Reading: matching, checking and choosing
What the tasks ask
The Reading and Writing paper mixes several short reading tasks. You match words to simple definitions, sometimes with pictures. You read sentences about a picture and decide whether each one is true or false. You read a short dialogue and choose the best reply from three options. You read a short text and complete gaps using words from a box, and you read a story or a note and write a few words to finish sentences about it.
Language you must control
You need the prepositions of place, singular and plural nouns, the present continuous and the past simple, common adjectives (big, small, heavy, empty, noisy) and question words. You must also notice negatives: 'The boy is not carrying a box' is a different sentence from 'The boy is carrying a box.'
Traps
The word box always contains more words than gaps, and one or two of the extra words look almost right. Watch the grammar around the gap: after 'he' a verb usually needs -s, and after 'a' or 'the' you need a noun, not a verb. In true/false items, one wrong detail (a colour, a number, who is holding what) makes the whole sentence false. When you copy a word from the box, copy the exact spelling, and check whether the sentence needs an -s or -ing ending.
Rule of thumb
Read the whole sentence before you choose, then read it again with your word in place. If it sounds wrong, the word is wrong.
Worked example: the picture shows a boy carrying a small box. The sentence says 'The boy is carrying a big box.' The grammar is fine but the detail is wrong, so the answer is 'No'.