CAE EXAM TIPS
THE ORDER.
Start with part 4. Do it quickly. You either know the answer or you don't. Don't waste time
here.
Go to part 3. Spend a bit more time here. You can lose 'easy' points by being careless.
Part 2 has a lot of 'you know it or you don't' kind of questions, so do it quickly.
Next is part 1. It's also one with 'I know this' or 'I have no idea' type questions. Race
through this part.
Then you can do parts 5 to 8 in whatever order you want, and you should have a fair
amount of time left in the bank.
A warning about examples
The Use of English sections (parts 1-4) come with examples. These are for students who
know nothing about the CAE exam before they enter the room. Amazingly, such people
exist! For someone like you, who is a bit more serious about life, these example questions
are just a time sink. (A hole in the ground that sucks in your time.) You MUST NOT waste
your time by trying to think of the answer to the questions marked zero.
READING AND USE OF ENGLISH PART 1
Tips
•Nothing prepares you for the Reading test better than reading. Read a lot.
Candidates who often read in English (for work, for fun) find this part of the test
manageable, while those who never read tend to find it very hard.
•If you are 100% sure that two of the 4 choices are completely identical, then neither
can be the answer. There is always only one word that fits grammatically and has
the right meaning.
•Remember not to waste time thinking of the answer to the example! The missing
word is shown right above the headline (in the grey box).
•Double-check every sentence for prepositions that might link to the missing word.
For example: some verbs are always followed by 'for', others are never followed by
'for'. If the word 'for' is in the sentence, it's likely to be important.
CAE READING AND USE OF ENGLISH PART 2
In part 2 there is a text with words missing. Whereas in part 1 you pick from a choice of
words, in part 2 there is no such help. You have to use your knowledge of grammar to
produce the right word.
1. Tips
Write only one word. One! Only! Cambridge consider contractions like 'won't' to be two
words (will not), so that will never be an answer in part 2.
Start by reading the title, then quickly read the whole text. This will help tell you if words
should be positive or negative.
Sometimes more than one word might be possible - for example if 'whereas' fits, 'while'
might also fit. Either answer is okay, but don't write both.
This is one part of the exam where looking at the answers you get wrong while preparing
is a goldmine. In fact, the whole next section is about that.
The most common answers were (in order of frequency):
to - being - which - for - with - one - not - as
Do you know the grammar rules behind those words? What sort of sentence uses the
word 'to'? If you're reading a book at the moment, would it be useful to take a page and
see how many times the word 'to' is used, and maybe study those sentences?
Some advice based on the data
a) If the missing word is at the start of the sentence, ask yourself if a gerund fits. Many
answers were -ing forms - having and being were very frequent.
b) Of the relative pronouns, the most common by far was which. Study defining and non-
defining relative clauses!
c) 'With' came up frequently, but so did 'without'. That's why you should read the text as a
whole before you start thinking of the answers.
d) Similarly, 'if' was very common, but so was 'unless'. Unless means 'if not', so again,
reading the whole text to get the writer's opinion is vital!
e) While 'to be' was, naturally, the most common verb and has its own section, other verbs
were quite common. Mostly they are verbs which are useful in some advanced
grammatical structures. For example, 'have' (and has, had, etc) are useful for making
perfect tenses. Do is useful for emphatic language. Take is used in many phrasal verbs.
(Did you know I made an online course about phrasal verbs?)
f) Linking phrases! You need to know these for the writing and speaking parts, but if you
have mastered the words whereas, although, however, despite, spite (in the phrase in
spite of), there are many easy points to collect in this part of the exam. Also but, so,
while, and such things.
g) Prepositions. Cambridge LOVES prepositions. Look for uses of in, of, by, out, before,
after, and all the rest.
h) These words aren't the most frequent, but there will be 3 or 4 in your text - no, there,
once, even, such, since, it, myself (or themselves etc), what, either, and these.
i) The! I was amazed how many times 'the' was the answer. Poor little 'a' was much less
common.
Nounspotting
This quick guide is no substitute for getting a proper grammar book, but here are a few
quick tips. These things are nouns - names (Captain Jack Sparrow); concepts (time,
information); names of jobs or types of people (skiiers, doctors, scientists); things
(cheesecake, flowers).
- Sometimes you can't spot a noun based on its ending, but sometimes you can. Look out
for: -eer; -tion; -ment, -age, -al, ance, -hood, -iety, -ness, and so on.
- If you have a word which can be made plural or into a possessive form, it's a noun.
(Two solutions/ the solution's result = solution is a noun.) Read the part 3 text carefully
to check if you need to make your noun plural!
- If you have a determiner in a sentence, look for a noun. If you can't find one that goes
with the determiner, the missing word is a noun. Determiners
include the, my/your/their (etc), whose, another, other, a/an.
COMMON NEGATIVE PREFIXES:
dis-; in-; im-; il-; un-; il-; de-; mis-
CAE READING AND USE OF ENGLISH PART 4 TIPS
1. Basic Tips
•The instructions say 'you must use the word given.' It doesn't mean the actual word
'given', it means the word provided!
•Use between 3-6 words. Most contractions are 2 words (won't, don't = will not, do
not). It might be possible to complete the sentence in a grammatically correct way
with 2 words, or with 22 words, but you won't get any points for that!
•Don't change the word. If the word given is 'TO' you can't use 'INTO'. If the word is
'GO' you can't use 'WENT'.
•As I said, this section is very hard because there's so much you need to know. But
each question is worth 2 points. You might not know the whole answer but
sometimes one correct word will give you a point.
•Try to keep the same meaning - If the first sentence says 'Tom said...' then don't
write 'He said...' in the second sentence.
•Check your tenses - if the first sentence is in the past tense, the second should be,
too!
2. Time Management
In the introduction to the Reading and Use of English test we suggested you START the
exam by doing part 4, and don't spend too long on it.
