so you want to pass the b2 first exam
but now you're thinking oh no i cannot
read and if that's your problem then i'm
very very sorry but i cannot help you
however what i can do is give you some
fantastic and useful tips on how to pass
part one of the b21st reading paper and
that really is fantastic my name is toby
this is smash english and here is
everything you need to know about how to
pass part one of the reading paper of
the metoo first cambridge exam
[Music]
okay so first of all this is not part
one of the reading paper because there
is no reading paper the reading paper is
called the reading and use of english
paper and in this video we are going to
be talking about part five of the
reading and use of english paper however
this is the first reading exercise in
the reading and use of english paper and
so we will call it part one of the
cambridge b21st reading paper yes yes i
recommend spending 30 minutes on the use
of english parts so that's parts one 2 3
and 4 and then 45 minutes on the reading
part this will give you 15 minutes for
each part of the reading section of the
reading and use of english paper and 15
minutes is the perfect amount of time so
then what do you need to do for part
five of the be too first use of english
and reading paper well first of all you
will be given a text obviously and this
text will be about 600 to 700 words long
but seriously don't count the words in
your exam because why would you do that
and that is a massive waste of time but
trust me it will be about 600 to 700
words long you will also be given six
questions and each question is a
multiple choice question you must choose
between a b c or d
yeah oh and in case you're confused here
is an example
so here is the reading it will be an
entire page of your examination paper
and will be between 600 and 700 words
and here are the questions and each one
has four possible answers so we have our
text and we have our questions what is
the first thing that we should do
some will suggest reading the whole text
quickly to understand the general idea
however
i don't think this is a good use of your
time for part five skim reading a text
very quickly to understand the general
idea can be great if we need to quickly
identify where certain pieces of
information are located within a text
however that's not really what part 5 is
asking you to do we already know where
all of the information is contained in
part 5 because
the questions are in order and so the
answer to question one will be in
paragraph one the answer to question two
will be after the answer to question one
the answer to question three will be
found after the answer to question two
and yeah you get the idea
so this really is not asking you to
locate information quickly because well
you already know where the information
is located before you've even read the
text
so
to be honest a better strategy would be
to read question one very carefully read
all the options and then very carefully
read paragraph one
that's what i do anyway let's look at
the type of questions you could come
across in part five remember part five
isn't really about finding individual
pieces of information instead it's more
about understanding general ideas what
is the focus what is the author's intent
and because the questions ask you to
focus on intent atmosphere emphasis and
tone
we shouldn't really be focusing on
individual pieces of vocabulary and this
might all sounds very confusing but
don't worry because here
is an example question 1 or 31 whatever
is in the first paragraph what is
caitlyn's main point about the island
and here are the options a b c and d
notice the question tells you the answer
is in paragraph one so skim reading the
entire text before answering this
question is not going to help you so
don't do it it's a waste of time
the question is asking you to understand
what the writers catelyn's main point is
about the island
this means that caitlyn is probably
making many points about the island and
you need to understand what the most
important point is
here is paragraph one
pause the video here and see if you can
choose the correct response
now let's look at each possible answer
a
it can be dangerous to try to cross from
the mainland
well she says there is a vast stretch of
tall grasses and brown mud that
separates the island from the mainland
is this an important point
maybe but does she mention that this
makes it dangerous to cross from the
mainland
no she doesn't
she states that during high tide the
water rises half a meter or so above the
road and nothing can pass until the tide
goes out again
would this make it dangerous to cross
well yeah probably but does she say it
no she doesn't so we can eliminate a
b
it is much smaller than it looks from
the mainland
caitlyn does describe the size of the
island here but she does not say it is
any bigger or smaller than it appears
from the mainland she simply gives us
the size of the island and nothing more
we therefore can eliminate e
at this point you might have noticed
that i am underlining parts of the text
in relation to different possible
answers and you should definitely do
this it will keep you organized and it
will allow you to reflect on whether a
particular part of the text matches up
well with a particular answer another
reason is that this is so so so
important for checking your answers at
the end you won't think oh i selected a
why did i choose a let me read the text
again oh no i don't have time i've lost
i've failed my life is ruined instead
you will say i chose a why did i choose
a look it's underlined here and now i'm
rereading it i see that i was correct
fantastic
well done me
c
it is only completely cut off at certain
times
the phrasal verb cut off means to be
isolated we know that the island is
isolated at certain times because
when there is a high tide and the water
rises a half a meter or so above the
road and nothing can pass until the tide
goes out again a few hours later
this is therefore a possible answer
but wait do not move on to the next
question yet remember this question is
asking us to identify what caitlyn's
main point about the island is yes it is
true that caitlyn makes the point that
the island is cut off at certain times
but this might not be her main point so
let's have a look at d before we get too
confident yes
yes
d
it can be a difficult place for people
to live in
i guess an island in which you are
isolated from the mainland for certain
periods every day may be difficult to
live in but caitlyn does not say that in
this paragraph so
no
this means our answer is c
wow good job guys
that was so much fun so what have we
learned from this example number one
reading the entire text that's the
beginning of the exercise is not
necessary in order to answer the
questions number two
underline in the text why you have
chosen certain answers and where you can
underline why you have not chosen other
answers and number three
read all of the possible answers a b c
or d carefully before choosing your
final answer
obviously now let's go straight ahead to
question 33 the answer is in paragraph
three so let's have a look at it
caitlyn emphasizes her feelings of
discomfort because she a
is embarrassed that she doesn't
understand what her brother is talking
about
b
feels confused about why she can't
relate to her brother anymore
c
is upset by the unexpected change in her
brother's behavior
or d
feels foolish that her brother's
attention is so important to her
so this question is asking us to
identify why the author emphasized
something which is quite similar to our
first question which asked us to
identify what the main point was of a
paragraph so let's see if we can do
question 33 together
a
well she is embarrassed
she states she feels embarrassed here
but that does not mean that this is the
answer does she understand what her
brother is talking about well he's
acting like an idiot and he is jabbering
like a mad thing
but is this why caitlyn is feeling
discomfort
no
i don't think so
let's go on
b
can she relate to her brother
no
but does she feel confused about this
she doesn't talk about confusion and
because she doesn't we can't eliminate b
c
so is the change in her brother's
behavior unexpected
well she feels embarrassed and
uncomfortable
and she likens her brother's behavior to
someone close to you suddenly acting
like a complete idiot
this all suggests that her brother's
behavior is indeed unexpected
however does she feel upset by it
she says she didn't like the way her
brother was ignoring her
okay
and she says she felt like a stranger in
her own car
i think that would feel upsetting so c
is definitely a possible answer more
likely than a or b
d
does she ever state that she feels
foolish
i can't find anything about that does
she state that her brother's attention
is important
well she does not like the way her
brother is ignoring her so we can assume
yes but again she never says she feels
foolish so it cannot be d
this means our answer
is c
and now let's look at a different type
of question every part 5 of the b21st
reading and use of english paper
features a question like this so pay
attention this is very very important
in because of that in line 31
that refers to the fact that a
locals think it is odd to walk anywhere
b it is easier for people to take the
bus than walk
c
people have everything they need on the
island or d
there is nowhere in particular to walk
to from the island
now let's look at the reading don't
worry because line 31 will be identified
on the page you don't have to count
lines again remember this part of the
exam is not about finding out where
pieces of information are located it is
about understanding it the tone the
atmosphere the intent it's not about
locating the location of information no
no
there are two possible types of
questions like this in part five of the
b21s reading and use of english paper
the first one may ask you to identify
the meaning of an idiomatic phrase that
you definitely will not have heard of
before however from the context you need
to understand what the author's intent
is with its use and the second type
could be like this one a relative
pronoun and from the context you need to
understand what the relative pronoun
means anyway let's take a look at this
question together and see if we can do
it
together
i can instantly identify the sentence we
need it's here
you don't often see people walking
around here between hail and molten the
nearest town and 30 kilometers away on
the mainland there is nothing but small
cottages farmland heath land and a
couple of hills
so islanders don't walk because of that
that here refers to there's nothing but
small cottages farmland heath land and a
couple of hills
what choice does this correspond to
well we are not talking about the locals
attitude so we can eliminate a there is
no mention of the bus so we can
eliminate b
there is no mention of the needs of the
islanders
however there is mention of what there
is on the island and small cottages
farmland heathland and a couple of hills
sound like nowhere in particular so
we will choose d
so these are the three main types of
questions you could get in part five for
the bt first reading and use of english
paper i cannot teach you to read however
i can give you strategies and tell you
the types of questions you will get when
you take your b21st cambridge exam so i
hope this has been useful let's do some
recapping number one you do not need to
read the full text of part five before
you start answering the questions and
this is because we know where to find
all of our answers because the questions
are in order number two
the questions will ask you to identify
the author's emphasis intent tone the
atmosphere the motivations for
somebody's actions and so you need to
understand the general point you do not
need to focus on individual words and i
guarantee there will be some words that
you don't understand if you don't
understand a word then don't focus on it
for too long just
move on number three underline where you
find your final answers and also
underline why you are sure that the
other options cannot be the answer this
will help you reflect on your answers
and will also save you time at the end
of the test where you need to check your
answers and finally number four
make sure you read the questions
carefully and a b c and d very carefully
before giving your final answer a
question might ask you to identify what
the main point was of a paragraph maybe
the writer did mention b however it
wasn't the main point the main point was
c however you chose b because you saw
that the writer mentioned b and thought
oh wow that's the answer i can go ahead
when actually the main point was c but
you didn't read c properly and so you
got it wrong and that's awful really
that is that's a terrible reason to lose
a mark so yeah that's my advice for part
five of the be to first use of english
and reading paper
and with that we are finished now you
know every single thing you need to know
about how to pass part five of the b2
first reading and use of english paper
well maybe not everything you need to
know if you need to learn how to read
then that's a problem however i think
i've given you some strategies and tips
to help you get the mark that you want
if you liked the video don't forget to
smash that like button subscribe if you
haven't already leave a comment down
below
my name is toby and this
was
smash english
[Music]
you