Aptis reading Test: General Tips and Strategies

Narrative tenses. 
Use these tenses- past simple, past continuous, past perfect and past perfect continuous, to answer 
questions 1 & 2.
Think about the time you were stressed. What was happening around that time (past continuous)? What had happened 
previously (past perfect simple & continuous)?
Explanations. 
Question 2 asks you why you felt this way and so you will need language that gives reasons and result- 
because/due to/as a result of…
Present tenses. 
With question 3, you can talk about what generally happens in this situation (present simple), or what 
you are doing at the moment (present continuous), or what you started doing in the past and are still doing now (present 
perfect and present perfect continuous).
Conditionals. 
Use the 3
rd
conditional to talk about things that may happen now if you are stressed (2
nd
conditional) or 
things that might have happened in the past but didn’t (3
rd
conditional).
Answer the three questions
You could lose marks if you don’t answer the questions, so ask yourself questions about stress.
For the three questions, your prompts could be:
1). When was I stressed out? What was I doing? What had happened before? If this thing hadn’t happened, would 
things have been different?
2). What made me feel stressed? Why did it make me feel that way? What had happened before? If this thing hadn’t 
happened, would I have felt any better or worse?
3). What do I do about stress now? Am I doing anything now? What have I done/been doing up to this point? What 
would/wouldn’t you do today if you were stressed?
Make notes
During the preparation time, you should make notes. Notes will help you organise your thoughts and help you to 
remember what you want to speak about.
Don’t write your notes in full, make brief notes and use them for the different points to want to make.
You could write a one or two-word answer to the questions above, maybe with a note of the grammar you are going to 
use.
Expanding your answer
If you use the prompts above, you should have enough to talk about but if you need more, you could.
Give a background.
Contract what stresses you, with what makes you relaxed.
Say how stress affects people in general.
Talk about different types of stress, i.e. good stress- When it helps you to concentrate, etc.
APTIS Speaking Part 4: Example Answer To Sample Question #1
1.
Tell me about a time when you were stressed out.
Well, I remember a time when I had an important appointment on the other side of the city I lived in. I was working in 
a coffee shop at the time but had been looking for a better job and had got an interview. I had plenty of time but my friend 
offered to give me a lift and insisted that he took me. I didn’t really want him to because he always got distracted by other 
things. Anyway, we were driving along when my friend said that he had to stop at the supermarket to buy something. I 
said ‘Oh no!’ I’m going to be late but he said ‘You’re always worrying, relax.
2.
What made you feel that way?
He was waiting in the car and I was getting more and more frustrated. I kept asking myself ‘Why didn’t I just take the 
bus?’ It was like one of those nightmares where you are trying to do something but things keep stopping you, except that it 
was real. When my friend came back after about fifteen minutes I was very upset and I shouted ‘Come on, we’ve got to get 
going!’. He said ‘Don’t worry, there’s plenty of time’. We got moving again and he stopped the car again and told me that 
he had to speak to a friend about a party they were arranging. I jumped out of the car, ran to the bus stop and caught the 
bus. I arrived a minute early and got the job.
3.
What are some ways of coping with stress?
I normally cope with stress by avoiding stressful situations like the one I explained. I don’t get stressed at work much 
but if I do, I try to do things slower than normal and I concentrate on relaxing. I genuinely believe that some stress is good 
for you especially if you are preparing yourself for sport or an exam. If you are able to control stress and learn how to 
control it, then stress can help you perform better. 
APTIS Speaking Part 4: Example Question#2
Part 4: In this part of the test, you will look at a picture and answer the questions below. You will have 60 seconds to 
prepare before you start speaking. Then, you will speak for 2 minutes.

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1.
How important are friends to you?
2.
What qualities do you look for in a friend?
3.
When do you think people need friends?
APTIS Speaking Part 4: Example Answer To Sample Question #2
1.
How important are friends to you?
I’d say that friends are important to me although maybe not as important now as they used to be. I think that when you 
are younger, and particularly when you are at school, you really need friends to fit in with the people around you. What I 
mean is a person who experiences the same things as you and who you can talk to about those things. If you don’t have 
this and things around you seem different or you have worries, then having a friend to share them with is especially 
important.
2.
What qualities do you look for in a friend?
I suppose that what attracts me to people at first is their sense of humour, you know if they are funny. If you ask me the 
most important quality in a friend is loyalty. Knowing that you can depend on them and that they won’t let you down. If 
you have a loyal friend and you are loyal to them, then that person will treat you well and be kind to you. What’s more, 
you will do the same to them.
3.
When do you think people need friends?
Like I said at the beginning, I think people need friends more when they are younger. During the middle part of your 
life, I guess you see more of your family and work colleagues and you may not need friends I the same way. Although, 
many people I know have friends who go back to when they were at school. I think people need friends more when they 
get older too especially if they are alone.
APTIS Speaking Part 4: Example Question#3
Part 4: In this part of the test, you will look at a picture and answer the questions below. You will have 60 seconds to 
prepare before you start speaking. Then, you will speak for 2 minutes.
1.
What are the most popular sports in your country?
2.
Do you think that sports should be taught in schools?
3.
What, in your opinion, is a ‘good’ sport, or a ‘bad’ sport?
APTIS Speaking Part 4: Example Answer To Sample Question #3
1.
What are the most popular sports in your country?
I’d say that the most popular sport in my country, as in most countries, is football. It is played in every part of the 
country and for most of the year, except around six-weeks in the summer. There are strong men’s and women’s leagues 
and there are club teams all over the country. When you go by a park, it’s normal to see a group of people kicking a ball 

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around. Cricket is strong in the summer, especially out of the football season although many people play both sports. I 
don’t know if you could call it a sport, but millions of people like to go fishing.
2.
Do you think that sports should be taught in schools?
I think sport should be taught in schools because it helps young people get fit and, even if they stop doing sport when 
they get older, it teaches them about keeping active. Team games like football, cricket and rugby are useful because the 
teach you how to work with other people. Also, when sport is played properly, it teaches you values such as fairness. To 
me, there is no point cheating at a game because it makes the result meaningless, so why cheat?
3. What, in your opinion, is a ‘good’ sport, or a ‘bad’ sport?
I don’t think that there is a good or bad sport, just the way it’s played. The problem I have with football sometimes is 
that players sometimes cheat, like diving when they’re tackled. Like I said before the game is then meaningless for 
everyone. I don’t like sports that involve animals much. I know that these animals are often produced to do these sports 
and it’s their instinct to run fast or jump but I’m not sure about it. I certainly don’t like them being killed for fun.
APTIS Speaking Part 4: Example Question#4
Part 4: In this part of the test, you will look at a picture and answer the questions below. You will have 60 seconds to 
prepare before you start speaking. Then, you will speak for 2 minutes.
1.
Which animals make the best pets, and why?
2.
Why do you think some people have pets?
3.
Should animals Have rights?
APTIS Speaking Part 4: Example Answer To Sample Question #4
1.
Which animals make the best pets, and why?
My answer to the question, which animals make the best pets, is dogs and cats. Dogs are animals which before people 
started keeping them as pets, used to go around living in groups. This makes them more sociable together and with people, 
and it explains why they are easy to train. Cats, on the other hand, are naturally animals that live alone and can sometimes 
be less friendly. There are exceptions in both dogs and cats but as they say in the UK is- ‘a man’s best friend is his dog’. 
Having said that, I heard that cats are getting more and more friendly as time passes, so it could be ‘his cat’ too.
2.
Why do you think some people have pets?
If a person is on their own, having a pet gives them a friend or companion. Many people in my country have pets and 
the reason for this is just because they like having animals around them. It is probably not a deliberate reason but having a 
pet can make you less stressed and keep us healthier. For instance, I think that going for a walk with a dog is much more 
interesting than going on my own. That means I would walk more often and for a longer distance if I were with a dog.
3.
Should animals Have rights?
In my opinion, animals should have rights. It’s not realistic to think that they should have the same rights as people, but 
they should have the basic rights of having somewhere dry to live, sufficient food and water. I believe that they should also 
have the right to live without being exploited or made to suffer.
APTIS Speaking Part 4: Example Question#5
Part 4: In this part of the test, you will look at a picture and answer the questions below. You will have 60 seconds to 
prepare before you start speaking. Then, you will speak for 2 minutes.

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1.
How important is nature to you?
2.
Have you ever felt moved by nature?
3.
Do you think that everyone has the wish to be in natural environments?
APTIS Speaking Part 4: Example Answer To Sample Question #4
1.
How important is nature to you?
I’d say that, for me, nature is extremely important. What I understand by ‘nature’ is being in a natural place or with 
natural things. I have always loved the countryside and as a child, I used to go fishing, especially during the summer 
holidays. Sometimes I used to go on my own, and I would sit by a lake or a river all day without getting bored because I 
loved being outside in nature. Because in the last few years we have heard a lot about climate change and how the natural 
environment is being destroyed, nature has become even more important as I imagine it not being there anymore.
2.
Have you ever felt moved by nature?
I have felt moved by nature many times. One time I remember clearly was at an animal park when I was a child. I 
remember being close to an elephant, which to me, seemed to be about a thousand-years old. Of course, it wasn’t, but I 
could see his hard, wrinkled, dry skin and his enormous shape and he looked like something from another time. I couldn’t 
believe that this wonderful thing from such a long way away, was standing in a park in my country looking at me. I 
remember wanting to make friends with him and asking him about all the strange places he’d been and things he’d done.
3.
Do you think that everyone has the wish to be in natural environments?
Most people, it seems, need a connection with nature. In my country gardening is an extremely popular hobby and if 
they only have a balcony or terrace many people still love growing plants and flowers, some even grow vegetables or keep 
bees. A lot of homes and offices have plants and I believe that researchers found that giving workers as natural an 
environment as possible, made them happier and more productive.

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