Free Cambridge English Practice Tests (2026)

In this section, you’ll read several short texts and match them to the correct people, situations, or questions. This part tests your ability to understand main ideas, specific details, and compare information across different texts.

Take a look at our B1 Matching Task sample scenario to better understand the format of this type of question.

The five people below are looking for an after-school club to join.

• Mia: Mia has always been interested in food from different cultures. She especially enjoys preparing meals that are healthy and nutritious, and she'd love to learn more recipes from around the world. She's busy most days after school but is always free on Wednesdays. 
• Oscar: Oscar loves taking things apart to see how they work. He's particularly interested in technology and would like to learn how to build and programme electronic devices. He can attend a club on Mondays or Fridays after school. 
• Sofia: Sofia would like to improve her confidence when speaking in front of other people, but she finds it quite difficult as she is quite shy. She's 12 years old and thinks joining a club might help. She is free on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 
• Harry: Harry is passionate about photography. He's particularly keen on darkroom techniques and digital photo editing. He's free on any afternoon except Wednesdays. 
• Layla: Layla enjoys playing sport with others and prefers activities she can do indoors. She has a very busy week with homework and other commitments, so the only time she is free is Saturday afternoons. 

Which club would be most suitable for each person? Choose from clubs A - H. 

• A) International Food Club: Do you enjoy cooking dishes from around the world? Every Wednesday after school, we explore a different country's cuisine, focusing on healthy and nutritious recipes. No experience needed - just a love of food! Open to all students aged 11 – 16. 📅 Wednesdays, 3:30 – 5:00pm 
• B) Electronics Workshop: Ever wondered how gadgets work? In this club you will build simple circuits, programme microcontrollers, and create your own electronic devices. Perfect for students who love making things with their hands and want to learn practical engineering skills. 📅 Mondays, 3:30 - 5:00pm 
• C) Photography Club: From taking the perfect shot to editing your images, this club covers it all, including darkroom techniques for film photography. Whether you're a beginner or already have some experience, you'll develop real skills in a creative environment. 📅 Thursdays and Fridays, 3:30 - 4:30pm 
• D) Drama & Public Speaking: Do you want to feel more confident speaking in front of others? This club offers a warm and supportive environment, especially for shy students. Activities include short performances, storytelling, and guided public speaking exercises. Age 11 - 13. 📅 Tuesdays, 3:30 - 5:00pm 
• E) Indoor Volleyball: Looking for a fun team sport you can play whatever the weather? Join our indoor volleyball club! No previous experience is necessary -  our coach will teach you the basics and help you improve week by week. Open to all abilities. 📅 Saturdays, 2:00 - 4:00pm 
• F) Baking Club: Love being in the kitchen? Each week we bake something different, from bread to celebration cakes. You'll learn essential baking skills and get to take your creations home. All ingredients are provided. 📅 Saturdays, 10:00am - 12:00pm 
• G) Woodwork & Craft Club: In this hands-on club, students design and build objects from wood using a range of tools and techniques. Past projects have included shelves, picture frames, and small furniture. Safety equipment is provided. Ages 13 - 16. 📅 Fridays, 3:30 - 5:00pm 
• H) Debate Club: Are you passionate about current affairs and enjoy arguing your point of view? Our debate club takes on big topics each week in a structured, competitive format. Students develop critical thinking and persuasive speaking skills. Ages 14 - 16 only. 📅 Thursdays, 4:00 - 5:30pm 

Write down your answers before viewing the answers and explanations below.

In Gapped Text exercises you’ll read a text with some missing sentences. You'll need to choose the correct sentence for each gap so that the text makes sense. This section tests your understanding of text organisation, meaning, and reference words, as well as how ideas connect.

Task: Five sentences have been removed from the text below. For each gap, choose the correct answer (A - H). There are three extra sentences that you do not need to use.

Building our school radio station

by Daniel Osei, aged 14

Last year, a group of us had the idea of starting a school radio station. We thought it would be a great way to share music, interview teachers and report on school events. Nobody at our school had done anything like this before. (1) ______ However, she said we could try if we wrote a proper plan.

We spent several weekends researching what equipment we would need. The list was surprisingly long and the costs were high. (2) ______ In the end, a local business heard about our project and offered to sponsor us.

Finding a suitable space in the school was our next challenge. We needed a quiet room with no outside noise. (3) ______ It turned out to be perfect because it was in a part of the building far from the sports hall.

Recording our first show was nerve-wracking. We made so many mistakes that we had to stop and start again several times. (4) ______ By our third session, things were running much more smoothly.

Now we broadcast live every Friday lunchtime. Students from all year groups can request songs, and we interview a different teacher each week. (5 ______ We're already thinking about our next big project!

Sentences A - H:

• • A) We asked the headteacher for permission, and she wasn't sure at first.
  • B) We decided to use an old storeroom near the library.
  • C) The whole school seems really excited about it.
  • D) We applied for several grants but were turned down each time.
  • E) But gradually we got used to the equipment and started to enjoy it.
  • F) We realised we had underestimated how difficult broadcasting could be.
  • G) A teacher helped us record the programme digitally.
  • H) We weren't sure how to play the music correctly.

Write down your answers before viewing the answers and explanations below.

In Open Cloze sections, you’ll read a short text with some missing words, and you'll need to write one word in each gap. This section tests your grammar, vocabulary, linking words, prepositions, pronouns, and how well you understand the text.

Task: For each question, give the correct answer. Write ONE word for each gap.

Learning a new language

Learning a new language is one of the most rewarding things you can do. Research has shown (1) ______ people who speak two or more languages tend to be better at problem-solving. This does not mean that learning a language is easy - quite the (2) ______, it requires a great deal of time and effort. However, there are several things you can do (3) ______ speed up the process. Watching films and TV shows in the language you are studying is one good method. Another one is to find a conversation partner - (4) ______ is someone who is learning your language and wants to practise. You can help each other by taking it in turns to speak. Many learners give up (5) ______ they feel they are making no progress, but experts say this feeling is normal. If you stick (6) ______ it and stay consistent, the results will come.

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In the Open Cloze section, you’ll read a text with missing words. Unlike the Multiple-Choice Cloze section, there are no answer options provided in the Open Cloze section. This means you’ll need to read carefully and think about which word fits both the meaning and the grammar of the sentence. This section tests your understanding of grammar, vocabulary, linking words, prepositions, and common language patterns.

Task: Read the text below and think of the word that best fits each gap. Use only ONE word in each gap.

The urban beekeeping revival

Despite once being seen as a purely rural activity, beekeeping has experienced a remarkable revival in cities across the world over (1) ______ past decade. Rooftops, community gardens, and even corporate headquarters have become home to thousands of hives, raising questions about (2) ______ cities are actually good for bees.

Surprisingly, urban bees may (3) ______ better off than their country cousins. The reason (4) ______ this is that monoculture farming has stripped rural landscapes of much of (5) ______ biodiversity. Cities, by contrast, are full of parks, gardens and flowering street trees that provide a year-round food source.

Of course, urban beekeeping is not (6) ______ its challenges. Hive density can become a problem if too many beekeepers (7) ______ up in the same area, leading to competition for resources. But (8) ______ long as hive numbers are managed carefully, the evidence suggests that bees and city dwellers can coexist very successfully.

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In this section, you'll read a short text with some missing words. For each gap, use the word in CAPITALS at the end of the line to forme the correct word. You may need to add letters at the beginning or end of the word. Make sure your spelling is correct.

Example:  (0) ADVENTUROUS  (Base: ADVENTURE)

The science of memory

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In Key Word Transformations, you'll be given one word, one complete sentence, and one partial sentence. You must then use the word given and complete the second sentence so it means the same as the first one. The key word may not be changed, and you can only use between two and five words to, including the word given, to construct your sentence. This section tests grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure.

Question 1:

[WISH]  I regret not applying for that job last month.  →  I _______________________ for that job last month.

Question 2:

[UNLESS]  The manager told the staff to stay late only if it was absolutely necessary.  →  The manager told the staff _______________________ absolutely necessary.

Question 3:

[SAID]  People say that the actress trained abroad for several years.  →  The actress _______________________ abroad for several years.

In the Reading Comprehension section, you'll read one or more texts and answer questions about them. You may need to choose the correct answer, match information, or complete a text with missing parts. This part tests how well you understand main ideas, details, opinions, purpose, and how a text is organised.

Task: Read the extract from the novel below. For the questions that follow, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) you think fits best according to the text.

Extract from 'The Glass Corridor'

Nadia had been working at the museum for just eleven days when she discovered the painting. It was tucked behind a row of medieval armour in the east wing's storage room, its frame so thick with dust that the gold beneath had taken on a greyish hue. She almost walked past it. What stopped her was not the image itself - a winter landscape, unremarkable at first glance - but rather the way the light from the single uncovered window fell across it at that particular hour of the afternoon, making the painted snow seem briefly, impossibly, to glisten.

She told no one that day. This was not dishonesty, she told herself later; it was caution. In her previous job at a regional gallery, she had made the mistake of announcing a find too early, before she had done her research. The resulting embarrassment - the piece had turned out to be a reproduction - had followed her for months. This time she would be certain before she spoke.

Over the following week, Nadia spent every spare moment in the archive room, cross-referencing the painting's style against historical catalogues, examining the craquelure under magnification, and tracing the faint stamp on the back of the canvas through records she had to request from three separate institutions. The work was methodical and slow, and she found, to her surprise, that she enjoyed it more than almost anything she had done professionally. Not the potential fame, not the idea of discovery - those felt remote, abstract - but the process itself: the careful unspooling of a mystery, thread by thread.

When the museum's head curator, Dr Fennick, passed the archive room on Thursday afternoon and saw her hunched over a magnifying glass at eleven in the evening, he paused in the doorway. He said nothing for a moment, then smiled.

“You’ve found something,” he said. It was not a question.

Nadia looked up. She had the odd sensation of being seen through completely, as if the weeks of effort and private calculation had left some visible mark on her. “I think so,” she said. “I need another few days.”

He nodded, once. “Take them.” He turned to leave, then stopped. “Don’t tell the board yet. Not until you’re ready. They tend to get excited and then they interfere.”

She watched him go, feeling something loosen in her chest - the tension she had not realised she had been carrying. His trust, she understood, was also a kind of pressure.

The below questions are all related to this text.

In the C1 Advanced Open Close section, you’ll need to complete a text by adding one missing word to each gap, with no answer options provided. This requires reading the text carefully and thinking about which word would fit both grammatically and naturally in context. This section tests your understanding of grammar, vocabulary, linking words, prepositions, and common language patterns.

Task: Take a look at the paragraph below and write ONE word for each gap.

The science of sleep

Sleep is (1) ______ as essential to our health as food and water, yet it remains one of the least understood areas of human biology. For centuries, people regarded sleep (2) ______ little more than a passive state, a nightly retreat from the demands of life. We now know (3) ______ nothing could be further from the truth. While we sleep, our brains are engaged (4) ______ intense activity, consolidating memories and clearing out toxins that build up during the day. (5) ______ spite of this, millions of people worldwide regularly fail to get (6) ______ sleep. The consequences are serious: chronic sleep deprivation has been linked (7) ______ conditions ranging from heart disease to depression. It is (8) ______ in recent years that scientists have begun to map the full complexity of what happens when we close our eyes.

Focus: grammar words - prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, articles, auxiliaries. Spelling must be correct.

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In the C1 Word Formation section, you’ll use the word given in CAPITALS to create a new word that fits the gap. You may need to change the form by adding a prefix or suffix, and your spelling must be correct. This section tests your vocabulary, word families, grammar, and accuracy.

Question 1:

[POSSIBLE] Remote working has created new ______ for employees who value flexibility.

Question 2:

[MODERN]  Many companies have had to ______ their policies to attract younger talent.

Question 3:

[EMPLOY] The rise of automation has led to widespread ______ among factory workers.

Question 4:

[ADAPT] Leadership today demands a high degree of ______ when dealing with rapid change.

Question 5:

[DESIRE] Job listings now routinely include emotional intelligence as a ______ requirement.

In this part, you’ll be given a key word and one complete sentence, followed by one incomplete sentence. You'll have to rewrite the incomplete sentence so it has the same meaning as the original, using the given key word that may not be changed. You’ll need to think carefully about grammar, meaning, and word order to find the correct answer. This section tests your control of advanced structures, such as passives, reported speech, conditionals, and inversions.

Question 1:

[CALLED] They cancelled the concert because of the heavy rain.  →  The concert _______________________ to the heavy rain.

Question 2:

[EXPECTED]  It is expected that the new policy will reduce costs significantly.  →  The new policy _______________________ costs significantly.

Question 3:

[UNTIL]  She only understood the importance of sleep after she became ill.  →  It was not _______________________ she understood the importance of sleep.

Question 4:

[SUCH] The film was so long that many people left before it ended.  →  It was _______________________ that many people left before it ended.

In this section, you'll listen to one person speaking in an everyday social situation, such as giving information about a place, event, service, or activity. You may need to complete notes, choose the correct answer, or label a map or diagram. This section tests your ability to understand main ideas, specific details, directions, and the purpose of spoken information.

In this part, you'll listen to a conversation between two or more people in an education or training context, such as students discussing a project or a tutor giving feedback. This section tests your ability to understand main ideas, opinions, agreement and disagreement, specific details, and how speakers develop their ideas.

Let's go through a practice question.

In this part, you'll read a text and then answer questions about it. You may need to find specific information, match ideas to paragraphs, or complete sentences using words from the text. This section tests your ability to understand main ideas, details, vocabulary in context, and how information is organised.

Read the text below and then complete the two tasks that follow.

The Rise of Repair Cafés

• A) In many towns and cities, repair cafés have become an increasingly popular way for people to fix broken household items instead of throwing them away. At these events, volunteers with practical skills help visitors repair things such as lamps, bicycles, clothes, and small electrical devices. The aim is not only to save money, but also to reduce waste and encourage people to think differently about the things they own.
• B) The idea began in Europe, where concerns about environmental damage and unnecessary consumption were growing. Many products were being replaced too quickly, even when they could still be repaired. Supporters of the movement argued that modern society had developed a “throwaway culture” in which convenience was valued more than durability. Repair cafés offered a practical response to this problem by showing that broken objects often still had value.
• C) One reason for the success of repair cafés is their social nature. Visitors do not simply hand over an item and return later to collect it. Instead, they are usually encouraged to sit with the volunteer and watch the repair process. In many cases, they are also shown how to carry out basic repairs themselves. This creates an atmosphere of cooperation and learning, which many people find more rewarding than ordinary shopping.
• D) Repair cafés also serve an educational purpose. Younger visitors may never have learned how to sew a torn sleeve, replace a plug, or sharpen a tool. By observing skilled volunteers, they gain confidence and practical knowledge. In some communities, schools have even worked with repair groups to teach simple maintenance skills to students.
• E) However, running a repair café is not always easy. Some items are too badly damaged to fix, while others require special parts that are difficult to obtain. There may also be safety concerns, especially when volunteers work with electrical equipment. For this reason, many organisers limit the kinds of repairs they accept and make it clear that they cannot guarantee success.
• F) Despite these difficulties, repair cafés continue to spread. Their popularity reflects a wider change in attitudes toward consumption. More people are beginning to question whether it makes sense to replace possessions so quickly. For them, repair is not just a way to save an object, but also a way to save resources and strengthen community ties.

Task 1: The text has six paragraphs, A - F. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A - F.

1. 1. A reference to cooperation with schools
   2. The place where the movement first developed
   3. A warning that some repairs may not be possible
   4. The main purpose of the events
   5. The idea that people often replace things too easily
   6. An explanation of why some people enjoy the experience more than buying something new

Write down your answers before moving on to the next section.

Task 2: Complete the summary below on a separate sheet. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

Repair cafés are places where volunteers help people fix items such as bicycles, clothing, and small (7) __________. The movement began partly as a reaction against a (8) __________ in modern society. Visitors are often encouraged not only to watch but also to learn (9 __________. This gives the events a strong social and educational value.

There are, however, some difficulties. Certain objects may need special (10) __________, and work involving electrical items may raise (11) __________ concerns. Even so, repair cafés are becoming more common because many people want to reduce waste, save (12) __________, and build stronger local communities.

Write down your answers before viewing the answers and explanations below.