Karen Dyer Dave Harwood Practice Tests with key Eight Complete Practice Tests for the Cambridge ESOL First Certificate in English Ш Suitable for paper-and-pen and computer-based tests В Audio CDs and CD-ROM Contents FCE Exam O verview .........................................4 Test 5 Paper 1: Reading .........................................104 Test 1 Paper 2: W ritin g ...........................................110 Paper 1: Reading .............................................6 Paper 3: Use of English...............................114 Tips for students .......................................12 Paper 4: Listening .......................................119 Paper 2: W riting ...........................................14 Paper 5: Speaking .......................................123 Tips for students .......................................18 Paper 3: Use of English ...............................20 Test 6 Tips for students .......................................25 Paper 1: R eading.........................................126 Paper 4: Listening .........................................27 Paper 2: W riting .........................................132 Tips for s tu d e n ts .........................................31 Paper 3: Use of English .............................136 Paper 5: Speaking .........................................33 Paper 4: Listening .......................................141 Tips for students .......................................36 Paper 5: Speaking .................... ' ................ 145 Test 2 Test 7 Paper 1: Reading ...........................................38 Paper 1: R eading.........................................148 Paper 2: W riting ...........................................44 Paper 2: W riting .........................................154 Paper 3: Use of English ...............................48 Paper 3: Use of English .............................158 Paper 4: Listening .........................................53 Paper 4: Listening .......................................163 Paper 5: Speaking .........................................57 Paper 5: Speaking .......................................167 Test 3 Test 8 Paper 1: Reading ...........................................60 Paper 1: Reading .........................................170 Paper 2: W riting ...........................................66 Paper 2: Writing .........................................176 Paper 3: Use of English.................................70 Paper 3: Use of English ............................ 180 Paper 4: Listening .........................................75 Pape*- 4; Listening .......................................185 Paper 5: Speaking .........................................79 Paper 5: Speaking .......................................189 Test 4 Visual materials for Paper 5 .................... 193 Paper 1: Reading ...........................................82 Useful expressions.......................................217 Paper 2: W riting ...........................................88 Phrasal verbs list .........................................220 Paper 3: Use of English ...............................92 Score sh eets.................................................222 Paper 4: Listening .........................................97 Answer k e y s .................................................224 Paper 5: Speaking .......................................101 Recording scrip ts.........................................231 There are five Papers in the Cambridge ESOL FCE examination: Reading, Writing, Use of English, Listening, Speaking. Each part is worth 20% of the total marks which are added together to determine the final grade. Passing Grades: Grade A (80% and above) Grade В (75% to 79%) Grade С (60% to 74%) Failing Grades: Grade D (55% to 59%) Grade E (54% and below) . - - i PAPER 1 READING 1 hour I Number of I Part Task type and focus Format questions i Multiple choice. I A text followed by four-option Detail, opinion, gist, attitude, tone, purpose, main idea, multiple-choice questions. 1 meaning from context, text organisation features 8 (exemplification, comparison, reference). Gapped text. A text from which sentences have Text structure, cohesion and coherence. I been removed and placed in jumbled 2 order after the text. Candidates must 7 decide from where in the text the sentences have been removed. Multiple matching. A text or several short texts prec eded Specific information, detail, opinion and attitude. by multiple-matching questions. 15 3 Candidates must match prompts to elements in the text. PAPER 2 WRITING 80 m inutes Number of Part Task type and focus Format ; tasks and length Question 1 Candidates are required to deal 1 compulsory Writing a letter or email. with input material of up to 160 task Focus on advising, apologising, comparing, describing, words. This may include material 120-150 explaining, expressing opinions, justifying, persuading, taken from advertisements, extracts words recommending and suggesting. from letters, emails, schedules, etc. Question 2-4 A situationally based writing task One task to be Writing one of the following: an article, an essav, specified in no more than 70 words. selected from a a letter, a report, a review, a story. choice of five. Question 5 120-180 words (Question 5 has two options) Writing one of the following, based on one of two prescribed reading texts: an article, an essay, a letter, a report, a review. Various focuses according to the task, including: advising, comparing, describing, explaining, expressing opinions, justifying, recommending. PAPER 3 USE OF ENGLISH I 45 minutes ! Number o f Part Task type and focus Format questions j Multiple-choice cloze, i A modified cloze test containing 12 1 j Lexical / lexico-grammatical. gaps and followed by 12 four-option 12 multiple-choice items. Open cloze. A modified cloze text containing 12 2 12 Grammatical / lexico-grammatical. gaps. l e w ! Number of Part Task type and focus Format questions Word formation. A text containing 10 gaps. Each gap Lexical / lexico-grammatical. I corresponds to a word. The stems of 3 the missing words are given beside 10 I the text and must be changed to form the missing word. Key word transformations. : Eight separate items, each with a Lexical and grammatical. lead-in sentence and a gapped 4 second sentence to be completed in 8 two to five words, one of which is a I given ‘key word! PAPER 4 LISTENING ! 40 minutes I Number of Part Task type and focus Format questions Multiple choice. A series of short unrelated extracts, General gist, detail, function, purpose, attitude, of approximately 30 seconds each, opinion, relationship, topic, place, situation, genre, from monologues or exchanges 1 8 agreement, etc. between interacting speakers. There is one multiple-choice question per text, each with three options. Sentence completion. A monologue or text involving Detail, specific information, stated opinion. interacting speakers and lasting approximately 3 minutes. 2 10 Candidates are required to complete the sentences with information heard on the recording. Multiple matching. Five short related monologues, of General gist, detail, function, purpose, attitude, approximately 30 seconds each. The 3 opinion, relationship, topic, place, situation, genre, multiple-matching questions require 5 agreerrer ~( etc. selection of the correct option from a list of six. Multiple choice. A monologue or text involving Opinion, attitude, g's:, ^ a ^ 'cea, specific information. interacting speakers and lasting 4 approximately 3 minutes. There are 7 seven multiple-choice questions, eac^ ',vtn th'ee options. PAPER 5 SPEAKING I 14 minutes Part Task type and focus Format Timing A conversation between the interlocutor ar c ea:^ Ge^e'a Interactional and social 1 3 minutes candidate (spoken questions). a'-g.age. An individual 'long turn’ for each candidate witn a c'e* Organising a larger unit of discourse; 2 response from the second candidate. In turn, the comparing, describing, expressing 4 minutes candidates are given a pair of photographs to talk aboui. opinions. A two-way conversation between the candidates. Sjstaining an interaction; The candidates are given spoken instructions with exchanging ideas, expressing and written and visual stimuli, which are used in a justifying opinions, agreeing and / or 3 3 minutes decision-making task. disagreeing, suggesting, speculating, evaluating, reaching a decision through negotiation, etc. A discussion on topics related to the collaborative Expressing and justifying opinions, 4 4 minutes task (spoken questions). agreeing and / or disagreeing. 5 TEST 1 PAPER 1: READING Parti (questions 1-8) Part 1 You are going to read an article written by a young pianist. For questions 1-8 choose the answer (А, В, С or D) which you think fits best according to the text. Mark your answers on the separate answer sheet. Berrak: A pianist I started playing the piano when I was four years old. My mother thought it would be a good outlet for positive childish energy and I was really into it; it was exciting. It was something different and I had much more time to practise then. The first time I performed in front of an audience was when I was five years old and I loved it. I went on a summer camp run by my piano teachers at the time and at the end of the week we all got up and played a piece. At that age I was unaware of any of the pressure associated with performing live so it just felt nice to have people concentrating on my playing and I liked the applause and attention. Now I perform regularly,