Reading (PEIC B1)
What this paper tests
PEIC B1 Reading checks whether you understand the main idea and the specific details of everyday texts - emails, notices, adverts, short articles, instructions and web pages. Questions target gist, detail, inference, opinion, reference and text organisation. The paper rewards recognising paraphrase, not spotting identical words.
Core rules
- Read the questions before the text and underline names, numbers, dates, negatives ("not", "except", "only") and question words (why, when, how much, who).
- In most parts, answers follow the order of the text. Once you have found question 3, question 4 is further down.
- The correct option is normally a paraphrase. If an option repeats words from the text, check it twice - it may be a distractor.
- For matching tasks, skim the whole text for topic first, then hunt for the detail.
- For inference, ask "what must be true?" rather than "what might be true?".
Worked example
Text: "The museum's late-opening Thursdays have proved so popular that from May they will run twice a week, on Thursdays and Fridays. Entry remains free, but the café will close an hour earlier on those evenings."
Question: What change starts in May?
A Entry will cost money. B There will be an extra late evening. C The café will close permanently. D The museum will shut earlier.
Answer B: "twice a week" means one late evening more than the current Thursday only. A is contradicted by "remains free". C distorts "close an hour earlier", which is temporary and time-specific, not permanent. D confuses the café with the museum. Notice that A, C and D each recycle a word from the text - "free", "close", "earlier" - which is exactly how distractors are built.
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing an option because it contains a familiar word.
- Missing a negative and answering the opposite.
- Spending too long on one item and losing the easier questions at the end.
- Skipping the title and first sentence, which usually carry the gist.