EETC English Exam cheat sheet

Prediction from the question stem: identify the question type (main idea, detail, inference, attitude) before audio starts; the type dictates which words to listen for.

Signpost words mark structure: 'first', 'then', 'however', 'in fact', 'to sum up' flag transitions, contrasts, and conclusions that usually carry answers.

Numbers, dates, and proper nouns are high-frequency detail targets; record them in shorthand the moment they are heard, since they are rarely repeated.

Distractors often restate a word from the audio with a wrong relationship (wrong subject, wrong time, reversed cause); match the whole proposition, not a keyword.

Paraphrase recognition: correct answers usually reword the audio rather than repeat it verbatim; a verbatim match is a warning sign, not confirmation.

Speaker attitude is signaled by intonation, stress, and hedges ('sort of', 'I suppose', 'frankly'); these cues outweigh the literal words.

In long conversations, the second speaker's response typically contains the answer to a question about the first speaker's proposal or problem.

Note-taking: use abbreviations and symbols (↑ increase, → leads to, ✗ not) so attention stays on incoming speech rather than on writing full words.

Main idea sits in the thesis statement (usually end of the introduction) and is restated in the conclusion; detail questions point to body paragraphs.

Skimming means reading title, first sentence of each paragraph, and conclusion; scanning means moving the eyes for a specific term, number, or name.

Question order generally follows passage order in factual passages, so the location of one answer narrows the search window for the next.

Scope rule: an answer that is true in the real world but unsupported by the passage is wrong; only passage-supported claims count.

Extreme quantifiers ('always', 'never', 'all', 'only') usually signal a false option; hedged options ('often', 'may', 'tends to') more often match academic prose.

Pronoun and reference questions: look at the preceding sentence for the nearest grammatically agreeing noun phrase that fits the meaning.

Inference questions require one logical step beyond the text, not speculation; the answer must be forced by stated evidence.

Vocabulary-in-context items are solved by substituting each option into the sentence and checking coherence with surrounding clauses.

Subject-verb agreement: the verb agrees with the head noun, not with intervening prepositional phrases ('The list of items is long').

Neither/either...nor/or and 'not only...but also' take a verb agreeing with the nearer subject ('Neither the students nor the teacher was ready').

Perfect tenses: present perfect links past to present ('has lived here since 2010'); past perfect marks the earlier of two past events.

Conditionals: Type 1 if + present, will + base; Type 2 if + past, would + base; Type 3 if + past perfect, would have + past participle.

Reduced relative clauses: drop the relative pronoun and 'be' in passive ('the report written last week'), keeping the participle matching active/passive voice.

Inversion after negative adverbials: 'Never have I seen...', 'Rarely does she...', 'Not until X did Y...' - auxiliary precedes subject.

Parallelism: items joined by and/or/but must share grammatical form ('reading, writing, and speaking', not 'reading, writing, and to speak').

Modals of deduction: must (near certainty), may/might/could (possibility), can't (logical impossibility); 'must have + past participle' marks past certainty.

Collocation is the primary test point: 'make a decision', 'take responsibility', 'heavy rain', 'strong argument'; a synonym with the wrong partner is wrong.

Register matters: 'commence/terminate' are formal, 'start/stop' neutral, 'kick off' informal; answer choices must match the passage's register.

Affix analysis: negative prefixes (un-, in-, im-, dis-, non-) and suffixes (-tion noun, -ive adjective, -ize verb) reveal a word's part of speech and polarity.

False friends and near-synonyms differ in connotation and transitivity: 'rise' is intransitive, 'raise' transitive; 'economic' relates to the economy, 'economical' means thrifty.

Phrasal verbs change meaning with the particle: 'put off' (postpone), 'put up with' (tolerate), 'put forward' (propose); learn verb + particle as one unit.

Prepositional dependents must be memorized with the word: 'dependent on', 'capable of', 'insist on', 'comply with', 'different from'.

Word families fill gaps by grammar: after a determiner and adjective, a noun is required; after 'to', a base verb; after a preposition, a gerund or noun.

Paragraph architecture: topic sentence states the claim, 2-4 supporting sentences give evidence and explanation, closing sentence links back to the thesis.

Thesis placement: one arguable sentence at the end of the introduction; every body paragraph must serve it or be cut.

Cohesion devices: pronouns, synonyms, and transitions (however, therefore, for instance) connect sentences; transitions signal logical relation, so choose by relation, not by sound.

Sentence variety rule: mix simple, compound, and complex sentences; a run of same-length simple sentences reads as choppy and lowers structure scores.

Formal register: avoid contractions, slang, and first-person opinion markers in academic prose; prefer impersonal constructions and precise verbs.

Common error checklist: sentence fragments, comma splices, dangling modifiers (introductory participle must share the main clause's subject), and faulty parallelism.

Concision: delete redundant pairs ('each and every', 'in order to' → 'to'), nominalizations, and empty openers ('It is important to note that').

Conclusion strategy: restate the thesis in new words, synthesize rather than repeat evidence, and close with an implication - no new arguments.