Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language –
Extended Study Guide
■ Reading (40 minutes)
Definition:
The Reading section evaluates your ability to understand written texts, identify key information, and
interpret ideas, opinions, and attitudes. You will need to demonstrate comprehension of both
explicit and implicit meaning and show awareness of tone and purpose.
Success Criteria:
• R1: Identify and select relevant information.
• R2: Understand ideas, opinions, and attitudes.
• R3: Recognize connections between ideas and opinions.
• R4: Interpret implied meaning, gist, purpose, and writer’s feelings.
Reading Exercises Overview:
• • Exercise 1 – Short Answer: Read a text and provide short, specific answers (a single
word or phrase).
• • Exercise 2 – Multiple Matching: Match questions with sections of the text, focusing on
opinions, attitudes, or themes.
Tips from Past Papers:
• Read the title and introduction to predict the topic and tone of the text.
• Underline or highlight key words in questions to focus your reading.
• Answer questions in the order they appear – information usually follows the text’s
sequence.
• Look for contrast connectors (e.g., however, although) to identify attitude changes.
• Paraphrasing is essential: the answer is rarely written exactly as in the text.
• For R4 questions, focus on adjectives and adverbs that reveal the writer’s emotions or
intentions.
■ Use of English (20 minutes)
Definition:
The Use of English section tests your knowledge of grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary.
You will demonstrate your ability to manipulate language accurately and understand how
grammatical choices affect meaning.
Main Topics:
• Grammar Tenses – Present, Past, and Future (simple, progressive, and perfect forms).
• Sentence Types – Simple, Compound, and Complex sentences.
• Passive Voice – transforming active sentences into passive ones.
Grammar Tenses – Overview and Examples:
• • Present Simple: Describes habits or facts. Example: 'She plays the piano every day.'
• • Present Progressive: Describes actions happening now. Example: 'She is playing the
piano right now.'
• • Past Simple: Refers to completed actions. Example: 'She played the piano yesterday.'
• • Past Perfect: Describes an action completed before another. Example: 'She had finished
before he arrived.'
• • Future Simple: Predicts or promises future actions. Example: 'She will play tomorrow.'
• • Future Progressive: Ongoing action in the future. Example: 'She will be playing at 6 PM.'
Sentence Types – Overview and Examples:
• • Simple Sentence: One main clause. Example: 'The sun rises in the east.'
• • Compound Sentence: Two main clauses joined by a conjunction. Example: 'I wanted to
go, but it was raining.'
• • Complex Sentence: One main clause and one subordinate clause. Example: 'Although it
was raining, we went out.'
Passive Voice – Explanation and Examples:
In passive voice, the focus is on the action or the object that receives the action rather than the
doer. It is formed using a form of ‘to be’ + past participle.
• • Active: 'The teacher marked the test.' → Passive: 'The test was marked by the teacher.'
• • Active: 'Scientists discovered a new planet.' → Passive: 'A new planet was discovered by
scientists.'
• • Use the passive when the agent is unknown or unimportant: 'The window was broken.'
Tips from Past Papers:
• Check for subject-verb agreement, especially in present and past tenses.
• Read the full sentence before choosing the correct tense – context determines time.
• For transformation tasks, change only what’s necessary; don’t rewrite entire sentences.
• Pay attention to time markers like ‘since’, ‘for’, ‘just’, ‘already’, and ‘yet’.
• Rewriting sentences in both active and passive forms is an effective revision method.