B2 First: Reading and Use of English

Two different exams inside one paper

The first parts are Use of English: multiple-choice cloze, open cloze, word formation and key word transformation. These are grammar and lexis under a stopwatch, and reading practice barely moves them. The later parts are the reading proper: multiple choice on a text, a gapped text where you replace missing sentences, and multiple matching across a set of short texts.

This split is why candidates who "read a lot in English" sometimes stall at B2 First. Wide reading builds the second half and leaves the first half untouched. Conversely, grammar drilling alone leaves you slow on the gapped text, which is the part that rewards holding the shape of an argument in your head.

What to practise, and in what order

For the reading parts, the highest-value habit is reading complete arguments at B2 density every day and then answering questions on them, so that "which sentence was removed from here" becomes a matter of noticing a broken link rather than guessing. Vocabulary matters most when it is met in context, because the exam paraphrases rather than repeats.

For Use of English, the training is different in kind and LingoRead does not replace it. Work through past-paper transformation and cloze exercises separately; use daily reading to feed the vocabulary those exercises assume you already have.

Honest scope

LingoRead trains the reading half of this paper. It does not drill key word transformations, it does not mark the Writing paper, and it has no part in Listening or Speaking. On a certificate this specific, saying so matters more than sounding comprehensive.