how to write an essay cpe

• Guide to the Cambridge C2 Proficiency Writing Exam – Part 1: Essay

• Posted on 19/04/2023
• Categories: Blog

Are you preparing for the Cambridge C2 Proficiency (CPE) writing exam? If so, you may be feeling a little nervous and concerned about what lies ahead . Let us help put that fear and anxiety to bed and get started on how your academic writing can leave a positive impression on the examiner.

By the end of this blog post, you’ll know exactly what you need to do, how to prepare and how you can use your knowledge of other parts of the exam to help you.

Although you’ll find the advanced writing skills you’ve mastered at C1 will stand you in good stead for C2 writing, there are clear differences in the exam format in CPE. As in Cambridge C1, there are two parts in the writing exam, and understanding what you need to do before you’ve even put a pen to paper is incredibly important. So, let’s go!

What’s in Part 1?

First, let’s look at the format of Part 1:

• Task: essay.
• Word count: 240–280 words.
• Register: formal.
• Overview: a summary of two texts and an evaluation of the ideas.
• Suggested structure: introduction, paragraph 1, paragraph 2, conclusion.
• Time: 1 hour 30 minutes for Part 1 and 2.

Before we look at an example task, let’s look at how your paper will be assessed. The examiner will mark your paper using four separate assessment scales:

• Content – this demonstrates your ability to complete the task, including only relevant information.
• Communicative achievement – this shows how well you’ve completed the task, having followed the conventions of the task, used the correct register and maintained the reader’s attention throughout.
• Organisation – the overall structure of your essay, the paragraphs and the sentences.
• Language – your ability to use a wide range of C2 grammar and vocabulary in a fluent and accurate way.

How can I write a fantastic essay?

Let’s look at an example task:

The key things you’re being asked to do here are summarise, evaluate and include your own ideas, using your own words as far as possible. So, in short, you have to paraphrase. As a Cambridge exams expert, you’ll know that this is a skill you already use throughout the exam.

In Reading and Use of English Part 4, the techniques you are using to make the keyword transformations (active to passive, comparative structures, negative inversions, common word patterns, etc) will show you that you already know how you can say the same thing in other words.

Your ability to do word formation in Reading and Use of English Part 3 is useful here, as you look for verbs that you can change into nouns, and vice versa. This enables you to say reword sentences without losing the original meaning.

You are already adept at identifying the correct options in Reading and Use of English Part 5 and Listening Parts 1 and 3, although the words given are different to the information in the text or audio.

So, be aware of the skills you have already practised, and use them to your advantage!

How should I plan and structure my essay?

Before you even consider writing, read both texts thoroughly . Highlight the key points in each text and make notes about how you can express this in your own words. Look for contrasting opinions and think about how you can connect the ideas together. These contrasting ideas will usually form the basis of paragraphs 2 and 3.

Although there are multiple ways you can organise your essay, here is a tried and tested structure:

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Paragraph 2: Idea 1 with support

Paragraph 3: Idea 2 with support

Paragraph 4: Conclusion

Introduction

Use your introduction as a way to present the general theme. Don’t give anything away in terms of your own opinion, but instead give an overview of what you will discuss. Imagine this as a global comment, talking about how society as a whole may feel about the topic.

Start with a strong sentence. Make your intentions clear, then back up your idea with a supporting sentence and elaborate on it. Use linkers to show how this idea has different stances, paraphrased from the key points you highlighted in the texts.

Follow the same structure as Idea 1, but focus on a different element from the two texts. Introduce it clearly, then provide more support to the idea. Keep emotional distance from the topic – save your opinion for the conclusion!

Here is the opportunity for you to introduce your personal opinion. There shouldn’t be anything new included here other than how you personally feel about the topics discussed. Use your conclusion to refer back to the main point and round up how your opinion differs or is similar.

This is just one example of how you can structure your essay. However, we recommend trying different formats. The more you practise, the more feedback you’ll get from your teacher. Once you’ve settled on the structure that suits you, your planning will be a lot quicker and easier.

What can I do to prepare?

According to the Cambridge English website, ‘A C2 Proficiency qualification shows the world that you have mastered English to an exceptional level. It proves you can communicate with the fluency and sophistication of a highly competent English speaker.’

This means that being a proficient writer in your own language is not enough. So, what can you do to really convince the examiner that you truly are smarter than the average Joe ?

Prepare! Prepare! Prepare!

✔ Read academic texts regularly.

✔ Pay attention to model essay answers and highlight things that stand out.

✔ Always try to upgrade your vocabulary. Challenge yourself to think of synonyms.

✔ Write frequently and study the feedback your teacher gives you.

✔ Study C2 grammar and include it in your writing.

What do I need to avoid?

Don’t overuse the same linkers. Practise using different ones and not only in essays. You can write something much shorter and ask your teacher to check for correct usage.

• Don’t constantly repeat the same sentence length and punctuation. Long sentences may seem the most sophisticated, but you should consider adding shorter ones from time to time. This adds variety and a dramatic effect. Try it!
• Don’t be discouraged by your mistakes – learn from them! If you struggle with a grammar point, master it. If you spell something incorrectly, write it again and again.
• Don’t limit your English studying time. Do as much as possible in English – watch TV, read, listen to podcasts, or meet with English speaking friends. English time should not only be reserved for the classroom.

What websites can help me?

The Official Cambridge English page, where you can find a link to sample papers.

BBC Learning English has a range of activities geared towards advanced level learners.

Flo-joe has very useful writing practice exercises that allow you to see other students’ writing.

Writing apps and tools like Grammarly can improve your writing style with their feedback and suggestions.

Don’t forget about our fantastic C2 blogs too!

Passing Cambridge C2 Proficiency: Part 3 Reading and Use of English

Passing C2 Proficiency: A Guide to Reading Part 5

Passing C2 Proficiency: A Guide to Reading Part 6

Guide to the Cambridge C2 Proficiency Listening Test

Guide to the Cambridge C2 Proficiency Speaking Test

Looking for further support?

If you’re interested in preparing for the C2 Proficiency exam but don’t know where to start, get in touch with us here at Oxford House today! We offer specific courses that are designed especially to help you get ready for the exam. Let our fully qualified teachers use their exam experience to guide you through your learning journey. Sign up now and receive your free mock test!

Glossary for Language Learners

Find the following words in the article and then write down any new ones you didn’t know.

lie ahead (pv): be in the future.

stand you in good stead (id): be of great use to you.

adept at (adj): have a good ability to do something.

thoroughly (adv): completely.

tried and tested (adj): used many times before and proved to be successful.

back up (pv): give support to.

round up (pv): summarise.

settle on (pv): choose after careful consideration

average Joe (n): normal person.

discouraged (adj): having lost your enthusiasm or confidence.

pv = phrasal verb

adj = adjective

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• Posted on 05/04/2023

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Cambridge English: Proficiency

Check out students' answers to Flo-Joe's CPE Writing tasks with a teacher's feedback

• Writing Class

Writing Class: Essay

Task type: essay.

Question Read the two texts below. Write an essay summarising and evaluating the key points from both texts. Use your own words throughout as far as possible and include your own ideas in your answers.

Write the essay. (around 240 - 280 words)

Makeover: Mathieu

Read Mathieu's answer to this question below. Try correcting the piece of writing yourself first: use the marking codes to think about what might be wrong (or what's good) about the piece of work. Then when you're ready, click the green buttons in the text for our feedback.

A very good piece of work Mathieu. You’ve answered the question fully and thoughtfully, your ideas are clearly organised and eloquently expressed and you show a very good command of both vocabulary and grammar. An excellent command of the conventions of an essay is demonstrated. The style adopted is very natural and appropriately neutral and academic throughout. Well done!

Marking Code

/\ Word(s) missing

- Omit word

C Capitalization

O Organisation

P Punctuation

PE Poorly expressed

R Register/Formality

SS Sentence Structure

WF Wrong form

WO Word order

WT Wrong tense

WW Wrong word

CPE Info and Practice

Cpe resources to buy.

Tim's Free English Lesson Plans

Use them, share them, comment on them, and share my link in return.

CPE Writing Part 1: Formal Essay

Just a quick note…

Before you use these materials… We’ve created a new podcast aimed at B2+ level English students and teachers alike. You can listen for free at our SoundCloud page below. You can download teacher’s notes to accompany them from our Facebook page or from this blog. All comments and feedback welcome! Give us a like and a share 😉

https://soundcloud.com/2tspod

https://www.facebook.com/2tspodcast/

CPE Writing Part 1: Essay

This is a lesson plan to help prepare students for part 1 of the CPE writing exam, in which students are required to write a formal essay which summarises and evaluates two other texts.

Here is my step-by-step guide to approaching the task:

Download the class handout here:

CPE writing essay 2nd plan

Step 1 – Text analysis

• Read both texts and decide if they are complementary or contrasting.
• Underline the two key content points in each text.

Step 2 – Paraphrasing and summarising

• Brainstorm different ways to paraphrase and summarise the key points.
• What impressive structures can you use? Inversions, passives, collocations, expressions.

Step 3 – Evaluate and react

• Decide which points you agree and disagree with.
• Brainstorm your own thoughts and experiences on the subject.

Summarise, evaluate, react.

Introduction

Present the topic of discussion and ask questions the essay will answer.

Hardly a week goes by without another report of …………….. appearing in the media.

Over the past ten years or so the media have frequently carried reports of ……………

The trend nowadays is towards (gerund)

How has the public’s opinion on this issue shifted over the last few years?

Although most people would generally agree that …………… few would deny that …………….

This raises the issue of whether or not……………..

This issue strikes a chord with the vast majority of the general public.

What impact, if any, have these shifts/changes/developments had on the general public’s psyche?

How are we to gauge the effect of such shifts/changes/developments?

Finish your introduction with the following sentence:

Both (1) extracts (2) discuss the nature of these (3) notions , but from different (4) viewpoints .

synonyms for text – extract passage

discuss/evaluate/explore

notions/concepts/ideas

viewpoints/perspectives/points of view

Paragraph 1 – Text 1

The first (1) text (2) argues that………

(1)extract/passage

(2)suggests/puts forward the idea that/asserts

Try and sum up the first point neatly with an inversion:

Seldom does the airplane make the top 5, let alone the top spot when the lists of the so-called most influential inventions are drawn up.

Paragraph structure:

Stating opinion.

Stating your opinion

As I see it,

It seems to me that ………… I would also say that ….

I am convinced that ……………

I am inclined to believe that ………………

There is no doubt in my mind that ………………

One of the drawbacks of ……. is ……….

However, one of the benefits is that …………

EMPHASIZING

– I would like to stress that the research is still at an early stage.

– It should be noted that there are a number of alternative methods available.

– It is worth bearing in mind that 90% of the scientists researching herbicides in the US are employed by chemical companies.

-lead to: The research could lead to a cure for many serious illnesses.

-result in: The fire resulted in damage to their property.

-be responsible for: He was responsible for the accident.

-bring about: The war brought about enormous social change.

-give rise to: Poor performance in exams can give rise to depression and even thoughts of suicide.

-trigger: to make something suddenly start to happen, especially a bad situation such as a crisis or a war, or a medical condition: Certain foods can trigger allergies.

-contribute to: Passive smoking could contribute to the development of respiratory diseases among nonsmokers.

-factor: Cost is often the deciding factor when choosing any product.

Describing causes

One factor which has led to ………… is …………..

One of the factors which has brought this about is ………

The problem often stems from ………………..

The situation has been exacerbated by …………….

………….. has only made the situation worse.

One consequence of ……………. is …………….

All in all it seems to me that ………..

The obvious conclusion to be drawn is that …………………..

All things considered, ………….

On balance, I tend to believe that …………

The world would surely be a better place to live in if …………..

If people stopped ….ing, we would have/ we could look forward to a ……………

The prospects for the future will be bleak/grim unless ……………….

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Author: Tim Warre

Barcelona based English Teacher, blogger and sometime actor and director. View All Posts

23 thoughts on “ CPE Writing Part 1: Formal Essay ”

• Pingback: CPE Writing Part 1: Formal Essay | Me: a teacher and more
• Pingback: Useful CPE sites (2013 exam) | A Hive of Activities

I like this blog very much. Could you give me the result of the gapped text “A pastime to bring peace of mind”, please. I would like to check this up. Thank you in advance.

ooops,I forgot to put the key on the reading lesson plan. I’ve added it now, or alternatively, here it is: 7-g 8-f 9-b 10-e 11-c 12-a

Thank you Robbio! It is very hard to do this exercise. Is there any book that explains it, please? Thank you. Sandra

Congrats on the blog! It’s fantastic. I have a doubt, though: our personal opinion should be stated in the last paragraph only or after the explanation of each text, at the end paragraphs 1 and 2?

There are several different ways to approach this task, different textbooks suggest different methods but the framework I generally teach is:

1. Introduction 2. Summarize text 1 in first half of 2nd paragraph then evaluate and react (giving personal opinion on the views expressed) 3. Repeat for text 2. 4. Conclusion.

Another option is to summarize each text in separate paragraphs and then save your personal reaction for the conclusion.

Some useful discourse management language for the essay, thanks, Robbio.

In step 1 ‘complimentary’ should be ‘complementary’.

So it should, thanks for that, spelling is not my strongest suite*.

Where are these two texts? I don’t see them – and I think there’s a handout download missing

Hi, Firstly, congratulations on your blog!

I’d like to know if it would be suitable to add at teh end of the introduction the phrase: “This essay aims to summarise and evaluate …..”

Thanks beforehand, John

I think that would be fine.

Should I give a Title to the CPE Writing part one? I see some examples with it and some without it. Thank you!

I don’t think it’s essential but it is another opportunity to show what you know maybe through your ability to introduce the topic using different language to what appears in the texts.

Tim.. I just wanted to say cheers for the CPE stuff. It’s come in handy so many times for us at our academy http://www.4realenglish.com/ in Pamplona, Spain. Students love it, so thanks.

LOveeeee it!! Regards from Peru!!

• Pingback: CPE | Pearltrees

Thank you so much for sharing these exceptional resources with other fellow teachers. I’ll share your website with my CPE students.

Thank you! And thanks for the share!

• Pingback: Full writing revision and online practice test – C2 Proficiency at SFP

Thank you! Useful tips!!

• Pingback: Reading mock exam + Writing paper overview – C2 Proficiency 2020/2021
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CPE sample writings

Welcome to the biggest on-line collection of articles, essays, letters, reports, proposals and reviews for the CPE and CAE Cambridge English Exams. Teachers and students from all over the world arparticipate by submitting their writings. Support the Blog with a Paypal donation and I will correct your writing. For more info write me via Email (see my profile below). Enjoy the Blog !

HOW TO WRITE AN ESSAY

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PaperTyper.net: How to Write an Essay with AI and Save Your Time?

• June 3, 2024 2:11 PM / Updated: June 3, 2024 2:11 PM

Hi, I’m Peter, a 3rd year public-relations student. I already combine work with my studies. This is quite tiring, since you need to constantly manage to complete all tasks on time. But sometimes I can’t keep up with the schedule.

Recently I got so busy that I forgot to write an essay on sociology. The next day I had to hand in the paper, so I started looking for all possible ways to still prepare the text.

I came across the PaperTyper website completely by accident while trying to find an essay writing tool. And imagine my surprise when it turned out that the website offers an essay generator based on artificial intelligence. I decided to try it out and decide whether this website and its AI writer could write me an essay of high quality. The generated text exceeded all my expectations. I will talk about this in more detail below. You will learn how the AI Essay Generator tool works and why you should try it yourself.

How does AI Essay Generator tool work?

So, first, let’s figure out how the tool works. AI Essay Writer helps you write a text on any topic you need. I needed to prepare a relatively simple text on the topic “The influence of social networks on modern society” as part of one of the academic disciplines.

To generate text, you need to follow a few simple steps:

• Go to the service website and go through a simple registration. You can register through social networks or by creating your username and password.
• Go to your personal account and find the “My Projects” item. Here, you can also start a new project or edit an existing document. The free version has a limit of 500 words, so you can try out the content generation features initially to see if this service is right for you. I was satisfied with the first draft, so I continued working on my paper. Subscriptions cost $5 and $10. For $5, you will get 10k words, and for $10, you will get 40k words.
• Next, you need to open the project from the list. You will be redirected to a page with a text editor that resembles a classic Word document. The main difference is the presence of a line where you need to write down your full request for AI Essay Writer.
• At the next stage, you need to write down your essay topic. I tried to describe my request in as much detail as possible so that the AI tool could generate all the necessary material.
• You also need to choose the number of words that you need to generate. The maximum number of words you can get per one generation is 2500 words.
• After this, the tool starts working. I just had to wait for the results.
• Now, the real work begins. I generated as much as needed and decided to check the text I got. Using the built-in tool, I checked the grammar and made edits. In this way, I worked until I received the finished first draft that I used for my own paper.

Overall, I was pleased with the results. I was able to quickly generate a ready-made article on the specified topic. Of course, I had to tinker a little, but I prepared the essay much faster than I would have done it by hand. There are some nuances that I would like to note before starting to work with AI Essay Generator.

My assessment of the service

After testing the AI Essay Generator, I was pleased with the generated essay. I received an excellent grade in my subject, which I am happy about. At the same time, I saved a lot of time searching for information. Now, I can create papers in other disciplines without spending a lot of time on research and drafting with my busy schedule.

I greatly enjoyed the simple and intuitive interface. I quickly found all the tools I needed and figured out the features of generating texts.

Within a few minutes, I was able to evaluate how well and accurately the artificial intelligence generates articles. The essay covered all the subtopics I planned to discuss. At the same time, I spent three times less time than I would have had to write on my own. Now, I can devote more time to crucial tasks and my work and prepare texts for the university using the generator.

The essay was well-structured and clearly written. Of course, I had to make some edits manually, but it’s understandable. It was necessary to independently add some arguments, examples, and a list of references. I used the AI generator mainly to build a foundation for my paper.

I liked the writing style of the text. There was no water or unnecessary details in it. Everything is described clearly and to the point.

The small drawback of the AI tool, as for me, is that you need to describe your request in great detail. Only in this way will the AI-powered writer understand you correctly and prepare the expected content. However, I noticed that all AI tools work like this. Even those tools that work with designs, mathematics, or code. I understand the reason behind it. A generalized request produces generalized content.

Did the AI essay writing tool help me?

Overall, I can say that AI Essay Generators are a convenient and useful tool. I will definitely use it to write essays again. Writing texts isn’t my profile. Using this service, I was able to generate my essay quickly and of high quality. Of course, I had to do some extra work, but it’s much better than writing everything from scratch without any ideas.

AI Essay Generator is a user-friendly tool that I can definitely recommend to other students. If you don’t have time or ideas when writing an essay, then you should definitely use this AI-powered writer. It is quite simple, intuitive, works quickly and generates texts on any topic. A large set of tools on the PaperTyper website allows you to refine your article and make it even more detailed. I will definitely use this service again for my research.

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Cambridge C2 Proficiency (CPE): How to Write a Report

• Mandatory task : no
• Word count : 280-320
• Main characteristics : descriptive, comparative, analytical, impersonal, persuasive
• Register : normally formal but depends on the task
• Structure : introduction, main paragraphs, conclusion (sub-heading for each paragraph)

Introduction

A report is written for a specified audience. This may be a superior, for example, a boss at work, or members of a peer group, colleagues or fellow class members. The question identifies the subject of the report and specifies the areas to be covered. The content of a report is mainly factual and draws on the prompt material, but there will be scope for candidates to make use of their own ideas and experience. Source: Cambridge English Assessment: C2 Proficiency Handbook for teachers

Reports in Cambridge C2 Proficiency are, unlike essays , not mandatory in the writing test. Instead of a report candidates might opt to write an article , a review or a letter .

Reports are very schematic

While some of the writing tasks in C2 Proficiency are quite free and open in terms of their paragraph structure and layout, reports follow a pretty rigid form, which makes it fairly easy to write them. With their sub-headings for each section and similar requirements in every task, candidates get a good grasp of report writing quite quickly.

This article shows you exactly how you can navigate those waters and how to score high marks with ease, so let’s get into it.

What a typical report task looks like

A report task in C2 Proficiency is usually very specific regarding the topic and the more detailed points you need to talk about in your text as well as the target reader you are writing for.

The three things I’ve mentioned above should always be the first things to find out when you analyse a writing task:

• the topic of the task
• the detailed points you have to include
• the target reader

The topic of this specific task is a jobs fair for young people . A more close-up look reveals that we need to describe the event a little bit in general as well as two or three promotions in more detail . Thirdly, we evaluate if and how much a fair like this can open young people’s minds to career opportunities .

Last but not least, we are writing the report for our college website meaning that teachers, students and parents are going to read it. Therefore, the style of language doesn’t need to be super formal, but I would also not write in an informal style. Neutral seems to be the right choice so contractions (I’m, don’t, etc.) as well as some phrasal verbs are fine, but colloquial expressions that we would use just in spoken English are taboo.

How to organise your report

The paragraph structure of a report in C2 Proficiency is fairly straightforward. I would simply start with a title and an introduction that states what the report is about (in this case, we could describe the fair in the introduction), then continue with the sections that address the main points and finish with a conclusion.

Title & introduction

Main sections.

For most reports, this structure works very well. Depending on the task, we mostly use two or three main sections and you are free to choose whatever organisational form you think makes the most sense.

Plan your report before you start writing

I can’t stretch this point enough, but I would always note down a short plan to make sure my ideas are already saved somewhere before I start writing. This reassures you whenever you don’t know how to continue and it can save you a lot of time.

The best way to go about making your plan is to decide on the paragraph structure you want to use for a particular task and then to add a few short ideas of what you definitely want to include in each section. For our example task, I came up with this:

• Title & introduction : jobs fair event summary; 10-12 July; 53 organisations; show career opportunities; specialists with valuable information
• First special organisation : English teaching jobs abroad; information about the jobs; people were happy
• Second special organisation : NGO from Peru; literacy and English classes; accommodation and food included; people had done programme before
• Conclusion : everyone happy; event broadens young people’s horizon; visitors surprised by variety of options; definitely recommend it

I’ve decided on four paragraphs as there are basically four things we need to do: introduce the event, talk about two different organisations at the fair and comment on how it opens young people’s minds.

This whole process took less than five minutes, but I know that once I start writing, I have a roadmap prepared that can help me whenever I need it. I won’t have to waste time rearranging my ideas or changing the paragraph structure because it’s all done already.

The different parts of a report

Once you have a plan, you can get started with the actual writing process. Thanks to all the information you’ve already noted down, it should all be smooth sailing, but there are, of course, several things to take note of when writing a report and we are going to look at them paragraph by paragraph.

A report in Cambridge C2 Proficiency typically has a title, which can be descriptive and doesn’t need to be anything special. For example, for our example task from earlier, we could choose a basic title like “Jobs Fair”. That’s it.

The introduction or first paragraph of your text, however, is a little bit more important. Here, you want to show what the report is going to talk about. This can be quite explicit, but you can also give a more subtle description of the subject matter.

Jobs Fair Event summary From 10-12 July, a jobs fair with 53 organisations from all over Europe was held at the college to display career opportunities for the students. The different booths were manned expertly by specialists so as to give the best information possible and to show what the future might hold for graduates of the school.

First of all, there is the title plus the first subheading (Event summary). Subheadings are an essential part of the typical layout of a report so make sure that each section gets one.

Secondly, I state what the fair was about and what purpose the different organisations came to the event for, i.e. to show graduates a variety of future job opportunities, so the reader knows what to expect from this report .

On top of that, I tried immediately to use rather impersonal language , another common feature of reports, which includes passive verb forms, generalisations (It is said that; Many people said; in general; etc.) as well as avoiding personal pronouns like I or we.

With a good introduction under our belt, we can now get into the nitty gritty of the report. The task requires us to point out a few of the organisations present at the fair and explain in a little bit more detail what they were offering.

Obviously, you need to get a little bit creative and come up with some ideas, but as the report is for the college website, I thought it would be nice to talk about some options that are connected to the English language.

Promotions to highlight While the event as a whole went remarkably well, two stands were mentioned by many to be of particular relevance. One provided insights about job opportunities abroad as an English speaker, which includes teaching the language as well as tutoring children and teenagers. There was a wide variety of employment options presented together with the expected salary, working conditions and other things to consider before taking the leap, which quite a lot of visitors commented on in a very positive way. The second organisation that was indicated to me fairly often was an NGO from Peru which runs literacy campaigns and English language courses in rural areas around the country. They were looking to attract young people to their volunteer programme that involves teaching reading and writing to primary school children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Accommodation and food are both included so participants only need to cover the cost for their flights to Peru and back. The people working at the stand had all done it themselves so the visitors at the fair were given first-hand accounts of what working for the NGO is like.

As the two paragraphs belong to the same section of the report, only one subheading is necessary, but apart from that, I really focussed on the basics of good report writing.

I described in detail what the two organisations have to offer using some appropriate vocabulary (remarkably well; particular relevance; a wide variety of employment options; salary; working conditions; NGO; literacy campaigns; disadvantaged backgrounds; first-hand accounts) as well as more impersonal and general language (mentioned by many; visitors commented on it; was indicated to me).

The conclusion is the part where finish your report and make recommendations or suggestions based on the information provided in the previous sections. Here, you can give your personal opinion to round off the text. Again, don’t forget the subheading and use appropriate language.

Benefits of such job fairs After listening to other people’s thoughts on this kind of event I’m of the opinion that job fairs like this can truly broaden the horizon of young people who might not have formed a clear idea of what they want to do after school yet. Several of my friends mentioned that they simply had not been aware of the multitude of options available to them and that they would absolutely recommend it to everyone who needs some inspiration for their future.

I refer back to the previous sections (After listening to …), then give my opinion (… I’m of the opinion …) and make a recommendation (… they would absolutely recommend it …). It is that simple.

It is not that difficult to write a report in C2 Proficiency if you know how to plan the text and what language you should include. Obviously, at this level you should be able to play with the language and adapt each report to the topic of the task, but I hope that this article has helped you get a better idea of what goes into writing this kind of text.

If you want to practise with me, I offer writing feedback as well as private classes and I would love to hear from you soon.

Lots of love,

Teacher Phill 🙂

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Guest Essay

It’s Time to End the Quiet Cruelty of Property Taxes

By Andrew W. Kahrl

Dr. Kahrl is a professor of history and African American studies at the University of Virginia and the author of “The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America.”

Property taxes, the lifeblood of local governments and school districts, are among the most powerful and stealthy engines of racism and wealth inequality our nation has ever produced. And while the Biden administration has offered many solutions for making the tax code fairer, it has yet to effectively tackle a problem that has resulted not only in the extraordinary overtaxation of Black and Latino homeowners but also in the worsening of disparities between wealthy and poorer communities. Fixing these problems requires nothing short of a fundamental re-examination of how taxes are distributed.

In theory, the property tax would seem to be an eminently fair one: The higher the value of your property, the more you pay. The problem with this system is that the tax is administered by local officials who enjoy a remarkable degree of autonomy and that tax rates are typically based on the collective wealth of a given community. This results in wealthy communities enjoying lower effective tax rates while generating more tax revenues; at the same time, poorer ones are forced to tax property at higher effective rates while generating less in return. As such, property assessments have been manipulated throughout our nation’s history to ensure that valuable property is taxed the least relative to its worth and that the wealthiest places will always have more resources than poorer ones.

Black people have paid the heaviest cost. Since they began acquiring property after emancipation, African Americans have been overtaxed by local governments. By the early 1900s, an acre of Black-owned land was valued, for tax purposes, higher than an acre of white-owned land in most of Virginia’s counties, according to my calculations, despite being worth about half as much. And for all the taxes Black people paid, they got little to nothing in return. Where Black neighborhoods began, paved streets, sidewalks and water and sewer lines often ended. Black taxpayers helped to pay for the better-resourced schools white children attended. Even as white supremacists treated “colored” schools as another of the white man’s burdens, the truth was that throughout the Jim Crow era, Black taxpayers subsidized white education.

Freedom from these kleptocratic regimes drove millions of African Americans to move to Northern and Midwestern states in the Great Migration from 1915 to 1970, but they were unable to escape racist assessments, which encompassed both the undervaluation of their property for sales purposes and the overvaluation of their property for taxation purposes. During those years, the nation’s real estate industry made white-owned property in white neighborhoods worth more because it was white. Since local tax revenue was tied to local real estate markets, newly formed suburbs had a fiscal incentive to exclude Black people, and cities had even more reason to keep Black people confined to urban ghettos.

As the postwar metropolis became a patchwork of local governments, each with its own tax base, the fiscal rationale for segregation intensified. Cities were fiscally incentivized to cater to the interests of white homeowners and provide better services for white neighborhoods, especially as middle-class white people began streaming into the suburbs, taking their tax dollars with them.

One way to cater to wealthy and white homeowners’ interests is to intentionally conduct property assessments less often. The city of Boston did not conduct a citywide property reassessment between 1946 and 1977. Over that time, the values of properties in Black neighborhoods increased slowly when compared with the values in white neighborhoods or even fell, which led to property owners’ paying relatively more in taxes than their homes were worth. At the same time, owners of properties in white neighborhoods got an increasingly good tax deal as their neighborhoods increased in value.

As was the case in other American cities, Boston’s decision most likely derived from the fear that any updates would hasten the exodus of white homeowners and businesses to the suburbs. By the 1960s, assessments on residential properties in Boston’s poor neighborhoods were up to one and a half times as great as their actual values, while assessments in the city’s more affluent neighborhoods were, on average, 40 percent of market value.

Jersey City, N.J., did not conduct a citywide real estate reassessment between 1988 and 2018 as part of a larger strategy for promoting high-end real estate development. During that time, real estate prices along the city’s waterfront soared but their owners’ tax bills remained relatively steady. By 2015, a home in one of the city’s Black and Latino neighborhoods worth $175,000 received the same tax bill as a home in the city’s downtown worth $530,000.

These are hardly exceptions. Numerous studies conducted during those years found that assessments in predominantly Black neighborhoods of U.S. cities were grossly higher relative to value than those in white areas.

These problems persist. A recent report by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy found that property assessments were regressive (meaning lower-valued properties were assessed higher relative to value than higher-valued ones) in 97.7 percent of U.S. counties. Black-owned homes and properties in Black neighborhoods continue to be devalued on the open market, making this regressive tax, in effect, a racist tax.

The overtaxation of Black homes and neighborhoods is also a symptom of a much larger problem in America’s federated fiscal structure. By design, this system produces winners and losers: localities with ample resources to provide the goods and services that we as a nation have entrusted to local governments and others that struggle to keep the lights on, the streets paved, the schools open and drinking water safe . Worse yet, it compels any fiscally disadvantaged locality seeking to improve its fortunes to do so by showering businesses and corporations with tax breaks and subsidies while cutting services and shifting tax burdens onto the poor and disadvantaged. A local tax on local real estate places Black people and cities with large Black populations at a permanent disadvantage. More than that, it gives middle-class white people strong incentives to preserve their relative advantages, fueling the zero-sum politics that keep Americans divided, accelerates the upward redistribution of wealth and impoverishes us all.

There are technical solutions. One, which requires local governments to adopt more accurate assessment models and regularly update assessment rolls, can help make property taxes fairer. But none of the proposed reforms being discussed can be applied nationally because local tax policies are the prerogative of the states and, often, local governments themselves. Given the variety and complexity of state and local property tax laws and procedures and how much local governments continue to rely on tax reductions and tax shifting to attract and retain certain people and businesses, we cannot expect them to fix these problems on their own.

The best way to make local property taxes fairer and more equitable is to make them less important. The federal government can do this by reinvesting in our cities, counties and school districts through a federal fiscal equity program, like those found in other advanced federated nations. Canada, Germany and Australia, among others, direct federal funds to lower units of government with lower capacities to raise revenue.

And what better way to pay for the program than to tap our wealthiest, who have benefited from our unjust taxation scheme for so long? President Biden is calling for a 25 percent tax on the incomes and annual increases in the values of the holdings of people claiming more than $100 million in assets, but we could accomplish far more by enacting a wealth tax on the 1 percent. Even a modest 4 percent wealth tax on people whose total assets exceed $50 million could generate upward of $400 billion in additional annual revenue, which should be more than enough to ensure that the needs of every city, county and public school system in America are met. By ensuring that localities have the resources they need, we can counteract the unequal outcomes and rank injustices that our current system generates.

Andrew W. Kahrl is a professor of history and African American studies at the University of Virginia and the author of “ The Black Tax : 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America.”

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