Reading & Use of English
What's the Cambridge First Certificate Reading and Use of English exam like?
The test has seven sections and takes 75 minutes:
Reading & Use of English - Part 1
What is reading and use of english part 1 like in the First Certificate exam?
In reading/use of english part 1 you have a gap in the text and you have to choose the correct answer from 4 options (A, B, C or D).
Quick tips for reading and use of english part 1
- Remember the first question (0) is an example, and the answer is on the page. Do not get confused and answer this question.
- Reading lots of text in English is the best way to practise.
- Prepositions are very important (prepositions examples are: of, to, with, out, in etc.)
- Word pairings/phrases are also important, so look at the words before and after to help.
- Finally, slight differences in similar words are also important, for example, the following words have slightly different meanings; moving, trembling, jumping, rattling and are more appropriate for certain specific things than others.
Example Questions
For questions 1-8, read the text below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.
What is genealogy?
Genealogy is branch of history. It concerns family history (1) ........
than the national or world history studied at school. It doesn't merely involve
drawing a family tree, however - tracing your family history can also
(2) ........ in learning about your roots and your identity.
| 1 | a instead | b rather | c except | d sooner |
| 2 | a cause | b mean | c result | d lead |
Answers
Number (1)
We have a comma before the space, so it is a new clause. We need to focus on the word after the gap; than.
So our options are:
| a instead than | b rather than | c except than | d sooner than |
❌ Two of these pairings do not exist in English (A and C), so now we have to look at the meaning between (B) and (D).
🤔 (B) Rather than means to chose/refer to something other than what immediately follows. E.G. I prefer swimming in the sea rather than the pool. Whatever follows rather than is to be considered not important compared to the other option in the sentence.
🤔 (D) (No) sooner… than means that something happens immediately after another action, but ‘sooner’ and ‘than’ are separated. e.g. I had no sooner arrived than everybody left the party.
✅ Clearly, the answer is (B) for this question. (No) sooner… than is quite high level, so don’t worry too much about understanding this, but realise it is not the correct answer here.
Number (2)
Before the space is the linker also. This means we are looking for a clause that has a similar meaning to the first clause, for this question it is not that important but it in others it might be. After the space is the preposition in.
Our options are:
| a cause in | b mean in | c result in | d lead in |
❌ Once again, two of these pairings do not exist in English (A and B), so we need to look at the meanings of (C) and (D).
🤔 (C) Result in is a phrasal verb which means to cause a particular situation to happen, eg. The flood resulted in damage to their house.
🤔 (D) Lead in is a noun which means something that introduces something else, eg. A lead in activity to an English class could be a quick game.
✅ The answer should now be clear; (C).
Reading & Use of English - Part 2
What is reading and use of english part 2 like in the First Certificate exam?
In reading/use of english part 2 you have a gap in the text and you have to think of the missing word - no multiple choice this time!
Quick tips for reading and use of english part 2
- Remember the first question (0) is an example, and the answer is on the page. Do not get confused and answer this question.
- Read the whole text first.
- Don't use abbreviations/contractions; won't = will not (2 words)
- However, remember that can't = cannot (1 word)
- The most common words are:
- ARTICLES (the, a, an)
- RELATIVE PRONOUNS (who, which, where etc)
- AUX VERBS (will, does, has etc)
- CONNECTORS (however, although, because etc)
- POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES (his, her, theirs etc)
- COMPARISONS (than, as etc)
- INTENSIFIERS (so, very, too etc.)
- Read the whole sentence again before answering
- Be careful with verb conjugation eg. use the correct form for 3rd person.
Example Questions
For questions 9-16, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap.
Motorbike stunt rider
I work as a motorbike stunt rider - that is, I do tricks on my motorbike at shows. The Le Mans race track in France was (9) ........ I first saw some guys doing motorbike stunts. I'd never seen anyone riding a motorbike using just the back wheel before and I was (10) ........ impressed I went straight home and taught (11) ......... to do the same.
Answers
Number (9)
🤔 The Le Mans race track is a place. We are looking for a relative pronoun here to link it to an event that happened there, so we use where when we talk about places..
Answer: where
Number (10)
After the gap we have an adjective (impressed), we are therefore looking for either a negative word (eg. not) or an intensifier (so, very, too).
❌ Too is normally used to express something so strong it becomes negative, so we don’t want too here.
🤔 Now, so and very are quite similar. However, so is normally considered to describe something with greater emotion than very.
✅ If we continue to read, he goes "straight home and teaches ......... to do the same". This implies he was impressed with a lot of emotion to go immediately home and try it.
Answer: so
Number (11)
🤔 The man was so impressed he went "straight home and taught ....... to do the same". The gap here obviously implies some form of person. It could be he teaches himself or maybe he teaches a friend? We need to read the next sentence to make sure we write the correct answer..
✅ "It wasn't very long before I began to earn my living at shows performing my own motorbike stunts." - It is the man who learns the tricks. So we need to use a reflexive pronoun in the first person. A reflexive pronoun is when we refer back to the same thing doing the action.
eg. The boy made himself a sandwich.
The boy does the action for the boy, it is the same person so we need to use a reflexive pronoun.
Answer: myself
Reading & Use of English - Part 3
What is reading and use of english part 3 like in the First Certificate exam?
In reading/use of english part you have a gap in the text and you to transform a ‘root’ word into a different form of the ‘root’, changing into verbs, nouns, adjective and adverbs. This is sometimes known as key word transformation.
Quick tips for reading and use of english part 3
- Remember the first question (0) is an example, and the answer is on the page. Do not get confused and answer this question.
- Prefixes and suffixes are particularly important in part 3. Prefixes are
letters we add to the front of a word to change the meaning and suffixes
are letters we add the end of a word to change the meaning. Sometimes
they change the word from positive to negative and sometimes they change
the type of word.
Prefix: happy (adjective) -> unhappy (negative adjective).
Suffix: disappoint (verb) -> disappointment (noun) - Read the whole sentence before answering, this can help you check if you need to make a negative.
- Don't use contractions or 'not' before your word, you can only use one word and there will be an appropriate prefix to make it work.
- Look for clues in the words before the gap, for example, if before the gap it has a/an/the/his/her/its etc. then you will need to transform into a noun.
- Be careful with verb conjugation; eg. use the correct form for 3rd person and plural.
Example Questions
For questions 17-24, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line. there is an example at the beginning (0).
An incredible vegetable
| Garlic, a member of the Liliaceae family which also includes onions, is | |
| (0) COMMONLY used in cooking all around the world. China is currently the | COMMON |
| largest (17) ......... of garlic, which is particularly associated with the | PRODUCT |
| dishes of northern Africa and southern Europe. It is native to central | |
| Asia and has long had a history as a health-giving food, used both to | |
| prevent and cure (18) .......... In Ancient Egypt, workers building the | ILL |
| pyramids were given garlic to keep them strong, while Olympic | |
| athletes in Greece ate it to increase their resistance to infection. |
Answers
Number (17)
🤔 PRODUCT is a noun. Before the gap we have is the largest, so we need to transform to a different type of noun. We can’t just write the same word, it MUST be transformed.
✅ When we talk about a person or place making products, we use the -er suffix. Much like footballer, manager, singer. You should also know to remove to the ‘t’, so the answer is producer.
Answer: producer
Number (18)
🤔 ILL is an adjective. Before the gap we have the verb cure, so we need a noun to be affected by the verb.
✅ To make ill into a noun, we need to use the suffix -ness. Much like happiness and sadness, it becomes illness.
Answer: illness
Reading & Use of English - Part 4
What is reading and use of english part 4 like in the First Certificate exam?
In reading/use of english part 4 you are given a sentence and you need to reword the sentence using 2-5 words, including the word given EXACTLY as written. This is also known as word formation.
Quick tips for reading and use of english part 4
- You must include the word EXACTLY as written. You cannot change a verb into past tense or into 3rd person or into a gerund for example.
- Don’t spend too much time on this, if you aren’t sure of the answer early on, just try your best and come back to it after you’ve finished all other parts.
- Don't use abbreviations/contractions. Remember don't = do not (2 words) but can't = cannot (1 word)
- Spelling is important
- Try to make the sentences as similar as possible, if one sentences uses 'very', use 'very' in your transformed sentence (if not over the word limit)
- You can try to cancel out words that appear in both sentences, so you can see what you need to transform.
Example Questions
For questions 25-30, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentences, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between two and five words, including the word given. Here is an example (0).
Example:
A very friendly taxi driver drove us into town.
DRIVEN
We .................................... a very friendly taxi driver.
The gap can be filled by the words 'were driven into town by'.
25 Joan was in favour of visiting the museum.
IDEA
Joan thought it would be ........................ to the museum.
26 Artuhr has the talent to become a concert pianist.
THAT
Aruther is so ........................ could become a concert pianist.
Answers
Number (25)
🤔 First we need see which key words are missing from the second sentence. In this example, they are 'in favour of visiting'. What does this mean?
In favour means to support or like.
Next we need to look at the keyword we have IDEA. Joan is in favour of it. We need to find a link between 'in favour of' and 'idea'.
We need a positive adjective to describe the idea. We could use: "a good idea" or "an excellent idea" etc. If we use this, we have the following sentence:
❌ Joan thought it would be a good idea visiting to the museum.
This doesn't quite work, as after a clause using thought, we need to use an infinitive, so let's change that.
❌ Joan thought it would be a good idea to visit to the museum.
Oh no! We can't visit to somewhere, what other verbs similar to visit work with to? How about this:
✅ Joan thought it would be a good idea to go to the museum.
Great, now we have something that is grammatically correct and is between 2 and 5 words.
Answer: a good idea to go
Number (26)
🤔 So here we need to include the word that and somehow mention something about talent.
Talent in the first sentence is a noun, in the second sentence we need to change it to an adjective because it says 'Arthur is so...' and we use adjectives after so.
We should be able to figure out that to change talent to an adjective we need to add -ed.
❌ Arthur is so talented that could become a concert pianist.
Something is missing, we need to add a pronoun to begin the next clause
✅ Arthur is so talented that he could become a concert pianist.
Answer: talented that he
Reading & Use of English - Part 5
What is reading and use of english part 5 like in the First Certificate exam?
In reading and use of english part 5 you are given a piece of text to read and then answer 6 questions about the text.
Quick tips for reading and use of english part 5
- Read the text first, don’t even look at the questions until you’ve read the text.
- The questions are in order, so the answer to question 2 is always after question 1 and the answer to question 3 is always after 2 etc. Sometimes it could be question 1 is about paragraph 1, question 2 about paragraph 2 etc.
- Sometimes question 6 is about the text as a whole
- Read both the text and the questions very carefully.
- Cambridge will put some traps in the exam, like using similar keywords in the question that appear in the text, but if you read carefully they could refer to something else and not be the correct answer.
- Look for specific things in the text, don’t use your opinions – only think about the text written.
Example Questions
You are going to read an extract from a novel in which a young woman called Caitlin talks about hr life on an island. For questions 31 - 36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.
We live on the island of Hale. It's about four kilometres long and two kilometres wide at its broadest point, and it's joined to the mainland by a causeway called the Stand - a narrow road built across the mouth of the river which seperates us from the rest of the country. Most of the time you wouldn't know we're on an island because the river mouth between us and the mainland is just a vast stretch of tall grasses and brown mud. But when there's a high tide and the water rises a half a metre or so above the road and nothing can pass until the tide goes out again a few hours later, then you know it's an island.
31 In the first paragraph, what is Caitlin's main point about the island?
- It can be dangerous to try to cross from the mainland
- It is much smaller than it looks from the mainland
- It is only completely cut off at certain times
- It can be a difficult place for people to live in
Answer
Number (31)
🛑 First, it's important to seperate your opinion from the text. You might hate the idea of living on an island, or think what she described sounds dangerous, but does it specifically say those things in the text?
👀 The best thing to do is look for key words that relate to each answer. Something like this for this example:
| a danger | b small size | c cut off at certain times | d difficult to live in |
🤔 It doesn't explicitly talk about any danger or difficulty to live there, so that leaves us with two options.
| b small size | c cut off at certain times |
🖌️ So now let's highlight (or underline) the parts that talk about (B) and (C) in the text.
We live on the island of Hale. It's about 4 kilometres long and two kilometres wide at its broadest point, and it's joined to the mainland by a causeway called the Stand - a narrow road built across the mouth of the river which separates us from the rest of the country. Most of the time you wouldn't know we're on an island because the river mouth between us and the mainland is just a vast stretch of tall grasses and brown mud. But when there's a high tide and the water rises a half a metre or so above the road and nothing can pass until the tide goes out again a few hours later, then you know it's an island.
Just from the amount of lines highlighted in each colour we get an idea what the answer might be, but we should read again to be sure.
❌ The size of the island is not exactly described as small, this is just an opinion that we might have, but the writer hasn't described it as small in anyway.
✅ However, the writer does talk about specific times and when things can pass, meaning that the answer is (C).
Answer: C
Reading & Use of English - Part 6
What is reading and use of english part 6 like in the First Certificate exam?
In reading/use of english part 6 you are given a piece of text to read with some missing sentences. You must then select 6 out of 7 sentences and put in the correct space. You do not need 1 of the additional sentences.
Quick tips for reading and use of english part 6
- Read the whole text first before you even look at the questions.
- Start with the easiest ones first, don't worry about the order.
- Sometimes question 6 of part 6 is about the text as a whole
- The sentences before and after the space are the most important things. Look here for pronouns (it, he, she, they etc.) that match.
Example Questions
You are going to read a newspaper article in which a former ballet dancer talks about the physical demands of the job. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap (37-42). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.
Good preperation leads to success in ballet dancing
A former classical ballet dancer explains what ballet training actuall involves
What we ballet dancers do is instinctive, but instinct learnt through a decade of training. A dancer's life is hard to understand, and easy to misinterpret. Many a poet and novelist has tried to do so, but even they have chosen to interpret all the hard work and physical discipline as obsessive. And so the idea persists that dancers spend every waking hour in pain, bodies at breaking point, their smiles a pretence.
As a former dancer in the Royal Ballet Company here in Britain, I would beg to question this. 37 With expert teaching and daily practice, its various demands are easily within the capacity of the healthy human body. Contrary to popular belief, there is no need to break bones or tear muscles to achieve ballet positions. It is simply a question of sufficient conditioning of the muscular system.
- Through endless tries at the usual exercises and frequent failures, ballet dancers develop the neural pathways in the brain necessary to control accurate, fast and smooth movement.
- The ballet shoe offers some support, but the real strength is in the muyscles, built up through training.
- As technology takes away activity from the lives of many, perhaps the ballet dancer's physicality is ever more difficult for most people to image.
- Ballet technique is certainly extreme but it is not, in itself, dangerous
- The principle is identical in the gym - pushing yourself to the limit, but not beyond, will eventually bring the desired result
- No one avoids this: it is ballet's great democratiser, the well established members of the company working alongside the newest recruits
- It takes at least a decade of high-quality, regular pratice to become an expert in any physical discipline
Answer
Number (31)
🤔 The second paragraph starts with the phrase I would beg to question this. This means we are looking for an opposing view of the paragraph before and something that shows a contradiction (a linker like but, however, yet etc.).
The paragraph before ends talking about dancers being in pain because of dancing and their smiles a pretence (fake).
Let's look at our options at this stage:
- talks about the brain
- talks about the ballet shoe
- talks about technology
- talks about the technique of ballet
- compares it with other sports like going to the gym
- talks about social aspects of ballet
- talks about the amount of practise is necessary
The first paragraph doesn't mention the brain, shoe, technology or social aspects. Therefore we can already reduce the list to three options.
- ❌
talks about the brain - ❌
talks about the ballet shoe - ❌
talks about technology - talks about the technique of ballet
- compares it with other sports like going to the gym
- ❌
talks about social aspects of ballet - talks about the amount of practise is necessary
The sentence after the gap says With expert teaching and daily practice, its various demands are easily within the capacity of the healthy human body.
We should now see that the answer is between (D) and (E) as they both use the word 'but'. Now we need to look at the words used in each.
✅ (D) uses the words technique, extreme and not dangerous, which seem to match the vocabulary from the first paragraph talking about pain and fake smiles.
❌ (E) doesn't use any of this type of language, so the correct answer is (D).
Answer: D
Reading & Use of English - Part 7
What is reading and use of english part 7 like in the First Certificate exam?
In reading/use of english part 7 you are given ten statements and a long text to read (or four smaller texts), divided into paragraphs. You must choose which statement matches which paragraph.
Quick tips for reading and use of english part 7
- Read the questions first, underline key words
- Next, read the text, underline any synonyms of those key words from the statements, write a small number next to the word so you know which statement it is for.
- If the same word from a statement appears in a paragraph it is likely to be a trap and not be the correct answer
- Pay attention to the statement and which person it refers to
Example Questions
You are going to read a newspaper article about a young professional footballer. For questions 43-52 , choose from the sections (A-D). The sections may be chosen more than once.
Rising Star
Margaret Garelly goes to meet Duncan Williams, who plays for Chelsea Football Club.
- It's my first time driving to Chelsea's training ground and I trun off slightly too early at the London University playing fields. Had he accepted football's rejections in his early teenage years, it is exactly the sort of ground Duncan Williams would have found himself running around on at weekends. At his current age of 18, he would have been a bright first-year undergraduate mixing his academic studies with a bit of football, rugby and cricket, given his early talent in all these sports. However, Duncan undoubtedly took the right path. Instead of studying, he is sitting with his father Gavin in one of the interview rooms at Chelsea's training base reflecting on Saturday's match against Manchester City. Such has been his rise to fame that it is with some disbelief that you listen to him describing how his career was nearly all over before it began.
- Gavin, himself a fine footballer - a member if the national team in his time - and now a professional coach, sent Duncan to three professional clubs as a 14 year-old, but all three turned him down. 'I worked with him a lot when he was around 12, and it was clear he had fantastic technique and skill. But then the other boys shot up in height and he didnt. But I was still upset an suprised that no team seemed to want him, that they couldn't see what he might develop into in time. When Chelsea accepted him as a junior, it was made clear to him that this was more of a last chance than a new beginning. They told him he had a lot of hard work to do and wasn't part of their plans. Fortunately, that summer he just grew and grew, and got much stronger as well.'
- Duncan takes up the story: 'The first half of that season I played in the youth team. I got lucky - the first-team manager came to watch us play QPR, and though we lost 3-1, I had a really good game. I moved up to the first team after that performance.' Gavin points out that it can be beneficial to be smaller and weaker when you are developing - it forces you to learnn how to keep the ball better, how to use 'quick feet' to get out of tight spaces. 'A couple of years ago, Duncan would run past an opponent as if he wasn't there but then the other guy would close in on him. I used to say to him, "Look, if you can do that now, imagine what you'll be like when you're 17, 18 and you're big and quick and they won't be able to get near you." If you're a smaller player, you have to use your brain a lot more.'
- Not every kid gets advice from an ex-England player over dinner, nor
their own private training sessions. Now Duncan is following in
Gavin's footsteps. He has joined a national scheme where people like
him give advice to ambitious young teenagers who are hoping to become
professionals. He is an old head on young shoulders. Yet he's also
like a young kid in his enthusiasm. And fame has clearly not gone to
his head; it would be hard to meet a more likeable, humble young man.
So will he get to play for the national team? 'One day I'd love to,
but when that is, is for somebody else to decide.' The way he is
playing, that won't be long.
Which paragraph
states how surprised the writer was at Duncan's early difficulties? 43
says that Duncan sometimes seems much more mature than he really is? 44
Answer
Number (43)
🤔 What are the keywords? suprised... at Duncan's early difficulties Also, it is important to realise who the statement is about, it says 'the writer'.
So now let's think of some synonyms before we read the text.
- SURPRISED - amazed, not believe, shocked
- EARLY - young, at the start of his career, when he was (age)
- DIFFICULTIES - troubles, problems, obstacles
👀 Let's look in the text for synonyms:
- disbelief, rejections, nearly all over before it began
- turned him down, around 12, upset and surprised
- smaller, weaker
- young
I found some others that applied that I didn't think of before the text, but that's ok.
❌ At first, paragraph B looks the best option, it talks about when he was young and it includes the word suprised, which is in the statement. However, this is a trap! Normally, if the word in the statement is the same as a word in a paragraph it's not the correct option.
So why is it not correct? Remember the statement said 'how surprised the writer…. Paragraph B is from the point of view of the father, not the writer.
✅ Answer: A
Number (44)
🤔 What are the keywords? Duncan, mature
Again, think of synonyms for the keywords.
👀 Then look in the text for synonyms or phrases that could mean mature (psst... you might be looking for an idiom/phrase):
Hopefully you found the phrase he is an old head on young shoulders in paragraph D
✅ Answer: D