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FCE: Reading (B2 First Paper 1, Parts 5–7)

FCE · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

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Reading (B2 First Paper 1, Parts 5–7)

B2 First Reading occupies Parts 5–7 of Paper 1, sharing a 75-minute paper and a 20% share of the total marks with Use of English. It tests reading for detail, opinion, attitude, purpose, main idea, implication and text structure, plus the ability to locate specific information quickly across multiple texts. Because the paper is shared, every minute spent on Reading is a minute not spent on Use of English - plan the split deliberately rather than by accident.

Part 5: multiple choice

Six four-option questions follow one long text (usually 550–700 words). Questions follow the order of the text, so the answer to question 2 lies between the answers to 1 and 3. Stems test detail, inference, writer's purpose or attitude; correct options paraphrase the text, while distractors recycle its vocabulary.

Part 6: gapped text

Six sentences are removed from a text and you choose from seven options. This is a cohesion test, not a comprehension test. Look at both sides of each gap: pronouns must have a matching antecedent, linkers must signal the right relationship, and lexical chains (commuters → cyclists → they) must connect.

Part 7: multiple matching

Ten questions are matched against four to six short texts or labelled sections. Questions do not follow text order, sections may be used more than once, and at least one section is usually not used at all. Scan for paraphrases of the question, not identical words.

Worked example (Part 6)

A text describes a city's new bicycle lanes. The sentence before the gap reports that cycling has doubled in two years. Option C reads: "This shift has not been welcomed by everyone." It fits because "This shift" needs a singular antecedent describing a change - the rise in cycling - and the following sentence lists complaints from shop owners, which the "not welcomed" clause sets up. A distractor beginning "They were expensive" fails: there is no plural noun for "They" to refer to.

Traps that cost marks

  • Choosing a Part 5 option because it repeats words from the text rather than because it matches the meaning.
  • Ignoring qualifiers: hardly, only, unless, rather than, not necessarily.
  • In Part 6, picking a sentence that fits the topic but breaks the pronoun or linker chain.
  • In Part 7, reading every section in full instead of scanning for the paraphrase.
  • Overrunning on Reading and leaving too little time for the four Use of English parts.