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Reading at a glance
Reading consists of 4 text passages and about 40 questions in total. Your job is to read
the passages and either answer questions, label diagrams, complete sentences
or fill
gaps. For every type of task there are instructions and example. Passages are taken
from books, newspapers, magazines and the topics are very diverse, from scuba
diving to space exploration. Passages progress in difficulty, with
first being the easiest
and fourth the hardest.
Good news is that you don't really have to read the whole passage, thanks to
technique I will refer to later. Not so good news is that there is no additional time to
copy your answers to Answering Sheet and you need to squeeze it in the 60 minutes
that you have. Please, don't forget to do it –
I witnessed someone who did, and it was
not a pretty sight. Poor guy was crying, he received score 0 for the
whole Reading
test. Here too you may write in pencil only, no pens are allowed.
Writing at a glance
Writing has 2 sub-tasks. First one is to write a letter according to scenario you
receive, using about 150 words. The second task is to write an Essay on given topic,
present and justify opinion or give solution to a problem, using not less than 250
words.
Nothing to worry here! Once you’ll start using a certain structure which I’ll explain
later on for the letter and the essay in addition to your imagination, it is a piece of
cake. This task
requires a bit of training, but after you write a few essays and letters
you will be well-prepared for it and you will feel
confident.
