English Skills
Examinations change; the skills underneath them do not. What you learn about finding implied meaning, or about opening a formal letter, is worth marks on every board.
Every English qualification on this site tests the same five things: reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary, speaking and listening. The papers differ in wording and format, but a student who can locate implied meaning in a text can do it for AQA, for Cambridge and for B2 First.
Skills pages already published on RCF English
Reading
Reading for gist, for detail and for the writer's attitude, with practice passages.
Writing
Planning, paragraphing and the formats examiners expect.
Grammar
The grammar that changes marks: tenses, articles, agreement and sentence variety.
Vocabulary
Building a usable range rather than memorising word lists.
Speaking
Developing answers, keeping a conversation going and controlling pronunciation.
Listening
Listening for specific information, opinion and implication.
Where each skill earns its marks
Reading
Almost every reading question falls into one of four types: find a stated fact, follow an idea across a text, select detail for a purpose, or work out what is implied but not said. Cambridge names these R1 to R4 in the IGCSE English as a Second Language syllabus. Once you can name the type of question in front of you, you know what kind of answer earns the mark.
Writing
Marks divide into content and language on almost every board. Content is task fulfilment and the development of ideas; language is range, accuracy and organisation. A candidate who answers only the prompts, without developing them, caps their own content mark however clean the grammar is.
Speaking and listening
Both reward development. A one-sentence answer in a speaking test, or a single-word note in a listening exercise, is usually not wrong - it is simply not enough. The IGCSE speaking test guide shows what developing an answer looks like in practice.
The same skill, examined four ways
| Skill | GCSE English Language | Cambridge IGCSE ESL | Cambridge English Qualifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | Both papers, on unseen fiction and non-fiction | Four exercises in Component 1 | A reading paper at every level |
| Writing | Both papers: descriptive or narrative, and viewpoint writing | Two exercises in Component 1, 120-160 words each | A writing paper at every level |
| Speaking | A separate endorsement, not part of the 9-1 grade | Component 3, 10-15 minutes, recorded | A speaking test at every level, usually in pairs |
| Listening | Not assessed | Component 2, about 50 minutes | A listening paper at every level |
Revising a skill rather than a paper
This transfers between examinations
- Recognising the four kinds of reading question: stated fact, idea across a text, selected detail, implied meaning.
- Planning a piece of writing against its prompts before starting to write.
- Knowing the shape of a report, an article, a review and a formal letter.
- Developing a spoken answer with a reason and an example instead of stopping at one sentence.
- Listening for the speaker's attitude, not only for the facts.
This does not
- Timings and mark totals, which differ on every paper.
- Word counts: 120-160 words for IGCSE ESL is not the GCSE expectation.
- Whether listening is assessed at all - at GCSE it is not.
- Learned model answers, which lose content marks the moment the task changes.
- Question numbering and command words, which are specific to each board.
Resources being developed
Skills pages written specifically for the international examinations - rather than the Practical English pages linked above, which are aimed at adult and independent learners - are being written alongside each qualification guide.
The first of them are already published inside the Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language guide: the Reading and Writing paper covers the reading question types, writing formats covers the five written forms, and the speaking test covers developing an answer.
Questions about English skills
Which English skill should I work on first?
Whichever carries the most marks on your own paper and is furthest from where you need to be. For Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language that is usually the Reading and Writing paper, because it is 70% of the qualification. For GCSE English Language, reading and writing are weighted equally across the two papers and listening is not assessed at all.
Does reading books actually improve exam marks?
It improves the underlying skill, which shows up most in writing: range of vocabulary, sentence variety and a sense of how a paragraph is built. It does not by itself teach you the format of a report or how a multiple-matching question works. Both are needed, and only one of them can be done the week before the exam.
How can I practise speaking if I have nobody to practise with?
Record yourself answering a question for two minutes, then listen back once. Most candidates hear the same two things immediately: answers that stop too early, and a flat delivery. Both improve quickly once you have heard them. The speaking test guide has five practice topics you can use this way.
Related pages
Global English overview
All the international qualifications covered on this site.
IGCSE ESL writing formats
Email, article, report, review and essay, with model openings.
Interactive practice
Quizzes and activities with instant feedback.