English for Spanish Speakers
Cambridge English: First Practice Test Booklet First for Schools
Answer key and Recording script
Helen Chilton and Helen Tiliouine
Answer key
Paper 1 Reading Part 1 1 B 2 D 3 A 4 C 5 B 6 D 7 C 8 A
Part 2 9 F 10 D 11 G 12 A 13 H 14 E 15 B
Part 3 16 A 17 B 18 C 19 D 20 C 21 D 22 A 23 B 24 D 25 B 26 C 27 D 28 B 29 C 30 A
Paper 2 Writing Part 1 Sample answer Dear Mrs Jenner, I’m so happy that we’re going to London soon. It’s very exciting and I can’t wait! I’ve always wanted to see Big Ben. It would be fun to stay in the hostel with my classmates, but I really need to practise my English. That’s why I’d like to stay with an English family, if possible. I’d like to find out how English people live, and even try their food! I think it’s a great idea to go to an English school and see how different it is from ours. I don’t mind which lessons I go to, though I’d love to try a music lesson as that’s my favourite subject. As for the present, how about taking them a book about the history of our town? We could also give them a photograph of us all so they can remember our visit.
stories and has regular updates, so you can check match results and follow the progress of your favourite team. There are plenty of good photographs on the homepage, and you can click on them to read short articles or see video clips of the best goals. There are also a number of different sections, so you can find out about individual players, managers, and even different stadiums around the world. Personally, I like watching interviews with the players and clips of training sessions, so I can learn new skills. The only criticism I have is that there are sometimes too many advertisements, but that’s true of most other websites too. I would recommend anyone who is interested in football to check out this site. I think you’ll find it very interesting.
Part 2 Sample answer 3 Mark looked out of the window and saw something completely unexpected. He ran to the front door of his flat, down the stairs, and out into the street. He was greeted by lots of noise and a strange smell. He rubbed his eyes and blinked several times. No, he wasn’t dreaming. Goats. And not just one or two goats, but loads of them, certainly too many to count. They were making an incredible amount of noise and stopping all the traffic. Angry drivers beeped their horns, but the goats ignored them. They were on their way somewhere, but where?
Part 2 Sample answer 2
He looked for someone who might be in charge of the animals, and saw two men carrying long sticks. He ran over to them and asked them what they were doing in the middle of the city. They looked surprised at the question, but explained politely to Mark that there was a special city farm in the park that week, and the goats were going to be part of it.
One of the sports websites I visit the most is FootballNews. As the name suggests, it is about only one sport, but there is always plenty to say about football.
Mark scratched his head and wondered whether any of his friends would believe him when he told them what he’d seen.
Best wishes, Elena
And that is why I visit this particular website nearly every day. FootballNews covers all the latest football
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Answer key
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Part 2 Sample answer 4
Part 2
If you ask people at what age they think children should be able to have a mobile phone, you will get many different answers. It is difficult to say whether or not children under the age of twelve should have one.
9 language 10 email 11 interviews 12 taxi 13 presenter 14 makeup/make-up 15 ad/advert/advertisement 16 questions 17 arguments 18 seventh/7th
Some people consider children under twelve to be too irresponsible to own an expensive thing like a mobile phone. They can easily lose them, and older children might steal them if they are not careful. Young children can also use them for things like texting their friends during school lessons, and make long calls which could cost their parents a lot of money.
Part 3
On the other hand, many children aged ten or eleven, or even younger, need mobile phones. This might be because they have to walk or take the bus home from school on their own, and their parents want to be able to contact them and know they are safe.
Recording script
On balance, I think the most important thing is not a person’s age, but how mature they are.
Paper 3 Use of English
19 E 20 B 21 F 22 A 23 D
Part 4 24 B 25 C 26 A 27 C 28 B 29 A 30 B
Track 2
This is the Cambridge First Certificate in English for Schools Listening Test. I’m going to give you the instructions for this test. I’ll introduce each part of the test and give you time to look at the questions. At the start of each piece you’ll hear this sound:
Part 1
***
1 C 2 A 3 B 4 C 5 B 6 D 7 B 8 C 9 D 10 A 11 D 12 C
You’ll hear each piece twice.
Part 2 13 off 14 though/if 15 whether 16 the 17 is 18 too 19 There 20 such 21 what 22 to 23 with 24 more
Part 3 25 powerful 26 surprisingly 27 generally 28 known 29 safety 30 surrounding 31 variety 32 competition 33 shortage 34 endangered
Part 4 35 hardly any of 36 made him/Leo tidy 37 run out of 38 whose pen this is / whose is this pen 39 far as Julia/she is 40 succeeded in getting 41 do you mind if 42 worst concert I have ever
Remember, while you’re listening, write your answers on the question paper. You’ll have 5 minutes at the end of the test to copy your answers onto the separate answer sheet. There will now be a pause. Please ask any questions now, because you must not speak during the test.
Listening Part 1 Track 3
Now open your question paper and look at Part 1. You’ll hear people talking in eight different situations. For questions 1–8, choose the best answer A, B or C. One. You hear a girl talking about attending ballet classes. What does she say about them? A They were not as exciting as she expected.
Paper 4 Listening Part 1
B She was disappointed with her costume. C Her mother was not keen on the idea.
1 B 2 C 3 A 4 B 5 C 6 A 7 C 8 B
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Answer key and Recording script Listening: Part 1
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Girl:
I guess I recognised that ballet was the major passion in my life from a very young age, but it wasn’t until I was ten and my mum got fed up with me dancing around the living room that she took me to a class. I was so excited. I didn’t much care for the classes at first because I’d expected to be wearing the pretty dresses I’d seen on stage, and I hated the boring black uniform I was given instead. But ballet soon became something I couldn’t live without and I’ve never looked back since. I still dance at home – Mum’s not impressed!
A giving advice about how to approach the work B explaining an answer to a problem C suggesting a way to improve their writing skills Man:
*** RECORDING REPEATED Two. You hear two friends discussing an article one of them has read. What does the girl think about the article? A She thinks there is no point to the research. B She thinks the scientists have got some things wrong. C She thinks that what the bees do is impressive. Girl:
Apparently bees are really good at maths!
Boy:
What do you mean?
Girl:
I read this article that said scientists have discovered bees can solve problems that take computers ages to solve! Basically, bees can visit lots of flowers once each by finding the shortest path between them without making a single error.
Here are your essays back. They’re generally good, but please remember to make sure you understand the question – there’s no harm in asking for a bit of help. It’s much easier than struggling to do the work because you don’t know what’s expected of you. If there’s something you find difficult, then do that first, rather than trying to get the easy stuff out of the way. You’ll have more energy to concentrate at the beginning and then later you can focus on writing the simpler things. If you get stuck, don’t spend too much time thinking about it – you can always come back to it later.
*** RECORDING REPEATED Four. You hear two friends discussing space travel. What do they agree about? A how exciting the adventure would be B how the long journey would put them off C how useful the trip would be for scientists Girl:
Did you see that programme about going to live on planet Mars?
Boy:
Yeah. They said that astronauts could travel to Mars and then stay there to live. Because it would take them six months to arrive, it would be too expensive to bring them back again!
Girl:
It would be an amazing adventure, don’t you think? Though I’m not sure I’d enjoy being in a space rocket for six months.
Boy:
I can’t imagine who’d want to do that kind of thing. I might consider it if I could get back home more easily. I’m sure it would provide some exciting research.
Three.
Girl:
You hear a teacher talking to students about their homework.
Who’s really going to go and live on Mars, though?
***
What is he doing?
RECORDING REPEATED
Boy:
That doesn’t seem particularly useful.
Girl:
Well, computers can’t calculate travel distances as quickly – amazing when you think how small a bee’s brain is! Scientists want to know how bees do the calculations so quickly and they think they might be using maths. They said that this information might help humans to deal with things like traffic jams!
*** RECORDING REPEATED
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Recording script Listening: Part 1
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Five.
Seven.
You hear two students talking about a language class.
You hear a boy talking about playing computer games.
How does the boy feel about it?
What is his attitude towards them?
A worried that he won’t be able to focus
A They make people more communicative.
B surprised by the teacher’s idea
B They create interest in outdoor activities.
C hopeful that he will learn something new
C They develop a range of useful skills.
Boy:
It’s French next.
Boy:
Girl:
I wonder what it’s going to be like today – learning a language while playing sports!
Boy:
I suppose it depends what sport we play – I think they’ll be teaching us verbs and stuff – you know, like throw and run. It’s hard enough concentrating in our usual French class – it might be different if I’m thinking about sport instead, though.
Girl:
Doing the action while you learn the word must help you remember it.
Boy:
Well, you never know, it might work. Our teacher has some really cool ideas, doesn’t he? He’s amazing compared to our last teacher.
Girl:
I know what you mean! Anyway, I think it’s going to be fun.
*** RECORDING REPEATED Six. You hear a headteacher talking about recycling. What is the purpose of her talk? A to introduce a new challenge B to thank students for their help C to offer advice for a school project Woman:
You’ve all been doing a very good job with recycling this year, and the idea for the paperonly waste boxes in classrooms has been very successful, so I’m very pleased with that. What we’re looking for now are a few more ideas about how we can be even more environmentally-friendly at school. So you need to get your heads together and come up with some original ideas. What I’d like you to do is write down your idea on a piece of paper – don’t forget to add your name and class number – and then put it in the suggestions box that we’ll be putting in the main entrance.
***
I don’t play many computer games coz I prefer being outside, but you can learn from them. I know there are games where you can communicate with people around the world and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I prefer to talk to people in person. Computer games are entertaining and you can improve things like maths skills and confidence with technology. I think some people are more negative about them than they need to be, but in my opinion you can’t beat real life. You can play sports games on the computer, but I’d rather kick a ball around in the park than sit in front of a screen.
*** RECORDING REPEATED Eight. You hear a man talking to a group of people. Who is he talking to? A tourists B scientists C schoolchildren Man:
As you’ll have noticed, our wind farm has grown considerably, and we now have a number of wind-powered machines. This creates most of the energy needed to power the electricity in the hotel where you’re staying. Our weather workshops for schools have been highly successful and our next group is due to arrive on Thursday. If any of you would like to offer to run one of the classes, I’d certainly appreciate your time and expert knowledge. We’re also opening the hotel soon to guests who use the tourist facilities in the area – it’s a great way for us to keep on raising money for the weather research station.
*** RECORDING REPEATED That is the end of Part 1.
RECORDING REPEATED Complete First Certificate © Cambridge University Press
Recording script Listening: Part 1
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Listening Part 2
forgot about my nerves and started to get really excited about what lay ahead.
Track 4
Then we went to what they called the wardrobe, where we sorted out what we were going to wear for the cameras. I picked out this really smart shirt which I loved but it didn’t fit, so I wore my own stuff in the end. Then we had our makeup done – that was loads of fun, though the boys made a bit of a fuss about it! They left my hairstyle alone which I was glad about.
Now turn to Part 2. You’ll hear a girl called Zoë talking about taking part in a television programme. For questions 9–18, complete the sentences. You now have forty-five seconds in which to look at Part 2. *** Zoë:
I’ve just taken part in a TV challenge called Teen Inventor – a competition for teenagers who had invented something special. I sent in my application back in April with my idea for a new language which would make it much quicker to programme a computer – I thought it could be used to make a new game, for example.
I felt really confident about my invention because when I saw the advert in a magazine, it said that the best inventions were those that answered a question or solved a problem or saved people time. I knew mine did all of those things. It’s easy to get put off by what people say so you just have to ignore their advice if you really believe in your idea.
Then I waited and waited and it wasn’t until October that I finally heard back from the producer of the show. I’d almost forgotten about it – I assumed that I hadn’t been chosen to take part. As soon as I got the phone call I was so excited. Then I had to wait for him to get in touch by email with more details – I couldn’t wait!
I did start to get a bit worried when I saw what the other participants had come up with – there were some ideas that were very clever. But I had to stay focused. We were given our first task which was presenting our idea to a studio audience, who were allowed to ask questions afterwards. Some of them were pretty tricky but I didn’t do too badly.
The competition took place over nine weeks, with one candidate being knocked out each week until the final. We had to carry out a series of tasks with our invention – for example, we had to do interviews with manufacturers which were pretty scary. We also did a couple of presentations to advertising companies – I didn’t cope with those too badly though.
I was surprised at how well all the participants got on with each other. I thought arguments might break out since we were competing against each other. There were one or two moments when I thought something was going to happen but I think everyone was pretty grown-up about it all really, which was good. I loved the challenge of the tasks we had to do each week and sometimes we had to work in a team which I really enjoyed. It would’ve been embarrassing having to leave after the first programme so I was lucky to make it to the seventh episode – only three weeks away from the final! I had such a good time on the show and it’s inspired me to keep working on my invention!
Anyway, on the first day of filming I was really nervous. My dad was just planning the best route by car to the TV studios when there was a knock at the door and someone had come to collect me – the producers had arranged for me and my parents to go by taxi to the studios. Once we got there, I met the other contestants on the show and we got chatting about our inventions. After an introductory talk from the producer, we met the camera crew who were really friendly, the show’s presenter, who helped to put my mind at rest, and the judges – they were really cool and tried to put me at ease but I still felt a bit nervous! But it was such a friendly atmosphere that I soon
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Now you’ll hear Part 2 again. *** RECORDING REPEATED That is the end of Part 2.
Recording script Listening: Part 2
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Listening Part 3 Track 5
Now turn to Part 3. You’ll hear five people talking about how similar they are to a member of their family. For questions 19–23, choose from the list (A–F) what each speaker says. Use the letters only once. There is one extra letter which you do not need to use. You now have thirty seconds in which to look at Part 3. *** Speaker 1: People always get me confused with my older brother. It’s not so much that we look alike because we have different hair and eye colour, but it’s when we answer the phone at home. I once had one of my brother David’s friends chatting away to me for about five minutes because he didn’t believe I wasn’t David! Apart from that, I don’t think we really have much in common at all. He’s great at maths and computers and stuff, whereas I’m more of a languages person. The only real time we spend together is when we do stuff together as a family – you know, holidays and things like that. Speaker 2: I get on really well with my dad – people say we’re very alike in some things, though not necessarily looks. My dad loves planning things and I’m like that too, when I’m doing schoolwork or whatever. I like to be really organised. We’re amused by the same things and the other members of the family get a bit annoyed when we’re laughing away together over something that they don’t understand. My dad’s a really great sportsman and was in all the school sports teams. I’m more of a gymnastics fan myself, though I went to a football match once with him to keep him company. Speaker 3: My mum says I remind her of my granddad and if it was true I’d actually be quite pleased because he’s a really cool guy, good-looking and he tells funny stories in this really deep voice! I don’t see a likeness at all. He’s taller than me with blue eyes, whereas mine are brown. Maybe it’s something about the expressions on our faces when we’re laughing or something. It’s his brain that I’d like to take after him for. He’s a very smart man and ran a very successful business before he retired. I’d love to follow in his footsteps, but I’m not sure my school grades are good enough.
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Speaker 4: My younger brother’s good fun and we get on pretty well considering we’re brother and sister and there are three years between us. I think he looks up to me in a way, coz he thinks I know everything! I’m sure that’ll change as he grows up! He’s just moved up from primary school to the secondary school I go to and on his first day everyone kept coming up to him and going, ‘Oh, you must be Wendy’s brother’! I suppose there are a few similarities, though we’re very different in terms of what we like doing and he’s got quite an unusual sense of humour I think! Speaker 5: My cousin is great fun and because we’re a similar age we spend lots of time together listening to music and stuff. He’s probably my best friend really, coz we have so much in common. I’d like to look like him – he’s tall and has got this cool red hair! I had mine cut in a similar style but it doesn’t look as good. I’m more impatient than him – he’ll spend hours and hours trying to get a trick right on his skateboard, but I tend to get annoyed if I can’t get something right first time. He laughs at me about it, so I tease him back about stuff. Now you’ll hear Part 3 again *** RECORDING REPEATED That is the end of Part 3.
Listening Part 4 Track 6
Now turn to Part 4. You’ll hear an interview with a girl called Rosie Hart who has just been on an expedition to the Arctic. For questions 24–30, choose the best answer A, B or C. You now have one minute in which to look at Part 4. *** Interviewer: I’m talking to Rosie Hart who’s just back from an educational expedition to the Arctic. How did you first hear about the trip? Rosie:
From a teacher. The expedition was for school kids like me and the idea was to observe life in the Arctic to make us more aware of our environment. When my teacher told me about it, I thought it could be a bit dull, but when
Recording script Listening Parts 3 and 4
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I read the brochure she gave me I thought it might be a cool way to spend my school holidays. I knew I’d miss my friends and it would’ve been nice if they could’ve come. Anyway . . . we travelled by ship and did loads of stuff like spotting wildlife and scientific research.
impact on their life, which was interesting. But you can’t beat seeing endangered polar bears! We didn’t get close up which was disappointing, but we saw them from a distance. I’d been looking forward to seeing lots of snow but the expedition was in summer, so most of the places we visited had lots of ice and mud but no snow!
Interviewer: What was life like on board the ship? Rosie:
We had to share sleeping cabins, which I thought might be difficult because I like to have my own space. But actually my cabin mate and I got on ok so it worked out fine. There was a mix of nationalities on board which added to the adventure and we had some cool conversations. Our expedition leader kept telling us that we were there to work, and although the work was pretty challenging, it didn’t matter because it was so much fun.
Interviewer: What was the most important thing you learned on the trip? Rosie:
Interviewer: A group of scientists gave talks on board. What were the talks like? Rosie:
Every day there were two lectures – one in the morning and one after each day’s activity. I was impressed by meeting experts who knew all about the Arctic, though I’d have liked them to talk more about worldwide environmental stuff. Sometimes I didn’t feel like going to the lectures but they were always worthwhile and I learned more in those two weeks than I did in a whole year of school!
Interviewer: So, what’s in the future for you? Rosie:
Interviewer: You had to raise quite a lot of money to pay for the trip, didn’t you? Rosie:
Yeah, I did all sorts of things like a twentykilometre run . . . I even did a silence-for-a-day where people paid me not to talk for twentyfour hours! My parents supported me and gave me a loan towards my trip too. I didn’t quite meet my target but when the people of my town heard me on the local radio talking about what I was going to do, they offered to help and I finally got enough money together.
Interviewer: What was the best part of the trip for you? Rosie:
We spent a day with one of the local Arctic communities when we visited their village. We learned about how climate change is having an
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I’ve always been good at making friends, but I know I’m going to keep the friends I made on this trip for the rest of my life. I want to keep on learning, not just about the environment but about people too. I found out so much from talking to my friends on board, and I realised you should talk to people wherever you are, even if it’s on a train. You never know what they might have to share. I loved the team spirit on board, all working together to make changes. I’d love to experience the Antarctic, but it will have to wait ’til I’ve finished school. I’ve got so much to tell my classmates when I go back to school – I want to teach them all about the things I saw on my trip, but I’m going to surprise them with stuff they don’t already know about the environment. I’m going to get them to change their way of life so we can protect our beautiful planet for future generations.
Now you’ll hear Part 4 again. *** RECORDING REPEATED That is the end of Part 4. There will now be a pause of five minutes for you to copy your answers onto the separate answer sheet. Be sure to follow the numbering of all the questions. I’ll remind you when there is one minute left, so that you are sure to finish in time. You have one more minute left. That’s the end of the test. Please stop now. Your supervisor will now collect all the question papers and answer sheets.
Recording script Listening: Part 4
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