Aptis reading Test: General Tips and Strategies

How to Tackle Above Question And Other General Tips
Analyse the questions and options
Read the Question
. It may seem obvious, but you will only give the right answer if you 
understand the question. In the example above, the keyword is ‘what’. Therefore, the correct answer 
will be a thing. 

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Look at the options. 
The options above confirm that you will be listening for a type of food. 
Be careful of ‘distractors’.
Distractors are words that are included in the text which sound like 
they might be the answer but aren’t. 
These are often used in questions where there are numbers. Students expect a number and write 
that what they first hear, but then there is another number, or the number they first hear is corrected. 
In the question options above there are no distractors, but there are some in the listening. You will 
see from the tapescript that the listening contains all the question options and so you will have to 
distinguish which one is correct. 
In the listening, we hear the following information. The child doesn’t like tuna. He says that his 
mother doesn’t have to defrost anything. He makes the suggestion ‘how about tuna?’ Therefore, 
option A is correct. 
Be ready for the information
Think about the situation. 
An important strategy in all listening tests is preparing yourself for 
the answer so that you recognise it when you hear it. 
It is very helpful to think about the situation before you listen (the technical expression for this is 
‘activating schemata’). In the example given above, we are not interested in information about the 
mother, only what the child wants. 
Before you listen, think about this particular situation and what would a mother and child say if 
they were talking about what to have for dinner? Also, think about who is going to answer the 
question. In this question, it is about what the child wants, and we can guess that he will probably 
answer.