The CUNY Proficiency Exam: Task 1 Skills

You will have two hours to read, think, and write your essay during the CPE Task 1 exam.

Task 1 involves three basic skills: summarizing (the reconstruction of part of the text), comparison (drawing a relationship between the two readings), and applying (relating the readings to other areas and/or personal experiences). In Task 1, the question, or “prompt,” will ask you to demonstrate these skills in a single, unified essay, without making it appear as though you were asking three different questions or portions of the prompt.

Preparing for Task I