Estonian Basic-School English Exam study plan
Estonian Basic-School English Exam · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Listening comprehension & Reading comprehension
Establish a daily 15-minute listening habit using short authentic Estonian audio (news clips, podcast excerpts, exam-style dialogues) and log what you understood after each listen
Identify the six most common listening task types in the Estonian basic-school exam (short dialogue, announcement, monologue, matching, true/false, gap-fill) and write down the exact instruction wording for each
Skim three short Estonian texts and underline every unknown word, then sort those words into 'guessable from context' and 'truly unknown'
Practise scanning a text for names, numbers and dates within 60 seconds per question set
Set up a personal vocabulary notebook organised by topic (school, family, travel, health, environment) with at least 40 entries by week end
Your checkpoint
A one-page listening and reading task-type map plus a 40-word topic-sorted vocabulary notebook, submitted as a photo or document
Listening comprehension & Reading comprehension
Complete two full listening sets under timed conditions (audio played twice only, as in the exam) and score them
Transcribe the answers you missed and classify each error as vocabulary, speed, spelling or attention
Read two exam-length texts and answer all questions without a dictionary, then check answers and mark the evidence sentence for each
Practise predicting content from the question stems before you read or listen
Learn 30 high-frequency connective and discourse words (e.g. however, therefore, although) and use each in a written sentence
Your checkpoint
An error log listing at least 15 mistakes with their cause category and the corrected answer
Listening comprehension & Reading comprehension
Increase listening speed by shadowing a 2-minute clip three times per session until you can repeat it at natural pace
Answer matching and true/false listening items with at least 70% accuracy across two attempts
Read one longer text per session and summarise it in three Estonian sentences
Identify distractors in reading options and explain in writing why each wrong option is wrong
Review the week 1-2 vocabulary notebook and retire words you now know confidently
Your checkpoint
Three written three-sentence text summaries plus a distractor analysis of 10 reading questions
Listening comprehension & Reading comprehension
Sit a full timed mock of the listening section and record the score
Sit a full timed mock of the reading section and record the score
Compare mock scores against the week 1 baseline and list the three weakest sub-skills
Re-listen to every missed listening item at 0.75 speed and write the exact words you failed to hear
Build a 20-item personal 'trap list' of recurring errors (spelling, singular/plural, tense, number confusion)
Your checkpoint
A mock score sheet with both section scores, the three weakest sub-skills and a 20-item trap list
Language use: grammar and vocabulary
Review and drill the tense system (present simple and continuous, past simple and continuous, present perfect, future forms) with 40 transformation items
Practise the case and preposition system that trips learners: drill 30 items on prepositions of time and place and on verb plus preposition combinations
Drill word formation: form nouns, adjectives and adverbs from a list of 50 base words
Complete 30 multiple-choice cloze items and justify each answer in one clause
Write 10 sentences using the week's target structures and self-correct them against a grammar reference
Your checkpoint
A grammar drill pack of 100 completed items with corrections marked in a second colour and a list of the five rules you broke most often
Language use: grammar and vocabulary & Writing
Write two short exam-style messages (60-80 words each) and one longer guided text (100-120 words) within the time limit
Apply a three-step writing routine: plan for 2 minutes, draft for 10, check for 3, and use it on every practice text
Build a personal phrase bank of 15 opening formulas, 10 linking devices and 10 closing formulas suited to informal and semi-formal messages
Self-edit drafts against a checklist covering task coverage, tense consistency, subject-verb agreement, spelling and punctuation
Complete 40 vocabulary items on collocations and everyday phrases drawn from your own error log
Your checkpoint
Three marked writing samples with a completed self-edit checklist for each and a 35-item phrase bank
Writing & Speaking
Record yourself answering five speaking prompts (describe a picture, give an opinion, talk about your week, role-play a shop exchange, ask three follow-up questions) at 60-90 seconds each
Listen back to each recording and note fluency breaks, filler overuse and pronunciation problems
Re-record two of the prompts and compare against the first attempt
Write and memorise a 45-second self-introduction and a 30-second opinion frame you can adapt to any prompt
Write one full timed exam essay under exam conditions and mark it against the official criteria you have identified
Your checkpoint
Five audio recordings plus a before-and-after comparison for two prompts, and one timed essay with a self-marked criteria sheet
Listening comprehension & Reading comprehension & Language use: grammar and vocabulary & Writing & Speaking
Sit one full timed mock covering listening, reading, language use and writing in a single session
Review every error from the mock and map it back to the week in which it was first taught
Re-drill only the three weakest areas identified in the mock, 30 minutes each
Rehearse the speaking section twice with a partner or by recording, using the memorised frames
Finalise a one-page exam-day checklist covering timing per section, instruction-reading routine and answer-transfer checks
Your checkpoint
A full mock score report with section-by-section scores, a re-drill log and a one-page exam-day checklist
Milestones
Week 2: You have completed at least two timed listening sets and two timed reading sets and can name your most frequent error type
Week 4: Your timed listening and reading mock scores are recorded and at least 10 percentage points above your week 1 baseline in each
Week 6: You can produce a 100-120 word guided text within 15 minutes that covers every bullet of the task and contains no more than three self-corrected errors
Week 7: Your second recording of the same speaking prompt is noticeably more fluent than the first, with fewer long pauses and no script reading
Week 8: Your full mock total is at or above your target pass mark in every section, and you can state your per-section time budget from memory