Aptis Writing Exam Overview

Eliciting prior knowledge:

What do you remember about the writing exam? Discuss in pairs or 3s:
1) How many parts were there?
2) What tasks did you have to do?
3) Which parts did you find most difficult?
4) Did you have any problems with doing it on a computer? What were they?
5) What would you like to learn about the writing exam today? Note down 2-3 things.

Active listening task:

Listen to your trainers presentation on the Aptis Writing Exam and decide if the
following statements are true or false:
1) In the example shown, all the tasks are linked to the topic of a sports club.
2) Part 4 carries more marks than parts 1 and 2 combined.
3) The exam gets more challenging as you progress.
4) You can choose how much time to spend on each task.
5) You should use formal English throughout the exam.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/exams/aptis

Exam Structure

Lets now go through the exam as it appears on the website.

Task 1 - Key Information

Example Answer ->

Task 1 is marked by an examiner,

though only five pieces of
information are awarded points.
These five are randomly selected
by the system.
It is worth remembering that this
task is the least valuable to the
candidate, with a conversion
table being used to estimate its
contribution to the overall score.
Even if you achieve 5 points, the
maximum number of marks
available is 3.

Task 2 - Key Information

Example Answer ->

Task 2 is marked by an
examiner using a special,
task-specific scale. The
weighting for this task is
even, so the maximum mark
available is 5.
There may be two questions
here, but the total number
of words expected will be
the same.

Example Answer ->

Click post after each reply. In the example exam

you have to do 3 posts in 10 minutes.

Task 3 - Key Information

Task 3 is marked by an examiner.
The weighting for this task means
that the maximum mark available is
7.
You should reply fully to each piece
of input and show a good range of
vocabulary.

Example Answer ->


Example Answer


Example Answer

Task 4 - Key Information

Task 4 is marked by an examiner. The weighting for
this task means that the maximum mark available is 9,
making it the most important task on the paper. Its
also the most challenging. If you do it well, you could
make the top grade C (Advanced)!

Aptis writing exam