Pass the exam without memorizing words

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1. Vocabulary, reading comprehension, and cloze tests account for the highest scores (a total of 75 points); they are placed at the beginning so that, in case time runs out, it is possible to secure most of the points first. 　　2. Vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fill-in-the-blank questions all draw partly from the textbook; by doing them first, memory is strengthened and the success rate in answering these questions is higher. 　　3. Reading comprehension questions are placed at the end because, based on experience, guessing the answers to these questions (the specific method will be explained later) can help earn 3 out of the 7 possible points, thus freeing up time for the vocabulary questions where it’s sufficient to look up words in a dictionary to secure points. 　　Vocabulary Section: 4. The dictionary recommended by my teacher was not available, so I used the \"Oxford English Thesaurus\" published by Oxford University Press and translated by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press – it’s really useful! Since there is a limited number of vocabulary words related to professional English, by looking up synonyms in this thesaurus, one can usually find the answer in the first three entries. 　　5. Do not work on the exercises in the textbook; just mark the answers. Remember only the underlined parts in the questions or those parts of the answers that are phrases – there’s no need to look at anything else. Memorizing phrases is relatively easy, while looking up synonyms in a dictionary is more difficult. Since the test questions come from exercises 4-9 in the textbook, it is necessary to remember the phrase-related questions in that textbook. There are a total of 100 vocabulary exercises in the textbook; around 20 of them involve phrases, and it’s not difficult to remember them! 6. During the exam, if you encounter a question related to a phrase from the textbook, answer it directly; for the rest, look it up in a dictionary. 　　Reading Comprehension Section: 7. Memorize the correct answers to the practice questions in the textbook articles, and focus on mastering the new articles that were not included in last year’s textbook. During the exam, start by working on the articles from the textbook first. 　　8. For other articles, first check whether there are names of people, places, **designations, and numbers in the exam questions. Questions on proper nouns such as eras, etc. 　　9. Identify the key words in the exam questions (usually nouns; there’s no need to know them or look them up in a dictionary), and then locate similar key words in the article. 　　10. After the keyword for Ding Wen, compare the words or phrases near the keyword in the article with those in the answer options; the option that contains the most matching words or phrases is the correct answer. 　　11. If you are unable to identify the keyword, then 　　11.1 if one of the options is “All of the above X items”, that is the correct answer. 　　11.2 Check if most of the four answer options are similar; if so, among those with completely opposite meanings, one must be the answer. If the meaning is not the opposite, the longer option is the correct answer; if there are no partially similar options, then the longest option is the answer. 　　12. If the exam question concerns the meaning of a certain word in the passage, then it is essentially a vocabulary question; by following the methods mentioned above, a thesaurus comes in handy again. 　　13. If the exam question asks about the main idea of the article (such as the author’s viewpoint or a replacement title for the article), it is necessary to read carefully the title of the article, the first sentence of each paragraph, and the last sentence of the article, in order to grasp their general meaning. Then choose the answer whose meaning is closest. 　　(Insight: Each question on reading comprehension is worth 3 points, for a total of 45 points – this is truly a key focus! Don’t be afraid to spend time; follow the methods mentioned above carefully, and that will ensure a high success rate!) Summary and sentence completion section 14. Summarize the main idea (4 questions): First, determine which 4 paragraphs need to be summarized. Then read carefully the first and last sentence of each of those 4 paragraphs. Compare these sentences with the options given; the option that contains the most words or phrases similar to those in the first or last sentence of the paragraph is the correct answer. Summarizing essentially means identifying the topic sentences of each paragraph in the article, and the topic sentence of a paragraph is usually the first and last sentence of that paragraph. 　　15. Complete the sentences (4 questions): First, identify the key words in each question, then go back to the text to locate them (for specific methods, see the Reading Comprehension section and items 16 and 17). Finally, compare the words and phrases near those key words in the text with the answer options; the option that contains the most matching words and phrases is the correct answer. Completing a sentence essentially means giving you one part of a sentence and asking you to find the other part. Once the location of this sentence in the article is found using the keywords, it’s not difficult to determine the other part. 　　16. Generally, the order of the exam questions corresponds roughly to the order of the paragraphs in the article, so it is not difficult to identify the key words. It’s like it’s difficult for me to find a stranger in a crowd, but it’s much easier if I have his photo to look at. 　　17. The correct answer must be related to the question; the words or phrases in the answer will definitely appear near the key words in the text! Completing the passage. 18. First, look at the position of each blank in the text. If it is at the beginning of a sentence (that is, there is a period before the blank), then the first letter of the correct answer will definitely be capitalized! Otherwise, it will definitely be in lowercase. By comparing the initial letters of each answer option in this way, the range of choices can be narrowed down. Basic grammar knowledge can be used to narrow down the range of choices, making it a highly effective tool! 19. First, identify the key words in each answer option, then go back to the text to locate them (for specific methods, see the reading comprehension section and items 16 and 17). Find the spaces near those key words in the text, and compare the words and phrases around those spaces with those in each answer option; the option that shows the most matches is the correct answer. Completing a passage actually means being given a sentence to help you determine its position in the text. The location of this sentence in the article can be found by using keyword searching. 　　(Insight: Just like reading comprehension, summarizing the main idea, completing sentences, and filling in blanks are all similar to puzzle games^_^ It seems that, to some extent, the professional English exam does not really test English proficiency or memory skills, but rather the ability to observe details and make comparisons! Regular practice can also be beneficial for improving mental agility~~) Reading Comprehension and Judgment Section 20. Do this question last; guess the answers by choosing either all A’s or all B’s. This question is done last because, based on experience, it’s possible to score 3 out of the 7 points by guessing correctly, which allows more time to be spent on vocabulary questions where scores can be secured easily by looking up words in a dictionary. The reason for a higher success rate when guessing the answer to this question is as follows: First, there are the fewest answer options among all the questions – only 3, namely (A is correct, B is incorrect, C is not mentioned). Therefore, choosing any one of these options at random gives the highest chance of being correct, which is one-third. Additionally, based on past experience, among the total of 7 questions, the ratio of cases where A is correct, B is incorrect, and C is not mentioned is roughly 3:3:1. Hence, selecting all A’s or all B’s yields the highest success rate. 　　21. First, check whether any words indicating an absolute meaning are present in the 7 questions, such as most (including other forms of superlatives), only, just, simply, etc. If such words are present, choose B for all 7 questions; otherwise, choose A for all 7 questions. Based on past experience, if words indicating an absolute meaning appear in the questions, it is most likely that the correct answer is (B, which represents the wrong option). So, if the test questions contain words that convey an absolute meaning, choose option B every time! Well, these are my thoughts on taking exams as a beginner in English; I hope they can be helpful to everyone.