Cambridge English Exams: Common Mistakes to Avoid
Grammar Mistakes
Article Usage
Missing Articles
❌ “I am student.”
✓ “I am a student.”
❌ “She works as teacher.”
✓ “She works as a teacher.”
Unnecessary Articles
❌ “The life is beautiful.”
✓ “Life is beautiful.”
❌ “The people need to study more.”
✓ “People need to study more.”
Wrong Article Choice
❌ “An university”
✓ “A university”
❌ “A hour”
✓ “An hour”
Verb Tenses
Present Perfect vs. Past Simple
❌ “I have seen him yesterday.”
✓ “I saw him yesterday.”
❌ “I went to Paris three times.”
✓ “I have been to Paris three times.”
Present Continuous Misuse
❌ “I am loving this book.”
✓ “I love this book.”
❌ “I am having three sisters.”
✓ “I have three sisters.”
Past Perfect Errors
❌ “When I arrived, they left.”
✓ “When I arrived, they had left.”
Prepositions
Common Confusions
❌ “Different than”
✓ “Different from”
❌ “Depend of”
✓ “Depend on”
Unnecessary Prepositions
❌ “Discuss about something”
✓ “Discuss something”
❌ “Enter into the room”
✓ “Enter the room”
Vocabulary Mistakes
Word Choice
False Friends
❌ “Actually” (meaning ‘currently’)
✓ “Currently”
❌ “Pretend” (meaning ‘intend’)
✓ “Intend”
Commonly Confused Words
- affect/effect
- advice/advise
- lose/loose
- practice/practise
- weather/whether
Collocation Errors
❌ “Make homework”
✓ “Do homework”
❌ “Take a decision”
✓ “Make a decision”
Word Formation
Adjective/Adverb Confusion
❌ “He drives dangerous.”
✓ “He drives dangerously.”
❌ “She is very beauty.”
✓ “She is very beautiful.”
Wrong Suffixes
❌ “Successfull”
✓ “Successful”
❌ “Strengthness”
✓ “Strength”
Writing Section Mistakes
Essay Structure
Introduction Problems
- Too general
- Too long
- Missing thesis statement
- Irrelevant information
Body Paragraph Issues
- Lack of topic sentences
- Poor paragraph unity
- Missing transitions
- Inadequate support
Conclusion Errors
- New information
- Too abrupt
- No summary
- Weak closing
Register
Informal Language
❌ “Lots of people think…”
✓ “Many people believe…”
❌ “Kids nowadays…”
✓ “Children today…”
Contractions in Formal Writing
❌ “It’s important to note…”
✓ “It is important to note…”
Task Response
Off-topic Content
- Not answering the question
- Irrelevant examples
- Straying from main point
Word Count
- Too short
- Too long
- Unbalanced paragraphs
Speaking Section Mistakes
Pronunciation
Common Sound Errors
- th/t/f confusion
- w/v confusion
- silent letters
- word stress
Intonation Problems
- Flat delivery
- Inappropriate rising/falling
- Stress patterns
Fluency
Hesitation Markers
❌ Overuse of “um,” “er,” “like”
✓ Use natural pauses
Repetition
❌ “Very, very, very good”
✓ “Extremely good”
Listening Section Mistakes
Note-taking
Missing Key Information
- Numbers and dates
- Names and places
- Main points
- Supporting details
Distractor Focus
- Following wrong information
- Missing context
- Misinterpreting meaning
Answer Transfer
Spelling Errors
- British/American spelling
- Proper nouns
- Technical terms
Word Limit Violations
- Exceeding word limit
- Incomplete answers
- Missing words
Reading Section Mistakes
Time Management
Poor Allocation
- Too long on one text
- Rushing at end
- Uneven distribution
Inefficient Reading
- Reading every word
- Rereading unnecessarily
- Missing scan/skim opportunities
Answer Strategy
Question Misinterpretation
- Not reading instructions
- Missing negative questions
- Overlooking qualifiers
Evidence Location
- Using wrong paragraph
- Missing context
- Selective reading
Use of English Mistakes
Word Formation
Part of Speech Errors
❌ “She is very success in her job.”
✓ “She is very successful in her job.”
Prefix/Suffix Problems
❌ “unpossible”
✓ “impossible”
Key Word Transformations
Missing Words
❌ Incomplete phrasal verbs
✓ Including all parts
Word Form Errors
❌ Wrong tense transformations
✓ Maintaining meaning
Test Strategy Mistakes
Time Management
Poor Planning
- Uneven time allocation
- Rushing sections
- Incomplete answers
Review Time
- No checking time
- Hasty corrections
- Missed errors
Answer Recording
Transfer Errors
- Wrong answer spaces
- Unclear writing
- Missing answers
Format Problems
- Wrong word count
- Incorrect formatting
- Missing capitals
Remember: Success in Cambridge exams requires attention to detail and awareness of common pitfalls. Regular practice and error awareness are key to improvement.
