APTIS Reading Part 1: Sample questions, Tips and Strategy

This article will help you answer APTIS reading part I: Sentence comprehension questions more effectively.

On all versions of the APTIS reading papers, you will be asked to chose the word to complete sentence.

This article will help you answer APTIS reading part I: Sentence comprehension questions more effectively.

On all versions of the APTIS reading papers, you will be asked to choose the word to complete sentences.

Your job is to simply choose the correct answer from a list of possible choices.

This post will:

· Briefly explain the nature of the test

· Look at example questions

· Discuss the reading skills required

· Discuss common problems

· Give you tips and advice

· Provide you with strategies to use on preparing for your exam and on exam day.

The reading test takes 30 minutes and is divided into four tasks. The four readings become more difficult as the test progresses.

APTIS reading Part I: Sentence Comprehension

In this part, you need to choose a word (there is a choice of three) to complete the sentence. There are five sentences to complete in total. Each sentence in the text is free-standing which means that it is not necessary to understand all of the text to complete individual sentences.

This part assesses your ability to read a sentence and to complete the sentence with an appropriate word.

In the sentence completion, you are given a short text. This could be a letter, a note or an email. This tests your ability to understand simple sentences.

For the further details please visit British Council website here.

APTIS Reading Part 1: Example Question #1

Example: Here is an example of the type of question you will get in this part of the reading test.

Part 1: Choose the word (A, B, C) that fits in the gap. The answer to question 0 is an example.

Hey Lewis,

Thank you for a beautiful weekend. I had a really (0) ______ time with you and Becky. Your wife is an excellent cook and she (1) _______ a lovely dinner.I am writing this note in my hotel room and I can (2) _____ the park from my window. My plane leaves tomorrow, and I will take a taxi to the airport (3) ____ breakfast. I hope you and Becky will come and (4) ____ with me in Rome next summer. I am feeling a little tired now and I (5) _____ to have a sleep.

Regards,

Kevin

0.	A. good	B. worst	C. busy
1.	A. made	B. offered	C. produce
2.	A. find	B. watch	C. see
3.	A. before	B. after	C. never
4.	A. stay	B. watch	C. leave
5.	A. stay	B. watch	C. leave

0.	A.
1.	_______
2.	_______
3.	_______
4.	_______
5.	_______

Note: The first one is given to you as an example. Think about the other sentences and the context.

In this part, you need to choose a word (there is a choice of three) to complete the sentence. There are five sentences to complete in total. Each sentence in the text is free-standing.

If you would like to access to more simulated APTIS reading tests then please visit our exam library here.

Exam Techniques: How To Answer The Question.

There are techniques that you can learn which will help you find the correct answer. These are:

Reading for gist

The word ‘gist’ means the general idea or the sense of the text.

Read the text quickly and decide if it is positive or negative, happy, or sad etc. For example, in the first sentence, the person is thanking a friend for a ‘wonderful weekend’, and so the missing word is likely to be positive.

Imagine the same situation. How would you feel and what would you say to your friend after a fantastic stay with them?

Decide on the type of word that is missing

Decide the type of word that is missing. In the first sentence, you have ‘really……..time’. The first word is an adverb and the word ‘time’ is a noun. Therefore, the missing word must be an adjective and is almost certainly positive.

In the second sentence, we can see that the missing word is a verb and that the writer is referring to a past event. So ‘produce’ is incorrect because it is a present verb.

It is possible to ‘offer’ somebody dinner, but from the context, we know that the person ate the dinner and so offer does not work (see also collocations below).

If the missing word is a verb, decide which form you need. In sentence two, the answer was the simple past form, but in sentence three, you have a modal verb, and this will tell you that the next word will be the first/infinitive form of the verb.

It will also help you to think about whether the verb is a gerund or an infinitive. For example, the verb ‘mind’ is generally followed by a gerund, but the verb ‘offer’ is followed by an infinitive.

Looking at the tense can also help you in questions such as question five. The writer is talking about what they intend to do after they finish the letter. Therefore, the correct verb form is- ‘be’ going to + inf. This is confirmed with the ‘to have’ which follows the question.

Use vocabulary and collocation

In English, many words fit together to make phrases or expressions. Knowing which words go together will make sure that you find the correct answer. To do this try to:

Decide if the missing word is part of a common phrase or expression. In sentence five, the expression is ‘come and stay.’ ‘Stay’ refers to a short visit (come and live would be more permanent.

Think about the words that go together (collocations). We ‘cook’ or ‘make’ a meal and ‘offer’ to do or buy something for somebody. When we use ‘offer’ as a verb, we need a direct object (offer to do something for somebody), and so that cannot be the correct answer.

Often these tests expect candidates to know words with dependent prepositions these can be with a verb:

· e.g. apply for/to

· With an adjective:

· e.g. interested in

It is essential to know which prepositions collocate with which verbs and adjectives.

APTIS Reading Part 1: Example Question #2

Part 1: Choose the word (A, B, C) that fits in the gap. The answer to question 0 is an example.

Hi Edwina,

I need (0) _____ help finding a dress. Do you (1) _____ coming to the mall with me? My cousin’s wedding is (2) _____ two weeks. The dress (3) _____ be formal. I hate trying clothes (4) _____ without a second opinion. I can pick you (5) ________ at 4:00pm if you are free.

Regards,

Jeffry

0.	A. some	B. a	C. an
1.	A. mind	B. can	C. please
2.	A. at	B. on	C. in
3.	A. might	B. can	C. should
4.	A. in	B. on	C. off
5.	A. around	B. up	C. on

0.	A.
1.	_______
2.	_______
3.	_______
4.	_______
5.	.

APTIS Reading Part 1: Example Question #3

Part 1: Choose the word (A, B, C) that fits in the gap. The answer to question 0 is an example.

Hey Lucy,

Do you have (0) _____ free time this weekend? My boyfriend and I (1) _____ moving houses. We don’t have (2) _____ furniture to move. However, we (3) _____ use your help with some boxes. Our new house is (4) _____ a different city. However, we are going (5) ________ car and can pick you up.

Regards,

Donnell

0.	A. some	B. a	C. the
1.	A. am	B. are	C. will
2.	A. much	B. many	C. more
3.	A. would	B. could	C. should
4.	A. in	B. on	C. at
5.	A. for	B. with	C. by

0.	A.
1.	_______
2.	_______
3.	_______
4.	_______
5.	_______

General TIPs And Strategies To Prepare For APTIS Reading Test

There are some things that you can do in order to improve your reading. Improving your reading will raise the level of your English in general.

· Analyse context: For example, the word ‘arduous’ does not appear in texts very often but look at this sentence.

The children were extremely tired but relieved after their arduous journey.

Arduous comes before ‘journey’, and so it is probably an adjective. The journey made the children tired, and so ‘arduous’ must describe a journey that is tiring. They were ‘relieved’ when it had finished. Therefore, ‘arduous’ must mean tiring and difficult and must be a negative word.

Flag the question for later review if not sure: Remember you can always go back to a question and often something will become clearer if you stop concentrating on it for a moment.

· Don't leave any blank answers: Check the summary page to see if you have missed any questions. You do not lose marks for incorrect questions and so make sure that you answer everything.

· Go back to flagged questions (if you have time): If you have moved on to another question, don’t forget to go back and complete the ones you left. If you still don’t know the answer, guess and move on.

· Don’t expect to understand every word: Many of my students have been taught to look up every word they don’t understand in a dictionary. The theory behind this is good, a wide vocabulary is vital to getting a good score in the Aptis test, but worrying about words you don’t understand in the reading exam is one of the worst things you can do. It will slow you down and unknown words rarely prevent you from getting the answer right.

· Start practice tests slowly: Many teachers advise students to practice for the APTIS reading test ‘under exam conditions’. This means you do the practise test in one hour without any help, just like in the exam. This is poor advice for students who have just started preparing for the test. By doing the test under exam conditions you put too much pressure on yourself. You don’t give yourself time to reflect on how to answer specific question types, spot patterns in questions and how you answer them, note down common vocabulary and notice how much time you spend answering certain questions. It also does not give you a chance to analyse your mistakes. Once you have practised several tests slowly, you can then practice them under exams conditions.

· Skimming and scanning: You should be able to skim and scan passages to do well in APTIS. Skimming is reading a text quickly to get a general idea. To look at the topics of each paragraph and decide briefly what the paragraph is about. Scanning is looking for specific information. When you have read the questions you may find that there is a name or number in the text that will lead you to the answer. You would then skim the text looking for that word before reading the information around it in detail.

· Getting used to difficult passages on a range of topics: Although most English tests do not require specific knowledge of a subject and will not you technical words, some passages can seem difficult. You can make sure that this becomes less of a problem by reading in English more and by reading texts similar in length and style to the ones you would find in the test. Doing this will help your writing as well.

· Practice as many APTIS practice tests as you can: You can find practice tests online (check the exam library on our website) for free or you can buy APTIS practice test books online. You can find largest database of free APTIS reading tests in here.