Use of English
Part 7: Gapped Text
C1 Advanced Exam
Overview
In Part 7 of the Reading and Use of English paper of the C1 Advanced Exam, you'll be given a long text. Some paragraphs have been removed. You must put them back into the text in the correct place.
There are 6 gaps, and 7 paragraphs, so there is one you won't use.
This might seem hard but the answers are actually very logical.
Scoring
2 points are given for each correct answer in this section.
Process
Start at the beginning of the main text and read carefully so you understand what it's about. Read until you come to the first gap.
Now that you have an idea of what the text is about, you can usually skim the first few words of each option and see which one’s DON’T fit.
When you think you’ve located one that might fit, look for clues to confirm that it goes there. Look for:
Names and pronouns (Jack... he... this...)
Chronology (Then... Finally… dates… times…)
Quotation marks ("I couldn't believe it.")
Questions (often rhetorical)
Verb tenses (had gone... will have finished)
Cause and effect (Therefore... as a result...)
Words that refer to the same thing (for example: if one paragraph talks about a storm, and the other one talks about lightening and thunder, it’s a good indication that maybe they go together. Sometimes there are also synonyms or vocabulary around key topics)
Punctuation. Sometimes the fact that a quotation isn’t closed and continues into the next paragraph is a clue. Or maybe there's a question that gets answered in the following section.
I often make notes of the clues as well. Remember you can write on the exam paper.
Move through the text from top to bottom until you've placed all the paragraphs.
Tips
The most important sentences are the ones before and after each gap so read these very carefully.
You don't have to fill in the answers in order; you can start with the ones you think are easiest. For me, however, I find it’s easier to start at the beginning of the text and read everything in order.
