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Use of English

Level B2

Part 2 - Open Cloze

Exercises Feed

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1

For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap.

Staying Motivated

Many people begin a new project (0) WITH enthusiasm, but keeping that energy alive is often much harder. Motivation can disappear quickly, especially when progress is slow or the final goal seems far (1) .......... . At the start, people usually focus (2) .......... what they hope to achieve, but after a few weeks they may begin to doubt whether the effort is really worth it. One reason for this is that results do not always appear immediately. If someone works hard every day but notices very little change, they may feel (3) .......... giving up. Another problem is comparison. People often look at others (4) .......... seem more successful and assume they themselves are failing. This can damage confidence and make it difficult to carry (5) .......... . Experts suggest that motivation is easier to maintain if large goals are broken into smaller ones. That way, each step feels more achievable and success comes more often. It also helps to remember why the goal mattered in the first place, rather (6) .......... thinking only about how much work remains. In the end, staying motivated depends not only (7) .......... enthusiasm, but also on patience, routine and the ability to continue even (8) .......... the task feels difficult.

What to do

This part consists of a short text with a series of gaps. There are no words from which to choose the answers, candidates have to think of a word which fits the gap correctly.

Errors in punctuation are ignored, although spelling must be correct.

Contractions (e.g. don’t, we’ve, won’t) count as two words. However, can’t is a contraction of cannot, which is one word.

Sometimes, there is more than one correct answer. Cambridge will always account for this and all options will be accepted. However, you should not write more than one answer.

Don't spend time in a word you don't know. Wasting time on this activity might cost you points later in the exam because you won’t have enough time to do other tasks well.

Strategy

  1. Read the title and the whole text so that you understand what it is about.
  2. Read the whole sentence in which the gap occurs, to look for clues as to what kind of word you need.
  3. Check the words before and after each gap and look for grammatical collocations.
  4. Remember you must write only one word.
  5. You are never required to write a contraction. If you think the answer is a contraction, it must be wrong, so think again.
  6. Read the whole text through once you have completed it to make sure you have not missed any connectors, plurals or negatives.

Instructions

For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap.

Exercise Details

Author

James Ford

@james-ford

User Prompt

"Create an exercise about the challenges of maintaining motivation"

Tone: Standard
Level: B2

Created on:

Jun 15, 2026

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