Last time, I draw attention to the different kinds of comprehension exercises; though there are other rubrics that might be seen on the exam sheet. The points allotted to comprehension is 15 points out of 40. It’s not impossible to get the whole mark. Just concentrate and try to optimize your intelligence.

The comprehension section is made up of three main sub sections: vocabulary, grammar, and functions. Vocabulary exercises revolve most of the time around collocations and phrasal verbs. You are certainly familiar with the word COLLOCATTIONS. They are words that usually go together. We tend to hear them on the news or read them as chunks. I’ll quote some here as examples:

Phrasal verbs on the other hand are so many in English; yet, you could focus on the following ( better to be remembered in examples):

• Take off ( clothes, or a plane takes off , when it leaves the ground into the sky)
• Put on ( clothes – opposite of take off-; or put on weight = get more weight)
• Put off ( a meeting/ conference = report it to a future time)
• Bring about ( changes = cause )
• Figure out ( understand and discover )
• Make up ( a story = invent it from one’s imagination ) also ( make up for a loss= reimburse )
• Set up ( an association = create and found it )
• Give up ( smoking = stop ) also ( surrender : don’t give up )…, etc.

Until the next time, revise your collocations and phrasal verbs. Focus on the ones you’ve seen on last years’ exams.