CPE Use of English (C2 Level)

The Paper 

The Cambridge Proficiency Exam (CPE) is the highest language award in the Cambridge Exams, denoting the C2 level. C2 is considered completely or nearly fluent, and a speaker of another language who has studied and passed the C2 level would be able to demonstrate lexico-grammatical awareness almost beyond that of many so-called 'native' speakers of English. As with the FCE and CAE exams, it is used in various countries and institutions as proof of linguistic competence. But how are the language skills and systems involved in completing the exam tested? 

The Cambridge UMS (Upper Main Suite) Exams (FCE, CAE and CPE) contain Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening papers, as well as a paper called Use of English. The Use of English paper tests grammar and vocabulary in various ways, and it has four short exercises.

The exercises might be short, but they are important as the Use of English paper has equal importance and value to the other papers (20% of the total result). Considering this, you might think of the Use of English exercises as having more value than other exam tasks as they are shorter. 

It is essential to make sure that your marks in each exercise are consistent as your mark will get dragged down by inconsistent results from exercise to exercise. The important thing is to give equal importance to each exercise so that you score well consistently.

Part 1 Multiple Choice-Tips and Tricks

Although the exercise is the same as FCE and CAE Use of English Part 1, the language level is now C2, so the level of language is at the highest level. There are more examples of lower-frequency vocabulary and grammar at CPE level, so remember to learn less-common words in English as you study. 

Tricks to complete the tasks are the same at all levels though. Think about these issues regarding the format of the exercise and the answer options:

1. The four options for each question are of the same form of word or expression. You won't have to consider how correct the word form is for each question.
2. Read the text quickly and familiarise yourself with the topic and the context. This part has about 150 words, so a quick read will help you get the gist of the text. 
3. Meaning is important in this part of the exam, as there is quite a bit of nuance between options at Proficiency level. Two or even three of the options might have the same or overlapping meaning, but there might be one which is easy to dismiss as its meaning is either completely erroneous or too distant in meaning. This can help you narrow down your options. 
4. Now that you have narrowed down your options in terms of their meaning fitting the context, do they also fit grammatically? This is a typical aspect of the exercise, that the word meaning fits but there can only be one answer, and the words surrounding the gap, especially what comes after ensure that there is only one viable answer. Prepositions following the gap are an example of this, so look carefully on each side of the gap.