92. Constructing Discourse

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Exams are always complex tests in which a candidate’s skills – be they passive (comprehension) or active (production) – are measured against a scale.

Out of production skills, writing is, according to almost everybody, the most difficult – even more so when you’re asked to write something which has a particular format, treats a specific topic, and contains the necessary and sufficient number of paragraphs, ideas, and intentionality; at the same time, it should represent the adequate situational context, namely, the implicature of what is written is in consistence with the intentions of the writer, the requirements of the text, and its expected outcome.

Here is one of those models of letters of complaint that First Certificate examiners ask for at virtually all the tests in their kind all over the world.

[Adapted from Test Yourself for First Certificate by Susan Morris and Alan Stanton] 

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