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Hello! Here is ABC English Levels and Valentine, and welcome to the last episode of the FCE Reading and Use of English. Today we’re talking about Part 7 of this exam. I’ll tell you what it consists of and, as usual, give you some advice on how to improve your results. So, off we go!
What ‘s the Reading and Use of English Part 7 like?
In this part, you’ll read one long text divided into four to six sections or four to six independent texts. In total, the length will be 500-600 words. There’re ten questions that you must match with the different texts or sections.
What does the Reading and Use of English Part 7 test?
This part tests your ability to understand specific information, opinions and details.
How is the Reading and Use of English Part 7 marked?
You get one mark for each correct answer.
Strategy
Unlike parts 5 and 6 of the FCE exam, part 7 needs a bit different approach. So, what is it? I’d recommend the following:
- Don’t skim the texts or sections this time. Just read all the titles, subtitles and headings. Again, to understand the topic.
- Then read quickly ten questions underlining key words.
- Start with the first text or section and read it very carefully and underline key words. In this part of reading, it’s especially important. Sometimes, the questions look very similar, and it’s the key words that will help you to find the right option.
- When finished with reading the first text or section, turn to the questions and try to find those which relate to it. There may be one, two or three questions connected with one text or section. So, tick all of them. After doing so, you’ll have fewer questions, nine, eight or, maybe, seven, not ten. And it’s always easier to choose from few variants, isn’t it?
- Now, do the same with the rest of the texts or sections.
Example
It’s clear that just listening to my explanations without seeing a text might be not enough to understand the method and use it. But I still want to give an example and show how this approach works. Anyway, you can always visit our web site abc-englishlevels.com where we have all our podcasts written. By the way, listening to what you’re reading is helpful in building up listening skills.
I’ve chosen a text about disastrous holidays. There’re four sections in the text. Four people tell us about their experience. One section – one person. Surely, I’m not going to read and explain all the sections. I’ll show how to work with only one. And instead of ten questions, I’ll use five. Just not to get you tired.
My nightmare holiday
My dad was teaching in Malaysia. When my mum and I flew out to visit him for three weeks, he had already organised our stay in great detail. on our first evening, we had a party on the beach. It was an idyllic scene: a beautiful empty beach, palm trees, white sand, the warm gentle waters of the sea. I swam in the shallow water thinking “this is the life” when a jellyfish swam between my legs. The sting was agony, and it was only then when I found out that two people had died from jellyfish stings that year and until that point, no one had bothered to mention the sea-snakes, for whose bite there’s no cure. I now understood why the beach was deserted.
The questions are:
Which person
1) had to hide from danger?
2) missed their family on the beach?
3) was unaware of the danger in what they were doing?
4) had visited the country on a previous occasion?
5) had a painful experience?
Let’s analyze
The text is about a holiday on a beach. The most important words and phrases in the text are a party on the beach, idyllic, jellyfish, agony, people died from jellyfish stings, sea-snakes bite, no cure, understood why the beach deserted. So, option 2, missed their family on the beach, could correspond to it. But the key word in the question is ‘missed‘ their family and it’s false according to the text. The person was with their family.
Other options
What about option 1, had to hide from danger? The key word is ‘hide’. Again, there isn’t anything about hiding from danger because the person didn’t know about any danger. They enjoyed swimming in the warm waters of the sea. The text says “the sting was agony, and it was only then when I found out that two people had died…“. The fact that the person didn’t know about the danger is reflected in the 3rd option saying that they were unaware of the danger in what they were doing.
Let’s see option 4, had visited the country on a previous occasion. It isn’t suitable at all because the text doesn’t say anything about if it was the first or the second visit to the country.
And finally, option 5, had a painful experience. The word ‘painful’ corresponds to the idea of ‘agony’, the key word that the person used to describe their feelings from a jellyfish sting. So, options 5 and 3 refer to the text.
Well, that’s all I wanted to share with you today. Hopefully, it was useful. If you liked the audio lesson prepared by ABC English Levels and Valentine, share it on social networking sites.
Remember to contact us via our contact form on the website, if you have any questions, and try our interactive courses.
That was ABC English Levels and your Valentine.
Think clearly, speak softly. Take care!
Hope to have you with us next week.
