Aptis reading Test: General Tips and Strategies

Think about vocabulary. 
It is not always the case that the keywords you have noted will appear 
in the monologue. When you are thinking about the situation, think about synonyms and parallel 
expression as well. Like the example in the earlier section. When the person talked sais they ‘just 
went out on their own’ and the question featured the keyword ‘alone’. These are parallel 
expressions, so you will need a good vocabulary to answer the questions correctly. 
Use your English grammar
. The question asks you to match peoples’ habits, routines, likes and 
dislikes. When we talk about these things, we usually use the present simple. Therefore, you can 
reject any information you may hear related to the past or future. 

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Listen for the ‘introduction’ words. 
These are the words that come before the answer you’re 
waiting for and prepare you for the specific information that you need to answer the question. Again, 
you should imagine what people would say in a monologue like this. 
Looking at the example with speaker A you see that the person says ‘I’ve never understood why 
people like…’. From this, you can expect that the speaker is going to describe a type of behaviour 
that she doesn’t agree with and what follows will help you arrive at the correct answer. 
Flag the questions you are not certain about and return to them
. You may not want to use too 
much time on the questions and so you can flag them and return later
.
Make a note
of the things that you want to check when you go back and listen again. If you are 
not sure what the answer is, note those points you are unsure about and when you listen again, 
confirm them. 
When you listen a second time, make sure that you prepare yourself again- don’t relax! You still 
have to listen carefully for the introductions to the answers and for the information you need to 
answer the question correctly.