Cambridge English

Qualifications

PRIMARY
EXAM PRACTICE PACK

B1
Preliminary
for Schools
Mark Little
Jacky Newbrook
Pearson Educación, S.A.
Ribera del Loira 16-18
28042 Madrid
Spain
© Pearson Educación, S.A. 2019
Published by arrangement with Pearson Education Limited
The right of Mark Little and Jacky Newbrook to be identified as authors of this Work has
been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. This work is protected by copyright laws and is the intellectual property
of Pearson Educación, S.A. Legitimate users are allowed to make photocopies of this work
for use as classroom material only. Any other use, especially for commercial purposes, is
strictly prohibited.
First published 2019
EAN 843508512319
Set in Helvetica Neue LT 10/12pt and Gill Sans 10/12pt
We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:
Illustration Acknowledgements
John Batten (Beehive Illustration Ltd) 20, 31, 48; Nigel Dobbyn (Beehive Illustration Ltd)
30, 31.
Photo Acknowledgements
The publisher would like to thank the following for their kind permission to reproduce their
photographs:
Alamy Stock Photo: Arco Images GmbH 47; Pearson Education Ltd: Gareth Boden 11,
Jon Barlow 11, Studio 8 11; Shutterstock.com: wizdata 11,Yan Lev 47.
All other images © Pearson Education
 CONTENTS

Exam Overview 4

General Questions 5
Practice Test 1 6
with Training activities
Reading 6
Writing 23
Listening 28
Speaking 38

Speaking bank 42

Writing bank 44

Visuals for Speaking tests 47

Part 2 Candidate A & B 47
Part 3 48

Answer key 49

Audioscript 59

The following material comes from Practice Tests Plus series by Pearson Education Ltd.
Audio files for the Listening tests are available for downloading from http://resources.pearsonelt.es
Other resources, such as wordlists can be found at
https://keyandpreliminary.cambridgeenglish.org/resources.htm#free-resources

 Contents 3
 EXAM OVERVIEW
The Cambridge Preliminary English Test for Schools, also known as PETfS, is made up of four papers, each testing a
different area of ability in English. The Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking papers each carry 25% of the marks.
There are five grades: A, B and C are pass grades, D and E are fail grades. Candidates also receive a numerical score
on the Cambridge Scale for each of the four skills.
Reading 45 minutes
EXAM OVERVIEW

Writing 45 minutes
Listening 30 minutes (approximately)
Speaking 12 minutes (approximately) for each pair of students.
Paper Format Task Focus
Reading Part 1: 5 short texts, multiple choice, 5 questions, Understanding short messages of different types.
6 tasks, 3 options each.
32 questions
Part 2: Match 5 descriptions of people with 8 short Reading for specific information and detailed
texts. comprehension.
Part 3: Longer text, multiple choice, 5 questions, 4 Reading for gist, global and detailed meaning,
options. attitude, opinions and feelings.
Part 4: Gapped text, choose correct sentences to Reading to understand gist and text structure.
put in gaps, 5 gaps, 8 options.
Part 5: Gap fill text, choose missing words, Reading for specific meaning (vocabulary).
6 questions, 4 options.
Part 6: Open gap fill, write words in the gaps, Reading for specific meaning (grammar).
6 questions.
Writing Part 1: Write an email in response to information Focus on writing a short informative text using
3 tasks, given (about 100 words). appropriate language.
2 questions
Part 2: Write either an article or a story on the Focus on writing a short creative or factual text
topic given (about 100 words). using appropriate language.
Listening Part 1: Multiple choice, 7 short recordings, 3 picture Listening for specific information.
4 tasks, options.
25 questions
Part 2: Multiple choice, 6 short recordings, 3 Listening for attitudes and opinions.
options.
Part 3: Gap fill. Write 1 or 2 words in 6 gaps in a Listening for specific information.
short text about the recording.
Part 4: Multiple choice, 6 questions, 3 options. Listening for specific information, detailed meaning,
attitudes and opinions.
Speaking Part 1: Introductory phase, examiner-led Candidates show ability to use general interactional
4 tasks conversation. and social language.
Part 2: Individual long turn. Visual prompts. Describing photographs and managing discourse,
using appropriate vocabulary in a longer turn.
Part 3: Collaborative task. Visual prompts. Using functional language to make and respond
to suggestions, discuss alternatives, make
recommendations and negotiate agreement.
Part 4: Discussion with another candidate. Talking about likes/dislikes, preferences, habits,
opinions and agreeing/disagreeing. Linked to
collaborative task in Part 3.

4 Exam Overview © PEARSON EDUCACIÓN, S.A. 2019 PHOTOCOPIABLE

 PRELIMINARY FOR SCHOOLS
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1 How many marks are needed to pass the exam? 10 What happens if I make a spelling mistake in
➤ To pass the exam with a grade C, you need Listening Part 3?
around 60 percent of the total marks. ➤ It depends. If the examiner can still easily
understand what word you meant to write, you will
2 Do I have to pass each paper in order to pass the get the mark.
exam?
➤ No. Each paper doesn’t have a pass or fail mark. 11 How many times will I hear each recording in the

QUESTIONS
Your overall grade comes from adding your marks Listening paper?

GENERAL
on all four papers together. ➤ You will hear each recording twice.

3 Are marks taken off for wrong answers? 12 In Listening Part 3, should I use the words I hear
➤ No. This means that, if you’re not sure, you in the recording or is it better to use different
should always try to guess – you might be right. words?
➤ You must write only words (or numbers) that you
4 Am I allowed to use a dictionary in the exam? actually hear in the recording. Also, you must not
➤ No, this is not allowed during the exam. change these words.

5 In Writing Part 1 what happens if I don’t write 13 In Listening Part 3, what happens if my answer is
about all the points listed? too long to fit in the space on the answer sheet?
➤ You should write about all the things the ➤ Most answers are one or two words or a number.
task requires. The examiners are looking to These answers will easily fit in the spaces on the
see if you can provide the right information and answer sheet. If your answer is longer than this,
good language. it is probably either wrong, or you are including
too much.
6 In Writing Parts 1 and 2, what happens if I write
too few or too many words? 14 In the Speaking test, can I take the test alone?
➤ The word count is an important guide. It tells you Or can I choose my partner?
how much to write to complete the task. But don’t ➤ You must take the Speaking test with a partner.
waste time counting every word – just make sure This is because your ability to discuss things
you use about the right number. with another student is an important part of what
is tested.
7 Generally, in the exam, if I’m not sure about an
answer, can I give two possible answers? 15 For the Speaking test, is it a good idea to prepare
➤ No. If there are two answers, and one of them is what I’m going to say in Part 1?
wrong, you will not get a mark. So you must decide ➤ It is, of course, good to prepare well for the
on one answer to give. exam. But you cannot know exactly what the
examiner will ask beforehand, so you must listen
8 In Writing Part 1, do contractions count as one very carefully to the examiner, and make sure you
word or two? answer the questions relevantly.
➤ Two. For example, mustn’t = must + not =
two words. 16 In the Speaking test, what if my partner makes a
lot of mistakes, or doesn’t talk much or talks too
9 What happens if I make a spelling mistake in the much?
Writing Parts? ➤ Don’t worry about these things. The examiner will
➤ Spelling is one of several things the examiner make sure you have a fair chance in every situation.
considers when deciding what mark to give you.
Check your spelling as much as possible.

© PEARSON EDUCACIÓN, S.A. 2019 PHOTOCOPIABLE General Questions 5

 OVERVIEW
PARTS
1–6 TEST 1: READING
About the paper
There are six parts. You read both short and long texts and answer different types of questions. In
Parts 1–3, you have to show that you can read and completely understand the texts. In Parts 4–6, you
have to both read the texts and show that you can use language correctly.
The test lasts 45 minutes. This includes the time you spend writing your answers on the separate
answer sheet.
READING

For Parts 1–6, there is one mark for each correct answer.

How to do the paper

Part 1
In Part 1, you read five short texts on different topics. Some of the texts are notices you might see in
different places. Others might be messages, such as emails, phone messages and so on. There is one
multiple-choice question about each text. Each multiple-choice question has three options (A, B and
C). You have to choose the option which is closest to the meaning of the text.
Part 2
In Part 2, you read eight short texts. They are all on the same topic and contain similar ideas and
information. For example, you could read eight reviews of websites or information about eight
different courses or places. You also have to read information about five people. You have to decide
which person matches each short text. For example, you might need to decide which website each
person would find most useful or which course they should do.
Part 3
In Part 3, you read one longer text. This might be about a person, an event or something else. You
have to answer five multiple-choice questions about the text. Each multiple-choice question has four
options (A, B, C and D). The questions are about details in the text, as well as about feelings, attitudes
and opinions expressed by the writer or a person in the text.
Part 4
In Part 4, you read one long text about an interesting person, place or event. This time, five sentences
are missing from the text. After the text, there is a list of eight sentences (A–H). You have to choose
the five missing sentences and decide which one fits each gap. In this way, you show that you can use
reference words like pronouns and other vocabulary to link together the ideas in a text.
Part 5
In Part 5, you read one short text. Six words are missing from the text. For each missing word, there
is a multiple-choice question, which gives you four possible words to use in the gap. You have to
choose the best word (A, B, C or D). You look at the words before and after the gap to help you
choose the best one. In this way, you show your understanding of vocabulary and how words are
used together in a text.
Part 6
In Part 6, you read one short text. Six words are missing from the text. You have to think of the
missing word yourself to fill each gap. In this part, the missing words are mostly grammatical words
like pronouns, prepositions and so on. By writing the correct word, you show that you understand
how to use grammatical words to write good sentences.

6 overview Reading © PEARSON EDUCACIÓN, S.A. 2019 PHOTOCOPIABLE

 PART 1: TRAINING
TEST
Focus on the instructions
1
1 Look at the exam task on pages 8 and 9. 3 Where might you see it?
a How many questions do you have to answer?
4 What does the note say?
b What do you have to decide?
a Max will give his mum some money for the
c How many options do you have to choose book this afternoon.
from for each question?
b Max would like his mum to collect a book for
2 Look at this example below. What kind of text him later today.
is it? c Max wants his mum to take him to the

READING
a a notice b an email c a note bookshop when she goes shopping.

Mum, 5 The correct answer to question 4 above is b. In

the text, underline the words which mean the
Please can you pick up the book I ordered from the bookshop same as collect and later today.
when you go shopping this afternoon? I’ve already paid for
it so there’s no need to give them any money. 6 Why is option a in question 4 wrong? Is Max
going to give his mum some money? Why not?
Thanks!
Max 7 Why is option c wrong? Does Max want to go
with his mum? How do you know?

Focus on the questions

1 Look at question 1 on page 8. What kind of 6 Answer these questions about question 3.
text is this? a What do you think is the relationship
a a sign b a note c a label between Vivian and Pat?
b Which of these sentences says what Vivian
2 Now answer these questions about question 1. needs to do now?
a Where might you see it? i Tell Pat whether she is still vegetarian
b What might you do before you see it? or not.
ii Ask Pat what food she should take to
c Underline the words in options A, B and C
the party.
which have the same meaning as Take a seat.
d Underline the words in options A, B and C 7 Look at question 4. Where might you see a text
which have the same meaning as choose like this?
what you’d like.
e Why is option C wrong? 8 Now answer these questions about question 4.
a Does Angela mention that Melissa should
3 Look at question 2. Where might you see this help her look for the lost phone?
kind of text? b Look at option B. Is it correct? Why?
4 Now answer these questions about question 2. c Option C is wrong. What does the text say
about who is going to phone Valerie?
a Do members of the film club need to see the
school secretary?
9 Look at question 5. What kind of text is this?
b What should members talk to Mr Tanner a an email b a note c a label
about?
10 Answer these questions about question 5.
5 Look at question 3. What kind of text is this?
a Who is unwell?
a a note b a text c an email
message b Where are Billy and Charlie going to
meet tonight?
c What are they going to do together?
© PEARSON EDUCACIÓN, S.A. 2019 PHOTOCOPIABLE Reading Part 1: Training 7