From the blurb: "How can you avoid the most common mistakes students make at First Certificate? Based on an analysis of over 10,000 exam scripts, this book looks at real errors made by learners in the exam, and explains how to make sure you get it right."

This is a great little book, which wins on almost all counts: usefulness, price, design and pedigree.

As the title says, it's mainly for people who are studying for the Cambridge First Certificate (FCE) exam, although the 'common mistakes' of the title would be useful for any learner to eliminate.

The book is designed as 30 one-page units, each one covering a specific grammar point or common difficulty, such as 'must or have to', 'When do I use in and to'?' and 'Which common nouns are uncountable?'.

Every three units are followed by a two-page consolidation test, and the units themselves are very easy to understand and quick to complete.

Each unit has the same format, consisting of a little two-question test at the beginning, an explanation with examples, frequent mistakes highlighted, and a final exercise to test what you've learnt. Answers are included at the end of the book.

The 'common mistakes' have been taken from the unique Cambridge Learner Corpus, consisting of thousands of exam papers, which guarantees that these really are some of the biggest problems for learners.

Common mistakes at First Certificate could equally well be used by teachers to quickly consolidate grammar points for exam preparation or general English classes.

A highly recommended title, then, from an excellent little series, in the 'short and snappy' style we are fans of here at Hotch Potch English.

© Sab Will / Hotch Potch English 2008