The reading paper uses real documents — notices, adverts, emails, articles, a piece of administrative prose — and asks questions about them. The difficulty rises with the level; the method does not change.
Read the questions first. Unlike a literature exam, there is no reward for appreciating the text. Know what you are looking for, then find it.
Answer from the document, not from what you know. If the text says the office opens at nine, the answer is nine even if every office in France opens at eight thirty. Marks are lost here constantly, and always by capable candidates.
Watch the reformulation. The question will not use the document's words. It will use a synonym or a paraphrase, and finding the link is the skill being tested: *interdit* in the text becomes *ne peut pas* in the question.
True/false with justification: both halves score. A very common format — decide if a statement is true or false AND quote the line that proves it. An unjustified true is usually worth nothing. Copy the exact phrase; do not paraphrase your justification.
Learn the connectives, because they carry the argument. *Cependant*, *néanmoins*, *toutefois* (however); *donc*, *par conséquent* (therefore); *bien que*, *malgré* (although, despite); *en revanche*, *au contraire*. At B2 the questions are frequently about the relationship between two ideas, and these words are the relationship.
Do not stop at unknown words. A B2 text will contain words you do not know and the questions will usually not depend on them. Read to the end of the sentence and let the structure tell you whether the word mattered.
Administrative French is its own dialect. Any certificate at B1 or above may use it, and you will certainly meet it in real life: *veuillez*, *ci-joint*, *dans un délai de*, *le cas échéant*. Twenty such phrases learnt as a set will serve you in the exam and at the préfecture.