What Part A asks you to do
Part A opens the 60-minute Reading test: four short texts, A to D, on one healthcare topic, often with a table or a list of steps. It has its own 15 minutes; then you move on to Parts B and C.
There are three question types, and spelling counts in the last two:
- Matching: which text says this? Answer A, B, C or D.
- Short answer: a word, number or short phrase.
- Sentence completion: missing words, copied from the texts.
Choose the text by its job, then scan
Four texts on one topic rarely do the same job. Spend the first minute on headings and layout, label each text in two words, and match each question to a job before you look for words. Then confirm the answer in the sentence itself.
- “What can’t the desk do?” → purpose and limits.
- “How do I reach the desk?” → directions.
- “Whom do I phone about a same-day problem?” → contact details, not opening times.
- “When is the desk staffed?” → the timetable.
Copy exactly: the unit, the condition and only the missing words
Nearly right answers lose marks. Three checks catch them:
- Copy the unit: “seven” for “within seven days” is incomplete, and “two days” is not “two working days”.
- Use the right condition. “Internal staff collect them from reception; external visitors collect them from the training desk.” For an external visitor, the answer is the training desk.
- Answer the actual gap. “Send requests at least ___ before the session.” The text says two working days: write only that, not the words around the gap.
Small words that make a time limit exact
Prepositions set time limits, so read them as closely as numbers:
- by 12:00 on Wednesday: no later than that moment; a deadline.
- until 16:00: continuing up to that time, then stopping.
- within seven days: any time before the seven days are up; “in seven days” usually means seven days from now.
- at least two working days before: a minimum; earlier is fine.
- from 09:00 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 16:00: two windows, closed in between.
Read the right row of a table
Find the row, then the column, then any note on what the figures mean. A practice timetable’s Thursday row reads “morning closed; afternoon 13:00 to 15:00”: the answer is 13:00–15:00, not Tuesday’s 10:00 to 12:00 above it.
In a flowchart, follow the branch that fits the case: “If the name is not on the list, ask the organiser to check the registration.”
Tell a deadline from an event time
One notice can give two times with different jobs: “The next orientation visit is on Friday 18 October at 14:00. A group organiser should submit the final number of visitors by 12:00 on Wednesday 16 October.” Before you copy a time, underline its label (by, deadline or starts), as the candidate below explains.
Tutor How can you explain a useful checking habit?
Candidate I would underline the deadline label before copying the time, because the same notice also gives the later session time.
Common Part A mistakes
Label each error; the label tells you what to practise:
- Wrong text: the heading says visitors; the question asks about staff.
- First match: a number that looks right, from another row or text.
- Something missing: unit, condition or plural (“two working day”).
- Extra words: repeating “before the session”, already printed after the gap.
- A request taken as confirmed: “The original arrangement remains in place until a change is confirmed.”
- If your first language doesn’t mark plurals after numbers, check every final -s.
A Part A practice routine
Three times a week, with one practice Part A set:
- 15 minutes: do the set under exam timing, headings first.
- 10 minutes: mark it and label every error.
- 5 minutes: rewrite each wrong answer exactly as the text gives it.
- Next set: watch your most frequent label first.
What comes next
Part B has six short workplace texts with one three-option question each; Part C has two longer texts with eight four-option questions each.
For speaking practice, discuss whose responsibility a misread notice is: “I’d say the writer has more responsibility, because…”