C1 Advanced multiple-choice cloze (Part 1): how it works and how to practise

Part 1 of the Cambridge C1 Advanced Reading and Use of English paper is a short text with eight gaps. For each gap you choose the word or phrase that fits from four options. It looks like a vocabulary test, and it is, but the four options usually share a rough meaning. Only one also fits the grammar and the words around the gap.

This page covers what Part 1 asks, how it is marked, a method for choosing between look-alike options, and three practice texts from the ScoreFluent bank with answer keys. The other Use of English parts have their own guides: open cloze, word formation and key word transformations.

What is the multiple-choice cloze in C1 Advanced?

It is Part 1 of eight in the Reading and Use of English paper, which has 56 questions and lasts 90 minutes. Part 1 has eight gaps, four options (A to D) for each, and one mark per gap (Cambridge exam format).

Cambridge's handbook says some gaps test a phrase, such as a collocation or set phrase, and others test meaning across the sentence or beyond. It also notes a lexico-grammatical element: sometimes you must choose the option that fits a following preposition or verb form (C1 Advanced Handbook for Teachers). On paper the options sit to the right of the text. In the digital test they appear when you click the gap.

Checked 15 and 16 October 2026 against the sources linked above. ScoreFluent is not affiliated with Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

How is Part 1 marked?

Each correct answer earns one mark. A wrong answer or no answer earns zero, so there is no penalty for guessing (Cambridge information for candidates).

Part 1 feeds your Reading score. Cambridge bases Reading on Parts 1, 5, 6, 7 and 8, and Use of English on Parts 2, 3 and 4. Your overall result is the average of the five scores: Reading, Use of English, Writing, Listening and Speaking (same source). Part 1 is the only gap-fill that counts towards Reading, even though it needs the same collocation work as the Use of English parts.

How do I choose between four words that all seem to fit?

Cambridge advises you to read the instructions, title and text first, then check that your answer has the right meaning, fits the surrounding grammar and fits the whole text (candidate guide above). Here is a way to apply that to each gap.

1. Read the whole text once for gist. The title often tells you the topic. Do this before you look at any option.
2. Check what follows the gap. If a preposition, infinitive or object comes next, test each option against it. In the practice text "Back from the brink" below, the gap in "they …… the council to match every pound" accepts only persuaded. Suggested, insisted and proposed cannot be followed by an object and a to-infinitive.
3. Say each option inside the full phrase. If you have met the phrase before, it will sound right. If all four sound odd, look for a fixed phrase you know.
4. Separate meaning from use. In the same text, stagnant, static, stationary and steady all suggest "not moving". Only stagnant is used of still, foul water in a ditch.
5. Decide and move on. If a gap has taken more than about 30 seconds, circle it, pick the option that fits the grammar, and come back if time allows. The 30 seconds is our suggestion, not a Cambridge figure. Cambridge gives a single 90-minute limit for the whole paper.

What kinds of language does Part 1 test?

Cambridge describes the focus as collocation, set phrases, shades of meaning and complementation, meaning what a word is followed by. The practice texts below show each kind:

• Fixed phrases and idioms. Cut corners, make a living, if anything, hard to come by.
• Phrasal verbs. Put off, build up, fall through, bounce back, come round to, burn out.
• Verb patterns. Persuaded the council to match, respond to treatment, relieve anxiety.
• Shades of meaning and look-alike words. Stagnant against static, conceived against conceded, relieve against relive.

This is a list of what appears in our bank items, not a claim about how often Cambridge uses each type.

What mistakes lose marks in Part 1?

• Choosing by meaning alone. "Lend a hand" means to help, but the gap in the first practice text needs "turn your hand to", meaning to start a new activity. Meaning gets you to two options. The grammar and collocation pick one.
• Ignoring the word after the gap. A following preposition decides many gaps.
• Leaving gaps blank. There is no negative marking, so a guess costs nothing.
• Learning words alone. Cambridge's handbook advises recording collocations and complementation along with the word, not the word by itself.
• Mixing up the answer sheet on paper. On the paper test you write only the letter (A, B, C or D), not the word, and you use pencil (candidate guide above).

Spread your time across the paper. Parts 4 to 7 carry two marks per question against one for Parts 1 to 3 and Part 8, and the texts in the paper run to 3,000 to 3,500 words in total (candidate guide above).

How should I practise Part 1 each week?

Use a short routine that you can test:

1. Do one item untimed, then one timed. Aim to answer every gap.
2. For each wrong gap, write a log line: the full sentence, the phrase you needed, and why your option failed.
3. After three days, cover the log and re-test yourself on the phrases.
4. Read a mix of newspapers, magazines and long-form articles. Cambridge says the texts come from sources such as newspapers, magazines, journals and leaflets.

Where can I try C1 Advanced multiple-choice cloze practice items?

Practice items from the ScoreFluent bank (not real exam questions)

Each bold number is a gap. Choose A, B, C or D, then open the answer key.

Item 1: Flour and patience

When the shops emptied of flour during the first lockdown, a surprising number of people [1] their hand to baking sourdough. The method is not difficult, but it demands a great [2] of patience that many beginners lack. A jar of flour and water must be fed daily for a week before it has [3] up enough yeast to raise a loaf. Those who give up halfway are usually [4] off by the sheer slowness of the process. Yet there is something deeply satisfying about waiting. Experienced bakers [5] by the long fermentation, which gives the bread its tang, and they would never dream of [6] corners. Many have since [7] a living from their hobby by selling loaves at weekend markets. The loaf that comes out of the oven is, [8] anything, a reward for restraint.

1. A turned · B held · C lent · D gave
2. A sum · B deal · C number · D many
3. A raised · B built · C grown · D made
4. A held · B pushed · C pulled · D put
5. A swear · B pledge · C vow · D promise
6. A clipping · B cutting · C shaving · D trimming
7. A set · B done · C taken · D made
8. A for · B if · C by · D as

Answer key and why

1. A turned. Turn your hand to means to start doing a new activity.
2. B deal. A great deal of is the fixed quantifier for uncountable nouns.
3. B built. Build up means to accumulate gradually.
4. D put. Put off means to discourage.
5. A swear. Swear by something means to have great faith in it.
6. B cutting. Cut corners means to do something cheaply or carelessly.
7. D made. Make a living is the fixed collocation for earning money.
8. B if. If anything is the fixed phrase used to suggest the opposite may be true.

Item 2: Back from the brink

Two hundred years ago the canal that winds through our valley was the main artery of local trade; by 1960 it had dwindled to a [1] ditch choked with weeds and abandoned shopping trolleys. A band of volunteers, armed with little more than spades and stubbornness, resolved to bring it back. Money was hard to come [2], so they [3] the council to match every pound they raised. The council agreed to contribute, [4] that the volunteers could show they had a workable plan. Progress was slow: more than once the whole scheme nearly fell [5], and it took eleven years to reopen the first stretch. Today the towpath is [6] with walkers, cyclists and anglers, and the money the visitors spend in the villages has [7] over the doubters. Not one of the original volunteers expects to see the entire route finished, but they take comfort in knowing that their work will [8] them.

1. A stagnant · B static · C stationary · D steady
2. A at · B for · C by · D in
3. A suggested · B persuaded · C insisted · D proposed
4. A ensured · B depended · C resulted · D provided
5. A through · B across · C under · D beside
6. A awake · B active · C alive · D animate
7. A gained · B earned · C made · D won
8. A outgrow · B outlive · C overtake · D outweigh

Answer key and why

1. A stagnant. Stagnant water is still and foul.
2. C by. Hard to come by means difficult to obtain.
3. B persuaded. Persuade somebody to do something is the required verb pattern.
4. D provided. Provided that means on condition that.
5. A through. Fall through means to fail to happen.
6. C alive. Alive with means full of life and movement.
7. D won. Win over means to persuade.
8. B outlive. Outlive means to continue to exist after.

Item 3: Designed to heal

Walk into an older hospital and you may feel your pulse quicken before you have seen a single patient. Long corridors, harsh lighting and a maze of identical doors seem designed to heighten anxiety rather than [1] it. Architects are now taking a very different line. Research has shown that patients who can see trees from their beds tend to bounce [2] more quickly, need less pain relief and leave earlier than those facing a brick wall. Natural light, quiet rooms and clear signs are no mere luxuries; they have a measurable effect on how people [3] to treatment. Hospital managers, ever mindful of budgets, are therefore coming [4] to taking the evidence seriously. A building that speeds up recovery frees beds faster, and the savings can more than make [5] for the cost of better design. Nor is it only patients who benefit. Nurses working in well-planned wards walk fewer miles per shift, make fewer errors and are less likely to [6] out. The lesson, according to one architect, is that a hospital should be [7] from the outset as a place of healing, not as a factory for processing the sick. 'Get the building right,' she says, 'and the staff and patients will [8] the rest.'

1. A receive · B relieve · C relive · D relent
2. A back · B out · C off · D up
3. A return · B reply · C answer · D respond
4. A walking · B falling · C round · D looking
5. A over · B good · C out · D up
6. A burn · B boil · C blow · D break
7. A concealed · B conceived · C conceded · D conferred
8. A make · B get · C do · D take

Answer key and why

1. B relieve. Relieve anxiety means to reduce it.
2. A back. Bounce back means to recover quickly.
3. D respond. Respond to treatment is the standard collocation.
4. C round. Come round to means to be gradually persuaded of.
5. D up. Make up for means to compensate for.
6. A burn. Burn out means to become exhausted by overwork.
7. B conceived. Conceived as means thought of in a particular way from the start.
8. C do. Do the rest means to complete everything else.

How does ScoreFluent practise this part?

The C1 Advanced Reading and Use of English sectional mock test and the full mock test include this task. Results are practice estimates, not official Cambridge scores. New accounts get 40 free credits and credits never expire. There is no subscription, and reading practice is free within a daily limit (pricing). Start with 40 free credits →

Where next: the C1 Advanced hub, the Reading and Use of English guide, the full list of C1 task guides and how C1 Advanced is scored.

Where did these facts come from?

• Cambridge English: C1 Advanced exam format
• C1 Advanced Handbook for Teachers
• C1 Advanced: information for candidates
• C1 Advanced preparation page

Checked 15 and 16 October 2026. ScoreFluent is not affiliated with or endorsed by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. The practice items above come from ScoreFluent's own bank and are not real exam questions.