In the A2 Key matching task you read short descriptions of people and a set of short texts — club adverts, courses, places to eat — and decide which text suits each person. Every description contains two or three needs, and the right text is the only one that covers all of them. This page trains you to list the needs first and scan for them second.
For each person, mark the two or three things they actually want: a day, a price, an activity, a level. Ignore the background sentences about their family or their job.
Write 1, 2, 3 above them. When you check a text you can then tick or cross each number instead of rereading the description every time.
Give yourself one pass to learn roughly what each text offers. You cannot match well if you only know half the options.
Start with the person whose needs are most unusual — the one who wants Saturday mornings, or something very cheap. That answer is easiest to find and it removes a text from the list.
A text is only correct if it satisfies all the needs. The moment one need fails, stop reading that text and go to the next.
Prices, days, ages and levels decide most answers. Topic words such as music or sport are usually shared by two texts and decide nothing.
When two people are left and two texts are left, check the need you have not used yet. It exists precisely to separate them.
Look at your answers together at the end. If one text is the answer to two people, one of them is wrong; go back to the need you skipped.
If time runs out, put an unused text in the empty space. An unmarked answer scores nothing; a guess sometimes scores.
Not thisChoosing a cookery class because the person ‘likes food’.
ThisChecking that the class is also on the day and at the price the person asked for.
One matching word is not a match. The task is designed so that two texts share the topic and only one shares the details.
Not this‘She wants to learn with other beginners’ matched to a text saying ‘for experienced players’.
ThisMatched to the text saying ‘no experience needed’.
Level words are the most common deciding detail, and candidates read past them because they are short.
Not thisReading the texts one at a time and marking an answer immediately.
ThisReading all the texts once, then matching.
The first text that fits is often not the best fit. A quick first pass costs thirty seconds and saves a wrong answer.
Not this‘He is free after work’ matched to an afternoon class.
ThisMatched to an evening class.
Candidates translate ‘after work’ loosely. Turn every need into a clock time before you scan.
Not thisIgnoring the word ‘only’ in ‘adults only’.
ThisRemoving that text for a person who is fifteen.
Short restriction words carry the whole condition, and they are easy to skip when you are scanning fast.
Not thisUsing the same text for two people because it fits both.
ThisGoing back and finding the need that separates them.
In this task each text normally answers one person. A repeat is a signal that you have missed a detail.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
1Complete the sentence.
3Complete the sentence.
6Complete the sentence.
8Complete the sentence.
9A person wants: (1) a music class, (2) on a weekday evening, (3) for beginners. Write the three things you would scan the adverts for.
One good answer
The word music or an instrument; a day from Monday to Friday with an evening time; and a level word such as beginners or no experience needed.
11Complete the sentence.
13Complete the sentence.
15Complete the sentence.
17Complete the sentence.
20Explain in one or two sentences what you do if two texts still look possible for the same person.
One good answer
I go back to the description and find the need I have not checked yet, usually a price, an age or a level, and then only one of the two texts will still fit.
21Complete the sentence.
23Complete the sentence.
25Complete the sentence.
27Complete the sentence.
29Complete the sentence.
31Complete the sentence.
32Write one sentence explaining why you should turn ‘she is free after school’ into a clock time before you scan.
One good answer
Adverts give times as numbers, so turning the need into something like ‘after four o’clock’ lets me reject a class at two without rereading the description.
33Complete the sentence.
35Complete the sentence.
38Complete the sentence.
40Explain in one or two sentences what you do if you run out of time on this task.
One good answer
I fill every empty answer with a text I have not used yet, because a blank always scores zero and a sensible guess sometimes scores a mark.
Note
Pick Two Activity is an independent tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Cambridge University Press & Assessment, the British Council, IDP, ETS, Duolingo or any other exam board. Exam names are trademarks of their owners and are used here only to describe the exam you are preparing for. Every question on this page is original practice written by us: we do not provide, copy or reproduce official exam papers.
No. Read each text once for the general idea, then go back and scan only for the specific details each person needs — a day, a price, a level.
One always matches better than the others. Count how many needs each text meets; the correct one meets them all, the distractors meet all but one.
No. Start with the person whose needs are clearest. Every answer you find removes an option and makes the remaining questions easier.
Normally not. If you have used a text twice, treat it as a warning that you have missed a detail in one of the descriptions.
Take any page of small adverts — events, courses, second-hand things for sale — and give yourself twenty seconds to find one detail, such as the cheapest item or the only Sunday event.