CAE Reading and Use of English Test 4: repair manuals, astronomy and historical cooking
CAE Reading and Use of English Test 4 is a free C1 Advanced practice paper: 56 questions in eight parts, timed at 90 minutes, with 3,326 words of text. You read about repair manuals, curiosity, weather records, amateur astronomy, interactive art, historical cooking and encounters with wildlife.
- Free, no sign-up to start
- Layout modelled on the computer-based exam
- Estimated Cambridge English Scale score
What is in CAE Reading and Use of English Test 4
| Part | Task | Questions | What you read | Words |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Multiple-choice cloze | 1–8 | “Knowledge between the instructions” | 163 |
| 2 | Open cloze | 9–16 | “Curiosity and a change of plan” | 168 |
| 3 | Word formation | 17–24 | “Weather recorded close to home” | 155 |
| 4 | Key word transformations | 25–30 | Six sentences to rewrite, 3–6 words each | — |
| 5 | Multiple choice | 31–36 | “A telescope and another point of view”: an article by an amateur astronomer. An amateur observer reflects on what it means to work independently. | 748 |
| 6 | Cross-text multiple matching | 37–40 | “An invitation to touch?”: four extracts from articles about physical interaction with public art. By Rosa Field, artist, David Sen, conservator, Aisha Brenner, designer and Malik Hart, curator. | 585 |
| 7 | Gapped text | 41–46 | “The knowledge a recipe leaves out”: an article about rediscovering a historical cooking technique. A food writer investigates a short set of instructions from an old notebook. | 842 |
| 8 | Multiple matching | 47–56 | “An unexpected neighbour”: an article in which four people describe unexpected encounters with wildlife. Tessa (beside a railway line), Marco (a courtyard at night), Sofia (a moth in the garden), Dev (from a harbour boat). | 665 |
| Total | Within Cambridge’s 3,000–3,500 words (questions not counted) | 3,326 | ||
How the long texts begin
- Part 5: When I joined the astronomy group, I was determined not to become the person who spent every clear evening talking about telescopes instead of looking through one.
- Part 7: A notebook found among a family’s papers brought food writer Lidia Noor to an unfamiliar cooking method. The instructions described preparing vegetables in a covered earthenware pot and using the heat left in an oven after bread had been baked.
Examples (0), shown answered in the test
Part 1
A repair manual may explain how to take a machine (0), yet leave out the knowledge needed to decide whether a part should be replaced.
- away
- apart
- aside
- along
Answer: B, apart
Part 2
Curiosity is often described as a love (0) new information, but it can also involve a willingness to change what we intended to do.
Answer: of
Part 3
A network of local weather stations can produce a (0) record of conditions across an area. SYSTEM
Answer: systematic
Part 4
We are allowed to use the meeting room after lunch. CAN
We (0) the meeting room after lunch.
Answer: can make use of (4 words)
How it is marked
CAE Reading and Use of English marking
Reading (Parts 1, 5–8) is out of 50 and Use of English (Parts 2–4) out of 28; Part 4 gives up to 2 marks per question and spelling must be correct. 32/50 Reading is about 180. Scores are estimates.
More CAE Reading and Use of English tests
CAE Reading and Use of English practice tests · CAE Mock Test 4 · Updated 15 November 2026
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