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Hello and welcome to the new audio lesson on the FCE exam prepared by ABC English Levels and Valentine. Today we’re talking about the Reading and Use of English Part 6. I’ll explain what this part consists of and, as always, tell you about some tips and strategy to deal with it better. So, off we go!
What is the Reading and Use of English Part 6 like?
In Reading and Use of English Part 6, you read a text of 500-600 words. The text has 6 gaps from which sentences have been removed. Your task is to choose one sentence from a list of 7 sentences for each gap A-G. Mind there’s one sentence in the list you do NOT need.
What does the Reading and Use of English Part 6 test?
How is the Reading and Use of English Part 6 marked?
Strategy
- Beginning with skimming the text. Remember to pay attention to subtitles and an introduction.
- Read a list of the sentences A-G. Underline key words. They may be pronouns like them, her, their, etc. Or linking words like because of, due to, however, etc. These simple words are crucial to understand the relationships between ideas.
- Find the first paragraph with a gap and read it more carefully. Remember it’s not necessary to read the whole text attentively. Pay special attention to a sentence before and after the gap. Underline key words.
- Turn to the sentences A-G and try to find the most appropriate according to an idea and grammatical issues.
- Move on to the next paragraph with a gap.
Examples and tips
A These provide the familiarity and consistency essential for the blind runner.
B Their support gave him extra confidence regarding his changing surroundings.
C It gives him a great opportunity to run with everyone.
Tip 1
Try to get the idea of the paragraph. In this text, the main idea is that Simon gets motivated by competing on equal terms, although he’s blind.
Tip 2
Pay attention to the key words in all three options. In the first one, they are these, familiarity and consistency. ‘These‘ is a plural pronoun. In the extract, there’s nothing in the plural form that could relate to ‘these‘. In terms of the idea, familiarity and consistency don’t correspond to the paragraph.
Let’s look at the second option. the key words are their support, confidence, changing surroundings. Again, ‘their support‘ refers to somebody in the plural. The text doesn’t mention any people who gave Simon their support. Moreover, it doesn’t say anything about changing surroundings. So, logically, the sentence isn’t relevant either.
Finally, the third sentence communicates the idea that it allows Simon to run with everyone. ‘It‘ and ‘run with everyone‘ are the key words here. ‘It‘ refers to ‘competing on equal terms‘, and ‘running with everyone’ supports the idea of ‘competing on equal terms’. So, the correct sentence fitting best the gap is C, It gives him a great opportunity to run with everyone.
Tip 3
It’s always helpful to read the entire paragraph after choosing a sentence. It should sound good and not impede understanding. Let’s check. But for Simon, the real thrill and motivation for training come from simply being able to compete on equal terms. It gives him a great opportunity to run with everyone. ‘I can’t hide the fact I’m blind,’ he says, ‘but at the same time, I would rather compete with everybody else and not be put into a special group. Being visually impaired doesn’t mean you can’t run.’
And that’s all for today. If this lesson helped you to get a clearer idea of how to complete the Reading and Use of English Part 6, share it on social networking sites. Contact ABC English Levels via the contact form on our web site to get more information about our interactive courses.
And I wish you all the best. Thank you for being with us.
That was ABC English Levels and Valentine. Bye!
