How to do the tests

                      Listening. Tips. At the exam.

1.Read through the questions and look for key words in the text, and underline or circle the words you think are important as you do it. That can help you predict as much information as you can before you listen.

2.Think what information you need to listen for – names, numbers, days of the week and so on. But remember,  it’s not so simple. In the audio the speakers use different words from the words on the question sheet so you need to think about that and listen for different words with similar meaning or different ways of saying the same thing.

3. Watch out for tricks – for example,  you’ll hear the speaker mention one or more of the possible answers, and lots of people make the mistake of writing an answer as soon as they hear the speaker mention some words from the question. Don’t do that – wait and think about the whole meaning of what the speaker says. They might talk about all the choices before they actually choose one and that catches lots of people out.

                                  Suggested procedure

1.  Look through the text, defining its structure and what it is about (the gist).

2.  Look at the questions   and  think of an answer before you look at your choices. Read the choices to see if your answer is there. If so, it is probably right. Be aware you may need to look for synonyms.

3.  Concentrate on the stem of the question when you are looking for the right part of the text.

4.  Skim the text to identify the correct paragraphs to read: the questions will go in order so question 5 will come between 4 and 6. 

5.  Read the  correct part of the paragraph carefully and then re-read the question – looking at each option in turn.

6.  Ask yourself if you are looking for fact or opinion.

7.  Delete the answers you know to be incorrect. When you narrow your choices to two, try each answer with the question to see if they both make sense.

8.  If you are stumped about a word, dissect it for clues. Think about the meanings of the  prefix or  suffix.

9.  Underline the words in the text that give you the answer.

10. Do not forget to check up a key answer and each  distractor in every option! 

                                        Stems

1.  According to the text (paragraph)…,

2.  What is mentioned in the text about…?

3.  What is NOT mentioned in the text…?

4.  What can be inferred from the text about…?

5.  Which of the following statements is TRUE?

6.  Which is the best title for the text?

7.  By saying… the author implies that…

8.  Which of the following is NOT mentioned  in the text about…?

9.  The author mentions all of the following EXCEPT…