CAE Multiple Choice Cloze

Hello, My name’s Peter Travis from Flo-Joe and this is the latest in our series of videos looking at the updated CAE exam which launches in 2015. Today we’re looking at Part 1 of the Reading and Use of English Paper - the Multiple Choice Cloze exercise. OK, here we have an example Multiple Choice Cloze task taken from the CAE handbook, this is the CAE handbook for 2015. As you can see the task contains a short text with 8 gaps with an additional gap at the beginning that serves as an example. Candidates have to complete each gap with one of the 4 choices, A, B, C or D. As you can see there’s an example at the top with the highlighted word ’conventional being the missing word. Language Skills The main focus in the Multiple Choice Cloze is vocabulary. Various aspects of vocabulary are likely to be tested but in general, you should focus on learning ’chunks’ of vocabulary or set expressions, rather than simply individual words. Let’s look at some examples of chunks. Phrasal verbs are an example of a ’chunk’ - a verb and a preposition. Here’s an example closed sentence testing your knowledge of phrasal verbs. Can you spot the correct word? The answer will appear in a few seconds. Other common idiomatic expressions might appear in the text with one of the words gapped. Try this question for example: Collocations, or words that go together regularly appear in the Multiple Choice Cloze. Here’s an example closed sentence testing your knowledge of collocations. Do you know the missing word? Occasionally a linking word or what is sometimes called a discourse marker will be the gapped word such as in this example. Here’s an example closed sentence testing your knowledge of linking words. Do you know the answer? Exam Tips You should always read the complete text before attempting to answer any questions. Having a ’big picture’ or global understanding of the text will help you make decisions later. A key tactic in this exercise is to look for clues around each gap. We’ve already noted the importance of learning set expressions and the word before or after the gap will often be part of a set phrase and will help you decide which of the choice of 4 words is the correct one. If you find it difficult to make a choice eliminate those you know are wrong and if necessary make a guess as to the correct answer - you might be lucky! If you’d like further practice in the new CAE exam visit the Flo-Joe website at .