Key Advice for the Reading section

• EXPOSURE.  You need to be reading as much as possible in English every day. This is the only way to be familiar enough with written English to do the test in the time given.
• Read articles in newspapers and factual magazines, for example, the Economist. This is the kind of English you will see in the test.
• Don't read novels.  At least, don't only read novels.  It is a different kind of English.
• Don't waste time on questions you can't answer.  Move on to the next question. Once you have answered some questions, you will feel more confident to go back to the ones you found difficult.
• Read the title and subtitle, look at any diagrams and read the questions before you start to look at the text. They will give you a lot of information and you will know what to look for.
• Fill in every space on the answer sheet even if it's a guess.  A blank space is definitely wrong.
• Practise doing the test in the time given - there is no point getting 40 out of 40 if it takes you 2 hours.
• Practise doing the test (use Cambridge Practice Tests) so that you know the best way for you to do the test.  Everyone is different - what works best for you?
• Practise different reading styles - read quickly for gist, read in detail, read for key names and numbers.
• If in doubt, work backwards and eliminate the wrong options first.
• After filling in a summary, read it back to see that it makes sense and is grammatically accurate.