As you know, the First and the Advanced Exams were updated at the start of 2015. We already have successful preparation courses for the updated exams, Ready for First and Ready for Advanced…

INTENSIVE PREPARATION COURSE AIMED AT ADULTS (18+) …and we are now responding to market demand by bringing out two (click) new intensive courses called Straight to First and Straight to Advanced. They are targeting 18 to 25 year olds who are seeking shorter alternatives to Ready for First and Ready for Advanced as they prepare for the exam. They are written by Roy Norris, who is also the author of Ready for First and Ready for Advanced.

Thinking about the most important aspects of the courses, we believe that their features can be summarised using the two main concepts: COMPLETE AND FLEXIBLE. Both courses are based on the same principles and share very similar features, and for this reason in my presentation I’ll be giving examples from both levels in the series. COMPLETE FLEXIBLE

EXAM PRACTICE AND STRATEGIES COMPLETE: exam sections EXAM PRACTICE AND STRATEGIES Each exam section contains authentic exam practice – all tasks follow the exam style and layout so students are familiar with what to expect. There are also Help boxes which contain advice on strategies students should take when approaching that part of the exam. (Teachers working with the series have reported that they don’t need to rely so much on past exam papers once they’ve gone through the exam practice sections of the coursebook.)

COMPLETE: writing&speaking MODEL ANSWERS FOR WRITING All Writing tasks contain a model answer, which is used for analysis to help students perform better. Both Speaking and Writing sections contain Useful Language boxes. These provide students with key language needed to so well in these parts of the First and the Advanced exams. USEFUL LANGUAGE FOR WRITING AND SPEAKING

COMPLETE: exam support EXAM PRACTICE TIPS COMMUNICATIVE FEEL In the later units of the book, students are consistently reminded of good exam strategy. The help boxes become Remember boxes, so students don’t forget what they have learnt earlier in the course. And all exam tasks finish up with a communicative task where students are able to further discuss the topics they have just covered.

COMPLETE: grammar KEY GRAMMAR AREAS Moving away from the exam sections, the language focus sections equip students with the typical level of language needed for the Cambridge exams. This is achieved by exploiting language used in the unit to explain and practice key language areas. Remember that there is a grammar reference in the back of the book, and this is clearly indicated in each language focus section.

TOPIC-BASED VOCABULARY COMPLETE: vocabulary TOPIC-BASED VOCABULARY Vocabulary building is essential when preparing for the exam, and each unit contains one or more Vocabulary section. These cover typical topics in the First and Advanced exams. They also contain communicative practice activities to allow students to personalise and practise the new vocabulary in contexts which are familiar to them.

10 UNITS + 5 REVIEW SECTIONS FLEXIBLE CORE MATERIAL 10 UNITS + 5 REVIEW SECTIONS 60-65 HOURS Now, about the other important aspect of the Straight to.. series. their flexibility. As for Straight to First, the Core material in the Student’s Book consists of the ten main units and five review sections. This takes approximately 60-65 hours to cover.

10 UNITS + 5 REVIEW SECTIONS FLEXIBLE CORE MATERIAL CORE MATERIAL 10 UNITS + 5 REVIEW SECTIONS 70-75 HOURS With regard to Straight to Advanced, the Core material in the Student’s Book also consists of the ten main units and five review sections, but because of the higher level, this takes approximately 70-75 hours to cover.

EXTENDING THE COURSE FLEXIBLE WRITING BANK PRACTICE TESTS 100 HOURS PROGRESS TESTS Straight to First can be extended by including the Writing bank, also in the back of the Student’s Book, as well as the other resources available to teachers on the Teacher’s Resource Centre – the practice test, progress tests and photocopiable activities. Finally, the extra language practice on the student’s resource centre further extends the course – all of this increases the course to around 100 hours. PHOTOCOPIABLES EXTRA PRACTICE

EXTENDING THE COURSE FLEXIBLE WRITING BANK PRACTICE TESTS 100 HOURS PROGRESS TESTS Straight to Advanced can be extended using the same resources, and it can take as much as 100 hours to cover the extended version of the course. PHOTOCOPIABLES EXTRA PRACTICE

CONTRACTING THE COURSE FLEXIBLE CONTRACTING THE COURSE UNITS 1-6: ALL EXAM TASKS 40 HOURS If the Straight to First course needs to be shortened, teachers can cover the first 6 units of the Student’s Book – each part of the exam is covered at least once in these units, and this would take around 40 hours to complete.

CONTRACTING THE COURSE FLEXIBLE CONTRACTING THE COURSE UNITS 1-6: ALL EXAM TASKS 50 HOURS As for Straight to Advanced, if the course needs to be shortened, teachers can cover the first 6 units of the Student’s Book – each part of the exam is covered at least once in these units, and this would take around 50 hours to complete.   So, coursebooks at both levels are very flexible – depending on how much time is available.

STUDENT’S COMPONENTS PRINT DIGITAL Student’s Resource Centre Student’s Book Workbook Digital Student’s Book Online Workbook Straight to first comes with a full set of standardised print and digital components. For students, the print components consist of the Student’s Book (with or without answers) and the Workbook (with or without answers). In terms of Digital components, all Student’s Books come with access to a Student’s Resource Centre. There is also a Digital Student’s Book and an Online Workbook. The Digital Student’s Book is a page faithful version of the print Student’s Book. This can be used instead of the print, and is accessed via the Student’s Resource Centre. The Digital student’s Book comes with embedded audio, and all Listening and Reading and Use of English tasks are interactive, e.g. multiple-choice questions, drop down questions, gap fills, etc. The Digital Student’s Book comes with an Access Guide, which contains instruction on how to access the Digital student’s Book via the Student’s Resource Centre. The Student’s Resource Centre contains Word lists and extra language practice for language and vocabulary in each unit. There are also videos of two candidates taking the First speaking paper, and these are accompanied by worksheets to allow students to analyse the video before performing the task themselves.

STUDENT’S COMPONENTS PRINT DIGITAL Student’s Resource Centre Student’s Book Workbook Digital Student’s Book Online Workbook Straight to Advanced comes with a the same set of standardised print and digital components, which are all based on the same principles as those of Straight to First.

Teacher’s Book Resource Centre Presentation Kit TEACHER’S COMPONENTS PRINT DIGITAL Teacher’s Book Resource Centre Presentation Kit A few words about the components available with Straight For First for teachers. First, there is a print Teacher’s Book, which is accompanied by the Teacher’s Resource Centre and a Teacher’s Presentation Kit. The Teacher’s Book contains full teaching notes for all activities in the Student’s Book. There is an integrated answer key and listening script in the teaching notes, and ideas for teachers to extendon activities in the Student’s Book. At the back of the book, there are ten communicative photocopiable activities, one for each unit, as well as ten progress tests – one for each unit, so teacher’s can monitor how students are performing after each unit. The Teacher’s Resource Centre has a full practice test, including all four papers, as well as the progress tests and photocopiable materials found in the Teacher’s Book. It also contains what we are calling a pathways document – this outlines the flexibility of the course for teachers and we’ll look at this next.

Resource Centre Teacher’s Book Presentation Kit TEACHER’S COMPONENTS PRINT DIGITAL Teacher’s Book Resource Centre Presentation Kit Again, teachers using Straight to Advanced can expect the same high quality materials as those available with the lower level in the series.