CPE Reading Overview - Teacher’s notes

Description
This overview activity asks ten true/false questions about the CPE Reading test. It helps
students become familiar with the content of the Reading paper.

Time required: 15 Minutes

Materials  student’s worksheets 1 and 2
required:  CPE Handbook or page 7 only of CPE Handbook

Aims:  to familiarise students with the format, content and task types of
the Reading paper to raise awareness of how important reading
in English is as preparation for the test

Procedure
1. As a lead-in, ask students what sort of texts they read in English. Make the following
points about the importance of reading:
 reading a substantial and varied range of written English is essential
preparation for CPE.
 students should be reading for leisure in English, not only because it is an
educational requirement.
 suggest students read modern fiction, short stories, and articles from
newspapers and magazines.
 the internet also provides access to news and feature articles from the press
of Britain and other English-speaking countries, as well as journal articles,
and promotional and informational materials.

2. Divide the class into groups or pairs and give each group or pair enough copies of the
student’s worksheet 1 so that everyone can see it.

3. Ask students to decide if the statements are true or false by looking at the information
in the CPE Handbook, Paper 1, Reading. You could photocopy or project page 7 only
from the handbook, where most answers can be found, if you do not have enought
copies of the handbook. The only questions which are not explicitly answered on page
7 are question 3 and 8. So make sure you provide the information for these questions.

4. Set a time limit, about 8–10 minutes.

5. Check the answers with the whole class. You could ask the students for all the false
statements, write the numbers of the false statements up on the board, and then ask
the students to correct them.

© UCLES 2008. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. It may not
otherwise be altered, photocopied, reproduced, distributed, published, recorded, made available on another website, or otherwise transmitted by
any means without the prior written permission of University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations.

CPE Reading Overview - Teacher’s notes www.cambridgeesol.org/teach

Page 1 of 5
6. Ask students what they think may be easy or difficult about doing the reading paper.
You should cover:
 the amount candidates have to read. Students need to develop the reading
skills of skimming and scanning so they can complete the paper within 1 hour
30 minutes.
 the wide range of vocabulary covered. Students must have a good knowledge
of collocations, fixed phrases and features of lexico-grammar such as
dependent prepositions.
 there may well still be unknown lexis in the texts. Students should also be
able to deduce meaning of new words from context
 not difficult, but equally important, is being able to indicate their answers
quickly and accurately on the answer sheet.

7. Show students the sample answer sheet on the student’s worksheet 2 and point out:
 the answer sheet must be completed within the 1 hour 30 minutes. Some
students complete it as they work through the paper, others leave it until they
have finished the all the questions. It doesn’t matter which technique you use,
as long as the answer sheet is completed and it is completed accurately
before the end of the test.
 the lozenges must be filled in pencil.

8. Elicit some of the text types students remember seeing mentioned. Draw their
attention to the full range of possible text types that might be covered:
 books (fiction and non-fiction) e.g., novels, short stories, travel, non-specialist
science and nature, etc
 non-specialist articles from journals, magazines and newspapers
 promotional and informational materials, e.g. advertisements, guide books,
manuals
Review how many of these are text types that your students already read, and how
many might be new for them.
 Point out that it isn’t possible to read adequately just in class time – students
must get into the habit of reading in English on their own.
 Discuss possible sources for all the text types: many news and feature articles
from the press of Britain and other English-speaking countries, journal
articles, and promotional and informational materials can be found on the
internet.
 Encourage students to share materials they’ve read and enjoyed, and good
sources. You cannot stress enough the importance of reading extensively.

Suggested follow-up questions

Ask pairs or groups of students to write three ‘facts’ about the CPE Reading paper. Some of
them should be true and some should be false. Students then pass their statements to
another pair or group who decide if they are true or false. Discuss answers as a whole class.

© UCLES 2008. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. It may not
otherwise be altered, photocopied, reproduced, distributed, published, recorded, made available on another website, or otherwise transmitted by
any means without the prior written permission of University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations.

CPE Reading Overview - Teacher’s notes www.cambridgeesol.org/teach

Page 2 of 5
CPE Reading Overview – answer keys

Key to Student’s Worksheet 1

1. There will be 40 questions in the Reading Paper, though each part may not have the
same number of questions.
True - There will be 40 questions. The number of questions per Part is different; Part 1
has 18 questions, Part 2 has 8 and Parts 3 and 4 both have 7 each.

2. In Part 1 there are 3 thematically linked texts.

False – The 3 texts are unrelated.

3. Not all the texts are the same length. There are shorter and longer texts.
True. Parts 1 and 2 have multiple, shorter texts while Parts 3 and 4 have one, longer
text.

4. Parts 2 and 4 have the same task type.

True – They both have multiple-choice questions with 4 options but Part 2 has 4 shorter
thematically linked texts and Part 4 has one longer text.

5. In the gapped text task, candidates will have to place sentences in their correct place in
the text.
False - They have to place paragraphs. This required them to have a good
understanding of the structure of the whole text.

6. The multiple-choice lexical cloze task involves choosing from 4 options the correct word
to complete the text.
True. The questions require candidates to consider carefully the 4 options and choose
the correct word to complete the text. The testing focus is vocabulary.

7. Some tasks will involve deducing meaning from context.

True - This is a general reading skill that is expected throughout the CPE Reading test.

8. In Part 3, candidates need to be able to understand the development of the theme of the
text and the text structure in order to do the task.
True. In order to place the paragraphs into the correct gaps, students have to look at the
text before and after the gap. They then choose the paragraph that fits logically in terms
of the develpoment of the theme and that fits grammatically according to reference
words, linkers etc.

9. All questions are worth 1 mark each.

False – In Part 1 each correct answer receives 1 mark. In Parts 2, 3 and 4 each correct
answer receives 2 marks.

10. Candidates' answers should be transferred to the answer sheets at the end of the test.
False - The answers should be transferred during the test as there is no extra time for
answer transfer. However, if candidates prefer, they can allow themselves time after
they’ve finished to transfer their answers, as long as they do this within the 1½ hours
allowed.

© UCLES 2008. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. It may not
otherwise be altered, photocopied, reproduced, distributed, published, recorded, made available on another website, or otherwise transmitted by
any means without the prior written permission of University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations.

CPE Reading Overview – answer keys www.cambridgeesol.org/teach

Page 3 of 5
CPE Reading Overview – Student’s Worksheet 1

Are these statements about the CPE Reading Paper true or false? Can you correct the
false ones?

Hint: There are 4 false statements

1 There are 40 questions in the Reading Paper, though each part may not have the
same number of questions.
2 In Part 1 there are 3 thematically linked texts.
3 Not all the texts are the same length. There could be shorter and longer texts.
4 Parts 2 and 4 have the same task type.
5 In the gapped text task, candidates have to place sentences in their correct place in
the text.
6 The multiple-choice lexical cloze task involves choosing from 4 options the correct
word to complete the text.
7 Some tasks will involve deducing meaning from context.
8 In Part 3, candidates need to be able to understand the development of the theme of
the text and the text structure in order to do the task.
9 All questions are worth 1 mark each.
10 Candidates' answers should be transferred to the answer sheets at the end of the
test

© UCLES 2008. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. It may not
otherwise be altered, photocopied, reproduced, distributed, published, recorded, made available on another website, or otherwise transmitted by
any means without the prior written permission of University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations.

CPE Reading Overview – Student’s Worksheet 1 www.cambridgeesol.org/teach

Page 4 of 5
CPE Reading Overview – Student’s Worksheet 2

© UCLES 2008. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. It may not
otherwise be altered, photocopied, reproduced, distributed, published, recorded, made available on another website, or otherwise transmitted by
any means without the prior written permission of University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations.

CPE Reading Overview – Student’s Worksheet 2 www.cambridgeesol.org/teach

Page 5 of 5