Everest Podcast Ep 11: Cambridge Use of English
Cambridge Use of English (Podcast)
Some tips for Cambridge Use of English and reading
Practicing your English outside the classroom:
Reading as much as you can and taking note of grammar
Listening to and breaking down grammar of favourite songs
Watching local TV rather than just your favourite shows online
Keeping a vocab notebook with language chunks and examples, not just individual words (e.g To be interested in sth / in doing sth” not just “interested = word in my language”
Write a blog, force yourself to write things to you keep thinking about grammar and vocab
Reading & Cambridge Use of English Paper
Adv – 1hr 30 Min, 4 x Use of English, 4 x Reading
First – 1hr 15 mins, 4 x Use of English, 3 x Reading
| Advanced | First |
| 1 Multiple Choice Cloze | 1 Multiple Choice Cloze |
| 2 Open Cloze | 2 Open Cloze |
| 3 Word Formation | 3 Word Formation |
| 4 Key Word Transformation | 4 Key Word Transformation |
1 Multiple Choice Cloze
8 questions. 4 options for each
All about idioms and collocations
You can usually rule out one or two answers quite quickly. If you’re not sure take an educated guess.
You need to be constantly building your vocabulary to get better at this section
2 Open Cloze
It can be “any” word but it’s very restricted
The missing words are usually pronouns, prepositions, linking words, adverbs. They will much less commonly be verbs, nouns, adjectives
Collocations and short phrases (as soon as, in order to) important here too
Think about where in the sentence a word comes (eg at the beginning it might be “However”, but very unlikely to be “But”
3 Word Formation
This is all about word families – prefixes and suffixes, word types (noun, verb, etc)
Think about whether the word is positive or negative (eg does it need “un” or “dis”)
Think about the type of word (eg it might need “-ly” if it’s an adverb)
As with all the section, skim read the whole text quickly at the beginning , the context will help you out
4 Key Word Transformation
This is a “you know it or you don’t” section, unlike the other parts where you can either guess with multiple choice or at least take a stab.
Don’t waste time if you don’t know. Move on and come back later if you have time. A good one to come back to at the very end if you’re missing any.
Remember you have to use the word exactly as given
Keep the tense, the person, etc the same. Don’t change things unnecessarily
Phrasal verbs come up a lot here. So does the passive.
There will often be multiple changes, e.g using an idiom and changing something to the passive for example.
Remember in Cambridge Use of English, as elsewhere, a contraction (don’t, we’ll) is TWO words.
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