23
Nov
2009
Academic and Cambridge Exams
PACE
GEOS Gold Coast is an English college offering a range of English language courses for all levels. Among these, it offers a course in Preparation for Academic and Cambridge Exams (PACE). PACE is a twelve-week course designed for students at an Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate level that are looking to study at an intensive level. It helps those who want to improve all areas of their English skills quickly, but are not at an appropriate level to enter the IELTS or Cambridge Exam preparation courses.
This course will improve students’ skills so they can enrol in an exam preparation course, but will also help those wanting to improve their English to travel and work in Australia. Students are tested on a weekly basis on grammar and vocabulary, speaking, listening, reading and writing. Classes are held five days a week, with different topics each week ranging from cinema to science, relationships and travel. Apart from in-class work on interviews, writing reports, reading comprehension, negotiation, grammar and so on, homework is also assigned each day from research tasks to translation.
Academic English
Academic writing is a genre different to news articles, fiction novels or blogging. It involves not only a strong grasp of the English language in order to present your argument succintly, but also specific skills in paraphrasing, summarising, critiqueing and referencing. For example, in a literature review you will outline the main ideas of other authors, referencing their works, then comparing and contrasting to reveal strengths and weaknesses.
A well-written academic paper will also be structured logically, cohesively and coherently. Students must know how to write a strong introduction and conclusion, as well as being able to link the main points in the body with topic and linking sentences. Furthermore, most academic papers will not be written in the first person using ‘I’. Instead, the author’s voice should come across through perceptive analysis of the evidence.