C2 Proficiency Gapped Text Practice
C2 Proficiency (CPE) · Reading & Use of English Part 6 · 43 free exercises
A text with missing paragraphs or sentences, presented out of order — you decide what goes where, with one extra you won’t need. Gapped text rewards reading for structure: reference words, linkers and how ideas develop across paragraph boundaries.
Gapped Text: The wrong answer is designed to look right.
- 6 — gaps
- 7 — paragraphs — 1 extra
- 2 marks — per gap
- ~15 min — of your paper
Whether you can follow the structure of a text — what pronouns point to, how time moves, what connectors demand. Every removed paragraph is held in place by these small links; the extra one matches the topic but fails them.
What real learners get wrong: C2 learners average 57% — the texts are long and abstract and the extra paragraph expertly disguised. Place each paragraph by its connections.
The method
- Read the main text first, straight past the gaps, for the shape of the story.
- At each gap, read the sentence before and after, and say what must happen between them.
- Check every candidate’s first and last line — paragraphs connect at their edges.
- Hunt the connection words and give each an owner: "she" needs a woman, "this idea" needs an idea.
- Always test the sentence after the gap — most wrong answers break coming out. Place the certain ones first.
The traps
- Choosing by topic, not connections: The extra paragraph is about the right subject on purpose. It fails the connection tests.
- Only reading up to the gap: The sentence after the gap is half the evidence — and the half that catches people.
- The cascade: One misplaced paragraph forces a second wrong answer. Check your leftover paragraph at the end.
- Unowned reference words: This, these, such a — if you cannot underline what it points to, the paragraph does not go there.
- Broken timelines: "Then", "after three months" must agree with the order of events in the main text.
All Gapped Text exercises
Based on C2 Proficiency exam text
Cambridge English Proficiency 1, Cambridge University Press
- A Wet and Wonderful Ride - Test 3
- An Animated Life - Test 2
- Cooling the Earth - Test 1
- Psychology: just common sense? - Test 4
Cambridge English Proficiency 2, Cambridge University Press
- Build it yourself at the UK's first bamboo bike workshop - Test 1
- Lake Malawi's lost resort - Test 3
- London Zoo's new Tiger Territory - Test 4
- Visiting Uluru - Test 2
Close-up C2 Workbook, National Geographic Learning
- Determination is anything but frozen - Unit 5
- Distant Shores - Unit 7
- Making the world a better place, one controversy at a time - Unit 3
- The origins of advertising - Unit 10
Close-up C2, National Geographic Learning
- Gangs: the new tribes - Unit 5
- The Social Media Product Placement Juggernaut - Unit 10
- Volunteers: All work and no pay - Unit 3
- Where to next? - Unit 7
Expert Proficiency Resource Book, Pearson Education
- A meeting with Jane Goodall - Practice Exam
- The Online Tastemakers - Module 8
- The amazing memory marvels - Module 3
- The conscientious traveller - Module 6
Expert Proficiency, Pearson Education
- Coffee houses and the internet - Module 7
- Deep in the Brazilian Amazon - Module 2
- Digital detox - Module 4
Objective Proficiency 2nd Edition Workbook, Cambridge University Press
Objective Proficiency 2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press
Proficiency Testbuilder, 4th Edition, Mark Harrison, Macmillan
- Husband and Wife - Test 1
- Rainmaker with his Head in the Clouds - Test 4
- The Hammond Organ - Test 3
- The Perils of Pizza Making - Test 2
Ready for C2 Proficiency Student's Book, Macmillan
- Cracking the Code - Page 104
- Managing the Oceans - Page 68
- Read All About It! - Page 73
- Super-Recognisers - Page 11
- The Negotiators - Page 57
Ready for C2 Proficiency Workbook, Macmillan
- I Learnt to Argue Less - Page 28
- My children don't speak my mother tongue - Page 4
- The Biggest Fake News of All - Page 36
- Who Was the Clumsy Stormtrooper? - Page 52