Answer Keys

Part 1

1 B – talent. This goes well with the adjective ‘artistic’. ‘Training’ means some time spent learning something. ‘Expert’ is not a quality, the word would be ‘expertise’.
2 C – told. We have a case of the passive voice and this affects our choice. The part ‘what to do’ only works with ‘told’ here. 
3 D – made. ‘To make a name’ means to become famous, recognized or well-known.
4 A – supply. If something is in short supply, there is not enough of it. ‘Low quantity’ would work as well, but it sounds more technical.
5 B – come. ‘To come across something’ means to find it by chance, accidentally, without meaning to.
6 C – instant. An adjective that collocates well with ‘success’.
7 A – height. A tricky collocation that is not used very often. A figure of speech, ‘height of fashion’ means something is as fashionable as it can possibly be.
8 D – set up. ‘Set up’ in this context means ‘found, establish’.

Part 2

9 into. ‘Turn into’ means to transform into something, to become something else. Don’t be tempted to answer ‘turn in’ as it means to return something, i.e. ‘police officers have to turn in their firearms at the end of their duty’.
10 one. ‘… of the’ helps us make the right choice here. One of many, not the only one.
11 before. The context helps to understand how things were previously, when gyms hadn’t become more popular and widespread.
12 take. To participate, to become a member or contestant.
13 have/need. Both modals that show obligation fit the context here. ‘Should’ can’t be used as it means that it is a recommendation rather than a requirement, while the context suggests otherwise.
14 case. ‘In case’ – in the event of something, if something (undesirable) happens.
15 after. The second most difficult thing, or the thing that comes after.
16 which. A case of non-restrictive relative clause can be seen here.

Part 3

17 scientists. Astronauts and doctors are mentioned here, so it is only natural to choose another profession in plural form. Mind the spelling, a mistake will render the right answer useless.
18 research. The word here is an adjective, but the spelling (and pronunciation) are similar to the noun form.
19 isolation. An easy to choose noun. A reminder not to use ‘isolating’ – choosing the proper noun instead of a gerund form is always preferable.
20 unable. The word ‘delay’ suggests that real-time conversation is impossible, so we need to use a negative prefix. 
21 mixture. We normally use ‘mixture’ when we talk about multiple components. We use ‘mix’ when we talk only about two combined things. Another point to keep in mind is that you ALWAYS have to change the initial word, so ‘mix’ can’t be used without any changes.
22 feedback. A noun is needed here. The only difficulty is that there is no article before the gap, which suggests either a plural or uncountable noun. ‘Feedback’ is uncountable.
23 emotional. Easy choice of an adjective. Make sure to get the spelling right.
24 information. Another straightforward transformation.

Part 4

25 see any/much/the point in. ‘To see a point in something’ means to consider it useful, worth knowing or doing.
26 have been relieved when. ‘Been’ is a Past Participle form of ‘to be’ and therefore it suggests that a Perfect tense should be used. Present Perfect fits the best here, as there is no need to use Past Perfect.
27 is rumored to be. Passive voice is used here. Note the usage of Present Continuous (‘to be getting married’) to show an arrangement planned for the future.
28 only I had not/hadn’t sent. Third Conditional is used here to show regret.
29 without (first) eating/having (first) eaten. ‘Without doing something’. The negative is stated at the beginning (‘never’).
30 to give up going. ‘Give up’ phrasal verb is necessary to know to get the answer right.

Part 5

31 D. The very last phrase – ‘you can wish him well’ is used ironically, and it means that the author is sceptical about Aaron’s own opinion of how his life is going to be. It clearly shows that the author believes Aaron’s life is going to change dramatically. He will become too recognizable, will get a lot of attention, and his life is never going to be the same.
32 A. If something gets to your head, usually fame or praise, it means that it affects your ego in a bad way, makes you proud or vain.
33 B. Middle of Paragraph Four: ‘But he insists that the plot is not as straightforward as it might appear.’
34 A. Aaron ‘is a bit of a worries’ – this directly connect to the fact that anxiety prevents him from watching his own performance on TV. The author then says that ‘he doesn’t care for interviews’, which means he is not interested in them. It doesn’t say that he doesn’t like giving them or if there is any connection with anxiety. Answers C and D have nothing to do with anxiety.
35 C. Aaron is worried that the person might feel upset or angered by the accuracy of portrayal. Answers A and B are not mentioned in any way. Answer D is not mentioned either.
36 D. Answers A and B are both mentioned in a way, but there is a more appropriate option: Answer D. He talks about agreeing with other people of his age that losing one’s child-likeness is not something they should do.

Part 6

37 D. ‘Verbs, words and expressions’ is what ‘these’ from the previous sentence refers to. No other sentence has any fitting content with the subject in plural.
38 A. ‘That one’ from Sentence A refers to the language. The speaker wanted to learn both languages, but later found out that the speakers of these two languages wouldn’t be able to understand each other.
39 G. ‘I went to the south…’ refers to the trip from Sentence G.
40 B. The sentence following this gap introduces a contrast with ‘however’. Despite the learning process being slow because there was no one to practice with (Sentence B) the speaker managed to make progress with learning the language.
41 C. Selk’nam and Yagan are compared – the first one is rich with prefixes and suffixes, while the other one has plenty of vocabulary.
42 E. ‘To be the only one’ from Sentence E refers to being the only speaker of the language. Finally, the author was able to spread the knowledge of the language he was so fond of.

Part 7

43 B. Even though it is called a gym, there are no exercising machines, treadmills or weights. It is a gardening-promoting initiative so the name can be misleading.
44 A. Last sentence: “… help us make some major improvements, which the cyclists who contact us have been asking for”.
45 C. The work they do is displayed “in many public buildings and spaces in our region”.
46 B. The founder has been struggling to find funding for the project, and it is currently facing the risk of closing unless they manage to raise money.
47 A. Newcomers can find information on this website that could help them get into cycling.
48 D. ‘Collect and supply’ are the words here that help us make the right choice.
49 C. ‘Retail range’ means shops our other forms of outlets to sell their things from.
50 B. Advertising for new members is one of the mentioned ways to make use of the funding.
51 D. The carpet tiles are the reusable material mentioned.
52 A. Even though the organisation is based in Cambridge, they provide their service ‘nationwide’.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary below is meant to help you with the more difficult words. If the word isn’t on the list then you are either supposed to know it or it is too specific to be worth learning and you don’t have to know it to answer the question. Symbols in brackets mean part of speech (see bottom of the list). Sentences in italics give examples of usage for some more complex words and phrases.

And remember — you are not given a vocabulary list (or a dictionary) at your real exam.

Part 1

Tablecloth (n) – a piece of fabric used to cover tables, either for decoration or practicality.
Scarf (n) – a piece of clothing worn around neck to keep it warm. Just like the previous entry, this could be purely decorative.
Floral (adj) – relating to flowers or vegetation.

Part 2

Stamina (n) – the quality of remaining strong over a period of time despite physical or mental effort.
Footing (n) – (here) balance, equilibrium. If you lose your footing, it means you have upset your natural balance and you are likely or about to fall.
Drive up (phr v) – to climb or rise to a higher level
Abseil (v) – to descend off some height with a rope tied around your waist.

Part 3

Lock away (phr v) – to prevent somebody or something from leaving or accessing some place.
Replicate (v) – to simulate, to make something exactly like the real thing or the original.
Competitive (adj) – relating to competition i.e. aimed at finding out who is the best at any particular thing (in this case, a videogame)

Part 4

Sew (v) – to use a piece of string and a needle to make clothing and other objects out of fabric.
Relieved (adj) – not feeling stressed or nervous anymore because something bad or difficult either hasn’t happened at all or has already taken place.
Gossip (n) – rumours, talks about other people’s lives that may or may not be based on real information.
Regret (v) – to feel sorry about something you have done.

Part 5

Reluctant (adj) – hesitant, unwilling to do something. She was reluctant to go to school today because of the exams.
Endearing (adj) – making you like or feel sympathy for somebody. Many people find Sheila’s naivety quite endearing.
Hassle (v) – to bother, irritate or inconvenience somebody. Used in a more positive meaning in this context.
Earnestly (adv) – in an honest and open way.
Frenzy (n) – wild or excited behaviour, madness.
Praise (v) – to say that you like or approve of something.
Villain (n) – the ‘bad guy’ in any fictional media like a movie or a book; an antagonist.
Heightened (adj) – increased, bigger or higher than it normally is. The pills gave him a heightened sense of awareness, one he has never experienced before.
Profound (adj) – jumping again and again as soon as you touch the ground.

Part 6

Indigenous (adj) – people who are originally from this place or country rather than who came from elsewhere.
Southernmost (adj) – located as far to the south as possible.
Tease (v) – (here) to laugh or to pick on somebody to make them feel embarrassed.
Relevant (adj) – related to, having connection to something.
Measles (n) – a disease with symptoms like red spots on skin and high body temperature.
Typhoid (n) – a disease more serious than the previous one with the symptoms of fever and diarrhea. 
Guttural (adj) – relating to sounds – coming from your ‘gut’ – your stomach, that is.
Loanwords (n) – words borrowed from another language. English has lots of borrowed words, i.e. the word ‘cliché’ is borrowed from French.
To date – to this day, up to now.

Part 7

Pick-up service – a service when the goods you need to deliver are taken to or from you so you don’t have to leave the house to get them.
Obstruction (n) – something that gets in the way of moving somewhere, e.g. a tree that has fallen on the road and blocked it
Weights (n) – heavy objects such as dumbbells that are intended to increase your strength and stamina by lifting them repeatedly.
Solar (adj) – relating to the Sun. Solar panels are the future – while they can be expensive now, they are the most promising source of renewable energy.
Self-esteem (n) – feeling of self-worth and self-respect. People whose parents had been abusive to them in the past tend to have low self-esteem.
Refuge (n) – a place where one can feel safe, a shelter.
Diverted (adj) – prevented from going somewhere. In this context, the tiles would have otherwise gone to a landfill (also see the next entry).
Landfill (n) – a designated place where garbage is kept later to be buried underground.

Click to download this FCE Reading and Use of English worksheet in PDF