Hello ExamSeekers,

Last week I was looking at the content I wrote here, and I realized that I had two samples of the B2 First Exam (former FCE) in the same post. So I decided to divide them in two and avoid overwhelming you with so many tests. Therefore, this is the first sample of the B2 First Reading and Use of English Exam. If you want the other sample, take a look at B2: First Reading and Use of English [Part 1B].

Also, if you want to check all the other content related to the B2 First, check out the list below.

Speaking Exam divided into 4 parts:

• Part 1: Interview;
• Part 2: Long Turn;
• Part 3: Collaborative Task;
• Part 4: Discussion.

Reading and Use of English Exam divided into 7 parts:

• Part 1: Multiple-Choice Cloze;
• Part 2: Open Cloze;
• Part 3: Word Formation;
• Part 4: Key Word Transformation;
• Part 5: Multiple Choice;
• Part 6: Gapped Text;
• Part 7: Multiple Matching;

So today, let’s talk about the B2: First Reading and Use of English Part 1 – Multiple-Choice Cloze.

This is a fill-in-the-gap multiple-choice question activity. It is basically a text with missing information which you should complete with some of the provided words.  Each question has four options (A, B, C or D) – you have to decide which is the correct answer. It seems pretty simple, right? However, these texts usually come with similar words or synonyms to trick you. Therefore you must study collocations hard because this is what is going to save you.

Here is a sample of part 1:

As you can see in the example, Genealogy is a ______ of history. What we want to say here is that it is a part of history. If you look at the provided words (band, set, branch, series), we don’t have this word as an option, so we need to find one that is equivalent to “part”. Which word would be similar to “part” in this case? Exactly, branch.

Now, let’s go to number 1: It concerns family history, (1)____ than the national or world history studied at school. Well, what can we put here to fill this gap? We could predict an option based on the word “than”, so we can expect here a comparison, right? It’s a possibility. Let’s see the alternatives first:

As you can see, most of them might fit, right? Not exactly. Remember that I talked about collocations? Well, it’s essential to have that in mind:

1. instead of
2. rather than
3. except for
4. sooner than

From the options above, we would have to eliminate at least two words because they don’t collocate with “than” (“instead of” and “except for“). From the context, you can eliminate “sooner” as well, and it leaves you with “rather“. And this is your correct option.

The same happens to number 2: It doesn’t merely involve drawing a family tree, however – tracing your family history can also (2) ____  in learning about your roots and your identity.  The word that follows the gap is “in”.

So let’s try and see if the alternatives provided colocate with “in”:

1. Can also cause in
2. Can also mean in 
3. Can also result in
4. Can also lead in

Which one collocates? If you are in doubt, there is an app (also a website) called: Collocation Dictionary, which you can use to check the collocation of the words/prepositions. Take a look.

So, do you have the answer? That’s right, the correct alternative is C “result”. This is the only word that collocates appropriately with the preposition “in”.

Before you can try them all by yourselves, take a look at number 7:  The survey also concluded that the (7)___________ back you follow your family.

We are looking for a word that means that we are looking back at your genealogy tree, right? So it is related to “older“, but you cannot say “older back”, they don’t collocate. Moreover, the idea is to look more and more at your family history. So “higher” doesn’t match because we are not talking about the altitude, and it’s not “greater” either because it’s not about size or quality. The only word that would fit properly is “further“, which means: more and more (into the past).

Do you get it? Now it’s your turn to try and match the gaps to the correct words. Read the text, check the options, and decide on your answers. When you finish, you can take a look at the answers down below! 😛

You can always find samples at the Cambridge Assessment website. They always provide us with samples for us to test our English.

I hope you have enjoyed it and that the samples helped you understand how this part of the Exam works. If you have questions or want to share some thoughts, comment in the comment section below. Remember that there is another Reading and Use of English – Multiple Choice Cloze sample here.

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Have a great week,
Patricia Moura

OBS: All samples provided by Cambridge.

ANSWER KEY:
1. rather
2. result
3. access
4. expense
5. remark
6. reveals
7. further
8. participated