Reading

The British Council 2012. All rights reserved.

Information about the test


1 The British Council 2012. All rights reserved.

The reading test
The basics
The reading test has 40 questions to answer in total. All questions are equally important:
you get one mark for each correct answer. The test lasts for 60 minutes. This includes time
to copy your answers onto the answer sheet. No additional time is given to transfer your
answers at the end of 60 minutes.

The content of the test will depend on whether you are taking the Academic or General
Training modules.

Academic module overview
This module contains three reading texts. Texts come from magazines, journals, books and
newspapers and are written for a general or non-specialist audience. Texts may include
diagrams, graphs and illustrations.

General Training module overview
This module contains three sections of progressively more difficult content.


What kind of tasks to expect
Expect to find a variety of task types and answer formats in both test modules. Here are
examples of the main task types. You may also find short-answer questions, summary
completion and table completion as well as various forms of multiple choice.
Any of the following (though not all) may appear in any section:
Sentence completion

Various kinds of matching

Labelling flow-charts or other kinds of diagram

Identifying the writers claims or views

Identifying information


Section Focus
1
may contain two or three short texts relevant to basic linguistic survival in
English, such as public notices, advertisements and timetables
2
contains two texts which focus on the workplace environment, such as job
descriptions, contracts and staff development and training materials
3
one long text designed to test your ability to cope with longer, more complex
passages found in newspapers, magazines, and fiction and non-fiction book
extracts


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Questio
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15 S
16 S
17 S
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nce comple
mpletion ta
s.
ons 18
ete the sent
e NO MORE
our answers
n an emerge
he signal fo
possible, s
s kinds of
atching task
board opera
ons 1521
xt on the nex
e the correc
he correct n
ection A
ection B
ection C
i
ii
iii
iv
v
vi
vi
vi
ix
x
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to a text in
w.
HREE WOR
18 on your
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ould leave t
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s seven sec
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18 S
19 S
20 S
21 S
Labelli
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Questio
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ection G
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s 7
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ale
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her kinds of
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WO WORDS
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ms or views
the test des
agree with th
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Identify

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training

Questio
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29 th
30 th
31 th
32 a
33 re
34 th
35 a

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mation
to a text in
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contains the
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the test des
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allisthenics
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6 The British Council 2012. All rights reserved.
How to approach the different task types
Make sure that your answers keep to the word limit stated in the test paper. For
example, if you are asked for NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS, then do not write
more.

With multiple choice questions, try and use common sense to eliminate some of the
answer options.

When matching headings to paragraphs, read the headings first. Then read the first and
last sentence of each paragraph. This is often enough to match headings correctly.

When gap-filling, read the gapped text carefully and think about both the meaning and
grammar of suitable words to fill the gaps. Note down your ideas in the gap on the
question paper so that when you read the text you are then reading to check your ideas.

Never leave a gap blank. You do not lose marks for incorrect answers.
In the test
Do not forget that you must write your answers directly on your answer sheet. You will
not be given extra time to do this at the end of the 60-minute reading test.

Remember that your written answers need to be grammatically accurate and spelled
correctly. You will lose marks for incorrect spelling.

Think about skipping difficult questions and coming back to them later. If you do this,
make sure you highlight the questions you skip so that you can find them again.


Good luck in your reading test!