Mock examMock examEnglish Together · B1 Preliminary · Exam Track
Mock 3 — Writing
Both parts of the real Writing paper under exam conditions. The clock starts when you type your first word; write both tasks, in order, with nothing open; then Hand in the paper. Only then does the model appear beside your draft. Mark your own against the four criteria honestly, read the debrief, and if a task went badly, redo it with the plan and then without.
45 minutes2 partsPart 1 is compulsory20 marks eachExam conditions
Writing · Mock 3Exam conditions0 of 0 parts done
This is the exam-conditions mock: nothing is checked until you hand in. The clock starts when you answer your first question. After you hand in, every part is marked at once and the support opens for the debrief.
Part 1 · Question 1
The email — you must answer this question
Read the email from your English friend Tom and the four notes you have made beside it. Then write your email to Tom, using all four notes. Write about 100 words. Twenty minutes for this part, no more — Part 2 needs the rest.
Read this email from your English friend Tom, and the notes you have made.
From: Tom · Subject: Bad news and good news
Good news first — I've got a Saturday job! It's in the bike shop on the high street, fixing punctures and selling helmets, and it pays better than I expected.
The bad news is that it means I can't do our video call on Saturday afternoons any more. Is there another time in the week that works for you?
Also — how did your exams go? You were worried about the maths one. And it's your birthday next month, isn't it? Tell me what you'd like, because I have money now!
Tom
Congratulate him — and say why it sounds like a good job.your note, beside line 1
Suggest another day and time for the call, and explain why that time works.your note, beside line 3
Tell him how the exams went.your note, beside line 4
Say what you'd like for your birthday — one thing, and why.your note, beside line 5
Question 1compulsory
Write your email to Tom, using all four notes. Write about 100 words.
Your answer0 words
Mark your own against the real criteria:
Content. Read your draft again and physically point at the line that answers each of the four notes. Note 1 has a why, note 2 has a why, note 4 has a why — three of the four notes are two halves, and half a note is half a mark. If you cannot point at a half, it is not there.
Communicative achievement. It reads like an email to a friend, not a form: a greeting (Hi Tom,), a first line that reacts to his news before it answers anything, and an ending with your name. The tone matches his — light, direct, with an exclamation mark or two.
Organisation. More than one paragraph, and the sentences are joined rather than stacked: and, but, so, because, also. A reader can see where one idea stops and the next starts.
Language. The everyday words are right and there is some B1 grammar visible on the page — a past tense for the exams (went / was / did), a suggestion form (how about / could we), a would like for the present. You have read it once more for the small things: than not then, capital letters, full stops.
A model answer at this level
Hi Tom,
Congratulations on the job! A bike shop sounds perfect for you — you've been fixing everyone's bikes for free for years, so you might as well get paid for it.
Don't worry about Saturday. How about Sunday evening instead, at about seven your time? My family always eats early on Sundays, so I'm free after that and nobody needs the kitchen.
The exams went better than I expected, even maths — I think I passed, though I won't know until July.
And since you're rich now: I'd love a proper bike light, because mine is so weak that I can't see the road. It's also a very good advert for your shop.
Sunday at seven, then! [your name]
116 words. Slightly long, and every extra word is doing a note's second half: because mine is so weak, so I'm free after that, you might as well get paid. The maths answer is one sentence, because the note only asks how it went. Notice the last line of paragraph 4 — a joke that also proves you read his email.
Support — the same task, with helpnot a grade
The plan.
Greeting and reaction.Hi Tom, then Congratulations, then one line on why the job suits him. Note 1 has two halves and this paragraph is both of them.
Paragraph 2 — the call. A day, a time, and a reason it works: How about Sunday at seven, because…. A suggestion without a reason is half a note.
Paragraph 3 — the exams. One or two sentences in the past. This is the shortest paragraph in the email, and it should be.
Paragraph 4 — the present. One thing and one reason. Naming the thing and stopping loses the second half of the note.
Sign-off. A line that looks forward (Sunday at seven, then!) and your name.
Every content point must appear.
Note 1 — congratulate him and say why the job sounds good.
Note 2 — another day and time for the call, and why that time works for you.
Note 3 — how the exams went. A past tense, at least one detail.
Note 4 — one thing you would like for your birthday, and why.
All four inside about 100 words — and three of them have a second half. Point at each half.
An opening you can borrow.Hi Tom, — then a reaction: Congratulations on the job! A bike shop sounds perfect for you. The second sentence is already the second half of note 1; you have answered a whole note before the first paragraph is over, and that is the rhythm to keep: one note per paragraph, both halves, then move on.
Now write it again with the plan in front of you. Keep your first attempt — comparing the two is where the marks are.
Nothing is marked until you hand in.
Part 2 · Question 2 or Question 3
Choose one — the article or the story
Answer one of these two questions. Write about 100 words. Both are marked out of the same 20, so a story is not worth more than an article: choose the one you can finish, and choose it in thirty seconds. You should have about twenty-five minutes left.
Question 2 · Article You see this notice in your school's English magazine.
ARTICLES WANTED — A DAY WITHOUT YOUR PHONE Could you go a whole day without your phone? What would you miss most — and what would you do instead? Write us an article and we will publish the best ones.a notice in your school's English magazine
Question 3 · Story Your English teacher has asked you to write a story. Your story must begin with this sentence:
As the train pulled out of the station, Tom realised he had picked up the wrong bag.an instruction from your English teacher
Question 2 or Question 3choose one
Write your article or your story in about 100 words. Write the number of the question you chose at the top of your answer.
Your answer0 words
Mark your own against the real criteria:
Content.Article: the notice asks three things — could you, what would you miss, what would you do instead — and all three are answered. Story: the given sentence is there word for word, we find out whose bag it is or what is in it, and something happens because of the mistake.
Communicative achievement. You chose one voice and kept it. An article speaks to a reader — it can ask a question, it can say you. A story holds a reader — it can use direct speech, and it does not explain itself.
Organisation. Three short paragraphs with a shape. Article: could you → what you'd miss → what you'd do instead. Story: the bag → what Tom does → how it ends. The last line is a line you chose, not the place you ran out of words.
Language. Some range is on show and you took one small risk. Article: the second conditional the notice invites (if I didn't have it, I'd…) and one real adjective instead of good. Story: not every verb in the past simple — the past perfect the first sentence starts you on (had picked up), one was ‑ing, and a time linker.
A model answer at this level
Question 2 — the article
A day without my phone? I tried it.
Could I go a day without my phone? I thought so, until I tried it last Sunday. By ten o'clock I had picked it up six times to check the time.
What I missed most wasn't messages — it was music. Walking to my grandmother's in silence felt strange, like being in a film with the sound off.
What I did instead was talk. If I hadn't been staring at a screen, I would never have noticed that my grandmother tells the same story differently every time. I stayed two hours. Try it — but leave the phone at home, not in your pocket.
113 words. All three questions answered, in the order the notice asks them, one paragraph each. A conditional in paragraph three, a comparison in paragraph two, and a last line that is an instruction to the reader — the reliable way to end an article on purpose.
Question 3 — the story
As the train pulled out of the station, Tom realised he had picked up the wrong bag. It was the same colour as his, the same shape — and completely full of sandwiches.
His own bag, with his laptop in it, was still on the bench. He was looking at the sandwiches when his phone rang. “Hello,” said a woman's voice. “I think you've got my lunch. I've got your computer.”
She was on the platform, waving. She had found his number inside the laptop bag. They swapped at the next station, and she gave him a sandwich for his trouble.
104 words. The first sentence gives you a past perfect for free; the rest keeps to the past simple with one was looking. The whole story is one problem and one solution, and the last clause is a small joke that tells the reader it has ended.
Support — the same task, with helpnot a grade
The plan.
Choose in thirty seconds, then commit. Take the article if you already know what you would miss; take the story if you already know what is in the bag. Switching at minute ten is what actually costs marks.
If you chose the article — three paragraphs, in the notice's own order. (1) Could you? Answer honestly, with one detail. (2) What you would miss most — one thing, not a list, and why. (3) What you would do instead, with a conditional (if I didn't have it, I'd…). End on an instruction to the reader.
If you chose the story — three paragraphs. (1) The given sentence, copied exactly, then one sentence about the bag: what it looks like or what is in it. (2) What Tom does — someone speaks, or something is done. (3) The ending: how the bags come back, or what he does with the wrong one.
Either way, end on a line you chose. Ten words, planned before you start writing, so that when the time runs out you still have a last line.
Every content point must appear.
Article — could you go a day without it? Yes, no, or “I thought so” — but answered.
Article — what you would miss most. One thing, with a reason.
Article — what you would do instead. The notice asks it directly; most answers forget it.
Story — the given sentence, word for word, including had picked up and the name Tom.
Story — the bag: whose, or what is inside. The first sentence promises it.
Story — an event and an ending that stops on purpose.
About 100 words either way, and the question number at the top.
An opening you can borrow.Article:Could I go a day without my phone? I thought so, until I tried it. — answer the notice's question in your first line and the article already has a shape. Story: copy the sentence, then say what the bag is like: It was the same colour as his, the same shape — and completely full of sandwiches. A small surprise in line two is worth more than a big one in line ten.
Now write it again with the plan in front of you. Keep your first attempt — comparing the two is where the marks are.
Nothing is marked until you hand in.
What this paper told you
A writing part counts as done when your draft is the right length and you can honestly tick all four criteria. Under exam conditions the length and the time are the two things to look at first: did both tasks get finished inside 45 minutes?
0parts done
—marks, best unaided attempt
0parts where you opened the support
If Part 2 was rushed, that is the commonest result of this paper — and the fix is not writing faster. It is spending twenty minutes on Part 1, not thirty. Time the redo.