Aptis reading Test: General Tips and Strategies

Be able to Categorize: 
APTIS exam writers select a range of specific type of texts. You 
need to learn to recognize the type of text you are reading. It will help you predict its structure and 
you will be able to understand it more quickly. There are four types of APTIS S Reading texts – A) 
analytic texts that will discuss the reasons why something happened or make recommendations or 
explain a concept B) descriptive texts that describe a situation, explain how something is done or 
categorize something C) discursive texts in which different opinions are expressed about an issue 
and D) narrative texts that explain a chronological sequence of events.
Unfamiliar vocabulary? 
That's OK! Do not worry if the word seems unfamiliar to you or 
you don’t know some words. Every answer can be found in the text, you don’t need any additional 
knowledge to succeed.
Pay attention to the details:
Look thoroughly through the text and answers. Any special 
features such as capital letters, underlining, italics, figures, graphs and tables are likely to matter.
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.
Know your weaknesses:
Unless you know your weaknesses, you won’t know how to 
improve. The biggest weakness for many is that they try to read a text in English in a different way 
than they would in their language. They feel that they have to read the English text very carefully 
and slowly.