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B1 Preliminary Writing: checking and correcting

B1Writing40 questionsUpdated

The last two minutes of a B1 Preliminary writing task are the cheapest marks available, and most candidates spend them writing another sentence instead. This lesson trains the opposite habit: a short, targeted check for the four or five errors you personally repeat, rather than a vague read-through that catches nothing.

What this task tests

  • Whether you can find your own errors rather than only recognising them in other people’s work.
  • Control of third-person -s in the present simple.
  • Articles: a, an, the and the zero article with plurals and uncountables.
  • Subject–verb agreement with there is / there are and with everybody.
  • Past forms of common irregular verbs.
  • Prepositions after common verbs and adjectives.
  • Spelling of high-frequency words candidates get wrong: because, which, friend, receive.
  • Punctuation: capital letters, full stops and the comma after an opening clause.
  • Whether you check systematically instead of rereading for general impression.

How to do it

  1. Step 1:

    Know your own four errors

    Look back at three marked pieces of your writing and list the mistakes that appear in all three. That list, not a general checklist, is what you check for in the exam.

  2. Step 2:

    Check verbs first

    Read the piece looking only at verbs: tense, ending, agreement. One focused pass finds more than three unfocused ones, because you are looking for a shape rather than for ‘mistakes’.

  3. Step 3:

    Then check the small words

    Second pass: articles and prepositions. These are the errors that survive a normal read-through, because the meaning is clear without them.

  4. Step 4:

    Read the last sentence of every paragraph

    Errors cluster where you were rushing, and you were rushing at the end of each paragraph. Two seconds each, and it is where the broken sentences live.

  5. Step 5:

    Count the content points, not the words

    Before grammar, confirm you answered everything the task asked. A missing point costs more than every article error in the piece combined.

  6. Step 6:

    Correct cleanly

    One line through the wrong word and the right one above it. Heavy crossing-out makes an examiner work to read you, and a sentence nobody can read cannot be marked.

  7. Step 7:

    Do not rewrite

    Never start copying a piece out again for neatness. You will not finish, and an incomplete second version scores less than a messy complete one.

  8. Step 8:

    Stop when the time is up

    Decide in advance that you will stop writing two minutes before the end. Checking is a scheduled activity, not something you do if there happens to be time.

Mistakes that cost marks

  • Not thisMy brother live in Madrid.

    ThisMy brother lives in Madrid.

    Third-person -s is the error most likely to appear several times in one piece, which multiplies its cost.

  • Not thisI went to the school by bus.

    ThisI went to school by bus.

    ‘School’, ‘work’, ‘bed’ and ‘hospital’ take no article when you mean the activity rather than the building.

  • Not thisThere is a lot of people outside.

    ThisThere are a lot of people outside.

    The verb agrees with ‘people’, which is plural, not with ‘a lot’.

  • Not thisI am living here since 2019.

    ThisI have lived here since 2019.

    ‘Since’ with an unfinished period needs the present perfect, not a present tense.

  • Not thisI will write you when I will arrive.

    ThisI’ll write to you when I arrive.

    Two errors: ‘write’ needs ‘to’ before a person, and a time clause with ‘when’ takes the present, not ‘will’.

  • Not thisIts a beautiful city and the people are friendly.

    ThisIt’s a beautiful city and the people are friendly.

    ‘Its’ is possessive; ‘it’s’ is ‘it is’. The apostrophe is the whole difference and is easy to check in one pass.

  • Not thisI rewrote the whole answer to make it neater and didn’t finish.

    ThisI crossed out one word, wrote the correction above and finished on time.

    An unfinished answer loses content marks that no amount of neatness recovers.

Language this task keeps reusing

because
Reason linker; note the spelling — not ‘becouse’ or ‘becuase’.
which
Relative pronoun for things; note the spelling — not ‘wich’.
friend
Spelled -ie-, not -ei-.
receive
Spelled -ei- after c.
a lot of
Common quantifier; the verb agrees with the noun that follows.
everybody
Takes a singular verb: ‘Everybody is here.’
advice
Uncountable noun; the verb is ‘advise’.
practise
The verb in British English; ‘practice’ is the noun.
its / it’s
‘Its’ shows possession; ‘it’s’ means ‘it is’.
there is / there are
Singular and plural existence; agreement follows the noun after it.
used to
Past habit: ‘I used to walk to school.’
enough
Goes after an adjective but before a noun: ‘warm enough’, ‘enough time’.
arrive at / in
‘At’ a building or place, ‘in’ a town or country.
depend on
Always with ‘on’, never ‘of’.

Practice: checking and correcting

40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.

1Complete with the present simple of one verb, third person.

My brotherin Madrid with his wife.
Which sentence is correct?
Decide whether each sentence is correct English.
  • I have lived here since 2019.
  • I am living here since 2019.
  • I lived here from 2019 to 2022.
3 to go

4Complete with one noun that takes no article here.

I go toby bus every morning.
Which sentence uses ‘it’s’ and ‘its’ correctly?

6Complete with one verb form.

Everybodywaiting for you downstairs.

7Explain in one sentence why checking verbs in a separate pass works better than reading for general quality.

8Complete with the present simple of one verb.

I’ll phone you when Iat the airport.
Which sentence is spelled correctly?

10Complete with the present simple of one verb.

Everythingon the weather.

Keep going

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Frequently asked questions

How do I find out what my own repeated errors are?

Look at three pieces of writing a teacher has corrected and count which mistakes appear in all three. Almost everyone has four or five that account for most of their lost accuracy marks.

Is it worth checking spelling?

Only the words you write often. Because, friend, receive, which and their spellings come up in almost every piece, so getting those right is worth more than worrying about rare words.

Will crossing out lose me marks?

No. Clear corrections are expected. What costs marks is an answer the examiner has to struggle to read, or one that never got finished because you were rewriting.

Should I check both writing tasks at the end?

Check each one as you finish it. Leaving both to the end means that if time runs short you check neither, and the second piece is usually the one that needs it more.

Does checking on a computer work the same way?

The passes are the same, but there is no spellchecker, so read the words as well as the grammar. Typing makes it easy to leave a half-deleted phrase behind, which is the one error paper does not produce.