Written Examination: Reading, Listening, Language and Response
What the written paper tests
The external written examination combines comprehension of authentic-style Turkish texts and spoken passages with tasks that require you to respond in Turkish and to manipulate grammar accurately. Expect multiple-choice comprehension items, short-answer questions in Turkish, gap-fill and transformation exercises, and a productive writing task such as a letter, article, or opinion piece.
Concepts to master
You need reliable command of Turkish word formation: noun compounds, the possessive chain, derivational suffixes such as -lIk, -sIz, -CI, -lI, and voice suffixes including passive, causative, and reflexive. Understand how relative clauses are built with participles (-An, -DIk, -AcAk) and how converbs (-Ip, -IncA, -mAdAn, -ArAk) compress ideas into a single sentence. For reading, recognise discourse markers and pronoun reference; for listening, track numbers, negation, and the speaker's attitude.
Traps
Common errors include mistaking passive and causative forms, misreading the scope of negation, and ignoring evidential -mIş, which signals reported rather than witnessed information. In gap-fill items, candidates forget vowel harmony or consonant alternation. In comprehension items, distractors often quote the text but invert the relationship, so match the whole clause, not a keyword. In writing, do not exceed the word limit or omit the required register and text conventions.
Rule of thumb
Before answering, identify the grammatical subject of the clause and the voice of the verb; then locate the negation and any evidential marker. For writing, plan three paragraphs - introduction, two developed points with examples, conclusion - and reserve time to check suffixes.
Worked example
Given Kitabı okutmadım, the causative okut- means 'have something read', and the negation makes it 'I did not have the book read' - not 'I did not read the book'. Confirm this by asking who performs the action.