Two headings that both look right
Ana is on her second mock attempt at the Aptis Advanced Reading headings task: seven paragraphs, eight headings, 12 minutes for the section. On her first attempt she spent three and a half minutes on paragraph one hunting for a heading that matched every sentence, then rushed the last three and scored 2/7. Her error log shows a consistent pattern: she picks headings that repeat a key noun from the paragraph, and she abandons a paragraph as soon as she meets an unfamiliar word. In the current mock, paragraph 3 opens with a general claim about remote work and then gives two commuting statistics. She has shortlisted heading B (Working from home: the commuting effect) and heading F (The wider significance of remote work). Nine minutes remain and four paragraphs are untouched.
1. Paragraph 3 has two plausible headings. Which should Ana choose, and what principle decides it?
Read the worked answer
Choose F.
- The paragraph's first sentence makes a general claim about remote work; the commuting statistics are evidence for that claim, not the point of it.
- Heading B is true of two sentences only. It therefore fails the whole-paragraph test.
The rule to apply: a heading must summarise the paragraph's main idea, and must be rejected if it (a) is supported by a single sentence, (b) restates one example, or (c) is so wide that it would fit several paragraphs in the same text. Note why B is attractive - it reuses the word commuting. That overlap is the trap, not the evidence.
2. Ana has nine minutes for four paragraphs. How should she allocate the time, and what should she do when a paragraph resists?
Read the worked answer
Budget roughly two minutes per paragraph with one minute in reserve, and treat the reserve as untouchable until the end.
If a paragraph is still unresolved after about 90 seconds:
- Insert the best provisional heading.
- Mark it (a dot in the margin) as uncertain.
- Move on immediately.
The reasoning is expected value, not diligence. Every heading carries the same mark. Spending four minutes to lift one item from uncertain to certain while leaving two items blank is a net loss - blank answers score zero, provisional answers sometimes score. Ana's first-attempt pattern (three and a half minutes on item one, 2/7) is exactly this failure. The reserve minute then goes to the flagged items, not to a fresh read of the whole text.
3. Why is the rule 'pick the heading that repeats a key noun' actively harmful, and what should replace it?
Read the worked answer
Because distractor headings are built from lexical overlap. The correct heading is usually a paraphrase, so a noun-matching rule systematically steers Ana towards the wrong option while feeling like evidence.
Replace it with a two-step check:
- What is the paragraph doing? Read the first and last sentences. That pairing normally states the topic and the conclusion.
- Does the heading cover every sentence without being broader than the paragraph? If one sentence sits outside the heading's claim, the heading is too narrow. If the heading would also describe the next paragraph, it is too broad.
A useful corollary: unfamiliar vocabulary is rarely the deciding factor. Ana abandons paragraphs for the wrong reason; the sentences around an unknown word usually carry enough meaning to place the heading.