Pen or Keyboard?

B2 First · Word Formation · Cambridge Ready original exercise

For questions 1–8, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

SENSE

ACCURATE

EXPLAIN

CARE

IMPORTANCE

SELECT

DENY

COMBINE

Most university students now take notes on laptops, mainly because of the (0) ___ . Typing is much faster than writing by hand, so it is possible to record a lecture almost word for word. However, a number of studies suggest that this may not be the most (1) ___ approach. Researchers who compared the two methods found that students who wrote by hand remembered the material more (2) ___ a week later. The (3) ___ seems to be that handwriting is slower, so students cannot copy everything down. Instead, they have to listen (4) ___ and decide what is really (5) ___ . This process of (6) ___ appears to help the brain store information. Nevertheless, laptops are (7) ___ useful, especially for students whose handwriting is hard to read or who need to share their notes. For this reason, many teachers now recommend a (8) ___ of the two methods: a laptop for lectures, and a pen for revision.