Reading
Reading in Skills for English B2 is delivered on computer and uses texts of the kind an educated adult meets at work, in study and in public life. The test asks you to do more than locate words: it checks whether you can identify gist, follow an argument, infer meaning and recognise the writer's attitude. Questions are mostly multiple-choice with three options, plus matching and gapped-text tasks.
Work from the question to the text
Read the question stem first, then scan for the relevant part of the text. Underline the line reference or the paragraph. Eliminate options that are true in general but not stated here, and options that repeat vocabulary from the text while changing the relationship between ideas.
Cohesion carries meaning
At B2, connectives and pronouns do real work: 'however' reverses the previous point; 'although' concedes; 'this' points back to a whole clause. When a sentence is missing, look for the noun or idea the missing sentence must refer to.
Worked example
Text: 'The council's pilot cycle scheme was praised for cutting short car journeys, but shopkeepers on the High Street say deliveries now arrive late because loading bays were removed. The council insists it will review the bays in the autumn.' Question: What is the shopkeepers' main concern? A The scheme has reduced the number of customers. B Deliveries are delayed by the loss of loading space. C The council will cancel the scheme. Answer B. The text gives cause and effect: 'deliveries now arrive late because loading bays were removed'. A is not stated. C distorts 'review the bays' into 'cancel the scheme'. Choosing C is the classic word-matching trap.
Traps that cost marks
- Selecting an option because it contains a word from the text.
- Treating a possibility ('may', 'could') as a fact.
- Spending too long on one item and leaving later, easier items blank.