WPS Written Test cheat sheet

WPS written sections typically pair a timed objective part (grammar, vocabulary, reading) with a production part (sentence correction, short business writing); allocate time by item count, not by section order.

Written-expression items usually present one sentence with four underlined segments lettered A-D; exactly one segment contains the error, and the corrected sentence must read naturally without changing meaning.

Grammar items that offer four single-word or phrase options are testing a single decision point (tense, agreement, preposition, or word form); identify the decision point before comparing options.

Reading sets generally follow passage-then-questions order, with detail, inference, main-idea, and vocabulary-in-context items; answer detail items by locating the exact sentence rather than recalling the passage.

A reliable elimination rule: reject any option that is grammatical but changes the original meaning, and reject any option that requires adding information not present in the stem.

Time budgeting rule: allow roughly 40-50 seconds per objective item and reserve the final 15-20 percent of total time for production tasks and review.

When two options are both grammatical, the deciding criterion is conventional usage (idiom, collocation, register), not logic; prefer the form that appears in edited business prose.

Mark uncertain items and return only after all items are attempted; unanswered items score zero under almost all scoring rules, so no item should be left blank.

Subject-verb agreement: the verb agrees with the grammatical subject, not with a noun in a prepositional phrase ("The list of items is long"); indefinite pronouns each, every, everyone, nobody, either, neither take singular verbs.

Collective nouns (team, committee, staff, company) take a singular verb when acting as one unit and a plural verb only when members act individually; business writing defaults to singular.

Tense sequencing: use past perfect for the earlier of two past events, present perfect for past action with present relevance, and simple past with a definite finished time marker (yesterday, in 2023).

Dangling modifiers: an introductory participial phrase must describe the subject of the main clause; "Having reviewed the report, the errors were obvious" is wrong because errors did not review the report.

Parallelism: items joined by and, or, but, not only...but also, and both...and must share grammatical form; lists after a colon should be parallel in structure.

Pronoun case and reference: use subject pronouns after linking verbs in formal prose, and ensure every pronoun has one clear antecedent; ambiguous "it" or "they" requires a noun instead.

Comparisons must be complete and logical: compare like with like ("sales this year are higher than last year's," not "higher than last year"), and use comparative for two items, superlative for three or more.

Modifier placement changes meaning: place only, almost, nearly, and just immediately before the word they limit; "we almost lost all files" differs from "we lost almost all files."

Main-idea items ask for the passage's central claim; the correct answer covers the whole passage, while distractors restate one supporting detail or overstate the scope.

Detail items are answered by locating a paraphrase of the question's key terms in the text; the correct option paraphrases the passage, and wrong options copy wording but distort logic.

Inference items require a conclusion necessarily supported by the text; an answer that is merely plausible or likely is wrong unless the passage guarantees it.

Vocabulary-in-context items are decided by substituting each option into the sentence and checking coherence with surrounding sentences, not by the word's most common meaning.

Tone and purpose items use a small set of descriptors (informative, persuasive, cautionary, neutral, critical); match the descriptor to verb choice and evaluative adjectives in the passage.

Signal words direct structure: however, nevertheless, and yet mark contrast; therefore, thus, consequently mark conclusion; for example and such as mark illustration; in contrast marks comparison between entities.

Negative factual items (EXCEPT, NOT) are answered by verifying three options against the text and selecting the one with no textual support; verify each option separately.

Author-attitude and organization questions are answered from paragraph topic sentences; the first and last sentences of each paragraph usually carry the argumentative load.

Affect is a verb (to influence); effect is usually a noun (a result) and a verb only meaning to bring about (effect change).

Among is used with three or more entities, between with two; between is also correct for pairwise relationships even in larger groups ("between the two departments").

Fewer modifies countable nouns, less modifies mass nouns; number of pairs with countable nouns, amount of with mass nouns.

Imply is what a speaker suggests; infer is what a listener concludes; the writer implies, the reader infers.

Fixed business collocations: make a decision, take responsibility, conduct a survey, meet a deadline, reach an agreement, raise concerns, address an issue, submit a report.

Preposition idioms commonly tested: comply with, consist of, depend on, differ from, interested in, responsible for, capable of, prior to, in accordance with.

Lie (recline; lay, lain) is intransitive; lay (put down; laid, laid) is transitive; rise is intransitive and raise is transitive.

Register rule: prefer precise single verbs in business prose (use, not utilize; help, not facilitate; decide, not make a determination) unless the technical term is required.

Email structure order: subject line, salutation, purpose statement in the first sentence, supporting detail, requested action with deadline, closing and signature.

Subject lines state topic plus action or deadline ("Q3 Budget Approval Needed by Friday"); vague subjects such as "Update" reduce response rate and are nonstandard in formal correspondence.

Direct approach (main point first) suits routine and good-news messages; indirect approach (context, then main point) suits bad news and persuasive requests.

Bad-news message pattern: neutral buffer, factual explanation, clear statement of the decision, constructive alternative, courteous close; avoid apologizing for policy the writer cannot change.

Memo format omits salutation and signature and includes TO, FROM, DATE, SUBJECT headings; letters include inside address, salutation, body, complimentary close, and signature block.

Active voice is default for clarity ("The team approved the plan"); passive voice is appropriate when the actor is unknown, unimportant, or when diplomacy requires softening blame.

Meeting minutes record decisions, action items with owners and due dates, and attendance; verbatim dialogue and personal commentary are excluded.

Executive summaries are self-contained and readable alone: state purpose, key findings, and recommendation, and keep length to roughly 10 percent of the full document.

Comma splice rule: two independent clauses cannot be joined by a comma alone; use a period, semicolon, or comma plus coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet).

Semicolons join independent clauses without a conjunction and separate list items that themselves contain commas; colons follow a complete clause and introduce a list, explanation, or quotation.

Nonessential (nonrestrictive) clauses and appositives take paired commas; essential clauses take none, and the choice changes meaning ("employees who telecommute" vs. "employees, who telecommute,").

Apostrophes mark possession (singular: the manager's plan; plural ending in s: the managers' plan) and contractions; they never form a plain plural, including with years and abbreviations (1990s, PDFs).

Hyphenate compound modifiers before a noun (a well-written report, a five-year plan) but not after it (the report is well written); do not hyphenate adverb-plus-participle pairs (a highly regarded analyst).

Numbers: spell out one through nine and use figures for 10 and above in general prose; use figures for all measurements, percentages, money, and dates; be consistent within a category.

Capitalize proper nouns and formal titles before a name (Director Chen) but lowercase titles used alone or after a name (Chen, the director); lowercase seasons and academic subjects unless they are language names.

Parallel structure and concision: delete redundant pairs ("each and every," "basic fundamentals") and empty phrases ("in order to" to "to"; "due to the fact that" to "because").