B2 First Exam Guide: Gapped Text
Reading & Use of English Paper
Contents
Overview
Context: Part 6 of the Reading & Use of English paper involves a text, like a magazine excerpt, with six missing sentences. These sentences, along with an extra one that doesn't fit, must be correctly placed back into the text.
Task: Candidates must identify where each sentence was originally located in the text. They must use their understanding of the text's flow and structure to correctly place each sentence, recognizing that one sentence will not be used.
Objective: To assess candidates' ability to grasp the overall structure of a text and how its ideas and themes are interconnected.
Scoring & Marks: The six questions are worth twelve points, so two points for each. There are 70 points available for the whole Reading & Use of English paper.
How to Approach
- Initial Text Overview: Start by reading the gapped text thoroughly to get a sense of its overall theme and narrative flow.
- Contextual Matching: For each gap, carefully consider how the preceding and following text segments connect with each potential sentence.
- Understanding Cohesion: Practice identifying different linguistic markers that signal connections in the text, such as chronological cues or contrast indicators.
- Comprehensive Analysis: Ensure that the chosen sentence fits seamlessly, taking into account not just identical words but the entire context of the gap.
Example Question
As my fathers fingers nimbly traced faded contours on the camera body and explored tiny silver handles and knobs along the top, he glanced up at me for the tiniest of instants. "You know, when I was your age, John, I wanted to be a photo-journalist. (3)___________ This camera here, well, it was the Cadillac of its day, you know."
matches with:
H. I guess I just never had the right guidance.
Assessment Focus
This section tests the ability to understand the coherence and progression of ideas within a text.
Tips
- Sharpen your skills in discerning the overall structure and narrative of different texts.
- Develop an eye for detail that allows you to pick up on subtle linguistic cues that aid in structuring a text.
- Engage in exercises that involve reconstructing broken up texts and narratives in order to understand their logical flow.
- Notice how words are used to bring together ideas and show cause, reason, result, etc.
How It Looks
Student Suggestion
"I got my brother to print out internet articles and cut them up. I then have to put them together and it gets you thinking about how ideas join together in a logical way, how each piece fits into the larger picture." - Nadia Russo Cortez
Practice Exercises
We have a page on the site to practise: B2 First: Gapped Text Exercises
