Aptis APTIS - General (A2, B1, B2)

The APTIS exam is the test that certifies the level of English , created by the experts of the British Council, being the most innovative, accessible and economical. In addition, it offers the results quickly.

Types of APTIS exam

It has 3 modalities:

1. General APTIS exam. This corresponds to levels A2 and B2 with the possibility of reaching level C.

2. APTIS exam for teachers or Aptis for teachers. It is practically the same as the general one but focused on the educational field.

3. APTIS advanced or Aptis advanced exam. This corresponds to levels C1 and C2.

In this text, we will understand the parts that make up the general APTIS and everything you need to know to present it successfully.

Structure

The general APTIS comprises 5 parts, each part must have a development and has a specific time to complete.

1. Speaking. As its name implies, the first part that takes place is the oral one. It has 4 stages that go from least to greatest difficulty and must be completed in 12 minutes.

- Stage 1: 3 short personal questions will be answered and there will be 30 seconds to answer each one.

- Stage 2: A detailed description of a specific photograph or image will be made and then two questions regarding the image must be answered. There will be 45 seconds for each answer.

- Stage 3: Two photographs or images will be compared and then questions regarding them will be answered. There will be 45 seconds per response.

- Stage 4: Again 3 questions will be answered, for these, there will be a minute of preparation for the participant in which they will be able to take notes before starting the time established to answer this section, which will be two minutes in total.

2. Reading. It also has 4 stages from least to greatest difficulty and you will have 30 minutes to answer.

- Stage 1: There will be a short text with incomplete sentences in which the missing lines will be completed, 3 options will be given to choose only one as the correct answer.

- Stage 2: Again there will be a short text, this will be divided into short and messy paragraphs, which must be correctly composed in their original order.

- Stage 3: In this section, there will be a somewhat longer text, approximately half a letter-size page, also incomplete. You will have a list of words to choose the correct one and complete the text. Take into account that there will be more words in the list of answer options than necessary.

- Stage 4: This stage has a long text of more than one sheet, it can become a sheet and a half, in which titles will be related to the paragraphs of the text. Again it should be taken into account that there will be plenty of titles.

3. Writing. It is made up of 4 stages and each one in turn can have more parts. To be completed in a total time of 50 minutes, it is the only section of the exam, unlike the others, in which the questions are open and not options.

- Stage 1: It consists of 5 basic questions with answers that can be completed with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 words.

- Stage 2: Only one question is answered with about 30 words, it can be thematic and expressed in a personal way.

- Stage 3: This stage focuses on interaction through social networks, it consists of 3 questions to find out the opinions and ethical position of the participant and the answers must be 30 to 40 words.

- Stage 4: Two letters or emails will be written, the first of which must be informal for a close friend, containing a maximum of 50 words. The second must be a formal text, it can be a letter of thanks, request for information, complaints and suggestions, job application, etc. This text should contain 120 to 150 words.

4. Grammar. It consists of 25 questions, each question will have a gap and there will be 3 options to fill it incorrectly.

5. Vocabulary. This last stage consists of 5 exercises that can be about filling in the gaps, writing synonyms, linking sentences, etc.

To assess the general APTIS, each stage is scored separately on a scale of 0 to 50, with 0 being the lowest score and 50 the highest. The evaluation adheres to the guidelines provided by the Common European Framework to place the participants at each level, which are: A1, A2, B, B2, and C.

Assessing each competency independently of one another is a significant advantage. In this way, each participant will be able to identify their areas of opportunity, as well as their strengths for the language.

This grading system is easy to interpret for both students and teachers or evaluators. It is important to note that the final grade is generally averaging all the competitions.

Support material

There are some materials available and techniques that can be of great support in obtaining proper preparation for the exam.

If someone is about to take the APTIS to obtain their English certificate, the British Council provides sample exams for each of the stages to support the study.

Different resources can also be adopted to enrich the vocabulary and improve grammar, there are various games and activities on the Internet, or comprehension can be exercised by listening to music in English, movies, and television programs.

For reading comprehension, reading books or newspapers in this language is recommended. In the case of pronunciation and fluency, the best way to achieve perfection is by speaking with other native speakers of the language, for this, there are conversation clubs, for example.

The study of the language and the presentation of official exams allow obtaining an English degree, among which are the EOI, the official English title for Spain, ESOL, from the University of Cambridge, and the TOEFL, which is the ideal certificate for American English.