Aptis for Teachers: Vocabulary Practice Test 1

Aptis for Teachers Vocabulary Practice Test 1

If you’re familiar with the format of an exam and know what to expect, it can make a big difference to how well you do on the day.  So first of all, here’s the Aptis for Teachers Vocabulary Test explained. 

Part of the exam is called the Core Test, and this is the part that deals with both vocabulary and grammar. 

In the Aptis Core Test you have to do 50 questions in 25 minutes.  The questions are divided equally between grammar and vocabulary. 

The vocabulary component of the test contains 25 questions, which means you can take up to 30 seconds per question.  There are four question-types, and to help you understand the difference between them, Practice Test 1 consists of four mini-tests.  We’ll explain each question-type in more detail before each mini-test:

• Word pairs
• Word definitions
• Word usage
• Word combinations

Our exam-style Practice Tests cover all four parts in a way very similar to the official test (they tend to use drop-down menus, but we’ve chosen a slightly different format here to make the exercises more directly accessible).  We’ve also decided to practise each question-type separately, to help you focus. 

These tests will help you enlarge your vocabulary.  As always, look up any words you don’t know, try to learn them, then come back to try the tests again another day.

Our students often say it’s difficult to study for this part of the test, as you never know what type of vocabulary they’re going to test you on.  So let’s have a closer look at how you can feel ready for the test on the day. 

What’s the best way to prepare?

Well, the best way to prepare for the vocabulary component of the test is to read as much as you can, and to read as many different types of texts as you can too (websites & blogs, magazine & newspaper articles, stories & reviews etc).  Reading a lot in general will help make all the combinations sound more natural to you. 

However, the content of the Aptis Test for Teachers relates specifically to teachers.  The questions deal with themes and scenarios that teachers come across every day.  This applies to the whole test, not just the vocabulary part.  So it’s a good idea to concentrate on reading texts about school, university, teaching, students, subjects, etc.

What’s the best way to practise?

You’ll find extra vocabulary practice materials here on our site.  We’ve started by targeting areas that are often problematic, in our experience as teachers.  For example, you could start with Vocabulary: Make or Do?.  Or try Vocabulary: Adjective Endings ‘ed’ and ‘ing’.

You could also get extra practice by doing the general version: Aptis Vocabulary Practice Test 1.

What’s the most important advice to follow while you’re doing the tests?

Firstly, read all of the options carefully before choosing your answer, and don’t spend too long on any of the questions.  If you don’t know or can’t remember the answer, you can come back and try it again later, both here and in the official exam.

And always answer the question.  After all, you have a good chance of getting it right, even if it’s just a guess!

Aptis for Teachers: Vocabulary Practice Test 1

We’ll begin each section with a clear description and an example of each exercise type.  And then it’s over to you!  These mini-tests should give you a good idea of what to expect.  

Part 1:  Word Pairs

In this part of the test they give you a target word in the following format: ‘big = ‘.  Then you have to select (from a drop-down list) the option that has the most similar meaning to that word; in this case, ‘large’.