TIPS, TIPS AND MORE TIPS!

LISTENING

1. Make sure you take advantage of the time given to you before the recording in
order to understand the question.
2. Underline the keywords from the questions to make sure you understood
whether you are asked of a number, place, a street etc.
3. Notice the stress of words. For example, employer from employee / interviewer
from interviewee.
4. Write clearly and precisely.

READING
1. Write brief answers. Your answer could be a short as one sentence.
For example: “How often is the carnival held?”, you can answer “once a year” or
“annually”.

For questions that ask: How much, how many, quantity, price, etc., you should
include the necessary units.
For example: “What is the percentage of drop-out in year 2002?”, you should
answer “20%” or “20 percent”. Writing only “20” will lead to losing marks.

2. Underline the keywords from the question and go back to the passage to skim
and scan where these key words are located.
3. After getting the key words from the questions, you are now able to first skim the
text to find the location of the answers. Skimming means just go quickly through
the text to look for the keywords. Sometimes, the key words are found in different
locations through the text and in this case, you have to scan each location to find
the right answer. Scanning means to go deeper to understand the meaning of
each location.

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WRITING
1. Stick to the word limit you are asked. Do not exceed it or write less than you
should.
2. Use more adjectives and adverbs. They transform your writing! For example,
instead of saying “We had food and the music was good too” , try saying, “We
ate really delicious food and the music was fantastic!”
3. Be aware of how you will be market. Your mark will be divided in accordance to
the content of your writing and your language style/ accuracy.
4. Organize your ideas. Although you do not have much time planning, you should
always underline the keywords of the question/ writing task. Make very brief
notes, putting your ideas into a logical order. This will guide you throughout
the task.
5. Avoid repetition of words and ideas. You should express yourself using
synonyms and antonyms of the words in the writing tasks and summary.

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