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C1 Advanced Reading & Use of English: all parts

C1 Advanced5 topics200 questions

Reading and Use of English is the longest paper in C1 Advanced and the one candidates most often run out of time on. The first four parts test precise language — collocation, fixed phrases, affixes and structure — while the reading parts test how quickly you can follow an argument across a text.

What this paper asks of you

  • Collocation and fixed phrases, where meaning alone will not tell you which of four words is right.
  • Grammatical accuracy in small words: prepositions, auxiliaries, determiners and linkers.
  • Word building, including negative prefixes, plural nouns and stems that change spelling.
  • Following cohesion across paragraphs: pronouns, substitution and time references.
  • Time management, so the reading parts are not answered in the last four minutes.
  • Reading for opinion and attitude, not only for facts, in the matching and multiple-choice reading tasks.
  • Inferring meaning from context rather than reaching for a dictionary definition.
  • Precision under pressure: answers that are nearly right — wrong tense, missing preposition, singular for plural — score nothing.
  • Transferring answers accurately, since the paper is marked on what you wrote, not what you meant.
  • Stamina, because this is the longest paper and the last two parts come when concentration is lowest.

Task types, one page each