Aptis Vocabulary Practice: Food
One of the subjects that often come up in all sections of the Aptis exams – and in many other public exams, such as Cambridge PET, FCE and CAE, Language Cert and Trinity College London – is food. This is probably because it’s a neutral area, it’s something that students can relate to, and, of course, because everybody has to eat! So with that in mind, here’s Aptis Vocabulary Practice: Food.
This is the first in our series of vocabulary mini-tests based on a theme. We’re going to take more typical subject areas and put together some Aptis vocabulary practice activities for you. We’ve decided to group the vocabulary thematically because we think that makes it a lot easier for you to remember. It’s a good idea to make written notes after you’ve done each mini-test. Why? Because if you copy the vocabulary into your notebook, you can use it to make a mindmap later. If you’ve forgotten how to make one, check out this video.
Themed vocabulary practice
In our Aptis Vocabulary Practice Tests, the words that we’ve tested so far have been rather random. This is great for Aptis exam practice, as that’s how it is doing the Core Test on exam day. However, it’s not very effective for anyone who wants to focus on a particular area of vocabulary.
Making the activities more thematic will be useful both for students and for teachers who are preparing candidates for English exams. Not just for Aptis, but for the Cambridge suite of exams and also for Trinity College London GESE spoken exams. For example, one of the subject areas for the conversation stage of Trinity Grade 4 (A2.2) is ‘Food’, at Trinity Grade 5 (B1.1) we have ‘Festivals’ and ‘Special Occasions’, both of which usually involve talking about food, and at Trinity Grade 6 (B1.2) there’s ‘Health and Fitness’, which often includes food and diet.
However, we’ve still followed the format of the Core Test, so that you’re still getting exam practice as well as Aptis vocabulary practice. This means there are four question-types in each mini-test, the same as in the vocabulary section of the Aptis Core Test:
Word pairs
Word definitions
Word usage
Word combinations
Don’t worry – we’ll give you an example of each of these question-types before each mini-test. So let’s get started!
Aptis Vocabulary Practice: Food
Part 1: Word Pairs
In this part we’re looking at colourful and extreme adjectives to describe food. We give you a target word in the following format: ‘frozen = ‘. Then you have to select (from a drop-down list) the option that has the most similar meaning to that word; in this case, ‘very cold’.
Part 2: Word Definitions
Here we’re looking at verbs to do with food. We give you a definition and you have to select a word (from the drop-down list) to match to that definition. For example, ‘to prepare food for eating is to’ … ‘cook’.
Part 3: Word Usage
In part three you have to select a word (again from a drop-down list) to complete each sentence correctly. For example, ‘The restaurant offers a different [ card / menu / list ] every day’. The correct answer here is ‘menu‘.
Part 4: Word Combinations
Finally, in this part you have to combine words that are often used together; this is called collocation. For example, we say ‘make a coffee’, not ‘do a coffee’. In this exercise, match the verb with the food it is often most associated with (sometimes more than one answer could be possible here, but we’re looking for the most common collocation).
Next Steps
You’ll find lots more vocabulary practice, exercises and tests in our Guide.
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