One A2 Key reading task gives you a longer text — a short article or an email about someone’s life — and several multiple-choice questions that follow the order of the text. The words are still A2, but you have to find one small detail and ignore three options that all appear somewhere in the text. This page shows you how to work question by question through the paragraphs.
Do not stop at unknown words. You are building a map of which paragraph talks about what, so that you can come back to the right place later.
Cover the four options. Understanding what is being asked first stops you from choosing an option that is true but answers a different question.
The questions follow the text. If question 2 was answered in paragraph two, question 3 is almost certainly in paragraph three. Do not search the whole text again each time.
Find the line in the text and say the answer to yourself. Then choose the option that means the same. This stops familiar words from pulling you to the wrong option.
Many wrong options are true but about the wrong time: something the writer used to do, or plans to do next year. Ask which time the question is asking about.
Put your finger on the exact words that make your answer right. If you cannot find them, you are guessing from memory of the first reading.
Cross out the options you are sure are wrong. Two crossed-out options turn a hard question into a fifty-fifty one.
A question about the best title or the writer’s main purpose is easiest once you have answered the detail questions, because you have reread most of the text by then.
If a question takes more than about ninety seconds, mark your best guess, put a dot next to the number and come back at the end with fresh eyes.
Not thisChoosing the option with the most words from the text.
ThisChoosing the option that matches the meaning of the right line.
Distractors are built from words in the text. Shared words are a warning sign, not proof.
Not this‘He works in a hotel’ when the text says ‘He worked in a hotel last summer.’
ThisHe worked there in the past.
A change of tense changes the fact. Past simple with a past time word means the job has finished.
Not thisAnswering from what you already know about the topic.
ThisAnswering only from what the text says.
The exam tests reading, not general knowledge. If the text does not say it, it cannot be the answer.
Not thisLeaving a question blank because both options look right.
ThisAlways marking something before you move on.
There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so a blank is a guaranteed zero while a guess is not.
Not thisTreating ‘I wanted to be a pilot’ as ‘I am a pilot’.
ThisReading it as something the writer wished for, not something that happened.
Wanted to, hoped to and was going to all describe plans, and options often turn a plan into a fact.
Not thisStopping at an unknown word and rereading the sentence five times.
ThisReading to the end of the paragraph and coming back if the question needs that word.
Most unknown words at A2 are details the questions never ask about, and stopping costs the time you need at the end.
Not thisChoosing an option because it is the kind of thing people usually say.
ThisChoosing the option this particular writer said.
Texts are often about someone doing something unusual, which is exactly why they were chosen.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
1Complete the sentence.
3Complete the sentence.
6Complete the sentence.
8Complete the sentence.
9A question and an option share four words. Explain in one sentence why that is not enough to choose it.
One good answer
Wrong options are written using words taken from the text, so shared words prove nothing; only the meaning of the sentence the question asks about decides the answer.
11Complete the sentence.
14Complete the sentence.
16Complete the sentence.
19Complete the sentence.
20Explain in one or two sentences what you do when a question takes too long.
One good answer
I mark my best guess, put a small dot next to the number and come back at the end, because one slow question can cost me two easy ones later.
21Complete the sentence.
23Complete the sentence.
25Complete the sentence.
27Complete the sentence.
29Complete the sentence.
31Complete the sentence.
32Write one sentence explaining what ‘find the line that proves it’ means in this task.
One good answer
It means putting my finger on the exact words in the text that make my option correct, instead of choosing something that only sounds right from my first reading.
33Complete the sentence.
35Complete the sentence.
37Complete the sentence.
40Explain in one or two sentences why the last question in this task is often about the whole text.
One good answer
It asks for the best title or the writer’s main point, and that is easier at the end because by then I have reread most of the paragraphs while answering the detail questions.
Note
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Almost always, apart from a final question about the whole text. Use that order: it tells you roughly where to look and stops you rereading everything.
Keep reading. At A2 the answer is usually in a sentence you can understand, and unknown words are often names, places or details the questions never ask about.
No. Never leave a blank. If you cannot decide, remove the options you know are wrong and choose from what is left.
It is the longest reading task, so plan for roughly a quarter of your reading time. If you are still on it much later than that, guess the remaining questions and move on.
Yes, lightly. Underline the line that answers each question and write the question number beside it. It makes checking at the end fast.
Read any short article at your level, then write three questions about it yourself. Writing the wrong options teaches you how distractors are built better than answering does.