The Oxford Test of English (OTE) is an online English test that assesses your ability to use English in real-life situations. It’s an adaptive test, which means the difficulty level changes depending on how well you answer the questions. This ensures that it’s a fair assessment for everyone taking the test.

The Reading section of the Oxford Test of English is divided into four parts: 

1. A multiple-choice task
2. A matching task 
3. A gapped sentences task 
4. A multiple-choice task on a longer text

Each part of the Oxford Test of English Reading paper tests specific reading skills. 

Skills to develop & how to practise these skills 

Part 1: Multiple choice on short texts

In Part 1, you read several short texts and answer multiple-choice questions. These questions check if you can identify:

• the main message of the text
• the purpose of the text. For example, is it giving advice, making a suggestion or sharing an opinion?
• specific details from the text

Reading skills needed: Skimming and scanning. You need to quickly find the key information and understand the main point of the text.

How to develop these English reading test skills: A great way to improve your skimming and scanning skills is by practising with short other texts like emails, articles or short news stories. Try to quickly identify what the main message of the text is, and why the text was written. For example, look at a short news article and ask yourself questions like: what is the article about?; what is the purpose of this text?; what is the main point of view? Ignore individual words or unfamiliar language when you’re doing this type of practice. 

 

Part 2: Multiple matching

In Part 2, you see a longer text. You need to match pieces of information or ideas to different parts of the text. This part tests your ability to identify:

• specific information
• the writer’s opinion and attitude

Reading skills needed: Identifying main ideas and specific information, inferring meaning, and understanding the writer’s opinion.

How to develop these English reading test skills: To practise this skill, read articles, blogs or reviews. After reading, ask yourself questions like, what does the writer think about this issue/place?; what specific facts or opinions are mentioned in each paragraph? 

When reading, you should also highlight or underline any words or phrases that show the writer’s attitude, such as positive or negative opinions, or phrases for inference. 

 

Part 3: Gapped sentences

In Part 3, you find which sentences fit back into different places in a text. This part is designed to test your understanding of:

• text structure
• how ideas are connected and organised within a text

Reading skills needed: Understanding text structure and the logical flow of ideas.

How to develop these English reading test skills: To improve your understanding of text structure, you can analyse how different types of texts are organised. For example, look at a news article, a blog or an essay and see how the introduction leads to the main body paragraphs and then the conclusion. You can also try reading a paragraph and predicting what the next paragraph will talk about. Another useful activity is to find a text, cut it up and put the paragraphs out of order and rearrange them so that the text makes logical sense.

 

Part 4: Multiple choice on a longer text

In Part 4, you read a longer text and answer multiple-choice questions that test your ability to identify:

• the writer’s attitude or opinion
• the purpose of the text
• references (what words like it, this or they refer to in the text)
• the meaning of words in context
• the overall meaning of the text

Reading skills needed: Inferring meaning, understanding the writer’s opinion, and identifying global meaning.

How to develop these English reading test skills: To build these skills, try reading opinion pieces such as blogs or articles. Focus on identifying the writer’s attitude or point of view and note down any language that expresses these. You can also practise guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words by looking at the surrounding sentences and context. Use the language around the unfamiliar word to help you understand its meaning, then check your answer in an online dictionary. 

 

Top tip

Consistent practice is key to improving your reading skills, so make English reading a part of your daily routine, even if for 15 minutes a day. 

By practising these strategies and familiarising yourself with the structure and skills needed for the Oxford Test of English Reading paper, you’ll be better prepared and feel confident on exam day. 

 

You can find out more about the Oxford Test of English here.

Activity 

Match the skills to the correct part of the OTE Reading. There may be more than one answer for each skill. 

Part 1 – Multiple choice on short texts
Part 2 – Multiple matching
Part 3 – Gapped sentences
Part 4 – Multiple choice on a longer text

A. The writer’s attitude
B. The main purpose of the text
C. Specific information
D. The cohesion of a text
E. How ideas are linked
F. The meaning of words
G. What words like it, they and that refer to in the text

Answers

Part 1: B, C
Part 2: A, C
Part 3: D, E
Part 4: A, B, F, G