English (Reading, Grammar, Composition)
What the exam tests
English tests reading comprehension, grammatical accuracy, and composition. Reading passages require main idea, detail, inference, and reference; grammar items target tense, agreement, clauses, and prepositions; composition asks for clear, connected sentences.
Core rules
- Find the topic sentence and the function of each paragraph: example, contrast, cause, or conclusion.
- For reference questions, substitute the candidate noun and check number and logic.
- Subject-verb agreement: neither of is singular; the number of is singular; a number of is plural.
- Tense sequence: reported speech and conditionals shift tense appropriately.
- Composition: one idea per sentence, explicit connectors, and consistent point of view.
Worked example
Neither of the students have submitted the report. The subject is neither, grammatically singular, so the verb should be has. Reasoning: the prepositional phrase of the students does not change the head subject; check the head word before the verb.
Traps
Dangling modifiers; confusing few/little and many/much; translation-like word order; copying phrases from the passage without answering the question; and writing a composition with no clear topic sentence. In reading, an option that repeats passage words is not always correct.