Hình 1:
Aptis Exam Structure
- To pass the exam students need to reach a specific amount of points. However, the scale provided by Aptis is far from clear and it does not state the number of points needed per level.
- What is important to point out is that Grammar and Vocabulary are added to the average of Reading/Writing/Speaking/Listening, which means that this part will make the difference between a fail and a pass. BUT is does not bring the score down, it can only improve it.
- Students should also try to capitalise as many points as possible in the writings as the structure is ALWAYS the same.
I. Writing: (50 min)
Task 1 (3 min) X – Ha cambiado
Students fill out a board with general information about themselves (name, date of birth, interests…)
Task 2 (7 min / 20-30 words)
Students answer one question. It is usually a question related to the likes/ dislikes of the student, on the topic of the writing.
Task 3 (10 min / 3 answers of 30-40 words)
In this part, students write the answer questions asked by another user in a chat room.
- Question 1: Usually why the person joined the club
- Question 2: Usually opinion about the service
- Question 3: Usually opinion about a change of price/schedule
Task 4 (part 1: 50 words / 10 min – Part 2: 120 to 150 words / 20 min)
- Part 1: Students write a letter to a friend giving his/her opinion about the changes mentioned as well as possible alternatives (more than one alternative). This is informal.
- Part 2: Students write a formal letter of complaint giving his/her opinion about the changes mentioned as well as possible alternatives (more than one alternative). This is formal.
II. Listening: (55 min max)
Students will listen to 25 audio clips of around 30sec/1min. They will listen to the audio and see the questions at the same time.
They will be asked to report a phone number, choose the correct spelling of a name, give the correct date, report an email address but also to say what was discussed in the audio.
Students can skip to the next question if they already have the answer.
III. Reading: (25 min)
There are 4 types of readings in the exam. Each student will have a different exam (prevents cheating) meaning that they might have different texts or they might come in the different order to the other candidates.
These task will not necessarily be in this order:
Task 1
Students get a short gapped text (usually an informal e-mail) with 3 options to choose from to fill in the blanks. This task is usually one of the easier ones.
Task 2
Students are given a story but all the sentences have been scrambled up. They have to put them back in order.
match the headings to the appropriate paragraphs (there are more headings than paragraphs).
Task 4
Another fill in the blanks activity. However this time the students are given a word bank (with more options than necessary, not numbered) to choose from to fill in the blanks.
IV. Speaking (13 min)
Task 1
Students are given 3 personal questions and they must answer each in 30 seconds.
Task 2
In this part, students get 1 photo and 3 questions. Each question must be answered in 45 seconds. The first question is always to describe.
Task 3
Students are given 2 photos and 3 questions. Each question must be answered in 45 seconds. The first question is always to describe the photos and the second is often focused on comparing them.
Task 4
Students are given 1 photo (just shows the topic of the question, no need to describe). There are 3 questions to answer. Students are given 1 minute to think about their answer which must be 2 minutes long.
V. Grammar and Vocabulary (25 min)
Students get 25 minutes to answer 50 questions (mix of grammar and vocabulary).
Grammar questions are multiple choice while vocabulary has a few specific exercises (ex match synonyms, match words to their meaning etc.)
It is a multiple choice type of exercise.
