Read the text below. Think of the word which best fits in the gap. You can only use one word in each gap.
Exams don’t help
One of the most common mistakes people make when taking (1) _______________ a new language is thinking that exams will help them improve their knowledge and skills. Because (2) _______________ the way education is implemented in schools, it may not sound like a crazy idea yet it is totally foolish.
The main problem lies in the (3) _______________ that the register of language needed for an exam is the formal variety. While some people may believe (4) _______________ of us should speak formal language all the time, nobody actually does that. Not even the examiners who will be correcting your exam.
This is the reason (5) _______________ this is not the best approach to language learning. Your aim should be to learn the coloquial register, the one that is actually used by people in their everyday lives. Otherwise, you will never understand people when they speak to you.
(6) _______________ some point you may have to master formal English, especially if you need to use it for business or in an academic environment. However, for most people picking (7) _______________ just a little bit of it will be more than enough; just (8) _______________ they do in their mother tongues.
