B2 First and C1 Advanced Reading: what the paper asks and how to prepare

The paper in numbers

Both exams open with the same paper under the same name. According to Cambridge, B2 First gives you 1 hour 15 minutes for seven parts and 52 questions, with 2,200 to 2,500 words to read in total. C1 Advanced gives 1 hour 30 minutes for eight parts and 56 questions, with 3,000 to 3,500 words. Cambridge does not publish how many separate texts that is, or how long each one runs; the descriptions say only "a text" or "a text or several short texts".

Figures from the Cambridge exam format pages and the handbooks for teachers, checked 20 September 2026.

Divide it out and the pressure becomes visible. At C1 you read 3,000 to 3,500 words and answer 56 questions in 90 minutes, and three of those parts are not reading at all but grammar and vocabulary under the clock. The handbook puts the requirement plainly: students at this level "need to process large quantities of text in a defined time-scale".

What each part tests

The names below are Cambridge's own. Note the marks: at C1 parts 4 to 7 are worth two marks a question, and at B2 parts 4 to 6, so a third of the questions decides more than half of the score.

Cambridge states the weighting for C1 directly: parts 4, 5, 6 and 7 are worth two marks per question, parts 1, 2, 3 and 8 one mark.

Three things change between the two exams, and they are the three that catch people out. C1 adds cross-text multiple matching, where four short texts express opinions and you compare them against each other. In the gapped text, C1 removes whole paragraphs where B2 removes single sentences. And in key word transformation, C1 asks for three to six words instead of two to five.

Use of English is parts 2, 3 and 4. Part 1 counts towards Reading even though it is a vocabulary task, and the handbooks describe it as testing "vocabulary, e.g. idioms, collocations, fixed phrases, complementation, phrasal verbs, semantic precision". That phrase is the whole argument for reading: none of it is learnable as a list of headwords, because what is tested is which words go together and which shade of meaning fits.

How the score works

Five scores are reported: Reading, Use of English, Writing, Listening and Speaking. Reading and Use of English are reported separately even though they come from one paper, and the overall result is the average of the five. The handbook states that the weighting of the four skills and Use of English is equal, so this single paper decides two fifths of your result.

Cambridge English Scale, from the Statement of Results factsheets. On the shared scale 140–159 is B1, 160–179 is B2, 180–199 is C1 and 200 and above is C2, so the same number means the same thing on either exam.

Raw marks are converted to that scale, but there is no published conversion table for the live exam. Cambridge gives reference points for its own practice tests — in the conversion guide, 24 of 42 in B2 Reading lands on 160, and 32 of 50 in C1 Reading lands on 180 — and adds that they "should not be used to try to predict precise scores in the live exam". The live exam is equated with Rasch analysis, so the number of correct answers behind a grade moves slightly between versions.

One useful consequence: a Grade A at B2 First earns a certificate stating C1, and a Grade A at C1 Advanced one stating C2. Cambridge attaches a caution to both. Of B2 First at C1 it says "the breadth of coverage of B2 First at this level is limited", and of C1 Advanced that the exam "is not designed to assess the full range of skills at Level C2". If you need the higher level on paper, sit the higher exam.

There is no vocabulary list, and Cambridge says so

Search for a word list for these exams and you will find plenty for sale. The official answer is in Cambridge's own booklet for candidates, under the heading "Is there a wordlist for this exam?" — for B2 First and for C1 Advanced alike: "No. Exams that are at CEFR Level B2 or above ... do not have particular language specifications or vocabulary lists." Cambridge publishes lists only for A2 Key and B1 Preliminary.

Instead of a list, the C1 handbook works with a qualitative description: "less common lexis refers to vocabulary items that appear less often". There is no official figure for how many words a B2 or C1 candidate should know.

What does exist is the English Vocabulary Profile, a research database from Cambridge covering A1 to C2 with about 15,700 entries, including phrases, idioms and collocations, free for teachers and educationalists. It describes what learners at each level actually use; it is not a syllabus, and its terms rule out commercial use.

The practical reading of all this: the paper tests collocation and precision, which are properties of words in context. You meet them by reading a lot of text you mostly understand, which is exactly what Cambridge recommends below.

What Cambridge itself says to read

Both handbooks have a section of tips for teachers, and both put reading first. For B2 First: "Your students should be encouraged to read a wide range of texts both in class and at home." The list of kinds is Cambridge's own — "graded readers, unabridged short stories or novels, non-fiction, newspaper or magazine articles". For C1 Advanced: "Your students should read as widely as possible both in class and at home", with the aim of building "a wide vocabulary".

• Read every week, not in bursts. Cambridge suggests a weekly reading scheme where the learner reports back on what they read, in writing or out loud.
• Read what you actually like. The B2 tips name sport, cars and fashion in magazines and online as legitimate material.
• Match the medium to the exam: Cambridge advises reading "both online and in print depending on which version of the exam" you will sit.
• Work on guessing meaning from context rather than stopping at every word — it is listed as a skill to develop, and it is what parts 1 and 5 reward.
• Our own suggestion rather than Cambridge's: at C1, add length. The paper puts 3,000 to 3,500 words in front of you, so reading one long article in a sitting is direct practice.

Graded readers deserve a note. They are on Cambridge's list, and they solve the problem of density: at B2 you want text where you already know almost every word, so that the few you do not stand out and stick.

The official free material

• B2 First preparation and C1 Advanced preparation: digital sample tests on the exam platform, marked "Free", plus paper sample tests as ZIP downloads with audio and answer keys. No registration.
• Answer keys for the reading paper on their own: B2 First and C1 Advanced.
• Handbook for teachers, B2 First (90 pages) and C1 Advanced (94 pages): two sample papers for each component, answer keys for the Reading and Use of English and Listening components, for the digital and the paper version alike, the assessment scales, and a reproduction of the answer sheet.
• The booklets for candidates, B2 First and C1 Advanced, 26 pages each: the paper part by part, what happens on the day, and the wordlist answer quoted above.
• Self-access PDFs by task type, teaching tips and lesson plans, all free from the same two preparation pages.

Two practical notes. There is no separate blank answer sheet to download: the specimen lives inside the handbooks. And both exams can be taken digitally or on paper — Cambridge states that the formats are the same either way, and only the answering differs, shading a lozenge on paper against typing on screen.

How this differs from IELTS Reading

People often prepare for both, so the differences are worth stating plainly, without ranking them by difficulty.

Cambridge publishes an official comparison: IELTS 6.0 corresponds to 169 on the scale, 6.5 to 176 and 7.0 to 185.

The task types barely overlap. IELTS has True/False/Not given, matching headings and summary completion; Cambridge has cloze tasks, word formation and key word transformation, which IELTS does not test at all. Preparation for one is not preparation for the other, but the reading underneath both is the same reading.

Where Readlang Mobile fits, and where it does not

Readlang Mobile is an iPhone and iPad app for reading in a foreign language. Tap a word and the translation appears in the line; tap the first and the last word of a phrase and the phrase is translated. Everything you translate is saved to a word list; practising those saved words is a Premium feature. Paste the link to an article and it opens in the reader, which is how you get magazine and newspaper text of the right length — the material Cambridge names in its own tips.

The built-in library is public-domain books graded from A1 to C1. That fits the graded reading Cambridge recommends, with one honest caveat: these are classics, not contemporary journalism, so for the newspaper and magazine half of the advice you bring your own links.

The free plan allows 30 translations a day, which covers an article of about 900 words if you already know roughly 97% of the words in it. Premium is $8.99 a month or $59.99 a year and removes the limit.

It is not an exam trainer. There are no practice papers, no cloze or key word transformation tasks, no timer, and it runs only on iPhone and iPad. Use it for the reading, and the Cambridge material above for the paper.

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