practice tests as against the two in Achieve BULATS. Although I haven’t tried it, I also imagine having the CD ROM version of this book would be most useful for students taking the computer based test. As both books include 2 audio CDs as standard, have a few practice tests, have tapescripts and basic answer keys etc, for students and teachers who do not need to know about the computer based test, the Writing test or the Speaking test the best way of choosing between them might well be by price.
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