Practice Tests for First Certificate [antikvár]

IntroductionTeachers should be aware of the main changes in the revised 1996 syllabus of the Cambridge First Certificate and note the amount of time allowed for the examination under the revised syllabus. There are still five papers that cover the same areas as the 1984 examination, but they are now renamed, and with the exception of composition, Paper 2, now called Writing, they show changes, innovation and some relocation of tasks. There are increased reading and listening demands but the overall exam is 45 minutes shorter at about 4 hours, 35 minutes.Paper One: ReadingThere are now either four long texts or three long plus two or more short texts with 35 reading comprehension questions. The 25 multiple-choice sentence questions have been moved to Paper 3, Use of English, as 15 questions on a themed passage. The four long texts are numbered as four parts. The time allowed is 1 hour 15 minutes. Part 1: Multiple matching: Six or seven questions precede a text. Tasks will includea)matching a paragraph heading to the correct paragraph (see Test 1)b)matching a summary sentence to the correct paragraph (see Test 3)c)matching a visual to the correct paragraph (see Test 4)Part 2: Four-option multiple choice on narrative, descriptive, factual or discursivetext. Seven or eight A, B, C or D questions follow the text. Part 3: Gapped text. This will include a text with single sentences removed (Test 1) or whole paragraphs removed (Test 3). Texts will have a strong internal structure (e.g. chronological, argumentative). Six or seven questions follow the text. Part 4: Multiple matching but different from part 1 in that candidates must use the text to find answers to a list of questions. Or, there may be a list of options from which candidates choose answers to the list. Each part will test a different aspect of understanding a text, eg Part 1, reading for gist; Part 2, reading for detail; Part 3, reading to follow sequence of events or argument; Part 4, reading to locate specific information. Candidates should also be encouraged to use the questions themselves as an indication of content and their reason for reading.It should be stressed that Cambridge point out that their rationale for the changes to this paper is based on needs including 'the need to reflect and encourage wider approaches to reading within the classroom'. It might do no harm to add the words 'and outside the classroom'. It follows that these mostly new demands and guidelines by Cambridge to encourage and test reading involve techniques that will require a certain amount of rethinking in both teaching and practice. These revised tests are accordingly designed to enable teachers and students to carry out their new tasks.There is a sample answer sheet for Paper 1 on page 82, which may be copied for classroom use.