CPE Reading Paper Part 1 – Teacher’s notes

Description
This activity prepares students for the multiple-choice lexical cloze questions in Part 1. The activity
raises awareness of the different aspects of vocabulary that are tested in this part of the reading
paper.

Time required: 20 Minutes

Materials  student’s worksheet,
required:  sample task

Aims:  to prepare students for the multiple-choice lexical cloze questions

 to raise awareness of the different aspects of vocabulary that are
tested in this part

Procedure
1. Give out copies of the student’s worksheet and the sample task. Ask students to look at the
sample Reading Paper Part 1 task and explain that by answering worksheet exercise 1
questions 1–5, they will find out what they have to do in Part 1.
2. Go through the answers (see key), making sure that all the points are covered.
3. Explain that you are now going to work through exercise 2 questions 6–10. Tell students that
they are going to read only the first text quickly. Set a time limit of approx. 1 minute. Explain
that if they find unknown words, they should try to deduce meaning from context if possible. If
not, once everyone has finished reading, ask other students to explain it and if they can’t, to
ask the teacher.
4. Once students have read the first text on their own and summarised it orally in pairs (question
7) , go through the types of vocabulary in the box (question 8) to make sure that students
understand them. Ask students to decide what type of vocabulary is being tested in each gap.
They should choose the type of vocabulary from the types in the box. Point out that they do
not need to use all of them and that it may be possible to argue that there may be two
answers. (See key.)
5. Ask students to work in pairs and to do questions 1–6 in 6–10 minutes (question 9). Remind
them to look carefully at text before and after the gap as this will help them choose the correct
answer. It is also important to read the answers in the context of the whole text when they
have finished because this helps them check that their answers make a coherent complete
text. It’s tempting sometimes to complete a gap at sentence level and then later to realise that
it doesn’t fit in with the gist of the whole text. (See key.)
6. Go through the answers (question 10) using the key to highlight how answers should be
reached. Make sure that students understand that at CPE level students are required to have
a good understanding of all aspects of vocabulary e.g. collocations, fixed phrases, idioms,
phrasal verbs, specific vocabulary.
Additional information
This part tests the candidates’ control and range of vocabulary.

Each correct answer in Part 1 receives 1 mark.

This task requires candidates to select from four options the correct word or phrase to fit in each of six
gaps in a text. This involves choosing the answer that correctly fits the meaning within a phrase or
sentence, and candidates may also have to take into account the broader context of the previous or
following sentences or the whole text. The texts are from a variety of sources and may be formal,
neutral or informal in style. Each text has a title. There is no example answer.
Some items focus on the meaning of individual words; this may involve choosing, e.g. ‘leaking’ rather
than ‘pouring’, ‘spilling’ or ‘flowing’ to fill the gap in: ‘The roof of our tent was … ’. In other cases
candidates need to be aware of how the word is used in context; this may involve, e.g. choosing
‘interested’ rather than ‘keen’, ‘eager’ or ‘enthusiastic’ to fill the gap in: ‘You may be … in applying for
this job’. In this example, ‘keen’ is wrong not because it has the wrong meaning but because it does
not fit in with the grammar of the sentence. This part of the paper also tests fixed phrases, idioms and
collocations such as ‘to pay attention to’ and ‘to take no notice of’ as well as phrasal verbs, and linkers
such as ‘in case’, ‘as long as’ , ‘even if’ and ‘while’.
Candidates should select one option for each question and mark it in some way, e.g. by circling the
letter A, B, C or D on the question paper. Once they are satisfied that they have made the appropriate
selections, they should transfer their answers to the answer sheet.

Suggested follow-up question

Ask students to do sample paper questions 7–12 and 13–18 and then discuss the answers as a class,
saying what type of vocabulary is being tested.
CPE Reading Part 1 – answer keys

Key to Student’s Worksheet Exercise 1

1. They have to read 3 short unrelated texts and answer 6 4-option questions on each text.
2. They should notice the instructions or rubric. Elicit that the rubric tells them what they have to
do.
3. They should notice that they are given a title Keas – not just pretty parrots.
4. The title helps students have a context for the text; this helps readers to be able to predict
some of the content and vocabulary.
5. Point out that students should read the title first to get a general idea of what the text is about.
It is recommended that they read the whole text first so that they can start thinking about the
text type and overall meaning.
Key to Student’s Worksheet Exercise 2
7. The first text describes keas’ curiosity and how by copying each other they can learn new
tasks quickly and easily.
8. The aspect of vocabulary being tested in each question is:
1 e collocation
2 f phrasal verb
3 c or a fixed phrase/meaning of individual word
4 e collocation
5 c fixed phrase
6 e collocation

10.
1 insatiably is the only adverb that collocates with curious.
2 to pick up means to learn, often by copying. Take up means start as in a new hobby, lift
up means to raise, pull up also means to raise but by pulling, so pick up is the only
phrasal verb that has a meaning that fits the sentence.
3 in the process is a fixed phrase; the other words, procedure, measure and technique
are not used with the pattern in the ……..
4 performed collocates with task; you could conceivably present a task, for example, a
teacher can present a task to her students, but it does not fit here. The other verbs,
enacted and staged might be more suitable in a text about the theatre.
5 Sure enough is a fixed phrase. True enough and fair enough do exist as phrases but in
the text we are not emphasising the truth or fairness of the matter.
6 Rate is the only word from the options which collocates with success.
Key to Sample Task
1 A 10 A
2 C 11 B
3 B 12 D
4 C 13 C
5 B 14 A
6 D 15 A
7 B 16 B
8 A 17 C
9 C 18 D
CPE Reading Part 1 – Student’s worksheet

Exercise 1
In order to find out what you have to do and what is being tested in Part 1 of the Reading
paper, go through questions 1–5 in pairs.
1. Look at the sample Reading Paper Part 1 below. What do you have to do in this part?
2. Look at the beginning of Part 1. What do you notice first?
3. What do you notice about the first text?
4. Why are you given the title?
5. How would you go about doing the task? Would read the text stopping after each gap to read
the options or would you read the whole text first?

Exercise 2
Do questions 6 – 9.
6. Read only the first text quickly and ask if there are any words which you do not understand.
7. Summarise the text orally in pairs.
8. Decide what type of vocabulary is being tested in each gap. Choose the type of vocabulary
from the types in the box.

Types of vocabulary Examples

a. the meaning of individual leaking, spilling, flowing
words
b. the grammar of words keen on doing
c. fixed phrases be that as it may,
d. idioms to pull the wool over someone’s eyes
e. collocations densely populated
f. phrasal verbs to give in to
g. linkers even if, while

9. Do questions 1–6, in about 6–10 minutes. Look carefully at text before and after the gap as
this will help you choose the correct answer.
10. Check your answers with the teacher. Be prepared to explain why you have chosen a
particular word.
CPE Reading Part 1 – Sample Task
Part 1

For questions 1-18, read the three texts below and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best fits each gap.
Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Keas – not just pretty parrots

Few birds are as (1) …. curious as keas. New research shows how these New Zealand parrots
channel that curiosity for maximum benefit: they (2) …. up tips by watching each other. Keas are
notorious for investigating and, in the (3) …. , often destroying everything from rubbish bins to
windscreen wipers. Ludwig Huber and colleagues from the University of Vienna have found that in
keas, which live in family flocks, social learning affects patterns of curiosity. In their experiments, the
keas’ task was to open a steel box with a complex locking mechanism. Two birds were gradually
trained as ‘models’ and then they (4) …. the task again under the watchful gaze of keas who were
new to the job. (5) …. enough, birds who had watched a demonstration had a much higher success
(6) …. than keas who had never watched one.

1 A insatiably B hungrily C thirstily D unmanageably

2 A take B Lift C pick D pull
3 A procedure B process C measure D technique
4 A enacted B staged C performed D presented
5 A Certain B Sure C True D Fair
6 A proportion B percentage C occurrence D rate
Flight to Phoenix
I was booked on an early flight so I (7) …. no time in getting showered and dressed, and (8)
…. for the airport. It was only when I felt the aircraft leave the runway, and saw Manhattan
(9) …. into the distance beneath and behind me, that I finally began to relax.

Even at nine o’clock in the morning Phoenix was hot. It was a physical shock to walk out of
the cool, dark terminal into the bright reflection of the sunlight. Locals ambled slowly past in
short-sleeved shirts and sunglasses. In less than a minute I was sweating in my suit as I
carried my bags over to the large sign which read ‘Bloomfield Weiss High Yield Bond
Conference’.

They had (10) …. on white stretch limousines to take the conference participants to the
hotel. Within seconds, I was back in air-conditioned quiet again. I supposed that it was (11)
…. possible to spend all of your life in Phoenix at 18° centigrade, with only brief (12) …. of
extra heat as you transferred from air-conditioned house to air-conditioned car to air-
conditioned office.

7 A used B lost C left D made

8 A headed B pressed C proceeded D set
9 A abating B withdrawing C receding D reversing
10 A laid B catered C sorted D furnished
11 A purely B perfectly C starkly D solidly
12 A gales B torrents C fits D bursts

Bureaucracy

Given that bureaucracy is held in such ill (13) …. today, it is hard to remember that it was
once considered a great organisational innovation. By organising the (14) …. of labour, by
making management and decision-making a profession, and by providing an order and a set
of rules that allowed many different kinds of specialists to work in co-ordination toward a
common (15) …., bureaucracy greatly extended the breadth and depth of intelligence that
organisations could achieve. Begun as a system of organising government activities, it has
(16) …. to big business and large organisations of all kinds.

Max Weber, who (17) …. the systematic study of bureaucracy as its role in western society
began to explode in the late nineteenth century, saw bureaucracy as both the most efficient
possible system, and a threat to the basic liberties he (18) …. dear, thus foreshadowing the
sentiments which bureaucracy frequently evokes today.
© UCLES 2008. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. It may not
otherwise be altered, photocopied, reproduced, distributed, published, recorded, made available on another website, or otherwise transmitted by
any means without the prior written permission of University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations.

3BCPE Reading Part 1 – Sample Task www.cambridgeesol.org/teach

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13 A notoriety B knowledge C repute D name
14 A division B distinction C detachment D divergence
15 A end B finish C culmination D termination
16 A carried B spread C transmitted D caught
17 A opened B sprang C launched D fired
18 A loved B felt C knew D held

© UCLES 2008. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. It may not
otherwise be altered, photocopied, reproduced, distributed, published, recorded, made available on another website, or otherwise transmitted by
any means without the prior written permission of University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations.

3BCPE Reading Part 1 – Sample Task www.cambridgeesol.org/teach

Page 8 of 8