Matching — Cambridge Exam Guide (A2 / B1 / B2)

Why practise Matching

Use Yanghaowa practice and reports to turn Matching mistakes into a clear next-step study plan.

What to do

• Read the question carefully and locate evidence in the text.
• Look for paraphrases instead of exact word matches.
• Explain why the other options are wrong during review.

Common mistakes

• Do not answer from personal knowledge.
• Do not choose an option only because it repeats a word from the text.

Steps

1. Skim for the main idea.
2. Locate the relevant sentence or paragraph.
3. Choose the answer with direct evidence.

What To Do

Matching is a Cambridge English A2 / B1 / B2 task. Use this guide to understand what the task checks before moving into practice or a mock exam. Do not start from familiar words; first decide whether the task asks you to match information, identify opinion, restore text, or understand text structure.

• Target levels: A2 / B1 / B2.
• Read the questions first and mark needs, keywords, attitude words, or paragraph functions.
• When returning to the text, look for paraphrases, not repeated words.
• The answer must be directly supported by the text; “possibly true” is usually not enough.

Exam Method

Use the order: question limits, text location, paraphrase confirmation, distractor elimination. After locating one sentence, read the sentence before and after it.

• Read the question carefully and locate evidence in the text.
• Look for paraphrases instead of exact word matches.
• Explain why the other options are wrong during review.

Common Score-Losing Traps

Reading distractors are often partly true: they meet only half the condition, widen or narrow the meaning, or reverse the text.

• Do not answer from personal knowledge.
• Do not choose an option only because it repeats a word from the text.
• Watch absolute words such as always, never, everyone, and only; they often create over-inference.

Final Checklist

Before submitting, do not reread the whole text; check whether the evidence beside each answer is complete.

• Can you point to the evidence for each answer?
• Does the option meet every condition in the question?
• Were you fooled by repeated words while the meaning is different?
• For inference questions, did you use only the text rather than outside knowledge?

How To Review After Practice

Review reading mistakes by asking why the evidence was not enough. Pair the correct answer with its paraphrase in the text.

• Group mistakes into: wrong location, missed condition, missed paraphrase, over-inference.
• Collect only three useful paraphrase pairs per text.
• Next time, practise timed locating before doing the full task.