商务英语高分技巧：BEC高级分项复习技巧

李蔚

Quite a number of people willing to find useful information from countless websites or forums don't weigh the effectiveness of exploiting those DOC or PDF. What I really want to say is that if your objective is just pass that, say BEC HIGHER, the possibility of achieving that, without genuine efforts made and solid determination, is less than 10 per cent.
　　Almost 90 per cent of those documents are meaningless or useless because they are not relevant to the exact things we need. So I would like to make my first advice noticeable that do not track those kinds of documents or potentially want to do this because it's not only wasting your time and energy but also affect your process of improvements.
　　Secondly, learning from others' experience is highly recommended, like mine or other useful advice, except those which contain errors such as the level BEC HIGHER represents. (BEC HIGHER = CAE not CPE. CPE is the most difficult test of its kind.)
　　Thirdly, drawing up your own plan to facilitate the possibility of improvements. Do not decide to attend BEC HIGHER test without enough confidence and practice. It's common that someone can get a C easily, not because of their several-months practice, but because of the long time they spent in improving English along with their several-months practice and effective plans. If you feel that the plan is no longer fit for your purpose, try to change it immediately and rightly.
　　Apart from good planning, the selection of materials on different periods also matters. Find your weaknesses, and focus your attention on reading, collocations, listening, writing, speaking or understanding. Two textbooks are proven to be acceptable to those who want to attend BEC HIGHER test. But it is highly recommended that you should choose the new edition of the Cambridge BEC HIGHER Student Book which is better than the seemingly wonderful but old-fashioned books. Remember the new book was published in 2007 new enough really!
　　You must put more emphasis on PAST PAPERS.
　　Furthermore, nurturing your ability to read, listen, write and speak is difficult. You must find the right way of doing that. Which one do you like best: US English or UK English? Or both? If you choose the first, well, you'd better know more about British English. A good solution is that you keep your spelling, accent unchanged and are more familiar with articles or accent from major newspapers and radio station (like the Guardian or the BBC). Try to read and listen as much as possible every day on business, which you should start doing so a year earlier, including not only business but also politics, society, health, environment, education, etc. If you are confident of achieving your goal, like the successful realisation of a BEC VANTAGE OR other certificates, you are bound to maintain your efforts in the long run.
　　The last thing is that you'd do better to stick to your plan, without any doubts.