Module 10 · Integration & Final Simulation · Lesson 37
Reading into Writing
Real FCE candidates don't read and write in separate boxes — a reading passage full of ideas, vocabulary and arguments is a goldmine for the essay or article you'll write an hour later. Learn to mine texts for content, then repackage it in your own words.
Get talking · Section 1
5 minA text says: 'Commuting by bike has quietly become the fastest-growing form of transport in European cities.' How could you use this IDEA in an essay about city life — in your own words?
In pairs: skim any short news article for 60 seconds. Each of you names ONE argument and ONE piece of vocabulary you could reuse in an essay on a related topic.
Why does copying a reading passage's exact sentences into your essay lose marks, even if the idea is good?
Grammar focus · Section 2
8–10 minSource-mining — turning reading input into writing output
When you read for the exam, you meet ideas, arguments and vocabulary on your topic. Learn to lift the IDEA and REWORD it — that's how strong essays are built fast.
Examples
→ Source: 'Remote work has blurred the boundary between office and home.' → Paraphrase for an essay: 'Working from home increasingly means that professional and personal life overlap.'
→ Source: 'Critics argue that social media amplifies misinformation.' → Reuse: 'One drawback frequently mentioned is that platforms can spread false information rapidly.'
→ Source vocabulary 'a growing body of evidence suggests…' → transplant into your own essay introduction on any topic.
→ Never copy a full sentence — change at least the structure AND two content words.
→ Use the source only for IDEAS and RANGE vocabulary — the argument and structure must still be your own.
Question 1.What should you extract from a reading passage before writing?
Question 2.What happens if you copy a full sentence from a source text into your essay?
Question 3.Paraphrasing means…
Question 4.'More and more people' upgraded for an essay could become…
Question 5.What should transfer from reading to writing?
Quick check 1.Best first step when mining a text for essay ideas?
Quick check 2.If a passage argues 'X causes Y', how should you use this in your essay?
Quick check 3.Which changes are enough to call something a genuine paraphrase?
Vocabulary · Section 3
5–7 minWords & phrases to own
to extract (an idea)
to pull out the key point from a text.
"She extracted three strong arguments from the article for her essay."
What's one idea you could extract from something you read this week?
to paraphrase
to express the same meaning using different words.
"Always paraphrase source material rather than copying it directly."
Paraphrase this: 'Many young people now prefer streaming to television.'
to recycle (language)
to reuse useful vocabulary or structures in a new context.
"He recycled the phrase 'a growing body of evidence' from the reading text."
Name one phrase from today's reading passage you could recycle.
verbatim
in exactly the same words; word for word.
"Copying verbatim from the source text is penalised in the exam."
Why is writing verbatim from a source a risky habit in exams?
a growing body of evidence
an increasing amount of research/data supporting a claim.
"A growing body of evidence suggests screen time affects sleep."
Use this phrase in a sentence about any topic you like.
to draw on (a source)
to use information or ideas from something as a basis.
"Her essay drew on the reading passage for its central argument."
What would you draw on if writing an essay about travel?
a counter-argument
an argument opposing another argument.
"A strong essay always includes at least one counter-argument."
Give a counter-argument to 'social media is mostly harmful.'
to substantiate
to provide evidence to support a claim.
"He substantiated his opinion with an example from the text."
How could you substantiate the claim 'exercise improves mood'?
to synthesise
to combine information from different sources into one coherent piece.
"The essay synthesised ideas from both reading passages."
Why is synthesising ideas from two sources more impressive than using just one?
plagiarism
using someone else's words or ideas as your own without acknowledgement.
"In the exam, close copying is treated like plagiarism and marked down."
Why do you think examiners penalise close copying so heavily?
Activate · use it within minutes
Rewrite each casual phrase with an essay-appropriate upgrade.
'More and more people are…' → 'A growing number of people are…'
'Lots of experts say…' → '___'
'This is a really big problem…' → '___'
'People think this is good because…' → '___'
Tick each word as you use it
Read a short paragraph your teacher gives you. In 60 seconds, say aloud one idea you could reuse and how you'd paraphrase it.
State the main idea in the original wording.
Now say your paraphrase aloud.
Say which essay topic it would fit.
Tap an item on the left, then tap its match on the right.
Pronunciation · Section 4
3–4 minStressing the PARAPHRASE, not the source wording
Say it aloud
- • Say the source sentence flatly, then say your paraphrase with confident stress: 'REMOTE work has BLURRED the line' → 'WORKING from home increasingly OVERLAPS with personal life.'
- • Practise linking phrases naturally: 'A-growing-number-of...' said as one smooth chunk, not word by word.
- • Drill stress on evaluative words in your own paraphrase: 'One MAJOR drawback...', 'A key BENEFIT...'
- • Read your paraphrase aloud twice — if it still sounds like the original sentence, it isn't different enough.
- • Practise transition stress: 'HOWEVER, critics ARGUE...' — the stressed words carry the logical shift.
Reading · Section 5
8–10 minWhy the strongest essays are built from stolen ideas, in your own words
Read the passageTap to openTap to hide
There is a persistent myth among exam candidates that the Reading paper and the Writing paper are separate tests of separate skills. In practice, the strongest FCE candidates treat every reading passage as raw material. An article about urban cycling schemes is not just something to answer eight questions about — it's also a source of arguments, vocabulary and structures that can appear, reworded, in an essay about city life, transport, or environmental policy an hour later.
The skill is not memorisation. It is extraction and transformation. A candidate reading a passage that claims 'a growing body of evidence links longer commutes to lower wellbeing' should walk away with the IDEA — commuting affects wellbeing — not the sentence. When that candidate later writes an essay on 'Should companies allow more remote working?', the idea resurfaces reworded: 'Several studies have linked long daily journeys to reduced job satisfaction.' Same idea, entirely new sentence, in the candidate's own voice.
Why does this matter so much for marks? The Cambridge Writing rubric rewards 'Language' — range and accuracy of vocabulary and structures the CANDIDATE controls. A sentence lifted whole from a reading passage demonstrates nothing about the candidate's own range; examiners are trained to notice unnaturally advanced phrasing that doesn't match the rest of the script, and it is marked down, sometimes heavily, under both Content and Language. A close paraphrase, by contrast — same idea, visibly reworked vocabulary and structure — demonstrates exactly the skill the exam is testing.
The practical habit is simple and works both in the exam and in weekly practice. After finishing any reading task, spend 90 seconds noting three ideas as short bullet points in your own words, not the original sentences. Then note two or three pieces of topical vocabulary worth recycling (a growing body of evidence, a key drawback, on the other hand, this raises the question of). When the essay prompt appears later, these bullets and vocabulary chunks slot directly into a paragraph plan, saving planning time and lifting the language band simultaneously.
The final safeguard is the two-change rule: never let a sentence in your essay share more than a handful of consecutive words with a source text. If you change only one small word, it's still copying. Change the structure and at least two content words, and the idea is genuinely yours — recycled, not stolen.
Question 1.According to the writer, what should candidates extract from a reading passage?
Question 2.Why does the Cambridge Writing rubric penalise lifted sentences?
Question 3.What is the recommended habit after finishing a reading task?
Question 4.What is the 'two-change rule'?
Question 5.What can examiners notice about unnaturally advanced lifted phrasing?
Q1.Copying a source sentence with one word changed counts as a genuine paraphrase.
Q2.The Reading and Writing papers can usefully feed into each other.
Q3.Examiners reward the candidate's own range of vocabulary and structure.
Q4.Memorising whole passages is the recommended exam strategy.
Listening · Section 6
8–10 minTwo students plan an essay using a reading passage they just finished
Listening audio
Tap play to listen. Drag the timeline to jump anywhere.
Show transcript
Priya:OK, we've just read that article about city cycling schemes. The essay question is 'Should cities ban cars from the centre?' — can we use anything from it?
Marcus:Definitely. The article said cycling has 'quietly become the fastest-growing form of transport in several major cities'. That's a great supporting idea.
Priya:Right, but we can't just copy that sentence. Let's paraphrase it — something like 'In many large cities, the number of people cycling to work has risen dramatically in recent years.'
Marcus:Good, that keeps the idea but it's totally your own wording. What about the counter-argument the article mentioned — shop owners worried about losing customers?
Priya:Yes! We can reword that as: 'On the other hand, some business owners fear that restricting traffic could reduce the number of customers visiting their shops.'
Marcus:Perfect for our 'against' paragraph. And the article's vocabulary — 'a growing body of evidence', 'air quality', 'congestion' — all of that transfers straight into our essay.
Priya:Let's also note the structure the article used: problem, evidence, counter-view, conclusion. We can mirror that shape in our own essay plan.
Marcus:Agreed. So our plan is: intro restating the question, paragraph for banning cars using the cycling idea, paragraph against using the shop-owner idea, and a conclusion with our own opinion.
Priya:One more thing — let's double-check none of our sentences share more than a few words with the original text. I'll read the article again quickly while you draft the intro.
Marcus:Good plan. Reading first, planning second, writing last — that order always saves us time in the exam.
Question 1.What essay question are Priya and Marcus answering?
Question 2.What do they do with the article's original sentence about cycling?
Question 3.What counter-argument do they borrow from the article?
Question 4.What do they plan to check before finishing?
Question 1.Which phrase does Marcus use to introduce the counter-argument idea?
Exam skills · Section 7
5 minIntegrated Reading → Writing
🎯 Reading into Writing
Mine any reading text for ideas + vocabulary, then rebuild them in your own words for an essay.
- Extract 2–3 IDEAS as short bullet points, not sentences
- Paraphrase: change structure AND at least two content words
- Recycle topical vocabulary chunks, not whole phrases
- Match the source's shape (problem → evidence → counter-view → conclusion) if useful
Open FCE Exam Practice below to mine a real Reading P7 text into a Writing Part 1 essay.
Quick Tip
Spend 90 seconds after any reading task jotting 2–3 ideas in your own words — this becomes instant essay material later.
Exam Hack
Keep a running list of 'transferable phrases' (a growing body of evidence, a key drawback, this raises the question of) that fit almost any essay topic.
Common Mistake
Never reuse a source sentence with only one word changed — examiners spot lifted language and it costs marks under Language and Content.
Your task
Read the FCE Exam Practice passage, extract 3 ideas, then draft an essay paragraph using at least one paraphrased idea.
Example
Source: 'Cycling has quietly become the fastest-growing form of transport in several cities.' Essay sentence: 'In a number of major cities, cycling has overtaken other forms of transport as the most rapidly increasing choice among commuters.' Same idea, new structure, new vocabulary choices.
Practice · Section 8
8–10 minFill in the blank
Question 1.To ___ an idea means to pull the key point out of a text.
Question 2.Copying a source sentence word for word is called writing ___.
Question 3.The 'two-change rule' means changing structure and at least two ___ words.
Question 4.'A growing ___ of evidence' is a useful essay-opening phrase.
Question 5.To combine ideas from more than one source is to ___ them.
Question 6.Examiners reward ___, meaning the candidate's own range of vocabulary.
Q1.One word meaning 'word for word, exactly as the original':
Q2.One word meaning 'to reword an idea in your own language':
Q3.One word meaning 'to combine ideas from multiple sources':
Writing · Section 9
5 minPut it in writing
Your task
Read any short news article (150–200 words). Extract 2 ideas in your own words. Write one paragraph (60–80 words) of an essay that uses both ideas, paraphrased, plus one piece of recycled vocabulary.
Show model answer
SOURCE IDEA 1 (paraphrased): A growing number of employers now allow staff to choose their own working hours. SOURCE IDEA 2 (paraphrased): Critics argue that flexible schedules can make teamwork more difficult. PARAGRAPH: 'In recent years, a growing number of companies have introduced flexible working hours, allowing employees to choose when they start and finish the day. Supporters argue that this improves motivation and work-life balance. However, critics point out that when staff work at different times, collaborating on shared projects can become considerably more difficult, since colleagues are rarely all available at once.' Note: no sentence here matches a source sentence word for word — every idea has been rebuilt with new structure and vocabulary.
Speaking · Section 10
10–15 minMake it a real conversation
Roleplay
1:1 online task. Teacher shows the student a short paragraph. Student has 60 seconds to say aloud: (1) the main idea, (2) a paraphrase of it, (3) one topic it could feed into an essay for.
Useful phrases
- • The main idea here is that…
- • I'd reword that as…
- • This could feed into an essay about…
- • One useful phrase I'd recycle is…
- • My paraphrase keeps the idea but changes the structure by…
- PriyaThe article says 'Many small businesses have struggled to compete with online retailers.' How should we use that?
- Marcus_______________
- PriyaGood — that fits our 'against online shopping' paragraph perfectly.
Teacher notes
Optional · Teacher-led
Teacher Activities
Two short drills that build the extraction-and-paraphrase reflex. Both work 1:1 online. ~14 min total
FCE Exam Practice · Section 11
20–30 minReal FCE tasks
Cambridge B2 First · Integrated Reading (Part 7 style) → Writing (Part 1 Essay). Read the multiple-matching text, then use it to power a full practice essay.
Read about four people who travel to work in different ways. For questions 1–8, choose from the sections (A–D).
Section A
Elena cycles eleven kilometres to her office every day, whatever the weather. She admits the first few months were exhausting, but now says the ride is the best part of her day — it clears her head before meetings and means she never has to worry about traffic jams. Her only complaint is the lack of secure bike parking near her building, which means she sometimes has to leave her bike further away than she'd like.
Section B
Tomás drives forty minutes each way and has done for the past six years. He says the car gives him flexibility — he can leave early to collect his children, or run errands on the way home. What frustrates him is the unpredictability: some days the journey takes thirty minutes, other days over an hour, which makes it hard to plan his morning precisely.
Section C
Aisha takes the train, a journey of just under an hour including a change. She uses the time to read or catch up on emails, which she says makes the commute feel almost productive rather than wasted. Her main frustration is reliability — delays and cancellations are common enough that she now builds in an extra fifteen minutes as a buffer.
Section D
Ben walks the full forty minutes to his office, having deliberately chosen a flat near work partly for this reason. He values the exercise and the fact that his commute costs nothing, but acknowledges that heavy rain can make the walk genuinely unpleasant, and that colleagues living further away can't realistically copy his approach.
- 1.Who mentions that their mode of transport is not a realistic option for everyone?
- 2.Who says their commute has become easier over time?
- 3.Who uses their travel time to get other things done?
- 4.Who complains about a lack of facilities near their workplace?
- 5.Who values the freedom to change their plans during the journey?
- 6.Who has built extra time into their journey to cope with delays?
- 7.Who finds the length of their journey varies unpredictably?
- 8.Who mentions that bad weather can make their commute unpleasant?
Exam task
Your class has read four commuters' accounts of travelling to work. Your teacher has asked you to write an essay: 'Is it better to travel to work actively (walking or cycling) than by car or public transport? Give reasons for your opinion.'
- exercise and cost
- reliability and flexibility
- your own idea
Planning template
- Introduction: restate the question, no personal opinion yet.
- Paragraph 1 (for active travel): paraphrase Elena's and Ben's ideas about exercise and cost.
- Paragraph 2 (against / balance): paraphrase Tomás's and Aisha's ideas about flexibility and reliability.
- Conclusion: state your own opinion clearly, referencing the strongest point.
Success criteria (Cambridge band descriptors)
- Content: Both viewpoints covered using ideas from the source text, fully paraphrased.
- Communicative achievement: Register consistently formal/neutral; register-appropriate essay conventions used.
- Organisation: Clear four-paragraph structure with linking devices (however, on the other hand, in contrast).
- Language: A range of vocabulary and structures; no verbatim copying from the source text.
0 words · saved automatically
Show upper-band model answer
It is often said that travelling to work actively is healthier and cheaper than driving or taking public transport, and in many ways this is true. Commuters who walk or cycle, as some describe, gain daily exercise at no financial cost, and several find that the physical activity actually improves their mood before the working day even begins. However, active travel is not realistic for everyone. Someone who lives a considerable distance from their workplace, or who needs to run errands during the day, may genuinely require a car for the flexibility it offers. Equally, public transport, despite occasional delays, allows commuters to use their journey productively, reading or working rather than concentrating on the road or the weather. In my opinion, active travel is the best option whenever it is realistically possible, since the health and cost benefits are considerable. Nevertheless, cities should continue to improve public transport reliability for those who cannot walk or cycle to work.
Examiner commentary
Strong Content: uses ideas from all four commuters, fully reworded. Clear four-paragraph Organisation with linking devices. Language shows range (‘realistically possible’, ‘considerable distance’) without copying the source's exact phrasing.
Homework · Section 12
Take-homeTake it home
Idea-mining from 2 articles
Read 2 short online articles on any topic and extract 3 ideas from each, in your own words.
Choose 2 articles (BBC, The Conversation, or similar). For each, write 3 ideas as bullet points using your OWN wording, plus 2 vocabulary chunks worth recycling.
- Article 1 — Idea 1 (your own words):
- Article 1 — Idea 2 (your own words):
- Article 1 — Idea 3 (your own words):
- Article 2 — Idea 1 (your own words):
- Useful vocabulary to recycle (2 phrases):
Build an essay from two sources
Using ideas from both homework articles, write a 140–160 word essay answering a related question.
Transferable phrase bank
Memorise 10 essay-ready phrases that fit almost any topic.
Drill until automatic — these are 'plug and play' phrases for any FCE essay.
- a growing body of evidence suggests…
- a key drawback is…
- on the other hand…
- this raises the question of…
- critics argue that…
- supporters point out that…
- in recent years…
- it could be argued that…
- a number of studies have shown…
- taking everything into account…
Recap · Section 13
2–3 minWhat you've learned
- Reading passages are raw material for writing — mine ideas, not sentences.
- Paraphrase means changing structure AND at least two content words.
- Never copy verbatim — examiners notice and penalise it under Content and Language.
- Recycle topical vocabulary chunks (a growing body of evidence, on the other hand) across tasks.
- The two-change rule keeps borrowed ideas genuinely your own.
- Habit: after any reading task, note 2–3 ideas + vocabulary in 90 seconds.