Reading Part 6
This is the second of the reading exercises in the Cambridge B2 reading exam. On this page we will talk about what you need to know about this Part 6 exercise.
What do I have to do in this exercise?
The Part 6 Reading consists of one text, from which six sentences have been removed and placed in jumbled order after the text, together with a seventh sentence which does not fit in any of the gaps. You have to decide from where in the text each sentence has been removed. Each sentence may be used only once, and there is one extra sentence that you do not need to use.
The text may be taken from, for example, a magazine or newspaper.
Each correct answer is worth 2 marks.
Part 6 (Extract)
You are going to read an article about indoor climbing. For questions 31 – 36, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.
INDOOR CLIMBING – A DAY OUT
Five years ago I discovered rock climbing. To be specific, I discovered ‘indoor climbing’ with a group of work colleagues. It was one of those team building events where we were taken to do challenging things in the hope that we would become a ‘high performance team’.
Whether that ever happened is still questionable, but I fell in love with climbing immediately. As a kid growing up in the countryside I was rarely not climbing something — trees, walls, agricultural machines — but never rocks. While the coast near me has its share of rock, it’s primarily chalk; a rock that doesn’t lend itself to relaxed climbing.
…
Example Questions
31. In the first paragraph what was the main purpose of their visit to the indoor climbing wall centre?
A. The company he worked for sent them.
B. The writer had arranged the day out for his colleagues.
C. The company had suggested it was a good activity to help people get fitter
D. The writer and his colleagues had requested the day out.
32. In the second paragraph what does the expression lend itself to mean?
A. agree to
B. easy to use for
C. provide an opportunity for
D. create
How to do the B2 part 6 reading exercise
Step 1
- Read the instructions, title and subtitle, if there is one
Step 2
- Read the text quickly – no more than 1-2 minutes to get a general idea of what is in the text.
Step 3
- Highlight key information in the text and in the questions. Not all words are important or key words. It will also help you understand what each paragraph is about and may be useful in identifying which sentences cannot be used in certain gaps.
TEXT EXAMPLE
Back-garden stargazing proved to be a popular activity at home during lockdowns, and in the short and medium-term especially, as travel recovers, many people will still be looking for socially distanced destinations and experiences, such as astro-tourism. 1………..
Sir Patrick Moore, the famous astronomer, recommended 10×50 binoculars for astronomy as a good starting point.
QUESTION EXAMPLE
Just as you would when travelling somewhere unfamiliar, you’ll need a map.
Step 4
- Review the sentences before and after a gap.
What information does each sentence talk about?
…. many people will still be looking for socially distanced destinations and experiences, such as astro-tourism.
This sentence introduces the idea of stargazing and suggests why it might be popular .
1………..
Sir Patrick Moore, the famous astronomer, recommended 10×50 binoculars for astronomy as a good starting point.
This sentence uses a famous person to say what you need in terms of binoculars
The answer needs to connects the idea of the activity with how we can do it. The following sentence is the one that is missing and joins both ideas together.
ANSWER
Stargazing from home doesn’t always mean apps and laptops: you can see plenty with binoculars – even a cheap pair.
Part 6 Reading Exam Tips
Choose your exercises carefully
Some students can find this exercise quite difficult and it can take some time to complete the task so it is important before you start the reading exercises to think about doing the exercises you can do more quickly, first. So, some students may prefer to complete Part 6 last after the other two reading exercises.
What to focus on
The key to doing this exercise well is to focus on the information that comes before the gap and the information that comes after the gap. It is important and useful to read the whole text but after that you should concentrate on the gaps only to identify the answers.