B2 First Prep

Hi there, Maya here thank you for tuning in for our second episode of B2 First Prep. I am so happy to have you.

In today’s episode, I will walk you through how to do the Cambridge First Certificate of English (FCE) Reading and Use of English Paper - Part 1

Now before we start I want to share some news with you. A brand new Masterclass is coming soon and I don’t want you to miss out on the opportunity of getting all the details about it, so if we are not yet friends on social don’t be shy and come say hi on Instagram. You can find me @teachmemaya 

With that out of the way let’s talk business…the Reading and Use of English is the first paper on the exam. My students always got confused when I said paper so let’s give it a different name. It is the first part of the exam. This part of the exam lasts 1 hour 15 minutes and it has 7 parts. 

I will focus on part one of the exam today it is the easiest in my opinion and that is why I always tell my students they should focus on it last. Why is part one so easy? Because it is a multiple-choice cloze. So, it is a choose the correct word type of exercise. You are given a short text of 150-160 words. It is not very long but it does have 8 gaps plus one as an example and you’ll pick your answer from one of four choices. A, B, C, or D, and each correct answer receives a point.  

Things to remember, number one is that you are not required to do the example, and I recommend not wasting your time on it. After all, if you review for the exam you will know exactly what to expect on each task. Number two is that you can guess, points won’t be deducted for a wrong answer. And that is why I always ask my students to complete this part of the exam at the end because if you run out of time if you don’t have much time left it is easier to circle the word than to write two or three words in a gap.

In part one, the main focus is on vocabulary, for instance, idioms, collocations, fixed phrases, phrasal verbs, and semantic precision. Now, those are fancy words, semantic precision but what do they mean? It means, how exact is the meaning of words within a text. In other words, it tests your knowledge and understanding of what words go naturally with which words.

So how do you do the Reading and Use of English Part 1? Well, you are listening to the B2 First Prep Podcast and this is what I live for…and I will tell you step-by-step.

First step: Read the title to get a general idea of what the text is all about. Believe it or not, this will help your brain get ready.

Second step: Deal with the gaps one by one. You must read carefully the words and sentences that are before and after the gap. You wouldn’t be listening to this podcast if the FCE was a piece of cake for you. Know this, the words to choose from will be similar in meaning, but only one will fit the gap correctly. Check to see if the word you’ve chosen fits the sentence grammatically. Look at the prepositions or collocations. You can even read it and ask yourself if it sounds natural. 

 Let’s look at some example sentences together.

Ready?

Here we go…

1. Excuse me, I would like to have a word_______________you.

A to B for C at D with

If you have just started getting ready for the FCE Test then you should first, read the sentence then look at the words before and after the gap. Have you heard an expression with any of them? 

If you don’t know which one is the correct one, then try each word in the gap and check whether it fits the grammar of the sentence.

If by now you don’t know the answer just guess and move on there is no time to be wasted.

The answer is D with this question tests your knowledge of collocations we always say have a word with.

Here is another example:

The Barranquilla Carnival, ______to be the biggest in the world after Rio’s, is held annually on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.

Your choices are:

A declared B claimed C pretended D announced

You can pause the episode now and answer I will be giving you the answer in a few seconds.

The answer is B… 

The Barranquilla Carnival, claimed to be the biggest in the world after Rio’s, is held annually on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.

This question tests your vocabulary and use of collocations. Collocations are very important for the FCE and I recommend you try to read diverse texts or have a notebook with you the next time you watch your favorite show in English so you can write down some collocations that you notice as well as phrasal verbs.

I know that the second exercise was a bit harder than the first. But you got through it alive. If you would like more exam advice and more FCE preparation content. Then join my Facebook group B2 First Prep with Maya Soto I do go live there every week with free lessons for you. And you can find the link where you are listening to this episode.

Thank you so much for being part of my digital community. 

Bye for now.

In this episode, I walk you through the parts of an informal email/letter and how to write it so you can get a great mark on Part 2 of the FCE Writing Paper. 

Click here to access free resources from Cambridge. 

Download the FREE WRITING CHECKLIST HERE!

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