English has been and remains the most demanded of the foreign languages ​​studied at school. Exams in this subject have become more difficult since oral assignments were introduced several years ago. Will there be any changes in the content of tickets and the procedure for holding the Unified State Exam in English in 2018? What can you do to effectively prepare for the test? How will this help in further study and work?

On the importance of the subject

Few people need to explain today how important knowledge of the English language is in the modern world. This is the language of computer terms, the language of many business documents, just a convenient tool for international communication.

By 2020-2022, it is planned to include it in the list of disciplines for which an exam is required. So far, it remains among the electives, one of the most popular in this category.

Those, who will pass this subject with high results in 2018 can apply for admission to universities in very prestigious, popular specialties... And this is not only specialized foreign languages, diplomacy or computer technology. Good knowledge of English is quoted in educational institutions for training in such areas as:

• regional studies;
• management;
• journalism;
• hotel business;
• philology;
• international relationships;
• world economy;
• sociology and a number of others.

Even in technical universities, sometimes the applicant is given a choice: to count points in physics or English.

In addition to the actual knowledge of the subject, the graduates will also be required to possess technical means, with the help of which the audio recordings on the oral part of the exam will be played. Of course, the members of the commission will help if there are difficulties, but this will take time and will bring unnecessary nervousness. During the exams in the classrooms, there will be computers equipped with a headset, the necessary software, and microphones.

Dates of the exam in English in 2018

This exam is available ahead of schedule to graduates of previous years and to some categories of current 11-graders who, for objective reasons, will not be able to come on the dates of the main tests.

Most high school students will come for the main exam. It will take place June 11 (in writing), and two days were released for the oral format at once: June 14 and 16... In reserve for the written exam June 26, on oral - 27 ... There is still a day June 29: general reserve for all items.

Finally, in September there will still be an opportunity to pass the Unified State Exam to those graduates who planned to do it together with everyone else, but were prevented by some valid reasons (illness, etc.).

What will be on the USE tickets in English in 2018?

Since 2016, tasks have appeared in KIMs not only for a written answer, but also for the oral part of the exam. The written and oral part is rented separately, on different days.

Examiners need to test the level of knowledge of phonetics and grammar, the ability to speak English fluently, and not just read and translate. You even need to be able to listen: listening to a foreign language is not at all as easy as it seems.

The written exam, which lasts 180 minutes, involves 40 tasks... Such as:

• listening, that is, listening to the prepared text (a maximum of 20 primary points are given for it);
• reading (plus 20 points);
• for knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar of the language, examiners have the right to add up to 20 more points;
• Finally, for fluency in written language, there is a chance to get the remaining 20 points.

Only 15 minutes are given for the oral exam, during which 4 tasks are completed. These are descriptions of pictures and answers to questions. The maximum for this "semi-exam" is 20 points.

Together with the written test, 44 tasks of different levels of difficulty and 100 maximum possible points are accumulated.

What's in the oral part of the test?

The oral "portion" of tasks is otherwise called speaking, although not all of them consist precisely of conversation. It is important to understand speaking, engage in dialogue, and demonstrate your speaking skills in a foreign language.

Testing takes place either in special lingophone rooms, or in computer labs, where the equipment is equipped with a special headset. Several tasks need to be completed in 15 minutes.

First, each graduate will be offered a small text. You can quickly (in a minute and a half) run your eyes, and then read it aloud.

Then, based on a fragment of the text, it will be necessary to formulate five questions. Again, there will be 1.5 minutes to read the passage, and then you will have to quickly voice all 5 questions, for each one is given only 20 seconds.

The next item of the "program" is a description of the photograph. One of the five proposed is chosen, the examinee studies it (in the same one and a half minutes), and then sets out what he sees in two minutes. To help students at KIMs, a presentation plan will be given.

The last thing to do is compare the two pictures. Find similarities and differences in 1.5 minutes and briefly, in 2 minutes, tell the commission about them.

Features of the writing part of CMMs

In the written, as well as in the oral part of the KIMs, in 2018 no new topics or tasks are foreseen... 40 tasks in this section of the exam are divided into 4 groups:

1. Questions 1 to 9 are about listening.
2. Students demonstrate the ability to read clearly and with the correct intonation thanks to questions 10-18.
3. The next ten tasks (19-38) are the actual letter.
4. The examination committee checks the knowledge in the field of vocabulary and grammar on questions 39-40.

All together are given 3 hours.

Tests in the form that were before are now absent. Although there are a number of questions in the tickets, the answer to which should be as short as possible: a word, letter or number.

Other tasks (they are located in the final part of KIMs) require more detailed answers. There are also questions of increased complexity, they are based on the student's complete understanding of the text. The most difficult task is number 40 (in the “Letter” block): it involves writing an essay, short, but not descriptive, but with analysis and reflection.

Translation of USE scores in English in 2018

As stated above, the highest score for both parts of the exam will be 100 points... When converted into commonly used estimates, the result will look like this:

• If you score up to 21 points, the exam is considered failed - this is “ deuce».
• From 22 to 58 points translated into a five-point system are equivalent to “ troika».
• Those who scored from 59 to 83 points receive “ four».
• The exam is considered passed for " top five"If the graduate scored 84 or more points in total.

Those who step over the academic failure threshold, having earned 22 points, will be issued a certificate. But for higher education such a result is not enough. How much is needed to get into the desired specialty in the chosen institution, for sure, you need to find out in advance on the websites of these universities.

The experience of previous years suggests that even 45 points give only a ghostly chance to be included in the number of students of "average" universities, and even then, most likely, on a paid basis. And those who seek to study in the capital, and even on a budgetary basis, need to collect in their "piggy bank" at least 85 points for the Unified State Exam in English.

Preparation for the exam in English in 2018

Quite a few high school students study in circles, schools, and English language studios. When professionals work there, the level of training is usually quite high. There are optional classes in schools.

Other students choose self-study or tutoring. They have at their disposal demo versions of the USE in English in 2018, as well as options for assignments from previous years with ready-made correct answers. In order to consolidate knowledge for the successful delivery of the written section of the exam, this can be a very good help. In any case, the language requires systematic lessons, one-time actions will not help here.

It is very important to listen to competent oral speech: audiobooks, recordings of lessons, songs, poems in English. You can also turn to classical or children's English literature, to films. In such a living form, language is perceived more emotionally, in addition, situational memory and associations are triggered, which helps memorization.

But it is not enough to recognize speech by ear; for many, the correct pronunciation becomes a stumbling block. This is why it is extremely useful to have a couple or in a small group. We rarely notice our flaws in speech, but a look and auditory control from the side will be very useful. If someone in the family speaks the language, it is possible to practice at least a month before the exam to speak with them in English about the simplest everyday things. This is a great workout, besides, fear disappears, you become more free in communication, which is extremely important for a psychological mood.

Secondary general education

English

Demo version of the exam-2019 in English

The official demo versions of the Unified State Exam-2019 in English can be downloaded on the FIPI website:

English (written and oral) (download PDF, 7.6 Mb)

English (listening) (download PDF, 24.7 Mb)

What's new in 2019?

• There are no changes in the structure and content of CMM.
• In task 40 of the "Letter" section, the wording and assessment criteria have become clearer. Now the graduate will have to choose one of two topics for writing a detailed text-reasoning and express his point of view.

Follow the broadcasts of our webinars and the YouTube channel: starting in September we will start talking about the preparation for the Unified State Exam.

The manual is intended to prepare high school graduates and applicants for the unified state exam in English. It contains 10 training options for examination papers, drawn up in full accordance with the requirements of the exam. Each option includes tasks of different types and levels of difficulty in all sections of the English language course, which allows you to quickly master the skills and abilities necessary for successful completion of the final certification. At the end of the book, there are texts for listening, keys to all practical tasks and possible answers to task 39 (a letter of a personal nature), criteria and schemes for assessing the performance of tasks in the "Writing" section and the oral part.

Knowledge of a foreign language is one of the key functional competencies that a graduate should possess today. Regardless of whether a person plans to continue his studies abroad and find a job in a large international company, or wants to stay in his hometown, proficiency in a foreign language will be a significant plus and will open a variety of doors for the graduate.

It is possible that in 2018 a foreign language will become a compulsory subject of the Unified State Exam. But, while the decision regarding the third compulsory subject is not approved and the right to choose remains with the graduate.

In 2017-2018, a high score in English will allow you to enter the quoted universities of the Russian Federation in a variety of areas:

• philology;
• linguistics;
• journalism;
• pedagogy;
• management;
• international relationships;
• world economy;
• sociology;
• hotel business;
• regional studies;
• anthropology…

In fact, the range of directions is much wider, because even many universities provide their applicants wishing to enter technical specialties with a choice between passing physics or a foreign language.

Schedule of the exam 2018 in a foreign language

Changes in the exam in English in 2018

Due to the fact that significant changes were made to KIMs of various subjects in the 2016-2017 season, many graduates and teachers are closely following the news.

We hasten to educate - in 2018 the structure of exams in foreign languages ​​will not be changed. Only minor amendments and clarifications will be made to the content of the CMM.

As in the previous year, the structure of the USE 2018 in English will consist of two blocks:

• writing part;
• the oral part.

The oral and written exams will take place on different days!

Writing structure

The written part of the exam consists of 40 tasks, divided into 4 sections:

• listening (questions 1-9);
• reading (questions 10-18);
• letter (questions 19-38);
• vocabulary and grammar (questions 39-40).

The work takes 180 minutes to complete.

It should be noted that there are no tests in the new tickets. The simplest are now questions with a short answer (indicating a number, letter or word).

The tickets are built on a multi-level principle and include tasks that correspond to the three main levels of English proficiency for countries in which it is not native:

The high level (B2) includes tasks that require a complete understanding of the text read, as well as item 40 from the "Letter" block - a short essay with reasoning on a given topic.

Oral structure

The oral part of the exam (speaking) takes place in specially equipped language laboratories or computer classrooms, where each place is equipped with a special headset. The test takes only 15 minutes. During this time, the student must demonstrate an understanding of oral speech and the ability to conduct a dialogue.

Calculating USE scores in English

For the successful completion of the written part, the graduate can gain a maximum of 80 primary points. For passing the oral part - 22 more points. When calculating the total score, the results are added together.

In 2018, when assessing the Unified State Exam in English, the primary scores will be converted to a five-point system according to the table:

It should be borne in mind that the minimum threshold for passing (22 points) does not provide an opportunity to enter a university, but is only a necessary condition for obtaining a certificate. For information on the minimum passing scores in subjects required to enter a particular faculty of the university you have chosen, look for the official website of the educational institution.

Dates of the exam in English

A draft schedule for the final tests for 11th grade graduates has already been drawn up. If no changes are made to the established calendar before the start of the Unified State Exam 2018, then the exams will be conducted on the following dates:

Graduates of 2017-2018 can focus on the main period of the Unified State Exam.

Previous graduates and those with a valid reason to postpone the test date can apply to take the exam early.

The September stage is the last retake, to which persons are allowed whose result was not accepted for technical reasons (not through their fault) and those who could not take part in the main session of the USE for a good reason.

Preparation for the exam in English

But, even if the decision to pass the English language was made not so long ago, you have every chance to prepare well for the final test, because there is still more than half of the academic year ahead.

Where to begin?

• Get acquainted with the structure of tickets and typical tasks.
• Find your weak points and engage in self-education.
• Practice and practice again.

There are many tutorials online that will help you review the basic rules and prepare well for the writing part. This year's trial versions and last year's assignments will be indispensable in preparation, because in 2018 the structure of USE tickets in English will not change.

Practice is required to pass the oral exam. You can get it by enrolling in group preparation courses for the Unified State Exam or simply by communicating a lot with native speakers. But keep in mind that the exam will offer the classic version of the language, and friends on the Internet may be native speakers of different regional dialects.

Grammar (tasks 19-25):

How to write an essay in English:

Oral part:

English is the most popular language. Today, without knowledge of a foreign language, it is difficult to achieve career heights in almost any profession, so a significant number of humanitarian universities require their own to present the appropriate certificate. The English exam is chosen by students who plan to devote their lives to linguistics, teaching, technical and literary translation, diplomacy and international relations.

In recent years, the examination in foreign languages ​​has become more and more difficult for graduates - now they are required not only to know the basic rules and language norms, but also to have significant speaking skills, because the oral part has been added to the exam. To successfully pass the exam, you will need months of hard and systematic independent work, and maybe even the help of a tutor. Another important point is awareness of possible innovations. Let's see how this exam will go in 2018!

Demonstration version of the exam-2018

Dates for the exam in English

The approved schedule of the all-Russian examination will be published in January 2018. But today you can already find out the approximate periods for the USE, indicated by Rosobrnadzor:

• from the second half of March to mid-April 2018, an early examination will take place. The start date was announced on March 22. Recall that not all schoolchildren can take the USE ahead of schedule. These graduates include those who graduated from school earlier than the 2017/2018 academic year, under-performing students of previous years without a certificate, as well as students in evening schools. Those who decided not to enter a university, but to go to, applicants of foreign universities, children leaving to live abroad, or those who came to study in Russia from abroad, can also take the test ahead of schedule. An exception is also made for children leaving for sports, cultural or scientific competitions and competitions, as well as for schoolchildren who are assigned medical or rehabilitation procedures during the main testing;
• from the last days of May until the beginning of June 2018, the main period of the exam is scheduled. Most likely, the first exams will start on May 28, 2018;
• the start of the additional period of the exam was announced on September 4, 2018. The additional examination will take place during the first half of September.

How did English graduates of past years pass?

The popularity of the English language among future students of Russian universities is also confirmed by official statistics - about 9% of all graduates (and this is about 64.5 thousand schoolchildren in 2017) choose the Unified State Exam for themselves in this foreign language. In 2017, the share of graduates who were unable to score even the required minimum of 22 points decreased significantly.

The percentage of such unsuccessful eleventh graders in recent years has fluctuated between 1.8-3.3%, which looks very optimistic in comparison with other exams. The average mark that Russian schoolchildren demonstrate when passing English is 64.8-65.1 points, which is approximately equal to the mark "four". This is significantly higher than the results of the rest of the USE show.

Innovation in the Unified State Exam in English

Experts from FIPI did not make any significant changes to the materials of 2018. The only innovation - in KIMs in English, criteria-based approaches to the assessment of assignments numbered 39-40 were clarified.

Contents of the ticket in English

The main purpose of the all-Russian examination in English is to check the level of proficiency in a foreign language. The primary goal of the commission is to determine how freely the student feels in various types of language activities, which include listening, reading, writing and speaking. High school students will have to show their skills in mastering lexical units, morphological forms and syntactic constructions. The exam ticket itself is divided into two parts:

• written - within 180 minutes, students have to solve 40 tasks. In this part of the exam, you need to pass listening (estimated at 20 primary points, which is 20% of all points for the exam), demonstrate reading skills (another 20 primary points), convince the commission in the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary (20 primary points), and show your level of writing proficiency (20 primary points);
• oral - within 15 minutes, students have to solve 4 more tasks. They will have to answer questions and describe pictures. This part gives another 20 primary points (or 20% of all exam points).

In total, graduates will have to cope with 44 tasks of the basic, advanced and high levels of difficulty, which give 100 points in total.

Written part of CMMs

Structurally, KIMs in English are represented by several main sections:

• Listening, aimed at identifying how well the student understands the listened text. This task is given 30 minutes of examination time, during which the student must cope with the following tasks:
  • 1 - identifying the correspondence of statements and statements made in the recording. Pupils are asked to evaluate 6 statements by comparing them with 7 proposed statements-answers, one of which is incorrect. The student is given 20 seconds to read the statements-answers, then the audio recording will be scrolled 2 times. After that, the student must mark the correct answers on the examination form;
  • 2 - assessment of the correctness of judgments, which must be made after listening to the audio recording in the dialogue form. The student is required to put down only the words "true", "false" or "not stated";
  • from 3 to 9 - an audio task in the form of a short interview, after listening to which the student will need to choose the correct answer from the options presented on the form. Most often, the task is presented in the form of a question to which an answer must be given, or an unfinished sentence, which must be supplemented with the correct words.
• Reading aimed at checking the understanding of the structural and semantic relationships in the proposed text. The student will receive 30 minutes, during which he must cope with the following tasks:
  • 10 - familiarization with seven short texts and identifying the correspondence of the information presented with 8 headings, among which one option will be incorrect;
  • 11 - working with text that has missing parts. There will be 6 such gaps in total. They need to be filled in by choosing words from the seven suggested options;
  • from 12 to 18 - familiarization with an artistic or journalistic fragment, to which are attached interrogative sentences and statements with missing words. To them you will need to choose the correct answer or finish the phrase.
• Grammar and vocabulary - this part of the exam will test how well the student operates with these language skills. This part of the ticket is considered the most difficult, because this is where students lose their maximum points. To work with this part of the ticket, 40 minutes will be allotted, during which you have to solve the following tasks:
  • from 19 to 25 - familiarization with several fragments of the text in which words or phrases will be omitted. The blanks will need to be filled in based on the responses that need to be transformed first;
  • from 26 to 31 - exercises that test the skill of word formation. The student is asked to read the text with the missing parts to determine which parts of speech are missing. To write down the correct answer, the missing word will need to be transformed (for example, make an adjective from a noun);
  • from 32 to 38 - vocabulary exercises that involve working with text fragments in which words are missing. Correct answer options are provided on the CMM form, so you only have to make the right choice.
• Writing - This part of the ticket will test your ability to create different types of written texts. You are given 80 minutes to complete the tasks, during which you need to cope with the following exercises:
  • 39 - the student will need to write a letter of a personal nature, keeping within 100-140 words (it was proposed to cope with the task in 20 minutes);
  • 40 - writing an essay (200-250 words). Be guided by the plan and theme proposed in the KIMs. In this assignment, you will need to write a short introduction to the problem, state your opinion on this issue, back it up with argumentation and draw a conclusion. You should take approximately 60 minutes to complete this task.

Oral part of the examination

In this part of the exam, the commission will assess the student's speech skills. There will be a separate day for this test. Each student will receive 15 minutes to complete the following types of assignments:

1. Reading a short text aloud. Within 1.5 minutes, the student has the opportunity to read the text to himself, and then read it aloud;
2. Formulation of five questions on a fragment of the text. Most often this is a promotional message. The student will have 1.5 minutes to read the text, and then another 20 seconds to voice each question;
3. Description of the photograph. Students are given a choice of five photos, among which they need to take one and describe it according to the plan proposed in KIM. The preparation will take 1.5 minutes, and then within 2 minutes you will need to express in your own words what you see in the picture;
4. Comparison of two photographs. The student will have to identify the similarities and differences between the two pictures in 1.5 minutes, and then tell them to the commission in 2 minutes.

Examination procedure

The examination is subject to strict regulations. Firstly, during the exam it will not be possible to use smartphones, video and audio equipment, smart watches and reference materials. Secondly, you should not spy on someone else's answer sheet, talk to other participants in the exam, or leave the audience unaccompanied by an observer - this will be the reason for the cancellation of your work. Remember that in 2018 all 100% of classrooms designated for exams will be monitored online.

Each class allocated for the writing part of the examination will be equipped with technical aids to play back audio recordings during listening. Classes for the oral part of the exam will be equipped with computers with headsets, microphones and appropriate software for recording answers.

How do exam scores translate to certificate grades?

Points for work affect the certificate and are easily transferred to the usual school system:

• 0-21 points corresponds to the "two" level;
• 22-58 points show satisfactory preparation and are equal to the "three";
• 59-83 points allow you to get a "four";
• 84 points and above tell us that the student knows the subject perfectly.

The minimum score you need to score in order to obtain a certificate is 22. However, it is worth remembering that to enter a "medium-sized" university you need to score at least 45 points, and in this case we are not talking about budget places. Educational institutions in the capital usually accept schoolchildren on the budget who have managed to score 86 points or more in English.

Preparation for the exam in English

To pass English, you will have to spend a lot of time preparing. Try to correctly allocate the time remaining before the exam in order to repeat the school course and work out the demo versions of KIMs. Their solution will help you understand the structure of the exam - you must agree that if you see a ticket for the exam for the first time, you will probably get nervous. And this, in turn, will lead to a lot of small annoying mistakes. Official CMMs can be downloaded on our website by simply using the link at the beginning of the article.

Do not forget about preparing for listening, because not every teacher at school devotes enough time in the classroom to teach students to perceive foreign speech by ear. Audiobooks, songs of your favorite artists, films or TV series in English voice acting will come to your aid. Watch at least a couple of episodes of an interesting TV series or movie a day, and listen to a book on your way to school. After a few months of this preparation, you will be able to distinguish between words and learn to understand the meaning of the text by ear.

A frequent problem is also the inability to speak - if in vocabulary, grammar and writing most of the children who have chosen a foreign language for themselves as the exam demonstrate good results, then the oral part causes certain difficulties. You can practice this skill in a fairly simple way - constantly playing small dialogues in your head with everyday situations, or describing objects, people and buildings that you see while you go to school or shopping in the supermarket.

Writing an essay also requires separate preparation. Hone your mini essay writing skills with tickets from yesteryear. Each new essay will help you to better formulate thoughts and present arguments in favor of your point of view. When writing an essay, it is worth remembering these tips:

• do not choose the first topic that comes across - it is better to think about which one will be closer to you and will not require significant efforts for argumentation. Some of the points in this task are given precisely for understanding the subject of discussion. If a member of the commission notices that you do not understand what you are writing about, zero will be awarded for the task;