Foreign Language
What the exam tests
The foreign-language section (typically English, sometimes Russian) tests reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary in context, and short writing. Expect gap-fill items, sentence transformation, matching headings to paragraphs, and questions on a passage's main idea and details.
Concepts to master
- Tenses and aspect: present perfect vs. past simple, continuous forms, and conditionals.
- Agreement and reference: subject-verb agreement, pronoun reference, and articles.
- Vocabulary in context: collocations, phrasal verbs, and choosing the word that fits both meaning and grammar.
- Reading skills: identifying main idea, inference, and the author's attitude.
- Writing: linking words, paragraph unity, and register.
Traps
Distractors are grammatically possible but contextually wrong. In gap-fill, two options may fit the sentence in isolation; only one fits the paragraph. Time markers (since, ago, already, yet) decide tense. In reading, an option that repeats words from the passage may be a trap; the correct answer often paraphrases.
Rule of thumb
For tense items, find the time signal first, then choose the form. For reading, locate the sentence the question refers to and paraphrase it before looking at options.
Worked example
"She ___ in Yerevan since 2015." Options: lives / lived / has lived / is living. The marker «since 2015» signals an action continuing to the present, so the present perfect «has lived» is correct. «Lives» ignores the duration; «lived» closes the action in the past.