Paper 1 - English Test
Paper 1 (English) measures whether you can read and write academic English at the level first-year study demands. It is not a literature paper: expect comprehension passages, vocabulary in context, grammar and usage items, sentence correction and punctuation. UNAM uses this paper to check that you can follow a written argument and express yourself clearly.
What each question type rewards
- Comprehension: main idea, specific detail, inference, writer's tone, and what a pronoun refers to. Answers must be supported by the passage, not by your own opinion.
- Vocabulary in context: choose the meaning the word carries in that sentence, not its most common dictionary sense.
- Grammar: subject–verb agreement, tense consistency, pronoun reference, parallel structure, countable and uncountable nouns, prepositions.
- Sentence correction: the shortest fix that removes the error without changing meaning.
Worked example
"The committee's report was terse, offering no explanation for the delay." A. rude B. brief C. inaccurate D. detailed The clause after the comma explains the word: no explanation was offered, so the report was short and to the point. Terse means brief, often curtly so - B. "Rude" is a trap because terseness can feel unfriendly, but the sentence describes length, not manners.
Traps
- Comma splices: two independent clauses need a full stop, semicolon or conjunction.
- Affect (verb) vs effect (noun); its vs it's.
- In comprehension, an option may be true in real life but not stated in the passage.
- Extreme words (always, never, all) usually signal a wrong inference option.
- Apostrophes: lecturers' (plural possessive) vs lecturer's.
Answer every item; there is no penalty for guessing.