Satisfied customer working for Google….

If you’re serious about elevating your English language skills, look no further than Mariana – she is an amazing teacher and you should definitely take classes with her if you want to truly master your English.

Whether it’s exam prep or general English, at some point you’ll find yourself at another level. I’ve been taking English classes with Mariana for about a year, and my goal was CAE prep (I haven’t received my results yet, but I’ll follow up on this when I do).

Here are the main points to mention: Exam structure: Mariana is a pro when it comes to exam structures – she knows all the details of any exam phenomenally well. She doesn’t just know the exams, she understands every nuance, every potential pitfall, ensuring her students are not just prepared, but poised for success. So, once you know which one you’re taking, you can be sure that you’ll be as prepared as possible.

During our lessons, we practiced all parts of CAE with a huge focus on Speaking so I could speak with confidence, structure, demonstrate a wide range of vocabulary, and stay within the time limits. When it came to writing, we practiced all possible formats – essays, formal and informal emails, reviews, and reports on any potential topics. I honed my writing skills to the point where I didn’t need any inspiration to write because I had the structure in mind, which helped me to just write once I saw the topic. This helped EXTREMELY during the exam, where the time limit is 1.5 hours for two pieces of approximately 250 words each.

Vocabulary: I can’t count the amount of new words and phrases I’ve learned AND, more importantly, incorporated into my active vocabulary. This is probably the biggest thing I’m grateful to Mariana for. Not only did it make me feel more confident during the exam, but it also significantly improved my communication at work. It’s also an ineffably cool feeling to read books in English and be able to enjoy them without constantly looking up unknown words. Grammar: Mariana knows the topics and constructions that correspond to the C1 level, which means you won’t just learn the theory and do practice tasks – you’ll include those structures in your Writing and Speaking. ‘Use of English’ was my biggest fear before I started my lessons with Mariana, and I had little faith in my ability to actually improve this.

After some long hours of practice, it dawned on me that I didn’t feel so frustrated about this part anymore, and during the exam, I felt completely confident doing all ‘Use of English’ parts (even part 4!!). On a personal note: Mariana is such a nice person, and it’s a pleasure to talk to her on any given topic.

I genuinely enjoyed our small talks at the beginning of the lessons; it was always so easy to discuss any news with her. Now that I’ve passed my CAE exam and am not taking classes anymore, I miss it all 😭 Homework: There will be some homework, and sometimes it will be quite a lot, but all of it totally makes sense and has only one aim – to help you achieve your goal. For some, Mariana may well appear pushy about actually doing the homework, but as a bit of a disorganized student, I appreciate it ENORMOUSLY.