What you need to know to be successful when taking your APTIS exam
English is the mother tongue of the business and professional world. Whoever achieves his mastery will have ample opportunities for growth and will never suffer from lack of opportunities. Today we must seriously think about evaluating our linguistic ability in this language with the help of the APTIS exam .
For those of you who have never heard of this assessment but want to know if your English is proficient enough to merit exciting job opportunities, now is the time to take a look at the main features of the APTIS exam.
Introduction to the Aptis test
APTIS allows evaluating the degree of command of English in its different modalities: oral or written expression and comprehension. In turn, there are several levels to measure the degree of experience in handling English. Those that can be certified are levels B2, C1 and C2.
In general, it is important to identify the type of exam you want to apply. This will be based on the needs of the participant and the professional activity in which they perform. We can list the following types of APTIS to understand that you cannot apply another exam other than the advance level and obtain the same results:
1. General APTIS. It is the traditional way to assess language proficiency, without specific requirements from the applicant.
2. APTIS for teens . If you are a teenager who wants to enter the international academic world, but the institution requests proof of English proficiency, this exam is the one indicated. Some universities have links to provide a tuition and apply APTIS in an organization.
3. APTIS for tourism. If you need to prove your English ability with a company focused on tourism, this exam will help you achieve it.
4. APTIS advanced . This last exam is the one that allows you to check your English skills perfectly. It will be the key that is needed to obtain the position that considerably improves our lifestyle. It is the English certificate that is usually required by large corporations. In fact, this test defines language performance in a more rigorous and precise way.
On this occasion, we will focus specifically on APTIS advanced due to the importance mentioned, since it analyzes the degree of linguistic comprehension at levels C1 and C2 of the English language.
Contents
To obtain an English qualification you must obtain a high score based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). In grammar and vocabulary , a score in the range 0-50 is assigned , similar to the evaluation of the rest of the components, and there may also be global MCERL results.
During the hearing evaluation, the applicant will have to listen to conversations and monologues in English, of which they will have to take notes of the most outstanding aspects in order to answer the questions that will be posed during the test.
In the reading comprehension test, you will have to read texts in which your ability to understand the tenses in which the verbs are expressed will be assessed. It is possible to find grammatical structures that must be mastered to correctly understand the meaning of the text.
Duration
There is the possibility of taking this exam via the Internet, but it must be taken into account that the time allocated to the analysis of each skill will vary and it is necessary to make the most of the time.
If we carry out the evaluation at its advanced level, we will have the following deadlines:
- Grammar and vocabulary: 25 minutes.
- Oral expression: 10 minutes.
- Written expression: 45 minutes.
- Listening comprehension: 30 minutes.
- Text comprehension: 60 minutes.
Regarding reading comprehension, it should be noted that more time is allocated due to the fact that the content of the text used for the assessment may contain terms specific to an area. This is why advanced proficiency is required to successfully pass the test.
It must be considered that, if we wish to apply for this test more than once, we must wait at least three months between the calls.
How to prepare for the exam
We can exercise each of our skills to better understand English. Starting from the general to the particular and from the simple to the complex helps build confidence to face the test.
To exercise listening skills and the ability to write texts in English, it is advisable to listen to recordings in this language, where a rich language in professional terms is presented.
A trick to understand better is to slow down the playback speed to take notes while listening to the recording. Once the audio has finished, we must play it again to see if we have correctly noted and understood the message that we wanted to convey.
Another practical way to prepare for APTIS advanced is to watch our favorite movies and listen to music of different genres in English. When we do this, we can train our ears to perceive language and the special terms and idioms that may be common in the English language.
To increase your comprehension skills, it will be enough to have the habit of reading books and magazines in advanced English. It is important to vary the genre of each reading in order to be in contact with more words. As we read, we can also listen to the audiobook of the same publication to familiarize ourselves with those novel terms.
It must be remembered that our ability to write the language will also be tested. Therefore, we must get used to writing in English in a notebook the most outstanding parts of the day. For example, we can write down the most interesting conversation of the afternoon, our happiest moment, the plans we want to undertake the next day, write poetry or write anything that allows us to practice our command of the language when creating a text.
About writing, we must reinforce the practice to synthesize the information and translate it accurately when writing. This allows us to demonstrate that we have the ability to express ideas accurately and without using ambiguous terms.
With the proper preparation, anyone can successfully pass the test and obtain the certificate. It is enough to be confident in our abilities. You have to interact with English every day, research new words, and accept expert corrections. Doing everything necessary to obtain the satisfactory result will open doors for us in the business and professional world.