Aptis reading Test: General Tips and Strategies

Develop your speed reading skills:
The test has a strict time limit which will challenge your 
ability. Remember that you are not reading a book or newspaper but just looking for information. 
Exam reading is different from reading in detail because you are only trying to answer some 
questions. Learn how to Skim and Scan texts and not to worry about unknown words.

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Leave difficult questions for the end.
If you spend a lot of time on questions that you find 
difficult, you’ll be wasting valuable exam time. You won’t be able to answer all the easier questions 
and you’ll lose points! If you don’t know the right answers to some questions, leave them and move 
on. This way, you can focus on all the questions you do know the answers to. You can return to the 
difficult questions at the end if you have the time. 
Focus:
Your focus should be on the text first, then on the questions! Only if you have a good 
understanding of the text, can you answer the questions precisely and more effectively. 
Cross out the wrong answers:
If you see an answer that you're sure is wrong, cross it out. This 
way you won't get confused and save your time. 
Don’t start reading the text before looking at the tasks.
When you start reading, you should do 
so with questions in mind. If not, you’ll read the text too often and you simply don’t have time for 
that. Read the tasks and questions first, before you read the text. Underline the keywords and think 
about the information you need to find to answer those questions while you’re reading. Skim the text 
for a minute to get a general idea and then scan for information. 
Notice the title of the passage.
It often gives you a general idea about the main idea of the text, 
as will the sub-headings. 
Guess the meaning from the context: 
When a native speaker in any language finds a word they 
don’t understand, they rarely translate. Usually, they get a general idea from the contest. Firstly, you 
can ask yourself, do I need to understand this word to answer the question? the answer is usually no, 
in which case you can ignore it. If the answer is yes, then decide if the word is positive or negative? 
Finally, look at the context. 
Example: 
He was put in prison for robbery but later exonerated.
The word ‘exonerated’ is quite a specialised word in English and not used much and we don’t 
know if it is positive or negative. We know someone was put in prison and then we have the word 
‘but’ this tells us there was a change to the situation. We can guess that ‘exonerated’ means 
something like freed or cleared, which it does.