A C1 Advanced review is written for readers of a magazine or website who are deciding whether to watch, read, visit or buy something. The commonest failure is a review that retells the plot; what earns marks is evaluation, supported by specifics, and a recommendation aimed at a particular kind of reader.
A review is an argument for a judgement. If you do not know what you think, the paragraphs will drift into summary, which is the one thing this genre must not do.
The reader needs enough to follow you and no more: what it is, where it is, roughly what happens. Everything else is evidence for your verdict.
‘The dialogue is sharp’ is an assertion. ‘The dialogue is sharp, particularly in the scenes between the two sisters’ is a review. One specific per paragraph is enough.
Unbroken praise reads as advertising. A single, well-chosen criticism makes the praise believable and gives you a natural paragraph of contrast.
‘Anyone who enjoyed her earlier novels will find this familiar and rewarding; readers new to her may want to start elsewhere.’ Naming the audience answers the task bullet directly.
Plan three or four precise adjectives before you start: understated, overlong, inventive, uneven. Reaching for them in the moment is how reviews end up full of ‘very good’.
A short title or heading is acceptable and frames the piece. Keep it plain and relevant rather than clever for its own sake.
Reviews often trail off into a last observation. The final sentence should leave the reader knowing what you would tell them to do.
Not thisFirst the hero goes to the city, then he meets a woman, then they argue, then…
ThisThe story follows a young engineer through a single difficult year in the city.
Plot retelling fills the word count with material the reader did not ask for and demonstrates no evaluation.
Not thisThe film was very good and the acting was very good too.
ThisThe film is quietly observed, and the two leads make an unlikely friendship convincing.
Repeated ‘very good’ shows no range. Precise adjectives are what lift a review into the higher bands.
Not thisEveryone should definitely see this film, it is perfect.
ThisViewers who like slow, character-led drama will enjoy it; those who want pace may not.
A targeted recommendation answers the task; an unqualified superlative does not, and it reads as less trustworthy.
Not thisI am writing to inform you of my opinion of the restaurant.
ThisThe new place on Mill Street has been full since it opened, and it is easy to see why.
A review is not a letter. Formal letter openings are the wrong register and waste the strongest position in the piece.
Not thisThe book is boring but also exciting and quite long and interesting.
ThisThe book is overlong, but the final third earns the patience it demands.
Contradictory adjectives in a list read as indecision. A concession expressed in one sentence reads as judgement.
Not thisRevealing how the story ends.
ThisDescribing the effect of the ending without saying what it is.
The reader is deciding whether to watch or read it. Spoiling that is a failure of audience awareness, which is assessed.
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.
2Complete the sentence.
3Complete the sentence.
6Complete the sentence.
7Outline the structure of a review in four lines.
One good answer
1 Opening: what it is and a hint of your verdict. 2 Brief description: enough to orient the reader, no more. 3 Evaluation: two or three judgements, each with a specific, including one reservation. 4 Recommendation: who would enjoy it and who would not.
9Complete the sentence.
10Complete the sentence.
13Complete the sentence.
15Complete the sentence.
16Write one sentence of praise and one reservation about the same film.
One good answer
The two leads are excellent, and the long silences between them do more work than the dialogue. Where the film falters is in its final twenty minutes, which explain a relationship the audience had already understood.
18Complete the sentence.
20Complete the sentence.
22Complete the sentence.
24Complete the sentence.
26Complete the sentence.
28Complete the sentence.
29Write a closing recommendation for a review of a restaurant.
One good answer
Go for the cooking rather than the room: the tables are close together and it is loud by eight. If you want a long, quiet dinner you will be happier elsewhere, but for a good meal at a fair price it is the best new opening in the area this year.
31Complete the sentence.
33Complete the sentence.
35Complete the sentence.
39How do you evaluate something without using ‘good’ or ‘bad’?
One good answer
Name the quality you mean. Instead of ‘good acting’, say the performances are understated, or precise, or unusually physical. Instead of ‘a bad script’, say the script is overwritten, or predictable, or afraid of silence. The specific word carries an argument; ‘good’ carries none.
Note
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Yes, and it is often easier. A film or restaurant you invent lets you choose details that support your argument, which is what the task rewards. Keep it plausible and consistent.
Semi-formal and readable. Contractions and a rhetorical question are fine; slang and insults are not. Imagine a well-written magazine column rather than a message to a friend.
No. A negative review can score just as highly, provided the criticism is specific and the tone stays measured. What does not work is unfocused complaint with no evidence.
Enough to make your judgements comprehensible, which is usually two or three sentences. Never reveal the ending; describe its effect instead, which is more useful to the reader anyway.
Yes, three or four. Even a short review needs the reader to see where the description stops and the judgement begins, and paragraphing is what shows that.