Where it appears in the exam
What is it?
This competency brings together fixed prepositional expressions like in spite of, despite, by means of, rather than or by myself. In English they aren't built word by word from your own language: they work as blocks that demand a specific continuation, for example a noun, pronoun or -ing form.
Why it matters in the exam
In B2 First it appears in Part 1 when you have to tell apart several similar prepositions, in Part 2 when you must produce the exact word with no options, and in Part 4 when you rephrase a sentence without breaking the structure. If you don't recognise the whole block, you can understand the text and still lose the point.
The cognitive trap
"The instinct: "despite of the rain", "in spite of she was tired" — rebuilding the phrase piece by piece."
Why your brain does this: when you only half-remember a fixed phrase, your brain reconstructs it from the parts it thinks should be there, gluing on an extra preposition or keeping a full clause. The fixed block gets quietly rebuilt into something that feels logical but isn't English.
"Despite the rain, we kept walking." / "In spite of the rain, we kept walking." / never "despite of the rain"
The English rule: despite and in spite of express a similar idea, but they don't share the same internal form. The error appears when you treat the phrase as a set of loose pieces you can freely combine, instead of recalling each one as a fixed block. How it matters in the exam: in Part 2 and Part 4 there are no options, so a rebuilt phrase like "despite of" goes straight onto the page.
Recognition pattern
In the exam, look for the key signal first. The answer follows.
Signals that lead you to the right block
"In spite of feeling nervous, he gave an excellent presentation."
"Despite the noise, everyone managed to concentrate."
"The villagers communicated by means of a local radio station."
"Rather than argue, she decided to listen carefully."
"He learnt the software by himself in just a few weeks."
"Although she was exhausted, she stayed until the end."
Prepositional blocks by meaning
"They continued despite the criticism."
"She succeeded in spite of lacking experience."
"The documents were sent by means of a secure platform."
"They communicated by means of hand signals."
"He chose to wait rather than complain."
"We stayed at home rather than go out in the storm."
"She learnt the basics by herself."
"He travelled around the country by himself."
The mistakes Cambridge penalises here
"Despite of the delays, the event started on time."
Cambridge penalises it because it mixes two different structures: despite and in spite of.
"Despite the delays, the event started on time."
Correct because despite is directly followed by a noun or noun phrase.
"In spite of she was tired, she finished the report."
Here the error is structural: in spite of isn't followed by a full clause with a subject and a verb.
"In spite of being tired, she finished the report."
After in spite of you can use a noun, pronoun or -ing verb.
"The message was sent by means to a secure app."
Cambridge penalises this form because by means of is a fixed phrase; you can't swap of for another preposition.
"The message was sent by means of a secure app."
By means of introduces the means or method used and is followed by a noun.
"Rather of complain online, he contacted the company directly."
A real reconstruction error. The fixed expression is rather than, not rather of.
"Rather than complain online, he contacted the company directly."
Rather than works as a comparative block and here is followed by a base verb.
"I decided to try the method for myself."
This sentence is grammatically correct, but it changes the meaning: for myself usually means 'to check it for myself' or 'for my own benefit', not necessarily 'alone'. In a transformation task, if the original meaning was 'without help', it would be marked wrong.
"I decided to try the method by myself."
By myself expresses that the person does it alone, without help.
Why your brain gets it wrong
The learner's short circuit
Analyse the trap by exam format
1 the heavy traffic, we arrived at the meeting on time thanks to an earlier train.
All four express contrast and all four are ordinary words, so meaning eliminates nothing. What eliminates is the shape of what follows: «the heavy traffic» is a noun phrase, not a clause. Although and whereas require a subject and a verb behind them; however needs a full stop or semicolon before it. Only despite takes a noun straight after. The instinct picks «Although» because most languages use one word for both cases.
The connector is decided by syntax, not by sense
In a contrast item, all four options mean much the same. The only thing separating them is which structure can follow them, and that is written into the sentence.
Strategy
Read what sits immediately after the gap: noun phrase or -ing → despite, in spite of · subject + verb → although, even though, whereas · new sentence after a full stop → however, nevertheless.
Rather ______ booking five cities in ten days, I chose one small town by the sea.
Your brain looks for a preposition that 'sounds right' after rather, but here it isn't a free preposition, it's the fixed phrase rather than. The error appears when you process word by word instead of recovering the whole block.
Rather
There's a choice between one action and another.
→ than
In Open Cloze the options don't help you
In Part 2, if you don't have the block memorised as a unit, you end up inventing a plausible word. With prepositional phrases, that word can seem semantically reasonable and still be wrong.
Strategy
Train expressions like in spite of, rather than, by means of and by myself as complete pieces. If you see a trigger word like rather, try to recover the whole sequence before you write.
Although they receive several warnings, some companies still pollute rivers. (SPITE) ______ the warnings they receive, some companies still pollute rivers.
The key word SPITE leads you to in spite of, but many copy out "despite of" by mixing despite and in spite of. Besides, after the phrase comes a noun (the warnings), not a clause with a subject and a verb like the one with although.
the warnings
The key word SPITE fixes the phrase in spite of + noun; despite doesn't take of.
→ In spite of
The transformation fails on structure, not vocabulary
In Part 4, many failures with this competency happen because the learner keeps the general meaning of contrast but changes the architecture of the sentence. Cambridge marks exact equivalence, not just a similar idea.
Strategy
Before you write, identify what comes after the gap: noun / pronoun / -ing favours a prepositional phrase like in spite of; a full clause favours connectors like although. That's how you pick the transformation compatible with the target grammar.
Prepositional phrases (in spite of/by means of) is 1 of 82
The exam tests 82 grammar competencies across 19 families. Mastering one is the first step. Automating all 82 is passing.
Related competencies