Let me tell you about a student named Anastasia from Moscow. She failed the CAE twice (scoring 179/Need 180). She was using old 2012 tests. In month three, she discovered the method. She joined five groups, downloaded 15 "hot" tests from the last 6 months, and did one every Saturday. She specifically noted that the Listening Part 3 (multiple matching) in the hot tests was significantly closer to the real exam difficulty than her book from 2016. On her third attempt, she scored 204 (Grade A).
Download a test with audio, listen once without stopping, then again with pauses to identify paraphrasing. cae practice tests vk hot