Cambridge English / CPE / Reading and Use of English

Cambridge English / CPE / Reading and Use of English

 

What’s in the Reading and Use of English paper?

The C2 Proficiency Reading and Use of English paper has different types of text and questions. In one part, you may have to read one long text or three or more shorter, related texts.

Summary

Time allowed: 1 hour 30 minutes
Number of parts: 7
Number of questions: 53
Length of texts: About 3,000 words to read in total
Texts may be from: Books (fiction and non-fiction), non-specialist articles from newspapers, magazines and the internet.

Part 1 (Multiple-choice cloze)

What's in Part 1? A single text with eight gaps. Candidates must choose one word or phrase from a set of four to fill each gap.
What do I have to practise? Idioms, collocations, fixed phrases, complementation, phrasal verbs, semantic precision.
How many questions are there? 8
How many marks are there? 1 mark for each correct answer.

Part 2 (Open cloze)

What's in Part 2? A modified cloze test consisting of a text with eight gaps. Candidates think of the word which best fits each gap.
What do I have to practise? Awareness and control of grammar with some focus on vocabulary.
How many questions are there? 8
How many marks are there? 1 mark for each correct answer.

Part 3 (Word formation)

What's in Part 3? A text containing eight gaps. Each gap corresponds to a word. The stems of the missing words are given beside the text and must be changed to form the missing word.
What do I have to practise? Vocabulary, in particular the use of affixation, internal changes and compounding in word formation.
How many questions are there? 8
How many marks are there? 1 mark for each correct answer.

Part 4 (Key word transformations)

What's in Part 4? Six discrete items with a lead-in sentence and a gapped response to complete in 3–8 words including a given ‘key’ word.
What do I have to practise? Grammar, vocabulary and collocation.
How many questions are there? 6
How many marks are there? Up to 2 marks for each correct answer.

Part 5 (Multiple choice)

What's in Part 5? A long text followed by some multiple-choice questions, each with four options (A, B, C or D).
What do I have to practise? Identifying detail, opinion, attitude, tone, purpose, main idea, implication and how a text is organised.
How many questions are there? 6
How many marks are there? 2 marks for each correct answer.

Part 6 (Gapped text)

What's in Part 6? A text from which paragraphs have been removed and placed in jumbled order after the text. Candidates must decide from where in the text the paragraphs have been removed.
What do I have to practise? Understanding of cohesion, coherence, text structure, global meaning.
How many questions are there? 7
How many marks are there? 2 marks for each correct answer.

Part 7 (Multiple matching)

What's in Part 7? A text, or several short texts, preceded by multiple-matching questions. Candidates must match a prompt to elements in the text.
What do I have to practise? Understanding of detail, opinion, attitude and specific information.
How many questions are there? 10
How many marks are there? 1 mark for each correct answer.