UTAS English Placement cheat sheet

The recording is played once only; answers must be written while it plays or in the short pause after each section, not replayed later.

Question order follows audio order: the answer to question 3 is heard before the answer to question 4, so a missed item should be abandoned immediately.

Section difficulty rises from Part 1 to Part 4: Part 1 is a transactional dialogue, Part 4 a monologue on an academic topic.

Answers are marked on spelling and word count: a two-word limit means exactly two words, and hyphenated forms count as one word.

Numbers, dates and proper nouns are common answers; they are dictated letter by letter or digit by digit when ambiguity is possible.

Distractor pattern: the speaker first states one value, then corrects it with 'actually' or 'sorry'; the corrected value is the answer.

Note-completion answers must fit the grammar of the gap, so the part of speech of the missing word is predictable before it is heard.

Map and diagram labelling uses compass directions and landmarks; orientation is fixed at the start of the section and does not rotate.

Time is not divided per passage; a workable allocation is 17 minutes for Passage 1, 20 for Passage 2, and 23 for Passage 3, leaving no transfer time because answers are entered directly.

Questions follow the order of the text in most task types; Matching Headings and Matching Information do not, so they are handled separately from the sequence.

True/False/Not Given: 'False' requires the passage to contradict the statement; 'Not Given' means the passage is silent on it.

Yes/No/Not Given applies to claims and opinions, True/False/Not Given applies to factual statements; the two labels are not interchangeable.

Matching Headings answers describe the whole paragraph's main idea, so a heading that matches only one detail sentence is a distractor.

Completion tasks enforce a word limit taken from the rubric; articles and numbers count toward the limit and exceeding it scores zero for that item.

Skimming for the topic sentence of each paragraph precedes scanning for keywords; keyword matching alone fails when the passage paraphrases the question.

Task 2 carries roughly twice the weight of Task 1, so timing of about 20 minutes for Task 1 and 40 minutes for Task 2 reflects the marking weight.

Task 1 Academic requires an overview that states the main trends or differences; a response without an overview is capped on Task Achievement.

Task 1 must not include opinion, causes or explanations unless the data shows them; only what the chart, graph or process displays is reported.

Task 2 is scored on four criteria: Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy, each weighted equally at 25%.

A position must be stated and maintained throughout Task 2; an essay that presents both sides without committing to one loses Task Response marks.

Under-length responses are penalised: Task 1 below 150 words and Task 2 below 250 words incur a penalty, and the word count excludes headings.

Cohesion is judged on linking devices that fit the logic; mechanical openers such as 'Firstly, Secondly, Last but not least' in every paragraph limit the band.

Grammar band 7 requires frequent error-free sentences and a variety of complex structures; accuracy of simple sentences alone does not reach it.

The test has three parts: Part 1 personal questions (4-5 minutes), Part 2 a 1-2 minute monologue after 1 minute of preparation, Part 3 abstract discussion (4-5 minutes).

The four criteria are Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation, each contributing 25% of the Speaking score.

Part 2 allows notes on a cue card during the one-minute preparation; the talk should run to the full two minutes rather than stopping early.

Pronunciation is rated on intelligibility and use of features such as stress and intonation, not on accent removal.

In Part 3, answers should extend beyond one sentence and include a reason or example; short answers cap Fluency and Coherence.

Self-correction is acceptable when it is quick; frequent hesitation and restarting reduce Fluency and Coherence.

The examiner does not award marks for opinions or content, only for the language used to express them.