Hello Exam Seekers,
I have already been through the C1: Advanced Part 1: Multiple-choice cloze, Part 2: Open cloze, Part 3: Word formation and Part 4 – Key word transformation. Today I’m going through Part 5.
The Reading and Use of English exam is long, that’s why you have 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete it. There are many texts to read and a total of 8 parts.S So try to plan ahead how you want to divide your time because otherwise, you might end up without time enough to complete the tasks.
Part 5: Multiple choice
In this part, candidates have to read a text to answer some multiple-choice questions that follow. There are 6 questions about the text and for each, there are four options (A, B, C or D). Candidates will earn a total of 2 marks for each correct answer.
This is the kind of task which is necessary to understand opinion, tone, purpose, main idea, implication, attitude… Candidate should study Reading for Detail for this task.
Here is a sample of the text you have to read for part 5:
Keep in mind that you don’t have much time to answer all the Reading Exam if you don’t come up with strategies. Remember that you have to answer 6 questions? This text contains 5 paragraphs, so it’s possible to divide the questions by paragraphs. Another thing is that you probably won’t have the time to read the whole text and enjoy it, so an interesting strategy – the one I use – is to look at the questions first before skimming the text.
Question:
31 What problem regarding colour does the writer explain in the first paragraph?
A Our view of colour is strongly affected by changing fashion.
B Analysis is complicated by the bewildering number of natural colours.
C Colours can have different associations in different parts of the world.
D Certain popular books have dismissed colour as insignificant
As you can see, my strategy was right: question number one ask us to answer A, B, C, or D by reading the first paragraph. The strategy that follows is reading the options and underlining any important information given:
A Our view of colour is strongly affected by changing fashion.
B Analysis is complicated by the bewildering number of natural colours.
C Colours can have different associations in different parts of the world.
D Certain popular books have dismissed colour as insignificant
After that, let’s read the first paragraph and find our answer:
This book examines how the ever-changing role of colour in society has been reflected in manuscripts, stained glass, clothing, painting and popular culture. Colour is a natural phenomenon, of course, but it is also a complex cultural construct that resists generalization and, indeed, analysis itself. No doubt this is why serious works devoted to colour are rare, and rarer still are those that aim to study it in historical context. Many authors search for the universal or archetypal truths they imagine reside in colour, but for the historian, such truths do not exist. Colour is first and foremost a social phenomenon. There is no transcultural truth to colour perception, despite what many books based on poorly grasped neurobiology or – even worse – on pseudoesoteric pop psychology would have us believe. Such books unfortunately clutter the bibliography on the subject, and even do it harm.
As you can see, the text gives us several words that make us confused about the answer:
A Our view of colour is strongly affected by changing fashion. >>> “the ever-changing role of colour in society”,
B Analysis is complicated by the bewildering number of natural colours. >>> “but it is also a complex cultural construct that resists generalization and, indeed, analysis itself. No doubt this is why serious works devoted to colour are rare”
C Colours can have different associations in different parts of the world. >>> “Colour is first and foremost a social phenomenon. There is no transcultural truth to colour perception”
D Certain popular books have dismissed colour as insignificant >>> “based on poorly grasped neurobiology”, “books unfortunately clutter the bibliography on the subject,”
However, you should focus on the precise words of the questions to give your answer, and if you do that, you will certainly see that there’s only one option correct:
C Colours can have different associations in different parts of the world. >>> Colour is first and foremost a social phenomenon. There is no transcultural truth to colour perception.
>> In other words, it’s different in every culture.
Were you able to understand the mechanics? Here are the other questions so that you can try and answer them:
32 What is the first reason the writer gives for the lack of academic work on the history of colour?
A There are problems of reliability associated with the artefacts available.
B Historians have seen colour as being outside their field of expertise.
C Colour has been rather looked down upon as a fit subject for academic study.
D Very little documentation exists for historians to use.
33 The writer suggests that the priority when conducting historical research on colour is to
A ignore the interpretations of other modern day historians.
B focus one’s interest as far back as the prehistoric era.
C find some way of organising the mass of available data.
D relate pictures to information from other sources.
34 In the fourth paragraph, the writer says that the historian writing about colour should be careful
A not to analyse in an old-fashioned way.
B when making basic distinctions between key ideas.
C not to make unwise predictions.
D when using certain terms and concepts.
35 In the fifth paragraph, the writer says there needs to be further research done on
A the history of colour in relation to objects in the world around us.
B the concerns he has raised in an earlier publication.
C the many ways in which artists have used colour over the years.
D the relationship between artistic works and the history of colour.
36 An idea recurring in the text is that people who have studied colour have
A failed to keep up with scientific developments.
B not understood its global significance.
C found it difficult to be fully objective.
D been muddled about their basic aims.
The Answer key is at the end of the post. If you are stuck and still don’t know how to do this part of the exam or if you are having trouble, comment in the comment section below that I might be of aid. Don’t forget to follow me at:
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Have a great week,
Patty
PS: Answer key:
PART 5
31 C
32 A
33 C
34 D
35 D
36 C