What’s in the Reading and Writing paper?

The B1 Preliminary Reading and Writing paper has five parts about reading and three parts about
writing. There are different types of texts and questions.

Summary

Time allowed: 1 hour 30 minutes

Number of parts: Reading: 5; Writing: 3

Number of questions: Reading: 35; Writing: 7

Marks: 50% of total

Reading Part 1 (Multiple choice)

What's in Part 1? Five very short texts (they may be signs and messages,
postcards, notes, emails, labels, etc.). You have to read them
and choose which of the three sentences (A, B or C) is the
best description of the text.

What do I have to practise? Reading notices and other short texts to understand the
main message.

How many questions are there? 5

How many marks are there? 1 mark for each correct answer.

Reading Part 2 (Matching)

What's in Part 2? Five short descriptions of people and eight short texts to
read. You have to match each person to a text.

What do I have to practise? Reading eight short texts to find specific information.

How many questions are there? 5

How many marks are there? 1 mark for each correct answer.

Reading Part 3 (True/False)

 What's in Part 3? A long text and 10 sentences about the text. You have to
read the text and say if each sentence is true or false.

What do I have to practise? Reading a text quickly to find out information.

How many questions are there? 10

How many marks are there? 1 mark for each correct answer.

Reading Part 4 (Multiple choice)

What's in Part 4? A long text and five questions. You have to read the text and
choose the right answer (A, B, C or D) for each of the five
questions.

What do I have to practise? Reading to understand the detail of a text.

How many questions are there? 5

How many marks are there? 1 mark for each correct answer.

Reading Part 5 (Multiple-choice cloze)

What's in Part 5? A short text with 10 numbered spaces. Each space

represents a missing word and you have to choose the right
answer from a choice of four (A, B, C or D).

What do I have to practise? Understanding vocabulary and grammar.

How many questions are there? 10

How many marks are there? 1 mark for each correct answer.

Writing Part 1 (Sentence transformations)

What's in Part 1? Five questions which are all about the same theme. For each
question there is one complete sentence and a second
sentence which has a missing word or words. You have to
complete the second sentence so that it means the same as
the first sentence.
 What do I have to practise? How to say the same thing in different ways in English, e.g.
'not warm enough' means the same as 'too cold'.

How many questions are there? 5

How many marks are there? 1 mark for each correct answer.

Writing Part 2 (Short communicative message)

What's in Part 2? The instructions tell you who to write to and what you
should write (a postcard, note, email, etc.).

What do I have to practise? Writing short messages.

How many questions are there? 1

How much do I have to write? 35–45 words

How many marks are there? This question has a total of 5 marks.

Writing Part 3 (Continuous writing)

What's in Part 3? You have a choice of two questions: an informal letter or a

story.

What do I have to practise? Writing letters and stories.

How many questions are there? 1

How much do I have to write? About 100 words

How many marks are there? This question has a total of 15 marks.

What’s in the Listening paper?

The B1 Preliminary Listening paper has four parts. For each part, you have to listen to a recorded text
or texts and answer some questions. You hear each recording twice.

Summary
 Time allowed: 36 minutes, including 6 minutes to copy your answers onto
the answer sheet.

Number of parts: 4

Number of questions: 25

Marks: 25% of total

Part 1 (Multiple choice)

What's in Part 1? Seven short recordings. For each recording there is a

question and three pictures (A, B or C). You have to listen to
the recordings and choose the right answers.

What do I have to practise? Listening to find key information.

How many questions are there? 7

How many marks are there? One mark for each correct answer.

Part 2 (Multiple choice)

What's in Part 2? A longer recording (one person speaking or an interview)

and six questions. You have to listen to the recording and
choose the right answer (A, B or C) for each question.

What do I have to practise? Listening to find specific information and detailed meaning.

How many questions are there? 6

How many marks are there? One mark for each correct answer.

Part 3 (Gap-fill)

What's in Part 3? A longer monologue (one person speaking) and a page of

notes which summarise the text. Six pieces of information
are missing from the notes. You have to listen to the
recording and fill in the missing information.
 What do I have to practise? Listening for information.

How many questions are there? 6

How many marks are there? One mark for each correct answer.

Part 4 (True/False)

What's in Part 4? A longer informal conversation and six sentences. You have
to listen to the conversation and decide if each sentence is
true or false.

What do I have to practise? Listening for detailed meaning, attitude and opinion.

How many questions are there? 6

How many marks are there? One mark for each correct answer.

What’s in the Speaking paper?

The B1 Preliminary Speaking test has four parts and you take it together with another candidate.
There are two examiners. One of the examiners talks to you and the other examiner listens.

Summary
 Time allowed: 10–12 minutes per pair of candidates

Number of parts: 4

Marks: 25% of total

You have to talk: with the examiner

with the other candidate
on your own

Part 1 (Interview)

What's in Part 1? Conversation with the examiner. The examiner asks

questions and you give information about yourself, talk
about past experiences, present job, studies, where you live,
etc., and future plans.

What do I have to practise? Giving information about yourself.

How long do we have to speak? 2–3 minutes

Part 2 (Discussion)

What's in Part 2? The examiner gives you some pictures and describes a
situation to you. You have to talk to the other candidate and
decide what would be best in the situation.

What do I have to practise? Making and responding to suggestions, discussing

alternatives, making recommendations, negotiating
agreement.

How long do we have to speak? 2–3 minutes

Part 3 (Extended turn)

What's in Part 3? The examiner gives you a colour photograph and you have to
talk about it.

What do I have to practise? Describing photographs.

 How long do we have to speak? 3 minutes in total; 1 minute to talk about the photograph.

Part 4 (General conversation)

What's in Part 4? Further discussion with the other candidate about the same
topic as the task in Part 3.

What do I have to practise? Talking about your opinions, likes/dislikes, experiences,

habits, etc.

How long do we have to speak? 3 minutes

2020 Update
What’s in the Reading paper?
The B1 Preliminary for Schools Reading paper has six parts with different types of texts and
questions.
Summary

Part Task Format No. of

questions

1 Multiple- Understanding five short messages of different types. 5

choice short Same as old Part 1.
texts

2 Matching Match five descriptions of people to eight short texts, 5

reading for specific information and detailed
comprehension.
Same as old Part 2.

3 Multiple Read to understand gist, global and detailed meaning, 5

choice attitude, opinions and feelings, and answer five multiple-
choice questions with four options (A, B, C, D). Same as old
Part 4.

4 Multiple- Read to understand gist and text structure: choose the 5

choice gapped correct sentence to put in the gaps.
text

5 Multiple- Read a text and choose missing words (A, B, C, D) to fill in 6

choice gap fill the gaps. Same as old Part 5 but shorter.

6 Open gap fill Read a text and write words in the gaps. 6

What’s in the Writing paper?

The B1 Preliminary for Schools Writing paper has five parts about reading and three parts about
writing. There are different types of texts and questions.
Summary

Part Task Format

1 Write an email Write an email in response to information given. This is a longer task (100
words) than the message task in the old paper (35–45 words).

2 Write an article Write either an article or a story on the topic given (100 words). The article
or story option is instead of the letter option in the old paper.

What’s in the Listening paper?

The B1 Preliminary for Schools Listening paper has four parts. For each part, you have to listen to a
recorded text or texts and answer some questions. You hear each recording twice.
Summary

Part Task Format No. of

questions

1 Multiple-choice Listen to seven short texts for specific information and 7

short texts choose the right picture (A, B, C). Same as old Part 1.

2 Multiple-choice Listen to six short texts for attitudes and opinions, and 6
short texts choose the right option (A, B, C).

3 Gap fill Listen to a longer text and write down missing 6

information in the gaps. Same as old Part 3.

4 Multiple-choice Listen to a longer text for specific information, detailed 6

long text meaning, attitudes and opinions. Same as old Part 2.

What’s in the Speaking paper?

The B1 Preliminary for Schools Speaking test has four parts and you take it together with another
candidate. There are two examiners. One of the examiners talks to you and the other examiner listens.
Summary

Part Task Format

1 Introductory Candidates show ability to use general interactional and social language. Same
phase as old Part 1.

2 Individual long Describing photographs and managing discourse, using appropriate vocabulary
turn in a longer turn. Same as old Part 3 but photos are not necessarily on the same
topic.

3 Collaborative Using functional language to make and respond to suggestions, discuss

task alternatives, make recommendations and negotiate agreement, based on
picture prompts. Same as old Part 2.

4 Discussion Talking about likes/dislikes, preferences, habits, opinions and

agreeing/disagreeing. Similar to old Part 4 but is now linked to the collaborative
task. In the old paper it was linked to the long turn picture description.

2020 Update Overview

To make sure our exams are up to date with the latest research in language learning and teaching, we
update them regularly. The revision of B1 Preliminary for Schools is now complete and the updated
exam will start being used for exam sessions in January 2020.
At a glance – what’s new?
Here are the main changes to the B1 Preliminary for Schools exam from January 2020:

 There will now be four papers instead of three – the Reading and Writing papers are now taken separately
 There are new or revised tasks in each of the papers.
 The way grades are reported has been updated – candidates will now receive a grade of A, B, or C.

Exam format in detail

The updated exam is made up of four papers developed to test your English skills. You can see exactly
what’s in each paper below.

Paper Content Marks Purpose

(% of
total)

Reading 6 parts/ 25% Shows you can read and understand the main points
(45 minutes) 32questions from signs, newspapers and magazines.

Writing 2 parts/ 25% Shows you can write using vocabulary and structure
(45 minutes) 3questions correctly.

Listening 4 parts/ 25% You must be able to follow and understand a range of
(30 minutes, 25questions spoken materials including announcements and
including 6 discussions about everyday life.
minutes'
transfer time)
Paper Content Marks Purpose
(% of
total)

Speaking 4 parts 25% Shows how good your spoken English is as you take
(12 minutes per part in conversation by asking/answering questions
pair of and talking, for example, about your likes and dislikes.
candidates) Your Speaking test will be conducted face to face with
one or two other candidates and two examiners. This
makes your test more realistic and more reliable.