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First-Certificate.com – User’s manual 1

User’s manual

First-certificate.com

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Chapters

Chapter 1: Welcome to First-Certificate ............................................................................................................................................................................ 3

Chapter 2: Methodology ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Zero Errors .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Word Association ................................................................................................................................................................................. 7

Chapter 3: Structure and Content ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Start ..................................................................................................................................................................................................12

How to progress in the course ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 17

My Stats ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 18

My Account ........................................................................................................................................................................................20

Account Renewal .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 21

Downloads .........................................................................................................................................................................................23

Manage Emails ....................................................................................................................................................................................24

Other options ......................................................................................................................................................................................26

Dictionary ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 26

Language ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27

Chapter 4: Frequently Asked Questions .................................................................................................................................................................................. 28


Chapter 1: Welcome to First-Certificate

1. Welcome to First-Certificate


Congratulations! You have taken the first step towards passing the First-Certificate test. We would like to

formally welcome you to your LP First-Certificate course. At this point, you have already successfully

registered yourself and you are ready to begin the course.

This is the user’s manual where you will find detailed information about how the online course works and

the best way to use it. It will help you to familiarize yourself with the ins and outs and allow you to move

through the course without any problems

If you have any questions after reading the LP First-Certificate manual, don’t hesitate to contact us using

our web page www.en.first-certificate.com

http://www.en.first-certificate.com/


Chapter 2: Methodology

2. Methodology


Zero Errors

It’s not much use speaking English that is filled with grammatical errors. Our primary objective is to

commit Zero Errors. We want to program your mind in such a way so that you can answer every question

that appears in the game. There is a variety of interactive exercises to keep you motivated and make sure

that learning English is more entertainment than chore.

It has been proven that if you repeat the same sentence over and over, even if you don’t say it well at

first, you will end up saying it correctly. First-Certificate puts you through a constant bombardment of

short questions that take on the form of a game, and as a result you improve with each subsequent

session. Repetition, therefore, is the name of the game. Repeat until you’re full. With the exception of

going and living in an English-speaking country, it is the only way to reach the point of communication

where errors are a thing of the past. At that point, you will have finally broken the mental barrier.

Instant Correction

As soon as you choose an answer, you will immediately see the correct answer on the screen. If you have

answered correctly, it will appear in green. However, it will appear in red if you have not given the

correct answer. If you are indecisive and do not answer the question, the words Time Up will appear in

orange.

In order to help us achieve our goal of Zero Errors, once you have finished a set, you will see a list of

questions, answers and your mistakes. This should help you to correct your mistakes so that you do not

end up making the same mistake again.

2. Methodology


Word Association

In First-Certificate we use the formation of complete sentences

based on the realm of structures that you should be able to use.

Different from other traditional systems, this means that you do not

have to memorize entire sentences in order to be able to form your

own phrases and instead can rely on familiarity with appropriate

structures and the mechanics of the English language.

First-Certificate is the first course of its kind to focus on this facet of

the language. This focuses on the deconstruction of the sentence

and analyzing it in order to later have the ability to reconstruct it.

The format of First-Certificate allows you to learn step by step and

build confidence in your own language abilities, improving and

enriching your command of the language.

We hope to end once and for all the bad habit of translating directly

from your primary language (according with, apart of y depend of,

etc.) an in stead learn to string together English words and phrases

without the need to rely (often erroneously) on your first language.

2. Methodology


Solving the puzzle

It is a popular belief that if someone learns a minimum number of words then

they know English. This couldn’t be further from the truth. This is like saying

that once you have 1000 pieces of a puzzle spread out in front of you, you’re

finished. It’s obvious that you’ve only reached the halfway point. Now you have

to fit the pieces together in order to complete the puzzle. Knowing 1,000 words

isn’t worth anything if you don’t have a solid educational foundation to support

it.

The First-Certificate course will show you the solution by means of our

interactive and fun exercises.


Chapter 3: Structure and Content

3. Structure and Content


To start enjoying your first LP First-Certificate course, you first need to

log in via the web page, choosing login in the top-right corner of your

screen, placing your username and password in the correct spaces, and

clicking the button reading log in.

You are now on the main page of the online course.

There you will find:

1. Course Menu

2. Course Units

3. Name of the section you’re in or a message from the

Start section

4. Option to change the background color of the course

5. Log out

6. Dictionary

1

2

3

6

5

4



When you have less than 30 days left on your account, you will be able to see this information on the

main START page as a link to be able to extend the amount of time you have access to the course if you

should need it.



Start

On the start page you can access the

different units that contain the lessons

and exercises from the course. The

course is broken up into 7 units each

one containing 4 grammar topics.

These units are set up to make

learning the course material

continuous and progressive. We

suggest, therefore, that you begin

with the first unit and that you

continue on to the next unit once you

can complete the exercises with zero

errors.

Click on Unit 1 to see its

content, which appears in grey boxes.

The unit that they belong to will be

shown in orange.



Select the topic to begin with.

We recommend that you begin with

the first: Prepositions. When you

click on Prepositions, a dialogue box

will appear from which you can access

the lesson or the exercises for that

topic.

If you click LESSON you will see

the explanation for that lesson. You

can download this in PDF format so

that you can take it with you on your

mobile, iPad, eBook reader, etc.

When you’ve finished studying

the lesson, you will see that there are

two links at the bottom of the page,

one to return to the main menu and

another to continue on to the

exercises for the lesson.



In the EXERCISE section, a

screen will appear before the

exercise begins. The screen will

look as follows:

On the right you have

three options: Instructions,

Grammar and Objective.

By choosing these options you

can read the instructions of

the exercise, review the

grammar pertinent to the

exercises with a summary of

the most important parts of the

lesson and see the objective of

what you are learning

respectively.



Now you’re ready to do the exercises! But wait just a

minute; you still have to set the time limit (max. 60

seconds) to give a response for each question and the

number of sets that you would like to complete in the

exercise. Each set has 25 questions related to what

was covered in the lesson, in each exercise you can do

1 to 3 sets.

Once you’ve set the time limit, click Start. For each

exercise you can see the time remaining, the question

you’re doing and the set that you’re working on at

that moment, not to mention the errors you’ve already

made on that exercise.

But there’s more! When you’ve finished the set you’ll be

able to see a list of the errors you’ve made along with the correct response.

If you’ve chosen more than one set, to start the next

set, click Next Set. If you want to return to the main

menu click Start. This way you can practice in

whichever section you’d like.



When you’ve finished every set in the exercise, you can see your score from

the exercise and the overall score. Naturally, the number of correct answers

you need to pass the exercise increases with the total number of questions.

Therefore you need a minimum number of correct answers to pass the

exercise. The grading system is explained in the following table:

For example, if your current score is 143

you wouldn’t get a point if you don’t

correctly answer at least 13 of the 25

questions from the exercise.

Once you reach 1000 points, by doing 3

sets without any errors or by accumulating

points from doing the exercises over

again, you will pass the exercise and you’ll

be ready to move on.

Once you’ve seen your score, you can Try again to try to get a better score or if you think that you

need to look over the grammar again click on Grammar Reminder. Click Back to menu to return

to the main menu:

Your

grade

Minimum % of correct

answers

Minimum number of

correct answers

0-199 50% 13

200-399 60% 15

400-599 70% 18

600-799 80% 20

800-899 90% 23

900-1000 96% 24



How to progress in the course

As you already know, each grammar unit is divided into 4 sections, and there couldn’t be a better

way to know that you’re progressing than seeing the points you’ve earned in each section. Don’t

forget that we suggest you complete the 4 sections in order starting with the first lesson from unit

one and once you’ve gotten 1000 points continuing on to the next section.

To pass you have to make less errors every time (see the descriptive table), but if you do very

well in the topic we’ll give you 1000 point for completing 3 sets in a row without an error

(it doesn’t matter if you do them in the same session, but if you make an error on the

second or third set, the counter goes back to 0...).

What’s more, at the end, in Unit 7, you’ll find a very interesting lesson, FCE Grammar: a summary of

the most important aspects of the previous lessons. It will help you review what you’ve already

learned and once you’ve completed that lesson your understanding of the grammar will be good

enough to pass the First.



My Stats

You can see your statistics to check your progress in the course at any time.

Select the STATISTICS tab on

the side menu

A list will appear on the

screen with a percentage

that shows your progress for

every lesson in the course.

Would you like to know

more? Select Details,

located to the right of each

lesson, to see all of the

information about your

exercises.



You know have the detailed

statistics for Prepositions. You

can see the number of times that

you’ve done each exercise:

session 1, 2...

You can see all the numbers for

work you’ve done up to that

point: number of correct

responses and its percentage,

number of sets, questions per

session, points earned in the

session and your total points

that you’ve gotten from all the

sessions combined.

Click Back to return to the main

unit list to see the results in

other areas.



My Account

In the tab MY ACCOUNT you can see and

edit your user information. You can also

extend the duration of the course, in the

purchase option.

Accessible information: Username,

email and the expiration date of your

course.

Information that you can

update/change: Full name, gender,

country and how you came upon us.

To change your password, put your current password.

Write a new password in the corresponding area.

Rewrite the new password and click on Change password



Account Renewal

You can extend your subscription at any time from MY ACCOUNT:

You can renew your account via the link that appears at the top of the screen when you have less

than 30 days before your account expires:



The link will take you to the page on which you can renew your course. Course renewals function through

PayPal and you will be able to pay either through PayPal or simply using your credit card (a PayPal

account is not required)

Once you have completed the

payment process, your course

access period updates

automatically and the additional

time is added to the time you

already had.

Both your user account and

your statistics remain active for

your convenience, so you will

not have to change or

reconfigure anything.



Downloads

DOWNLOADS, in this section

you will find the manual and other

materials.

Click on Download to save

the document to your computer.



Manage Emails Our course contains 28 lessons that deal with all the English grammar you need to pass the First on your

first try. You can get a summary of the lessons sent to you by email with varying frequency:

Once a week: Receive a lesson every Monday.

3 times a week: Receive a lesson every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Daily: Receive a lesson every day Monday through Friday.

Never: You will not receive any emails. This option can also be used to

temporarily stop receiving emails.

The frequency is automatically set to weekly as a default, but this can be changed anytime so that you

receive emails with whatever frequency best suits your study habits and necessities.

To change the frequency of email notifications:

Choose the option MANAGE EMAILS that appears in the side menu.

You will now find yourself on the manage emails page, where you can see a section that

reads:

I would like to receive a lesson: [frequency]…



Choose your preferred frequency and you’re

done! A pop-up notification will tell you that the

email frequency has been successfully changed.

NOTE: if you don’t receive the lesson

summaries, please check the email address you

provided and your spam folder.

On this page you can review all the summaries that

you’ve received up to that point, open documents

online or download them in PDF format. You will also

be able to see what the next lesson will be ahead of

time.



Other options

Dictionary

What does ‘advertise’ mean? And ‘to dig’, what’s that? With First-Certificate finding out is two clicks away.

With the LP Dictionary you can look up words you don’t know very easily and without leaving the course

page.

Click on DICTIONARY at the top of the page.

A window will appear with a dialogue box to look up the

word. In this pull-down menu you can choose the language in

which you would like to see the definition. Take hello, for

instance.

If the word is correct, the translation will appear below.



Language

The settings of our course allow you to choose the available languages. To choose the language:

We suggest that you choose the language that you prefer for

the web page before beginning your session. You will be

accessing the course with this language. Click on the

appropriate flag to set this language.

If you have to change the language at any point in the

course, you have the option at the bottom of the window.

Select the flag that corresponds to the correct language,

then access your account again by entering your username

and password.


Chapter 4: Frequently Asked Questions

4. Frequently Asked Questions


1. How long does this course last?

You can check the expiration date in your account; the length depends on purchase options, which

you can always extend by buying more access time from MY ACCOUNT. The purchased time will

be added to the time that you already have so that you don’t have to wait until the last day to add

more time to your account.

2. I want to change the frequency of or cancel the emailed lesson summaries.

To change the frequency with which you receive emails select MANAGE EMAILS that appears on

the side menu on the screen at the start of the session. You can activate or deactivate your email

notifications based on your own needs and demands. Keep in mind that once your time on the

course has expired, you will no longer receive email lesson summaries so set your email

notification frequency to whatever works best for you at that moment. Don’t forget that you can

access completed lessons by navigating to START – UNIT – LESSON.



3. I forgot my password.

You can reset your password through the Login link. Beneath the password section, you will see a

“Have you forgotten your password?” link. Enter your email address and you will receive an email

from the course. Just follow the instructions to reset your password.

4. What happened? I can’t access the course.

It could be that the page is loading and the connection you are using isn’t fast enough to run the

application. To fix this problem:

a. Refresh the page.

b. If the problem persists, make sure that your web browser is up to date or use a different

browser like Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari or Chrome.

c. Try again using a different computer and / or a faster internet connection.

d. If you are still having problems, contact us by writing to [email protected]



5. What can I find in the Download section?

In this section you’ll find this manual as well as material that we believe will be helpful or

interesting for you whether it be didactic, informative, campaigns …

6. I’m not getting my lessons by email

Make sure that your lessons are not in your spam folder (to fix this problem, add our email

address to your contacts), or check that your email address is written correctly in the appropriate

MY ACCOUNT section.

7. What is an eBook?

During the course we may suggest an eBook (digital book) to complement your studies. We use this

term to refer to a digitalized book so that it can be viewed directly from the computer. This is for a

number of LP books such as: Grammar Cry, First Aids, Second Aids...



Be sure not to confuse eBook with an “eBook reader” (sometimes incorrectly called an “electronic

book”), as the latter is a machine used to store electronic books and purchased seperately.

One characteristic of eBooks is that you have to get them over the Internet. Fortunately, most

eBooks can be downloaded in PDF format.

8. What happens if I extend my subscription?

Your username and password will stay the same. You will also keep all of your statistics to continue

progressing in the easiest and simplest way possible. Additionally, if you still have days left on the

course, you don’t lose them! These days are added to the time that you’ve just purchased.


Enjoy your First-Certificate Course!

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