FCE Reading and Use of English Part 1

Tips
1. Introduction
In part 1 you have a short text with 8 words missing. You must choose from 4 options
the best word for each space. I think part 1 is a nice, easy start. I mean, it's easy in the
sense that it doesn't take much brain energy. You either know the answers or you don't.

2. What it looks like

Here's the start of a text. The example answer (0) is 'branch' - genealogy is a branch of
history.

And the first 2 sets of options.

You know what? Let's go through the process of answering these questions and see
what that tells us about this part of the exam.

1.

The answer can't be instead because it would have to say 'instead of'. 'Rather than' is
good grammar. 'Except than' is wrong - should be 'except for'.

Lesson: You need to know which prepositions go with which words!

What about 'sooner'? There is an advanced phrase with 'sooner than', but it doesn't fit
the meaning of the sentence. The writer wants to say that genealogy is about family
history and not the type of 'big history' that people normally think of. So 'rather than' is
the only choice that fits grammatically and logically.

It took me a couple of minutes to write the explanation, but actually choosing the
answer took me five seconds. If I didn't know all the prepositions I would have just
taken a guess and moved on.

2.
This is another one where prepositions are important. See where it says 'in' after gap 2?
Circle it! Underline it! That's the most important word in the sentence. Only one of the
choices goes with 'in'. I'm not going to tell you which one. Go and study those words!

Summary - we're looking for grammar clues like prepositions, and we're looking for
words that fit the meaning of the sentence.

To do well here you should brush up on phrasal verbs, collocations, and the kinds of
synonyms.

3. Should you read the whole text first?

Good question! Thanks for asking! It depends how much you read English in your daily
life. If you read a lot, you will probably be able to just look at the sentences and find the
best answer.

But most students should read the whole text quickly to get an idea of what the writer
really wants to say about the topic. That will make it easier to choose the answers. The
key word is quickly.

4. Tips
 The best way to prepare for the Reading test is to READ. Read a lot.
 If you know that two of the options have the same meaning, neither can be the
answer. 
 Remember to read the title. It's there to help you.
 Never lose time trying to think of the answer to the example.
 Prepositions!
FCE Reading and Use of English Part 2
Tips

Introduction
This is very similar to part 1, except you don't have a choice of words - you have to
think of the answer all by yourself! Oh, my god!

What does it look like?

Here's half of one:

The answer to (0) is 'as'. I work as a stunt rider.

Should I read the whole text first?

It's a good idea to read through the text before you start thinking of answers. If you don't
read and understand what the writer wants to say you could put the wrong answer. For
example, some words will be negative.

Can I write 'don't' as the answer?

No. Don't is two words - do not. He'll is two words - he will.

But can't is one word, because it's the contraction of cannot.

What are the most common answers?
You'll never have to write 'umbrella' in part 2. It's always grammar stuff.

Articles

I need to go to THE shop.

Heaven is A place on earth.

Auxiliary verbs

When WILL I be famous?

Who HAS eaten all my chocolates?

Linking words

But ALTHOUGH the ozone layer is recovering, we must continue to take care of it.
One of the problems, HOWEVER, is that this technology is very expensive.

Possessive adjectives

It was in HIS bathroom that he had the idea for the flux capacitor.
They discovered the kittens were living in THEIR garage.

Relative pronouns

The Black Widow spider, WHICH is perhaps the most famous of all arachnids, is
actually rather friendly.
The person WHO ate my chocolate is in for a world of pain.

Comparisons

He was as tall AS his brother.

But shorter THAN his father.

Other tips
 Sometimes you'll be able to choose an answer just by looking at the words
before and after the gap. Practice doing that.
 Sometimes you have to read the whole sentence, especially when we're talking
about linking words.
 If your answer is a verb, make sure it agrees with the subject. i.e. I play, you
play, he plays.
 Never use abbreviations. Write 'something' not 'sthg'. THIS IS AN EXAM NOT
A WHATSAPP CHAT. :)
 As always, be careful when filling in the answer sheet. Make sure you write the
words in the right spaces!
FCE Reading and Use of English Part 3
Tips

Introduction
Guess what - it's another text with 8 gaps. This time it's a test of your ability to turn
words into adjectives, nouns, verbs, or adverbs. You also need to know negative forms,
like turning 'interested' into 'disinterested'.

What does it look like?

You get some text with words missing, and on the right is a 'root' word. You have to
change that word to fit the sentence that it's next to. In example (0) the word you have to
use is 'common'. The answer could be something like 'uncommon' or 'commonplace'
(though that's more a CAE word). This time we need 'commonly'. You HAVE to change
the word - you couldn't leave it as 'common'.
Just to make things clear
It's not a task where you match things on the left to things on the right. Everything is
right next to where it should go.

Now, this part of the exam is a lot about nouns, adjectives, and all that stuff. So let's
take a look.

Nouns
The next few paragraphs are a VERY quick guide. To understand this grammar properly
you need a good grammar book.

These things are nouns:

 Names (Captain Jack Sparrow);

 Concepts (time, information);
 Names of jobs or types of people (skiiers, doctors, scientists);
 Things (cheesecake, flowers).

Sometimes you know a noun because of its ending. Look out for: -eer; -tion; -ment, -
age, -al, ance, -hood, -iety, -ness, and so on.

Plural words or possessives are nouns.

Words connected to 'the, my/your/their (etc), whose, another, other, a/an' are probably
nouns. Look:

 I want another banana.

 My banana is bigger than your banana.
 Whose banana is this?
 A banana is a wonderful thing.
How does this relate to FCE part 3?

Change the root word to make nouns that fit the sentences.

It is my __________ that global warming is a big threat to the planet.   BELIEVE

The __________ of One Direction is a complete mystery to me.  POPULAR

It was a great __________ to meet you today.  PLEASE 

(Answers: belief/popularity/pleasure.)

Adjectives
Adjectives describe nouns.

Notice that adjectives often come after the verb 'to be'? What kind of word do you
expect in this gap?

It is __________ to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables.

Yep, an adjective.

So if the root was 'IMPORT' you'd probably know you needed to write 'important' in the
space.

What are the adjective forms of:

ENJOY

BELIEVE

OBJECT
Now plug those answers into these sentences. In one case you need a negative form.

Going to the beach can be very __________.

The way Bolt accelerated through to the finish line was __________.

People being interviewed expect the interviewers to be __________.

 (Answers: enjoyable/unbelievable/objective.)

Adverbs
Adverbs are my favourite! Like adjectives describe nouns, adverbs describe verbs,
adjectives, and other adverbs.

Remember this sentence from a minute ago?

People being interviewed expect the interviewers to be objective.

How objective?

People being interviewed expect the interviewers to be __________ objective.  

COMPLETE

(Answer: to be completely objective.)

Verbs
Can! Will! Should! Must! These are all followed by the infinitive without 'to'. So if you
see this in the exam:

The most important factor seems to be how quickly muscles can contract and thus
__________ the time a runner's foot is in contact with the ground.  MINIMUM

The word 'can' there connects with the verb 'to contract'. But it ALSO connects to the
word in the gap. They're both verbs. So all I need to do now is learn what the verb form
of MINIMUM is.

The most important factor seems to be how quickly muscles can contract and thus
minimise the time a runner's foot is in contact with the ground.

Positive or Negative?
Read the sentences carefully because some of the words you need are in the negative
form.

Example 1:

When I began cycling, I found the flat rounds easy but the hills almost __________.  
POSSIBLE

That's a pretty clear example of a sentence that needs a negative word in the gap. The
first adjective, 'easy', is positive. Then there is the word 'but' which introduces a
contrast. Using another positive word would be kerrrrazy. Also, we HAVE to change
the word. We cant' leave it as 'possible'. So that leaves us with the only option of
'impossible'.

Example 2:

Even skilled interviewers may, without realising it, __________ favour people who
make them feel at ease.   CONSCIOUS

This is from a text about job interviews. What kind of word do we need in the gap? The
biggest clue is the word 'may'. I know that may connects to the word favour. That means
that favour is a verb. So the word that goes in the gap describes a verb - that's called an
adverb.
The adverb of conscious is 'consciously'. But the meaning of the missing, which I know
from the context of the whole text, has to be negative. The negative word we're looking
for is 'unconsciously'.
FCE Reading and Use of English Part 4
Tips

1. Introduction
Known as 'word formation', this is one of the hardest parts of the whole exam. It tests
your grammar and vocabulary. 

You are given a sentence and a keyword. You have to be able to complete a second
sentence so that it has the same meaning as the first sentence using 2-5 words.

Like this:

English food is better than Italian food.  

AS
Italian food __________________ English food.

The answer: Italian food is not as good as English food.

2. The Rules / Common Mistakes

 You MUST use the keyword, and you can't CHANGE the keyword. If the
keyword is 'follow' you cannot write 'follows' or 'following'.
 You must use between 2 and 5 words. It might be possible to create a
grammatically correct sentence by writing 13 words, but you will get no points
for that.
 Contractions count as two words. Didn't = did not; isn't = is not; etc. However,
can't = cannot = one word.
 Correct spelling is very important here
 Write your answers in CAPITAL LETTERS
3. Don't Waste Time Here
Because this part of the exam is so hard, do it quickly. Some questions will be too hard
for you - write your best guess and move to the next one. If there is an answer you
know, take a few seconds to double-check that what you have written makes sense.

4. General Tips
* Make sure the nouns and verbs in your sentence 'agree' with each other. I play/you
play/he plays.

* Try to keep the meaning from the first sentence. Use the same words where possible.
Example:

John finds trains very interesting.  

IN
John is very interested in trains.

Not that I didn't write 'John is interested in trains'... the first sentence says 'very
interesting'.
5. Some Case Studies
01. Paula can't wait to hear the band's new album.
FORWARD
Paula is really ________________________________ the band's new album.

One thing you could do is to match parts of the second sentence to the first sentence to
see what's missing. Let me try to show you what I mean.

Paula can't wait to hear the band's new album.

FORWARD
Paula is really ............................................ the band's new album.

Does that make sense?

Now we can see that the phrase starting with 'is really...' means 'can't wait to hear'.

So do you know a phrase with 'forward' inside? Of course you do! You write some
version of it at the end of every email:

I'm looking forward to meeting you.

I look forward to meeting you.

Grammar tip - in that construction 'to' is a preposition so the verb the follows must be a
gerund (meeting/seeing/visiting etc).

So...

01. Paula can't wait to hear the band's new album.

FORWARD
Paula is really ___looking forward to hearing__ the band's new album.

Why did I use the verb 'hearing'? Because the original sentence used the verb 'hear'.
Easy!

Next one.

02. It's a shame I'm not able to come to your party on Saturday.
COULD
I ................................................................................... to your party on Saturday.

This one is a little bit tricky because there are so many ways to use the word 'could' in
English. Also, you have to be careful to get the right tense. When is the party? Past or
future? Yep, future.

Here are some wrong answers:

I could not come to your party on Saturday.     (that has a past meaning)
I couldn't have come to your party on Saturday.   (also past)

Anyway, we have to say 'it's a shame'. Here's the right answer:

I wish I could come to your party on Saturday.
or
I wish that I could come to your party on Saturday.

That means exactly the same as the original sentence. You could also say 'I wish I could
GO to your party' but I advise you to use the same verb that's in the first sentence unless
you have a good reason to change it.

FCE Reading and Use of English Part 5

Tips
1. Introduction
Part 5 is a long text with 6 multiple-choice comprehension questions. You have to show
that you can understand what writers want to say.

It might take you some time to do this part of the exam, but students who practice a lot
can do it faster.

2. General Tips
 The answers are the same order as the questions - so the answer to question 1 is
near the beginning of the article, and answer 2 ALWAYS comes after answer 1.
Sometimes question 6 is about the whole text.
  Try your best to read what is SAYS in the text and don't bring your own opinion
into the topic. Example - if I read a text about teaching English then I read it
very quickly because I'm already an 'expert' in the topic. Sometimes the answers
match what you think about a topic, but sometimes they don't. Be careful!
 Read as much English as you can. Read Harry Potter. Read The Economist. You
will notice a big difference in how easy this task is after a few months of
reading.
 Read the QUESTIONS as carefully as the text itself.

3. Advanced Tips
* Read the text BEFORE the questions. This is the most efficient way to do it. Don't
argue with me. Just do it.

* Be careful of TRAPS! If a word in an answer is also in the text, it's probably NOT the
answer. Example:

Once upon a time there was a handsome Englishman and many women around the
world fell in love with him because he was so kind and generous.
01. Why did women love the Englishman?
A   Because he was English.
B   Because he was handsome.
C   Because they were kind and generous.

So what's the answer? None of them! It's certainly not C because 'they' means the
women. The answer is, of course, 

D   Because he was kind and generous.

* Another trap is when more than one answer is mentioned in the text.

Once upon a time there was a handsome Englishman and many women around the
world fell in love with him because he was so tall, kind and generous, but most of all
because he had a great collection of Pokemon.
02. What is the main reason the women loved the Englishman?
A   Because he was tall.
B   Because he was kind.
C   Because he was generous.
D   Because of his Pokemon collection.

As you can see, all 4 options are mentioned in the text. However, the question says
'what is the MAIN reason', and that links to 'most of all' in the text. So the answer is....
have you got it yet?... D again.

FCE Reading and Use of English Part 6

Tips

1. Introduction
You have to read another long text. This time, some sentences have been removed.
Your job is to put them back into the right place.

There are 6 gaps, and 7 sentences, so there is one you won't use.

This can be a hard part of the exam, but the answers are actually very logical. The tips
on this page should make it easier.

2. General Tips
Read the text with the gaps first (before the questions). It's very helpful to know what
the text is about and get some idea of the structure of the writing BEFORE you start
trying to find the answers.

The most important sentences are the ones before and after each gap - read these very
closely.

You don't have to fill in the answers in order - start with the one you think is easiest and
when you get to the most difficult one there will only be 2 answers left.

3. The Text is Full of Clues

Like in a good Agatha Christie book, there are lots of clues to the right answer.

What sort of clues are in a text? 

 Names and pronouns (Jack... he... this...)

 Chronology (Then... Finally...)
 Quotation marks ("I couldn't believe it.")
  Contrast words (However, but)
 Verb tenses (had gone... will have finished)
 Cause and effect (Therefore... as a result...)
 Repetition (in other words...)

Let's look at each clue type in more detail.

NAMES AND PRONOUNS 1

Once upon a time there was a boy named Jack. [1] __________________________.
Then he died.

Choose one of these sentences to go in gap [1]:

A - He ate all the chocolate in London.

B - Their house was on a hill.

That's pretty easy, isn't it? Jack is a 'he', not a 'their'. There's also a logical connection
between eating all the chocolate and dying.

NAMES AND PRONOUNS 2

The documentary featured interviews with many of top scientists.

[2] __________________________.  But the story was not funny, and many viewers
complained about its depressing ending.
A - It was watched by 8 million people.
B - One was Simon Baron-Cohen, brother of the famous comedian.

This one is hard. A could be the answer because 'it' means 'the documentary'. But B
could be the answer because 'one' refers to 'top scientists'. But it is still useful to look at
names and pronouns because in the exam you will have 7 answers to choose from.

So in this example what do we do next? The three sentences must fit together like a lock
fits a keyhole.

The clue is in the relationship between the words but, funny, and comedian. Those
three words fit together perfectly. 

The word 'but' is a good example of a contrasting phrase, which brings us to...

CONTRASTING PHRASES

We've seen an example of 'but'. Here's another one:

At first, the show was not popular. [3] __________________________. 

A - However, in 2014 more people watched it every week and it ended the year as the
number 1 show in America.
B - In 2014 more people watched it every week and it ended the year as the number 1
show in America.

Which do you think is a better story?

Answer A gives a nice contrast. At first the show was not popular but later it WAS
popular. The word 'however' introduces the change from negative to positive.

TIME PHRASES

In the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood, actors and actresses were tied to one-sided
contracts. [4] __________________________. 
A - These days, however, they are free to choose projects that interest them.
B - More movies are now made in India than in Los Angeles.

'The golden age' is a time period in the past which contrasts with 'these days'. Basically
it means 'in the past... but now...'

Sentence B might be true, but has nothing to do with this story.

Quotation Marks

Sometimes the gap will be in speech marks ("") - that makes it pretty easy to find the
answer. Which of the sentences sounds like it was said by a person? If there is a text
written in a neutral tone and one of the answers has the word 'I' then that must be in
quotation marks.

But there was more to his performance than scoring the winning goal. He also
motivated his younger teammates. '[5]_____________________.'
A - He had become a true leader.
B - I felt like I was on top of the world.

See? It can only be B.

And the Other clues?

There are more tips that I could give you about this section, and maybe I will in a video.
But the best advice is for you to practice this exercise and learn how the answers are
chosen. 

You and a friend could take a text each, remove some sentences, and test each other.
Once you've tried to put the sentences back, you could discuss whether those were the
same sentences that Cambridge would remove from the text.

FCE Reading and Use of English Part 7

Tips
1. Introduction
Here you have 10 statements that you have to match to the information in one long text
or a few shorter texts.
As you can see in this example, it's possible to have lots of the same answer. Text A
might match with 2, 3, or 4 answers.

2. How to Do It
Start by reading the introduction to the task (the part that says 'you are going to read...')
and the title of the article (in this case 'Rising Star') - they give you an idea of what the
text is about.

Now you have two options - you can either read the questions first or the text first.
Cambridge put the questions before the text because they suggest students read the
questions first.

So let's assume you're going to read the questions first. Underline the key words and
phrases.

Then read section A of the text and try to find 2 or 3 sentences that match. Repeat with
B, then C, etc.

3. Tips
Your job is to find synonyms - if a word is in both the text and a question it is probably
NOT the answer. That would be much too easy, wouldn't it?

When you're practicing this part of the exam, underline the part of the text that you
think matches the question. Then when your teacher asks you why you chose that
answer, you'll be able to tell him. That will help him diagnose your mistakes. If you're
training alone, underlining your reasons will help you see why you made mistakes.
A lot of the questions are about peoples' thoughts and feelings, so learn as much of that
vocabulary as possible. For example, make sure you know words like regret, accuse,
reassure.