1. LEVEL B2 OF THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF
REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES (CEFR)

2. FCE CONTENT AND OVERVIEW
FCE EXAM PARTS (PAPERS)
1: READING (20%)
1 HOUR
2. WRITING (20%)
1 HOUR 20 MINUTES
3: USE OF ENGLISH (20%)
45 MINUTES
4: LISTENING (20%)
APROX. 40 MINUTES
5: SPEAKING (20%)
14 MINUTES

3. FCE EXAM FORMAT. PAPER 1
PAPER 1: READING, GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Time allowed: 1 hour
Number of parts: 3
Number of questions: 30
Marks: 20% of total
Lengths of texts: 550–700 words per text: about 2,000 words to read
in total
Texts may be from: newspaper and magazine articles, reports, fiction,
advertisements, letters, messages, informational
material (e.g. brochures, guides, manuals, etc.)

4. FCE. PAPER 1. READING.
PART 1: MULTIPLE CHOICE
A text with
What's in Part some
1? multiple-
choice
questions.
Each question
has four
options (A, B,
C or D) and
you have to
decide which
is the correct
answer.
What do I How to
have to understand
practise? the details of
a text,
including
opinions and
attitudes.
How many 8
questions are
there?
How many Two marks for
marks do I each correct
get? answer.

5. FCE. PAPER 1. READING.
PART 2: GAPPED TEXT (SENTENCES IN CONTEXT)
A text with some
What's in Part empty spaces
2? (gaps). After the
text there are some
sentences taken
from the text. You
have to choose the
correct sentence for
each gap.
What do I have How to understand
to practise? the structure and
follow the
development of a
text.
text.
How many 7
questions are
there?
How many Two marks for each
marks do I get? correct answer.

6. FCE. PAPER 1. READING.
PART 3:READING FOR SPECIFIC INFORMATION (WHICH PERSON?)
A series of
What's in Part 2? questions and a
long text or
several short texts
to read. For each
question, you
have to decide
which text or part
of the text
mentions some
specific
information.
information.
What do I have to How to find
practise? specific
information in a
text or texts.
How many 15
questions are
there?
How many marks ONE mark for
do I get? each correct
answer.

7. FCE. PAPER 2. WRITING.
PAPER 2: WRITING
Time allowed: 1 hour 20 minutes
Number of 2
parts:
Number of Part 1: one
questions: compulsory
question
Part 2: one question
from a choice of
five
Marks: 20% of total
Types of task: article, email, essay,
letter, report,
review, story

8. FCE. PAPER 2. WRITING.

9. FCE. PAPER 2. WRITING.
PART 1, QUESTION 1. LETTER/ E-MAIL
Some material to read
What's in Part (up to 160 words). You
1? have to write a letter
or email using the
information in this
material.
What do I Writing a letter or
have to email. You may have
practise? to apologise, compare,
describe, explain,
express opinions,
justify, persuade,
recommend, and/or
suggest something.
How many One compulsory
questions are question.
there?
How much do 120–150 words
I have to
write?

10. FCE. PAPER 2. WRITING.
PART 2. QUESTIONS 2-5: ARTICLE, ESSAY, LETTER, REPORT,
REVIEW OR STORY
A choice of five
What's in Part 2? questions. The
answer you have to
write will be one of
the following: an
article, essay,
letter, report,
review or story.
What about Question If you read one of the
5? set books and want
to write about it, you
may decide to try
Question 5. You have
a choice of two tasks
5 (a) or 5 (b) for this
question.
What do I have to Writing different
practise? types of text:
articles, essays,
letters, reports,
reviews. Depending
on the question, you
will have to advise,
compare, describe,
explain, express
opinions, justify and/
or recommend
something.
How many questions One task to be
are there? selected from a
choice of five.
How much do I have 120–180 words
to write?

11. FCE. PAPER 3. USE OF ENGLISH.
PAPER 3: USE OF ENGLISH. GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Time allowed: 45 minutes
Number of parts: 4
Number of 42
questions:
Marks: 20% of total

12. FCE. PAPER 3. USE OF ENGLISH.
PART 1. GAP FILLING. MULTIPLE CHOICE CLOZE
A text in which there
What' are some
s in missing words or
Part phrases (gaps).
1? After the text
there are four
possible answers
for each gap and
you have to
choose the
correct answer
(A, B, C or D).
What do I Vocabulary – words
have with similar
to meanings,
practi collocations,
se? linking phrases,
phrasal verbs,
etc.
How many 12
quest
ions
are
there
?
How many One mark for each
mark correct answer.
s are
there
?

13. FCE. PAPER 3. USE OF ENGLISH.
PART 2. GAP FILLING: WORD PRODUCTION
A text in which there
What's in are some missing
Part 2? words (gaps). You
have to find the
correct word for each
gap.
What do I Grammar and
have to vocabulary.
practise?
How many 12
questions are
there?
How many One mark for each
marks are correct answer.
there?

14. FCE. PAPER 3. USE OF ENGLISH.
PART 3. GAP FILLING: WORD FAMILIES/ WORD FORMATION
A text containing ten gaps.
What's in Part 3? Each gap represents a word.
At the end of the line is a
‘prompt’ word which you have
to change in some way to
make the correct missing
word and complete the
sentence correctly.
What do I have Vocabulary – word building:
to practise? the different words which you
can make from a ‘base’ word,
e.g. ‘compete’ becomes
‘competition’, ‘competitor’,
‘competitive’, competitively’
or ‘uncompetitive’.
How many 10
questions are
there?
How many One mark for each correct
marks are there? answer.

15. FCE. PAPER 3. USE OF ENGLISH.
PART 4. KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS
A sentence followed by a key
What's in Part 4? word and a second sentence
which has a gap in it. You
have to use the key word to
complete the second
sentence so that it means the
same as the first sentence.
What do I have to Grammar and vocabulary –
practise? rewriting sentences with
different words so that they
mean the same thing.
How many 8
questions are
there?
How many marks Up to two marks for each
are there? correct answer.

16. PAPER 4: LISTENING
PAPER 4: LISTENING. GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Time allowed: about 40 minutes
Number of 4
parts:
Number of 30
questions:
Marks: 20% of total

17. PAPER 4: LISTENING
PART 1: LISTENING. MULTIPLE CHOICE FOR DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
Eight questions to test
candidates’ ability to
listen for gist in a series
of unrelated texts. The
testing focusis spelled
out in each question

18. PAPER 4: LISTENING
PART 2: LISTENING. SENTENCE COMPLETION
This part tests candidates’
ability to listen for specific
words or phrases focusing on
detail and specific information.
The test is presented in the
form of 10 questions.
Candidates need to listen and
complete the questions.

19. PAPER 4: LISTENING
PART 3: LISTENING. MULTIPLE MATCHING
This part focus is on
the skill of listening
for general gist,
detail, purpose,
attitude, opinion,
etc. Candidates
listen to five short
texts with different
speakers, which are
related in some way
(E.g.: travel, a
journey, vehicles,
etc)

20. PAPER 4: LISTENING
PART 4: LISTENING. MULTIPLE CHOICE
In this part, the
predominant focus is
on testing the
candidates’ ability to
listen for opinion,
main idea, gist and
specific info, and
based on one long
test.

21. PAPER 5: SPEAKING
Time allowed: 14 minutes per pair of
candidates
Number of parts: 4
HI!
Marks: 20% of total
You have to talk:  with the examiner
 with the other candidate
 on your own

22. PAPER 5: SPEAKING
SPEAKING PART 1: SOCIAL AND PERSONAL CONVERSATION
CANDIDATES AND EXAMINER INTERACT
PERSONAL INFORMATION (NAME, NATIONALITY, HOMETOWN, ETC)
LIKES AND DISLIKES
HOMELIFE
FREE TIME
EDUCATION AND WORK
TRAVEL

23. PAPER 5: SPEAKING
SPEAKING PART 2: TALKING ABOUT PICTURES
CANDIDATES AND EXAMINER INTERACT
 EACH CANDIDATE TALKS FOR 1 MINUTE ABOUT ONE PAIR OF
RELATED PICTURES AND ANSWERS A QUESTION ABOUT THE OTHER
PAIR OF RELATED PICTURES.

24. PAPER 5: SPEAKING
SPEAKING PARTS 3 AND 4: DISCUSSION
PART 3: CANDIDATES INTERACT
 DISCUSSION BETWEEN CANDIDATES
BASED ON A SITUATION PRESENTED IN
PICTURES AND WORDS
 CANDIDAES MAKE A DECISION TOGETHER
PART 4: CANDIDATES AND EXAMINER
INTERACT
 DISCUSSION BETWEEN CANDIDATES AND
EXAMINER ON TOPICS RELATED TO PART 3
TASK.