FCE - READING Parts 5,6,7

• English
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Reading Exam

• Time management (suggested order) 
• Tips for part 5 (Reading Multiple Choice
• Tips for part 6 (
• Tips for part 7(

The film clip on the following slide is for ALL Cambridge exams, listen carefully so that you can skip part 8 as this is not in FCE!

Time management

The reason I chose the clip is because I really agree with what he says about the order to do the exam questions in. 

Start with the Reading paper 5,6,7 (give yourself 50 minutes)

Then go back to the Use of English 4,3,2,1 (give yourself 25 minutes)

You will need to spend the most time on the Reading paper.

What is part 5?

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.

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.

Tips for Part 5

• Read the text first to get the general meaning.
• Don't worry about individual words that you don't know.
• The questions follow the same order as the relevant information in the tet.
• Underline the key words in each question and in the four options.

What is part 6? 

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.

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.

Tips for part 6

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...)

What is Part 7?

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.

How to Do Part 7

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.

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. 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.

Tomorrow, we will try!

Have your FCE mock Reading and UoE paper with you.