BEC Higher Reading Paper Overview Teachers Notes

Description
Students discuss what they already know about the Reading paper before reading a
summary of the test which contains several factual mistakes. Using information from the
handbook they correct the summary.
Time required:

20-30 minutes

Materials
required:

BEC Higher handbook pp 92-94

Students Worksheet

Aims:

To provide students with an overview of the BEC Higher reading

examination paper

To give students practice in developing their skim and scan reading

skills

Procedure
1. Brainstorm with your students what they already know about the BEC Higher reading
examination paper. Focus on the following: Paper format, Length of texts, Questions,
Text types, Task types, Task focus, Answer format, Timing, and Marks. Accept any
contributions at this stage, and if students dont know, ask them to predict.
2. Distribute the Students Worksheet. Students work on their own to read the
information and identify factual errors. There are eight errors, randomly distributed
throughout the nine pieces of information.
3. Students compare their answers with their partners. For any false information, ask
students to attempt to supply the correct information.
4. Using pages 92-94 of the BEC Higher handbook, students now check their answers.
Make sure students understand that the information in the worksheet is in a different
format to the information in the handbook, and therefore they will need to skim and
scan carefully.
5. Class feedback (see Key).

UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
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BEC Higher Reading Paper Overview Teachers Notes

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BEC Higher Reading Paper Overview - Answer Key

Key to Students Worksheet

1 PAPER FORMAT: The paper contains six parts. Each part contains a text and a
corresponding comprehension task. One part may contain five shorter related extracts.

2 LENGTH OF TEXTS: 2050 2300 words approximately overall; 150 600 words
approximately per text

3 QUESTIONS: 52

4 TEXT TYPES: Authentic business-related texts from the following: newspaper and
magazine articles, book reviews, notices, annual reports, company literature, letters, books
on topics such as management, advertisements and messages

5 TASK TYPES: matching, multiple-choice, gap-filling, proof reading

6 TASK FOCUS: Understanding gist and global meaning, structure and detail, opinion and
inference, lexical and collocation knowledge, coherence and cohesion, and error
identification

7 ANSWER FORMAT: For Parts 1 to 4 of this paper candidates indicate their answers by
shading the lozenges on the answer sheet. For Parts 5 and 6 candidates write a one-word
answer onto their answer sheet.

8 TIMING: 1 hour

9 MARKS: Each item carries 1 mark. The scores are weighted to 30 and are worth 25% of
the total marks available for the exam.

UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo

BEC Higher Reading Paper Overview - Answer Key

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BEC Higher Reading Paper Overview Students Worksheet

Look at the nine pieces of information about the BEC Higher Reading and Writing
paper. Is the information true? If not, correct it.

1 PAPER FORMAT: The paper contains seven parts. Each part contains a text and a
corresponding comprehension task. One part may contain four shorter related extracts.

2 LENGTH OF TEXTS: 3050 3300 words approximately overall; 400 800 words
approximately per text

3 QUESTIONS: 50

4 TEXT TYPES: Authentic business-related texts from the following: newspaper and
magazine articles, book reviews, notices, annual reports, company literature, letters, books
on topics such as management, advertisements and messages

5 TASK TYPES: matching, multiple-choice, finding errors, proof reading

6 TASK FOCUS: Understanding gist and global meaning, structure and detail, opinion and
inference, lexical and collocation knowledge, coherence and cohesion, and error
identification

7 ANSWER FORMAT: For Parts 1 to 4 of this paper candidates indicate their answers by
shading the lozenges on the answer sheet. For Parts 5 to 7 candidates write a one-word
answer onto their answer sheet.

8 TIMING: 1.5 hours

9 MARKS: Each item carries 1 mark. The scores are weighted to 30 and are worth 25% of
the total marks available for the exam.

UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo

BEC Higher Reading Paper Overview Students Worksheet

www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org
Page 3 of 3