How I got ready for TKT exam

Have you ever taken any international exam? What’s the best way to do it? Alone? With or without somebody’s help? Below I’ll share my personal fresh experience of passing TKT exam (Teaching Knowledge Test).

My preface

TKT is a part of my CPD and development. My timeframe was pretty limited: well, the actual date of prep start was June and the date of the exam was November 2017. By preparation, I don’t mean getting ready from scratch. I strongly consider that if you don’t have background knowledge and teaching experience, your real prep time can take longer as it’s not possible to really manage all the reading lists, exercises, tests in no time. My preparation stage was getting accustomed with the TKT format and materials.

Understand format

To understand the format it’s better go to Cambridge website where you can download PDFs (Info, Handbook, Glossary).

TKT consists of 3 separate Modules that can be passed independently or together on the same date (I had two reasons to pass all 3 modules at once: 1) I love completing the project I take to fullest; 2) as my Cambridge center is in the capital, Kiev, where I had to arrive, hence I decided to pass 3 modules at the same time).

So, you have to get ready for the following components:

source:Cambridge English, TKT, Handbook for teachers TKT Modules 1, 2 and 3, p.2

MODULE I. Language and background to language and teaching

— Part 1 Describing language and language skills

— Part 2 Background to language learning

— Part 3 Background to language teaching

MODULE II. Lesson planning and use of resources for language teaching

— Part 1 Planning and preparing a lesson or sequence of lessons

— Part 2 Selection and use of resources and materials

MODULE III. Managing the teaching and learning process

— Part 1 Teachers’ and Learners’ language in the classroom

— Part 2 Classroom management

Strategy

FIRST, create your ultimate list of books and resources to investigate. This is my prep list:

— Cambridge English, TKT, Handbook for teachers TKT Modules 1, 2 and 3

— Cambridge English, Glossary

SECOND, practice as much as possible. Having my tight working schedule, I could devote only weekends to my TKT preparation. These are the resources I used:

— Cambridge Tests

— Online Tests: ultimate theory+practice

THIRD, while reading the Cambridge Handbook, you can find extra Discover Activities information where there are more learning resources in the form of websites, books, tasks. Please pay attention to these infoboxes:

source: Cambridge English, TKT, Handbook for teachers TKT Modules 1, 2 and 3, p.8

These extra boxes after each Unit (Note: there are 32 Units in the handbook) helped me create my personal additional reading list (of course, I didn’t have enough time to read all the books from A to Z, but after passing Cambridge Tests, I realized my weak points I had to focus on and looked through definite topics I had to refresh).

TIP. Don’t forget to share your plans with colleagues as there will be someone who has passed TKT already.

If you’re short of time, you can read the selected info you need. If you have more time for your preparation, I strongly recommend reading the books/links below:

1. Learning Teaching by Jim Scrivener
2. The Practice of English Language Teaching by Jeremy Harmer
3. How to teach Speaking by Scott Thornbury
4. Natural Grammar. The Keywords of English and how they work by Scott Thornbury
5. About Language. Tasks for Teachers of English by Scott Thornbury
6. A Course in Language Teaching. Practice and Theory by Penny Ur
7. Teaching Unplugged. Dogme in English Language Teaching by Luke Meddings and Scott Thornbury
8. Language Assistant by Claire Lavery
9. Teaching Practice. A Handbook for Teachers in Training by Roger Gower, Diane Phillips & Steve Walters
10. Children learning English by Jill Moon
11. Assessment. Handbook for the English classroom by Michael Harris and Paul McCann
12. Action Plan for Teachers. A Guide for Teaching English by Callum Robertson, Richard Acklam
13. Uncovering Grammar by Scott Thornbury
14. Stages of vocab presentation
15. Stages of grammar presentation
16. Stages of pronunciation presentation
17. Pelmanism
18. Instrumental Motivation
19. Poem into Poem Maley, A & Moulding
20. Using Readers in Language Teaching Hedge, T Macmillan
21. Learning to Learn English Ellis, R & Sinclair, B CUP
22. Learner English Swan, M & Smith, B CUP
23. English Phonetics and Phonology Roach, P CUP
24. Visuals for the Language Classroom Wright, A & Haleem, Logman
25. Mixed Ability Classes Prodromou, L Macmillan
26. Keep Talking Klippel, F CUP
27. Teaching Children

Here you can also listen to TKT Feedback

All in all, you need to do your best, concentrate on time management and believe in yourself!