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B1 Preliminary (PET)
Writing Part 2: Short Messages
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B1 Preliminary KSE Academy
As you can see in the sample answer, we:
• greet our friend: Hi Chris!
• thank him: Thanks a lot for...
• suggest how to help him: Shall I give you a hand...?
• ask him for ideas: ...what could I get for the teacher as a present?
• say goodbye: Write back soon,…
• Greeting expressions
In order to start a short message of this type, it's important to bear in mind that we are
writing to a friend or relative, so we have to adapt our language. In this case, it is a good idea
to say:
- Hi ... , or Hi ... !
- Hello ... , or Hello ... !
- Hey ... !
- Dear ... ,
While Hi and Hello are appropriate for every kind of addressee in this task, Hey is kind of
informal, so it should only be used with friends. On the other hand, Dear could be okay to use
with friends, but it sounds a little stiff and stilted. Therefore, I recommend using it when we
write to a relative older than us, such as our aunt/uncle or grandparents.
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B1 Preliminary KSE Academy
• Language functions
In this section I have gathered plenty of expressions to use when answering the different
writing prompts. For this reason, they are divided into what you could be asked to say in your
short message:
• Farewell expressions
There are many ways to say goodbye in an email or a letter. However, given the word limit we
have in these short messages, we must keep it short and simple, so try to avoid long
sentences like I'm looking forward to... unless you have some leeway. Some expressions you
could use are the following:
- Bye!
- Bye for now!
- Best,
- All the best,
- Best wishes,
- Regards,
- See you soon!
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B1 Preliminary KSE Academy
3. Another sample
Just so you see another example, here's another task:
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B1 Preliminary KSE Academy
4. Important considerations
In this part of the Preliminary (PET) exam, it is important to take the following ideas into
account:
- Your message is supposed to be understood without difficulty.
- You are not expected to be 100% accurate in your grammar, spelling, etc. It's okay to
make some minor mistakes, as long as your message is clear.
- It's important to stick to the word limit, although Cambridge English says you wouldn't be
penalised for exceeding it. The problem is that if you exceed it too much (or not reach it)
you're probably using information that is irrelevant to the task, so you might be penalised
for that. On the other hand, if you don't reach the word limit, it's likely that you're missing
some essential information.
- Read everything several times in order to spot silly mistakes and improve your task.
- Risk it in class, not in the exam. Before the test, try to do as many tasks as you can, using
a variety of language in order to boost your writing skills. However, don't take any risks in
the exam unless you are absolutely forced to do so. In the exam, you should keep it simple.
Sources
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