The full FCE (First Certificate of English) has five sections:
1.Reading – 75 minutes-
2.Writing – 2 essays, 90 minutes –
3.Use of English – 90 minutes –
4.Listening – 40 minutes –
5.Speaking – interview, normally with another candidate, 15 minutes.
Here, in this Test you’ll find only Reading, Writing and Use of English. It is a shorter version of the full exam. It should not take you more than 1 hour and 30 minutes. Use this timer to help you.
Press ‘START’ below and write the answers to the questions. When you finish one question you will be corrected, and a ‘NEXT’ button will appear at the top. The complete text and list of questions is below.
It is Saturday night at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, a large important-looking nineteenth-century building. Since six o’clock, entry to the museum has been free of charge. People are shouting in the galleries, but the guards, who seem to be unusually relaxed, take no notice. On the ground floor, in the galleries devoted to African art, children are playing hide-and-seek while their parents sip beer from plastic cups. Some teenage girls wander by, leaving a trail of perfume, and head through the sculpture exhibition to a temporary dance floor where a DJ is playing reggae music. Watching the scene is Bryan, a young teacher from a local school. What brings him out tonight? I’m here for the reggae, of course, he says. When I heard they were playing that I thought, I have to be there, and obviously a lot of people feel the same way. Besides the DJ, the museum has laid on gallery talks, a Martin Scorsese film, a puppet show and a samba band.
The Brooklyn Museum of Art wasn’t always so trendy. For decades, it put on excellent exhibitions that few come to see. Guidebooks described the enormous building as an undiscovered treat. Had it been over in the citys fashionable Upper East Side, of course, the museum would have been packing them in. Even when they put on dull exhibitions, New Yorks top museums can count on a steady stream of visitors – mostly tourists. But Brooklyn, one of the New Yorks toughest districts, isn’t on the standard tourist route. When the museum was built, it was a wealthy suburb, but these days the surrounding streets are home to recent immigrants, mostly poor folk from the Caribbean.
Two years ago, in an effort to revive itself, the museum appointed a new director, Arnold Lehman, who was born in Brooklyn. Lehman was convinced that the museum should forget about trying to attract visitors from the other side of town and try to appeal instead to people from the surrounding area. The neighbourhoods changed, he explains, but this is where the museum is, and we can’t – and won’t – pretend were somewhere else.
The free evening events, called First Saturdays, are Lehmans way of reaching out to people. They are certainly popular: the crush of visitors has forced the museum to move the dance floor from the entrance hall to the car park. Lehman is delighted with the result: It’s remarkable to hear people say, “I live four blocks away, and I’ve never been in this building before”. The great thing for me is when you see teenage boys looking at art in the galleries without being handcuffed to their parents, he says. What’s more, the annual number of visitors to the museum has roughly doubled, from 250.000 to half a million since the scheme was introduced. Similar institutions across the country are now calling, wanting to know how much it costs to throw a good party. The answer, incidentally, is about $25,000 per event. And worth every dime, says Lehman.
Tonight, a woman called Akesha, who seems to vindicate the new direction the museum has taken, is standing on the edge of the dance floor. Akesha walked to the museum from her home, but hasn’t been here since primary school, when a teacher organized a trip to see an exhibition. The free concert is why I came, she admits, but I must come back and look round the museum. Others who come to dance find their way into the galleries almost by accident – like Jean-Michel, who lost his friends in the crush of dancers and thought he might as well take a look at the art. The real achievement of First Saturdays is, therefore, both more significant and more profound than the increased visitor numbers suggest. Most people visit art museums because they want to have a special artistic experience. The Brooklyn Museum of Art has introduced thousands of people to the idea that museum-going can be a perfectly ordinary part of their lives.
1. What has attracted the man called Bryan to the museum this evening?
A. The chance to meet new people
B. The type of music being played
C. The range of entertainment on offer
D. The fact that it costs nothing to get in.
2. In the past, the museum did not attract many visitors because of
A. The poor quality of the exhibitions it put on.
B. The negative way it was described in reviews.
C. The part of the city where it was located.
D. The limited space it had for exhibitions.
3. What does ‘them’ in line 24 refer to?
A. Museums
B. Guidebooks
C. Visitors
D. Exhibitions
4. What did Arthur Lehman decide to do when he became director of the museum?
A. Concentrate on art from Brooklyn
B. Change the type of things exhibited
C. Improve the appearance of the building
D. Get local people interested in the museum
5. What has pleased Arthur Lehman most about ‘Free Saturdays’?
A. Young people are showing an interest in art.
B. Other museums are now trying to copy the idea.
C. The idea has made money for the museum.
D. The music and dancing has been particularly popular.
6. What does the word ‘vindicate’ in line 57 mean?
A. Prove that something is right
B. Disagree with something
C. Make us think about something
D. Be an exception to something
7. In the last paragraph, the writer shows that she
A. Is unsure about the real value of ‘First Saturdays’.
B. Admires what the museum has managed to do.
C. Doubts that the scheme will have long-term success.
D. Is surprised by the way visitors have reacted to the art.
8. Two students, Yvonne and Pablo, are discussing the value of fast food. Complete the dialogue with verbs from the column below in the correct form:
come across
find a way round
come up with
run
get rid of
turn to
cut down on
put on
Yvonne: I don’t think fast food is good for you at all. I’m sure that if we (1) ………………….. fast food restaurants, we’d be much healthier. Nobody would miss them.
Pablo: I don’t agree, Yvonne. My father (2) ……………………… a small fast food restaurant and people go there every day to eat. Teenagers meet their friends there for lunch.
Yvonne: Exactly. They’re in fashion at the moment. People will (3) …………………… something else when they think that burger restaurants are not cool places to be anymore. Maybe salad bars.
Pablo: No. I think that fast food restaurants are here to stay. Someone will have to (4) ……………………… a really brilliant idea if they want young people to stop eating hamburgers. Anyway, I don’t see why they are so bad.
Yvonne: They’re bad for you because they don’t contain healthy ingredients. I (5) ……………….. an article in a magazine the other day which said that they only put poor quality meat in hamburgers. Also if you eat a lot of junk food you (6) ………………………… a lot of weight. It’s a big problem in the USA today. Researchers are trying to (7) ……………………… it by going to schools and encouraging children to (8) ………………………… the amount of fast food they eat.
9. Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. Use between 2 and 5 words including the word given.
1 It wasn’t necessary for us to take a taxi.
have
We ……………………………………………… take a taxi.
2 You can’t smoke in the non-smoking area.
allowed
You ………………………………. in the non-smoking area.
3 You really should wear a warmer coat.
better
You ……………………………….. a warmer coat.
4 It’s very important to remember to tip the waiter.
not
You ………………………………. to tip the waiter.
5 You are under no obligation to accept his offer.
have
You ……………………………………… his offer.
6 It was a mistake going to that restaurant last night.
should
We ………………………………….. to that restaurant last night.
7 They made me book the table a week in advance.
had
I ………………………………. the table a week in advance.
8 Don’t go to that part of town after dark!
must
You ……………………………… to that part of town after dark!
10. Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only one word in each space. There is an example at the beginning.
IRN-BRU
Scotland is probably the only country in the world (0) where the top-selling soft drink is not Coca-Cola. A local product called Irn-Bru, made (1) __________ the small family company AG Barr, continues to sell (2) ________________ larger quantities than any of its big multinational competitors. Irn-Bru is a sweet, brightly coloured fizzy drink (3) _______________ a taste that reminds some people of bubble gum and (4) _______________ of the pink mouthwash you get at the dentist. (5) _______________ so many other fast-food products, you either love it (6) ______________ you hate it.
Yet at the time of (7) ______________ conception, about one hundred years ago, there was nothing particularly original about ‘Iron-Brew’, (8) _______________ it was then called. There were many similar soft drinks (9) _______________ the market, many with the same name. But Barr’s Irn-Bru had the big advantage of (10) _______________ manufactured in Glasgow, a city (11) _____________ had a population of one million, and it quickly (12) ____________ extremely popular.
What’s more, Barr was one of the first businessmen to understand (13) _______________ value of celebrity endorsement. As early as 1905, the world champion wrestler Alex Munro was advertising the drink, and it continues to benefit (14) _____________ clever marketing today. Young Irn-Bru drinkers are encouraged to think that they don’t (15) _____________ to follow the trend in order to be cool.
_____________________________________________
11. Read the text below. Use the word given in capitals below the text to form a word that fits in the space in the same line. There is an example at the beginning.
(0) INVITE (1) REACT (2) USUAL (3) CHOOSE (4) PROBABLE (5) IMPRESS
(6) COMFORT (7) ANXIETY (8) FOOL (9) ELEGANT (10) FIT
FANCY DRESS
At some point in our lives most of us will receive an (0) invitation to a fancy-dress party. What would your (1) _____________ be? Clearly, some people get very excited at the prospect of dressing up in (2) ____________ clothes, and they will immediately start thinking about their (3) ______________ of costume.
These people will (4) ______________ invest quite a lot of money and effort in making sure that they make the best possible (5) _____________ on the night. Others are likely to be less (6) _____________ with the idea of changing their normal appearance and these people might get (7) ________________ about what to wear for quite different reasons.
Nobody wants to look (8) ______________, so don’t go as James Bond if you don’t have the style and (9) ________________ to carry it off. Much better to wear the silliest (10) ______________ imaginable and go prepared to join in the fun.
12. Writing
Discuss how young people learn to be independent, write a composition giving your opinions on the following statement: “Young people should live with their parents for as long as they want.” Write your composition in 120 – 180 words in an appropriate style.
13. _____________ engaged / married/ divorced/ on well with someone.
A. Fall
B. Have
C. Be
D. Break
E. Get
14. ____________ in love / excited / happy / confused.
A. Have
B. Fall
C. Be
D. Get
E. Celebrate
15.
______________ in love/ asleep/ out with a friend (over something)
A. Fall
B. Get
C. Be
D. Go
E. Make
16. _____________ a wedding snniversary/ a birthday/ an engagement.
A. Get
B. Go
C. Have
D. Make
E. Celebrate
17. ________________ a date / a relationship/ a baby/ an argument/ problems.
A. Fall
B. Have
C. Be
D. Break
E. Make
18. ___________ friends/ up with someone (after an argument)/ plans/ a mistake.
A. Fall
B. Have
C. Get
D. Make
E. Break
19. ___________ out with someone/ on a date/ on a honeymoon.
A. Make
B. Go
C. Break
D. Fall
E. Get
20. __________ off an engagement/ up a relationship/ up with someone.
A. Go
B. Get
C. Break
D. Make
E. Be
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