Reading and Writing (Paper 1): Precise Reading, Controlled Writing
Paper 1 (Reading and Writing) is one paper that pairs comprehension of several texts with short production tasks. You meet short notices and messages, a gapped article, multiple-matching items and a longer passage, then write a short message and a summary. The paper rewards two things: precise reading (locating detail, following inference and writer attitude) and economy in writing.
Reading the texts
- Read the question stem first so you know what to hunt for; it usually names the text type and the kind of answer required (a reason, a number, a place).
- In sentence-insertion (gapped text) items, test cohesion: pronoun reference ("this", "they", "such"), lexical chains and connectors. A sentence opening "As a result" must follow a cause, not a contrast.
- In multiple matching, the correct option paraphrases the text; an option that repeats the text's exact wording is usually a distractor.
- Separate fact from opinion: modal verbs (must, may, could) and evaluative adjectives carry the writer's stance.
Writing the summary
Use only points that answer the focus stated in the question, write continuous prose in your own words, stay inside the word limit, and drop examples, figures and repetition. Anything written after the limit is ignored.
Worked example
Text: "Although the venue has been moved to the community hall, the workshop still begins at 9 a.m., and participants need not bring laptops." Question: What has changed, and what stays the same? Reasoning: "Although" marks a concession, so the change is the venue; "still" and "need not" mark what is unchanged, namely the start time and the equipment requirement. Answer: the venue changed; the time and the equipment rules did not.
Traps
- Lifting long strings verbatim into the summary instead of rewording them.
- Overlooking negative stems such as "Which is NOT true?"
- Giving two answers where one is asked, or answering in the wrong word class (noun phrase versus full sentence).
- Blowing the summary word limit and losing the final points.