Exam Question Time

For this week’s blog post I’m doing things slightly differently. For reasons that will become clear as you read on, today’s article is in the format of a Use of English question from the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English. There is an example for you at the beginning of the text (0).

(0) of 

This week at the school we welcomed a group of Swiss students from the Investment Bank UBS.  As part (0) ………………..  their training programme, they (1) ………………..  come to the London School of English for twelve weeks in (2) ………………..  to improve their English skills and to prepare (3) ………………..  the CAE exam and its business equivalent, the BEC Higher.

Over the next three months, the students (4) ………………..  expect to improve their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills as well as widen their knowledge (5) ……………….. grammar and vocabulary.  More (6) ………………..  ever, a good knowledge of English is needed to succeed (7) ………………..  international business, and by passing these exams, our students will have a big advantage in the job market and (8) ………………..  greater flexibility if they choose to work abroad.

One part of the exam that we have (9) ………………..  looking at this week is Part Two of the Use of English paper.  In this part of the exam, students have to (10) ……………….. a short text on a general topic.  The exercise consists of fifteen blanks and tests not only vocabulary (11) ……………….. also grammar.  It's important to think about the kind of word which (12) ……………….. needed in each space.  Don't make an elementary mistake (13) ……………….. putting in something which doesn't fit grammatically at all.  It's usually easy to spot (14) ……………….. missing article or preposition (15) ……………….. it may be harder to decide which linking word to use.  Remember to look at the whole sentence, not just the words before or after each space.  Each question is worth one mark.

So why don’t you try and complete today’s post?  I’ll give you the answers next week.

By Andy