English
Core concepts
The English section tests reading comprehension, grammar, vocabulary and basic writing. Revise: verb tenses (present simple and continuous, past simple and continuous, present perfect, future forms); subject–verb agreement; articles (a, an, the); countable and uncountable nouns with quantifiers (much, many, some, any, a few, a little); prepositions of time and place; comparatives and superlatives; modal verbs (can, must, should, might) and their meanings; active and passive voice; reported speech; conditionals (first and second); common phrasal verbs and collocations; and reading skills such as skimming for the main idea and scanning for detail.
Traps to expect
- Present perfect versus past simple: use the present perfect for a connection to now (I have lived here since 2019), the past simple for a finished time (I lived there in 2019).
- Much versus many: much with uncountable nouns, many with countable plurals.
- Since versus for: since a point in time, for a duration.
- False friends and words that look similar but differ in meaning.
- Passive voice formation: correct form of be plus past participle, keeping the tense.
Rule of thumb
For gap-fill grammar items, identify the time signal first (yesterday, since, already, tomorrow) - it usually fixes the tense. Then check subject–verb agreement and any article or preposition required.
Worked example
She ___ (work) here since 2020. The signal since points to a situation continuing to the present, so use the present perfect: She has worked here since 2020. If the sentence read She ___ here in 2020, the answer would be the past simple: worked.