Writing the Opening Sentence

Your very first sentence should tell the reader what your essay is about. 

Paraphrasing the Question 

In general, Cambridge doesn't like it when you reuse their language, so you should always paraphrase when possible. However, you can repeat some words - in fact, that's expected. 

You can copy single words from the information given to you, but you cannot copy an entire section of the question. Never copy a sentence word from word. You must paraphrase.

This is the original task introduction and question: 

Some parents teach their children at home rather than sending them to school. Is this a good or bad thing for the children?

Some things we could for this question are:

1. Change the words - Identify any synonyms we know:

children = young boys and girls

parents = mothers and fathers

teach children at home = homeschooling

good or bad = positive or negative

2. Change the sentence structure - Change verbs into nouns and nouns into adjectives, etc.

child = children

school = schooling

to teach = teaching

Remember that a paraphrased sentence has the same meaning as the original, and your work must also be grammatically correct. 

A direct paraphrase of our original question could be:

Some mothers and fathers homeschool their children instead of schooling them in traditional educational institutions. However, does this have a positive or negative impact on the children?

As you can see, some words are repeated, but the most important words have been substituted with synonyms.

Read more about paraphrasing here.

Adding a hook

On the B2 First exam, you should try and make your writing engaging to the reader. While it's not necessary, there are a few things you could do to make your introduction more interesting:

1. Write a question - One easy way to add some variety to our grammar is by asking a question. For example, using the above task we could potentially write:

Some people feel that homeschooling their children is much better than using traditional schooling methods. However, is this really the case? 

2. Write a fact - You can also use a fact in the opening line of your essay. However, try to use general pieces of information and make sure your facts are plausible:

Bad: There has been a 95% increase in the number of households homeschooling their children in recent years.

Better: There has been a significant increase in the number of households homeschooling their children in recent years.

3. Write a concession - Consider adding a concession or counter argument. To do this, start by writing the opposite of what you want to say and then add your opinion: 

While lots of people agree that our traditional educational system is great, some parents think it’s harmful to their children and choose to homeschool as a result.

Introduce the Three Points

It's always important to tell the examiner exactly what you essay will talk about so you should mention the three points.

Here are our points:

• having a parent as a teacher

• making friends 

• quality of education

The sentence could be something like:

Some mothers and fathers homeschool their children instead of using the traditional educational system. However, does this do more good or harm to a child? It's important to consider the impact of having a parent as a teacher, the child's ability to make friends, and the quality of education they receive. 

Write your Thesis Statement (RE: Answer the Question)

Finally, if the task asks you a question, you should state your opinion. 

Note: some people wait until the conclusion to state the opinion, but you should not do this for two reasons:

• Technically, a conclusion should never include new information

• You risk forgetting to answer the question 

As you can see, it's better to write it at the beginning. Also, writing it at the beginning gives us an opportunity to always reference it in our essay, making it more cohesive and resulting in a higher score under organization. 

For this task, it says:

"Some parents teach their children at home rather than sending them to school. Is it a good or bad thing for the children?". 

In this case, my answer is:

Homeschooling is bad for children.

We could say something like this:

Some families homeschool their children instead of using the traditional educational system. However, does this do more good or harm to a child? After considering the impact of having a parent as a teacher on a child, their ability to make friends, and the quality of education they receive, it can be said that homeschooling is in fact bad for a child.

Note: If you get a question that asks your opinion, always pick a side, even if you don't really have one.

It's possible that you will have no strong feelings about the topic. However, it's easier to write an essay when you pick a side; your opinion and essay will be clearer to the examiner, resulting in a higher mark.