What the exam asks
| Words from the passage | Word box | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical instruction | Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer (or another word limit) | Complete the summary using the list of words, A–I, below |
| What you give | Words copied exactly from the text | The letter of an option |
| Options | None: any words in the passage | More options than gaps, usually synonyms or paraphrases of text words |
| Main risks | Word limit, word form, spelling | Options that fit the grammar but not the meaning |
Rules for both versions:
- The summary usually covers one part of the passage (two or three paragraphs), though some summarise the whole text. A title is often given.
- Answers may not follow text order. They usually come from one section, but the answer to gap 4 can come earlier in the passage than the answer to gap 3.
- In the word-box version some options are never used, and each option normally fills at most one gap.
- On computer you usually drag a box option into its gap. For the words-from-the-passage version you type the answer.
Core ideas
1. Find the section, then map it sentence by sentence
Pick one or two anchors (a name, a date, a distinctive term) from the summary’s title and first sentence and find them in the passage. Then find where the summary’s last sentence matches the text: everything in between is your search area. Match each summary sentence to its sentence in the text. The words around the gap are paraphrased (cut so frequently may stand for trimmed every year), and once a summary sentence is matched, the gap is the one piece of information it is missing. A detail the summary skips holds no answer.
2. Predict three things for every gap
| Prediction | Clue | Example |
|---|