Vocabulary
The Vocabulary section checks whether you can choose the right word for a given company and context: synonyms and antonyms, word formation, collocation, phrasal verbs, idioms, one-word substitution, confusables and homophones.
What the items actually test
- Synonyms are judged in context. "A strong case" and "strong tea" do not share the same substitute, so read the whole sentence before choosing.
- Antonyms are not made by simply adding a prefix. The opposite of famous is obscure, not infamous, which means notorious.
- Word formation: know which suffix builds which class - -ness/-ity (noun), -ive/-ous (adjective), -ise/-ify (verb), -ly (adverb).
- Confusables: affect (verb) / effect (noun); principal (head, main) / principle (rule); stationary / stationery; complement / compliment.
- Idioms are non-compositional: to let the cat out of the bag means to reveal a secret, with no feline involved.
Worked example
One word for "a person who speaks many languages". Reasoning: use morphology - poly- (many) + -glot (tongue, language) = polyglot. Check distractors by their morphology too: bilingual is exactly two languages, and linguist is a person who studies language, not necessarily a multi-language speaker.
Phrasal verbs and collocation
Learn verbs in their particles: put off (postpone) differs from put out (extinguish); break down (stop working) from break into (enter forcibly). Learn nouns in their collocations: make a decision, take a decision, do a favour, pay attention.
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing a synonym that fits the meaning but not the collocation or register.
- Reading an idiom word by word.
- Forming a false antonym with un-, in- or dis- (indifferent is not the opposite of different).
- Confusing homophones in written answers: their / there / they're.