Part 4: Short Talks: Tips

The beginning of the talk is often very important. The first one or two sentences often contain or give clues to basic information, such as who the speaker is, who she/he is talking to, and where the talk is taking place. You will often be asked questions about these things, and knowing this information will also help you to understand the rest of the talk.

Example:

Talk

Good afternoon and welcome aboard Zoom² Airways³ Flight 237 from London to Berlin. This is Captain Toby Smith speaking...

From these first two sentences at the beginning of the talk, you know that the talk is taking place on a plane, the speaker is a pilot, and she/he is talking to the passengers.

Do not answer the questions until you have heard the whole of the talk, even if you think you are sure what the correct answers are. There could be important information at the end of the recording⁴! This applies to Part 3 too.

Example:

 Talk

Before I take you around the plant, I'd like to tell you a little about our plans for the company...........After the tour, we will be able to discuss your requirements and how we can meet them.

Question

Who is the man talking to?

The man is probably talking to clients because at the beginning of the talk he mentions plans for the company and at the end of the talk he mentions your requirements.

Part 5: Incomplete Sentences: Tips

Learn to recognize which questions in this part are testing your knowledge of vocabulary. In the vocabulary questions, the answer choices will often be the same part of speech — for example, all adjectives, or all verbs. You should think about the overall meaning of the sentence, so that you can choose the answer which will make the most sense.

Example:

 All sales personnel who meet or exceed their sales quota⁵, will receive a _________ of $500 at the end of the year.

A. bonus
B. fine
C. salary
D. charge

All the answer choices are nouns, so this question is testing your knowledge of vocabulary. If you think about the meaning of this sentence, the key words are meet or exceed and end of the year. If a sales person meets or exceeds their sales target, they have done well, so it would make sense to reward them, not punish them with a fine or a charge. You pay a salary every month, not at the end of the year, so the only logical answer is bonus.

Learn to recognize which questions are testing your knowledge of grammar. In the grammar questions, the answer choices will often be different forms of the same word. You should look at the sentence from a grammatical point of view so that you can choose the answer which is the correct grammatical form.

Example:

 The ______ in our new style cafeteria is on healthy and nutritious⁶ food.

A. emphasize
B. emphasis
C. emphatic
D. emphasized

The answer choices are different forms of the same word, so this question is testing your knowledge of grammar. If you look at the grammar of the sentence, you can see that the word before the missing word is the article the. After the, you use a noun, so the correct answer must be B because emphasis is the noun form of this word.

If a question does not seem to be testing your vocabulary or your grammar, and all the answers seem possible, it is probably testing your knowledge of English usage — which words are used together in English. For example, you use the word heavy with rain (heavy rain), but you do not use big (big rain). You use the word take with shower (take a shower), but you do not use do (do a shower). So when you learn a new word, it is important to also learn the words that are commonly used with it.

Example:

 Property prices have _________ significantly in the past year and are expected to remain high.

A. expanded
B. enlarged
C. risen
D. grown

The word price is often used with the verb to rise, but it is not used with the verbs expand, enlarge, or grow, so C is the correct answer.

The error can be within the underlined word or phrase, OR in the relationship between the underlined word or phrase and another part of the sentence. So you need to look both inside and outside the underlined parts of the sentence when you are looking for the error.

Example:

 The
 goods
  left our warehouse⁷
 in
  perfect condition,
 so
  they
 
 A
 
 B
 
 C
  
 must
 have damaged
  in transit⁸.
 

the error can be within the underlined word or phrase, OR in the relationship between the underlined word or phrase and another part of the sentence. So you need to look both inside and outside the underlined parts of the sentence when you are looking for the error.

Example:

 The
 goods
  left our warehouse
 in
  perfect condition,
 so
  they
 
 
 A
 
 B
 
 C
  
 must
 have damaged
  in transit.
 
 D
  
 The error is contained within phrase D. The goods did not damage something — they were damaged — so you need the passive form have been damaged here.

I have no
 hesitation 
 in
  recommending John Simpson,
 
A
 
 B
  
 which
  has been a
 most reliable
  and hardworking employee.
 
C
 
 D
  
 The error is in the relationship between word C and the words John Simpson. John Simpson is the name of a person, not a thing, so you need the relative pronoun who here, not which.
 Part 6: Error Recognition: Tips

One type of error to look out for is wrong prepositions. Learning which prepositions are used with which words will help you prepare for this part of the test.

Example:

 

Employees interested
 of
  attending the IT seminar
 on
  September 12,
 
 
 A
 
 B
  
 should return
 the
  attached form to Personnel
 as soon as
  possible.
 
 
 C
 
 D
  
 The error is A. You say that somebody is interested in something, so you need the preposition in, not of here.

 Some errors will be in phrasal verbs. Study phrasal verbs so that you can recognize when there is this type of error.

Example:

 Mrs. Jefferson
 will

 
 take under
  Mr.Goddard's responsibilities 
 
 
 A
 B
  while
  he is away
 on vacation.
 
C
 
 D
 The error is B. You use the phrasal verb take over to say that someone will take control of something instead of someone else.Part 7: Reading Comprehension: Tips

Make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to do Part 7 because it will take longer than Part 5 or 6. You have 75 minutes to complete the Reading Comprehension section of the test — spend about half of this time (40 minutes) on Part 7.

A good way to train yourself, is to spend about 30 seconds on each question in Parts 5 and 6 of the test. There are 60 questions in Parts 5 and 6, so this will take you 30 minutes.

This will leave you with 45 minutes. You can spend 40 minutes on Part 7 and then have 5 minutes for checking before the test finishes.Read the introduction to the text because it tells you what type of text it is. For example, a letter, a schedule, a memo⁹, an invitation, or an advertisement. If you know the type of text it is going to be, it will be easier for you to understand it and find the information you need to answer the questions.

 Example:

Questions 187-190 refer to the following itinerary¹⁰.

If you read this introduction, your mind will already be prepared for a text in the format¹ of an itinerary, listing times, events, and places.

The best way to approach the texts is this: 1) Have a quick look at the text — read the title and scan the text to get the general idea of it. 2) Read the questions so that you know what information you need to find in the text. 3) Read the text again carefully, looking for that information, and answer the questions.

Example:

 

Text

Second Chef Wanted

Second chef required for 40-bedroom hotel in beautiful rural location. The style of food is modern European. Duties include stock control and creating daily specials. Must be able to relieve Head Chef on days off and vacations. Qualifications are not necessary, but previous experience is essential, preferably in a hotel environment. Knowledge of seafood¹¹ an advantage. Live-in position. Five and a half day week. Immediate¹² start. Salary $35,000.

Questions

1. Where is this job?

A. In a hotel in the countryside.
B. In a hotel in a European city.
C. In a hotel by the ocean.
D. In a hotel restaurant with a seafood restaurant.

2. Which of these statements about the job is true?

A. You will only cook fish.
B. You will always work with the Head Chef.
C. You will live in the hotel.
D. You will work Monday to Friday.

The introduction will have already told you that this is a job advertisement. So first you should read the title to see what type of job it is advertising¹³ (a chef) and have a quick look at the text, noticing the type of information it gives you (location, style of food, duties, etc.).

Next, you should have a look at the questions to see what information you are going to have to find. For the first question, you will see that you are going to need to look for information about where the job is. The second one is more general and covers many areas, but from the answer choices you can see that you will need to look for sentences or words which are connected to fish, the Head Chef, where the person will live, and when they will work.

Now you should read the text carefully to find this specific information.

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