For those doing the exam this week, it can be difficult to know what to focus on in the Use of English paper. We’ve summarised some top tips for the CPE exam below to help you prepare. 

Here are some suggested tips for the CPE and observations.

Generic consideration

• Do the easier ones first. Don’t get stuck on a single question for long. Come back to it later or guess. There will be things in the exam which you simply won’t know, which is not easy when most CPE candidates have reached this level by being perfectionists.

Part 1 Multiple choice cloze – testing accuracy of vocabulary

• Focus language exercises – phrasal verbs, idioms/fixed phrases, words with similar meanings, preposition collocations.

Part 2 Open Cloze – Testing accuracy with grammar and some vocabulary

• Focus Language –All grammar including such things as pronouns, auxiliaries, articles and linking expressions. Alongside this, vocabulary like phrasal verbs and collocations/set phrases.

Part 3 Word Formation – Testing accuracy with vocabulary

• Focus language – Different forms of words including compound ones and use of prefixes and suffixes.

Suggested tips for parts 1,2,3

• Context, context, context! Read the whole text first and then study the words around the gaps. Don’t rush things. Make haste slowly but do not get stuck or you will not finish the reading. 

Part 4 Key word transformations – Testing grammatical and vocabulary accuracy

• Focus Language – collocations, phrasal verbs, idiomatic phrases/fixed expressions. Grammatical structures such as inversions, changing word forms (expect/expectations), conditional sentences, cleft sentences (What they do is…../It is Peter who), gerunds/infinitives.