CAE Proposal C1 Advanced | 1 Great Strategy

CAE Proposal

CAE Proposal is a writing task that English students may need to answer in part 2 of the C1 Advanced (CAE) writing paper. Part 1 of the CAE writing paper is always an essay whereas part 2 consists of 3 different questions from a choice of 5 different types of writing. While there won't definitely be a proposal in the exam, there is at least a 60% chance of a proposal question.

Remember, in part 2 you only need to answer one of the three questions. The three questions could ask you to write any of the following 5 writing tasks: a proposal, a report, a review, an email or a letter.

If you want to pass the CAE: C1 Advanced Proposal, you can either watch the video below, or read the rest of the page, which takes you through the same content:
 

C1 Advanced Proposal Writing

Cambridge English Assessment Scale

In order to get high marks in this exam paper, you should first gain an understanding of how examiners mark your part 1 and part 2 writings. I show you how they mark them in the following video, or you can read about it in the Cambridge English Advanced handbook for teachers:

CAE Proposal Tips

So in part two I suggest that you take 45 minutes so that's five minutes to plan your work at the beginning 35 minutes to write and five minutes to check through your work at the end. Let's have a look at some more advice for writing which has also come from the Cambridge English Advanced handbook for teachers. Write down the important notes on this worksheet.

It says:


https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/167804-cambridge-english-advanced-handbook.pdf


So here are some of the key words from this advice:

suggestions’

‘evaluation’

‘persuade

these are the really important words that you need to try and address in your proposal writing.

CAE Proposal Example 1

Now what I'd like you to do is to read the example proposal question and answer below which have come from pages 45 and 49 of this document: https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/167804-cambridge-english-advanced-handbook.pdf.

While you're reading the proposal I would like you to give the proposal a mark from one to five one being bad and five being good for each of the four marking criteria: content, communicative achievement, organisation and language. Write your marks on this examiner assessment scale template. You should also write down your comments why you awarded each mark accordingly. Write down some of the good points and other bad points. Take as long as you want to do this. The more detail you write down in your comment section the better.

CAE Proposal Question

CAE Proposal Question

https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/167804-cambridge-english-advanced-handbook.pdf

CAE Proposal Answer

CAE Proposal Answer

https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/167804-cambridge-english-advanced-handbook.pdf

Examiner's Assessment Scale Template

Fill in an online version of the template below here or print off the hardcopy.

Subscale

Mark (1-5)

Commentary

Content

Communicative Achievement

Organisation

Language

 

CAE Proposal Examiner Comments

Okay hopefully you've done that. Now we can compare the examiner's marks and comments with your own marks and comments. Also write down what you think are the most important points from the examiner's comments here. This will be really useful in helping you to realise what the examiners are looking for. If you can get into the mind of an examiner, you will get a higher mark in the exam.

C1 Advanced Proposal Examiner's Critique

Examiner's Comments Critique

So hopefully you've done that now what we can do is we can have a look at the bits which I thought were really important points from these comments.

 

So even though the communicative achievement is not great it says the register and tone are appropriate and the use of headings is suitable in this context.

The language they've used is appropriate for their target reader and also target reader is fully informed because all of the content is relevant text has been well organized and coherent, easy to follow with a variety of cohesive devices and more complex organizational patterns used that's good. Also there has been a range of vocabulary used appropriately and finally a range of simple and complex grammatical forms so your sentences don't need to be lengthy they can be short and simple but if you can use some complex grammar and complex vocabulary with a good range of linking words or cohesive devices and the overall passage addresses the target reader and is written in an appropriate way for the target reader and it's well-organized, you're going to get good marks in the exam.

CAE Proposal Mistakes

When I read the proposal answer, I noticed some mistakes with the language. These could be to do with grammar or spelling or that it's difficult to understand, so I've written down some of these mistakes and what I'd like you to do is to try to find the mistakes below and correct them.

Mistakes 

the not destruction of the Municipal 

imported material of best quality 

the biggest and more luxuous public building 

By destructing the building 

with absolutly no doubt 

some painting and repairing on the wall and floor 

the best would be 

took my letter in consideration

CAE Proposal Corrections

Okay so hopefully you've spotted some of the mistakes above. Now what we can do is we can have a look at the corrections: 

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CAE Proposal Example 2

  1. Read the C1 Advanced Proposal question below and then read the answer.
  2. Write down any mistakes you see and then complete the examiner's assessment scale here. Remember to use the examiners marking criteria to help you.

 

Question

The Managing Director at your company has requested you to provide some ways to improve the morale of your colleagues. He wants you to propose some suggestions for what and how to motivate staff to improve their physical and mental health.

Similar companies have suggested healthy diets, sleep and exercise routines, socialising and taking holidays.

Write your proposal using these or your own ideas and provide reasons to support your suggestions.

C1 Advanced Proposal 2 - Sample Answer

cae proposal

C1 Advanced Assessment Scale Template

Download here. Complete online here.

Subscale

Mark (1-5)

Commentary

Content

Communicative Achievement

Organisation

Language

 

 

CAE Proposal 2 With Feedback

I will write my comments in bold and italics.


Proposal for improving the morale of employees in the workplace.

Following recent concern voiced about the health of the company's employees, I have come up with the following proposal to improve the wellness of company workers.

Firstly, most employees spend too much time sitting at their desk. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that many employees complain of feeling unfit and being overweight. Since it is difficult to exercise during the day, I suggest that lunch-time fitness classes, such as aerobics or yoga, could be run on the premises. Admittedly, it might be difficult to encourage employees to give up their lunch break, so maybe after-work fun fitness classes could be arranged and we could make it more of a social activity, by going to the pub, together afterwards. What would be the benefits of doing these things?

Another health issue is that of healthy eating. Too many employees are overweight. Healthier meals could be introduced in the restaurant and an incentive given to choose a healthy meal over a more fattening one, by offering such meals which are significantly cheaper, being heavily-subsidised by the company.

Too many employees are also complaining of tiredness and being overworked. For this reason, I think that employees' holidays should be strictly monitored and employees encouraged to take all holidays owed. Furthermore, fun weekends away could be organised such as hiking weekends. These weekends would increase the health and fitness of employees as well as being a good team-building exercise and increasing the employees general feeling of well-being among staff (I tried to use different words to avoid saying ‘employees’ too many times).

I hope these proposals will be of use and I hope that their implementation will lead to increased health and mental and physical health levels in employees.

C1 Advanced Sample Proposal Critique

Subscale

Mark (1-5)

Commentary

Content

4

Most of the content is relevant to the task and the target reader is informed. You mention ‘social activity’ and healthier meals being ‘cheaper’ but more reasons could be given in support of your recommendations. What are the benefits of yoga or fitness classes? Can you give another example of how to motivate staff?

Communicative Achievement

4

The arguments are expressed clearly and the register is consistent and appropriate in a formal/semi-formal style. 

The arguments are introduced with clear opening phrases ‘Firstly’, ‘Another health issue is…

Organisation

3

There are no bullet points for recommendations or subheadings in the proposal. While these are optional, they can be a useful addition in helping structure and organise your writing and expressing this clearly to the examiner.

Language

4

The language is good and shows a range of vocabulary as well as some simple and more complex grammatical constructions.

Good linking words have been used ‘furthermore’ and qualifying phrases ‘admittedly’. Sometimes there is repetition of the same words.

 

 

CAE Proposal Example 2 - Pass or Fail?

Content - 4

Communicative Achievement - 4

Organisation - 3

Language - 4

Total: 15/24

In my opinion, this proposal is good enough to pass part 2 of the Writing paper. Good job!

 

CAE Proposal Example 3

Question

You can find the following question in 'Cambridge English Advanced Practice Tests - Plus 2' by Nick Kenny and Jacky Newbrook.

 

Print & Make Corrections On This C1 Advanced Proposal Answer

Download here.

cae proposal example 3

Complete This Assessment Scale Template

Download here >>

Online version >>

Subscale

Mark (1-5)

Commentary

Content

Communicative Achievement

Organisation

Language

 

 

Check my corrections on the answer below...

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How To Write A C1 Advanced Proposal - Feedback

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Pass or Fail

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Common C1 Proposal Questions

So let's have a think about some common questions students have about proposals. Again, I advise taking and summarising the most important points below and adding them to this document.

Should the language be formal or informal?

Well this depends on who the target reader is if it's your colleague or one of your peers maybe it can be slightly more informal but most of the time it will need to be formal and it will need to be to someone who's your boss for example, so it does depend on the target reader but more often you'll need to be formal. If it's to your colleague it shouldn't be really informal, you should still write as if you're in a business mentality so you should still write in a formal way.

Should you use paragraphs and headings?

Paragraphs are good to use for every writing that you do and introductions and conclusions are also always important. Headings can be used for different points of the proposal so if you have a main point that you want to address, you can put a heading or a little title for this, but not necessarily in every proposal you write.

Class Activity

If you want to set your students a class activity without using computers. set them the following instructions:

    1. Read this proposal question, then take 5 minutes to write a plan for it here.
    2. Download and correct any mistakes you find on this proposal answer.
    3. Compare the last step with the mistakes I found here.
    4. Print and complete this assessment scale with your thoughts on the proposal.
    5.  Is your assessment similar to this examiner's?
    6. Print off this form and complete it with the tips and techniques you learn on this page and elsewhere.

I advise join my website to get ALL my extra resources.

You can find the instructions above using online templates etc. here.

Homework

1. Complete the exercise in the video below:

2. Write your own answer to the question above. You can also find other writing questions for C1 Advanced proposals in my book. You can submit a writing via my Cambridge writing exam service, then I will mark it and give you feedback based on the official marking criteria (if I have time).

3. Finally for homework you should read the Cambridge English Advanced handbook for teachers if you haven't already read this document it's a really useful document for every part of the C1 Advanced CAE exam so I really recommend it.

More CAE Proposal Writings >>

If you click the photo below, you can read my e-book! It contains 3 proposals along with 18 other CAE writings, all with my critique, comments and marks:

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