The B2 First blog: practical advice for FCE candidates

Our guides explain what is in the B2 First exam: the papers, the parts, the task types and how each one is marked. This blog is about how you get ready for it. The posts deal with the questions students ask when they sit down to prepare and don't know where to start:

• How should I organise my time, and what should I do first?
• What are the mistakes that cost marks in every paper?
• Can I prepare on my own, without a course?
• I only have a month. Is that enough, and what should I focus on?
• I freeze when I have to speak. How do I stay calm in the Speaking test?
• How do I learn vocabulary that I can actually use in the exam?

Every post is written from a teacher's point of view. That means practical routines, examples you can copy, and honest advice about what tends to help and what tends to waste time. You won't find invented success stories or made-up statistics here. When a post mentions an exam fact (a time limit, a number of questions, a word count), it comes from the same checked list of facts that our guides use, so the numbers always match.

Think of the site in two layers.

The guides are the reference layer. Each paper has its own hub, and each part of each paper has its own page with a strategy, common traps, a worked example and practice. When you need to know exactly how Reading Part 6 works or what the Speaking assessor listens for, the guide page is the place to go.

The blog is the coaching layer. A post like FCE preparation tips won't repeat the whole format of every paper. Instead, it tells you how to use the guides, the practice sets and the tools together, in a sensible order, so that your study time turns into marks.

Most posts link directly into the guide pages they mention. If a post says "practise word formation", the link goes to the page or tool where you can do exactly that.

If you are new to the B2 First, read in this order. It takes you from "what is this exam?" to a working study routine.

1. The B2 First exam guide. Start with the big picture: the four papers, the five scores, how the overall result is calculated and what the grades mean. Ten minutes here saves hours of confusion later.
2. Reading and Use of English. This is the longest paper and the one with the most task types. Read the hub, then skim each part page so you can recognise every task at a glance.
3. Writing. Learn the compulsory essay and the Part 2 options, how the four marking criteria work, and what a strong answer looks like in our model answers.
4. Listening. Understand how distractors work and how to use the two listenings. This changes the way you practise.
5. Speaking. See what happens in each of the four parts, which phrases help, and how to practise with a partner.
6. Practice. Once you know the formats, do the practice sets. Mark your answers honestly and note which parts lose you the most marks.
7. Tools. Use the score calculator to estimate your result from a practice test, the study planner to build a timetable, and the trainers for phrasal verbs and word formation.

After that, read the blog posts that match your situation. If you're short of time, go to how to prepare for FCE in one month. If you're studying without a teacher, go to FCE self study.

Every post follows the same rules as the rest of the site. The advice is original: we don't copy or paraphrase official papers, coursebooks or other websites, and every example sentence is written for this site. Exam facts are checked against official sources before they appear, and we don't publish things we can't confirm, such as fees, test dates or pass rates.

We are an independent site. We are not Cambridge, and we are not endorsed by them. You can read more about how pages are written and checked in our editorial policy.

If there's a topic you would like us to cover, or you've spotted something that looks wrong, please contact us. We update posts when the exam changes or when we find a clearer way to explain something.