OET Preparation Material

Essential Reading Strategies

Part A : Summary-Gap Fill Reading Task

Texts & Content Requirements Question Types

There are 3 or 4 short Complete a summary There are no questions.
reading texts on a paragraph by filling in It is a gap fill activity in
particular topic. The blank spaces with words which the candidate
texts may be of the from the texts. must fill in the blanks,
following types Candidates have 15 using mainly (but not
• Research Report minutes to skim and always) words from the
• Tables scan through the texts. texts.
• Graphs
• Case studies
• Bullet points
• Extract from an
article

Procedure

1. Skim each text to identify the title and authors (if mentioned) of
each of the texts.
2. Start reading the summary task and identify which text contains the
answer to the first question.
3. Scan that text and locate the key words needed to complete the gap.
4. Place the words in the answer box next to the text.
5. Continue this process for the remainder of the text

Reading Strategies for Gap Fill or Summary Close Tasks

 Underline the key words in the task and locate these words in the
text. Be on the look out for synonyms and clues which indicate
where the answer can be found.
 Read the titles of all the readings so you can quickly move to the text
where the answer is.
 Usually there will be two or more consecutive gaps based on one
text, so once you have located where the information is, you need to
read intensely (scan) until you find the correct words.
 For some gaps, one word is not enough, so always aim to include all
necessary words up to 3. For example “mouthguard” may fit logically
into the gap, but the correct answer could be “custom-fabricated
mouthguard”. So be careful, incomplete answers may receive no
mark.
 Some answers will be obvious and you only need to copy words
directly from the text, while other require you to understand what is
written and occasionally complete the gap with your own words.

This resource was developed by OET Online

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 OET Preparation Material

 The words you select must fit logically into the gap. Therefore you
need to observe the rules of grammar and sentence structure. At
times you may need to modify a word into a /noun/adjective
/verb/adverb so that it fits correctly into the space.
 When adding nouns, decide whether it should be in plural or singular
form.
 Make sure you spell words correctly as words which are not spelled
correctly receive no marks.
 You can write numbers as numerals or in word form. Apart form that,
abbreviations are not acceptable. All words must be written in full.
 Don’t spend too long searching for the missing word/words as you
have a very limited timeframe. If you can’t find an answer move to
the next question. Sometimes this will lead to the clue of the
previous question.
 The main degree of difficulty for Part A comes from the limited
timeframe to complete the task. Therefore it is necessary to have a
planned approach so that you can complete most or all of the activity
within 15 minutes. Note, this is not easy to do!
 Do not read all the texts in full. You are being tested on your ability
to locate information within a text quickly, so you have no time to
read all the information and complete the task.
 Be prepared to move form text to text quickly in order to find the
information required.
 Do not panic if you can’t find all the answers. You only need to get
65% correct to get a B grade. So if there are 26 questions, you only
need to get 17 correct.
 Do not be a clock watcher! This will put added pressure on you and
affect your concentration.

This resource was developed by OET Online

Website: http://oetonline.com.au Email: oetonline@gmail.com