Hello ExamSeekers,

I usually write here information about the Cambridge Exams because they tend to be more “famous” than the other exams worldwide. This happens because Cambridge Assessment has years of experience developing exams and preparing students to take these exams that assess people’s knowledge about the English language. It is very interesting that there is a university behind that that offers such exams and courses.

However, it is good to know that Cambridge is not the only institution offering these kinds of exams and certifications. It makes Cambridge be constantly updating their tests and the way they assess the candidates. Also, it makes the market in this area more competitive.

Last week, for example, I posted about an exam from another institution: the Michigan Tests. If you haven’t read about it yet, just go there and check it out. Sometimes it is good to know that there are other possibilities for people out there. These exams become more and more accessible.

As for today, we are going back to talking about the Cambridge Exams.

I think I haven’t written about B2: First for a couple of years now, and it is actually one of the most taken exams. Last time, I gave you some tips about Speaking Exam (part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4), now I’m going to take the time and update an old post about the Reading and Use of English. If you haven’t read it yet, take a look at it, it’s more practice.

So, this is a sample of the B2: First Reading and Use of English exam. As always, Cambridge always provides an example for you to know how to complete the task. Let’s take a look:

As we can see, the first paragraph is: Archaeologists (0)………… that perfectly preserved 5,500-year-old show has been discovered in a cave in Armenia in south-west Asia. It is (1)………… to be the oldest leather shoe ever found.

As for answers, there are four possibilities: a) report b) describe c) inform d) tell

According to the sentence above, the archaeologists are providing us with a piece of information, our job is to find out how they are providing it. All four options are fine, but if you read carefully, you will see that they made a discovering, and they are not only informing us about that, but they are reporting their findings. Therefore, the correct word for this is a) report.

The text continues talking about the shoe they found: It had been (0)………… to be the oldest leather shoe ever found. And the options are: a) accepted b) regarded c) assessed d) believed.

By reading the sentence, there is only one possibility: d) believed. So archaeologists believe that this is the oldest leather shoe ever found. It was not “accepted” or “assessed”, they don’t fill out the blank here. Also, they cannot be “regarded” because of sentence structure. We say “rearded as” and not “regarded to be”.

This was an easy sentence, but if you are not sure, go over the words in a sentence one by one. Through the elimination process, it might help you out. Also, study dependant prepositions, they usually help a lot in these cases.

If you want some more samples, please make sure to comment in the comment section below or send me a message on my other platforms.

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Have a great week,
Patricia Moura

OBS: All samples provided by Cambridge.

ANSWER KEY:

1. D
2. A
3. D
4. C
5. C
6. A
7. D
8. C