Exam tips for the TKT

Practical advice for taking the TKT: how to prepare before the exam, how to work through the 80 questions in the 80 minutes allowed, and how to record answers on the answer sheet. The section closes with a description of the sample TKT answer sheet on page 234.

The TKTTeaching Knowledge Test click to keep open · see glossary is divided into modules which can be taken separately or together. Candidates can take one or more modules – it’s up to them.

Each module contains 80 questions.

Each module lasts 80 minutes.

All the questions in the modules carry the same number of marks as each other.

The task types used in the TKT are: one-to-one matching (e.g. pages 120–121, questions 51–55), 3/4/5 option-matching (e.g. page 228), multiple-choice (e.g. page 112), sequencing (e.g. page 175, questions 28–33), and finding the odd one out (e.g. pages 125–126, questions 75–80).

Before the exam

1. Get to know and understand the necessary English language teaching terms and concepts. Read the relevant parts of this book, do the Follow-up and Discovery activities and think about the points in the Reflection sections. Doing this will give you confidence and familiarity with the terms and their meanings.
2. Look at the list of terms in this book and in the TKT Glossary. In the TKT Glossary the terms are listed together with their meaning. Make sure you understand the terms, because any of them might appear in the exam. Test yourself on them. See the TKT Glossary: http://www.cambridgeesol.org/TKT
3. Don’t just learn the meaning of the terms. Think about the ideas behind the terms and what they mean for teaching and learning, too.
4. When you prepare your lessons, as you teach and after teaching, reflect on your lessons in terms of different aspects of the TKT, e.g. lesson planning, correction techniques, activity types. Write about your reflections in the Teacher Portfolio: https://www.teacherportfolio.cambridgeesol.org/
5. Do some TKT practice tests to help you get familiar with the task types, and get used to working within the time limit. Remember that the number of questions in each module is fixed at 80, and there is one mark for each question.
6. Remember and practise the 4 Rs: Reading, Reference, Record-keeping and Reflection.
7. Have a good night’s sleep before the test!

During the exam

1. Don’t worry about your English. Remember that the TKT doesn’t ask you to speak, listen to or write English. You just need to read the test and shade (make darker) the letter (A, B, C, D, etc.) of the correct answers on your answer sheet. There is a sample answer sheet on page 234 of this book.
2. Quickly skim through the whole test when you receive it to get a general idea of its content. The layout of the TKT is clear and simple, and all the task types are of similar kinds: matching, multiple-choice, odd one out or sequencing.
3. Work through the test from question 1 to question 80 if you can. In this way, you won’t forget to do any questions. But, if you really can’t answer a question, leave it, put a cross against it in the margin on your question paper, and come back to it when you have completed the others.
4. Read the instructions for each task very carefully, then read each question within each task very carefully, too. Make sure that you understand exactly what you need to do. Candidates who do not follow the task instructions are likely to get answers wrong.
5. There are two kinds of matching tasks. In matching tasks such as those on pages 118–119, questions 41–45 and 226, questions 34–40, the tasks contain extra options. This means you do not need to use one of the options in your answers.

   In the other kind of matching tasks, such as those on pages 113, questions 8–13 and 181, questions 62–67 you need to use all the options (A, B, C, D, etc.) and will need to use one or more of them more than once.

6. When you answer matching and sequencing tasks, tick each option on the question paper when you are confident it is the right answer to a question. This helps you to see which options are left for the other questions.
7. In the matching tasks, if you feel unsure of an answer to one question, go to the next question, then the next, etc. You may find that, at the end of the task, the answer to your problem question then becomes clear.
8. Don’t choose answers just because they contain a word which is the same as a word in the question. In fact, these answers are unlikely to be the right ones.
9. There is only one answer for each question. Never give two or more answers for a question or write notes to the examiner on your answer sheet. This wastes time and will not be read by a marker.
10. Don’t forget to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.
11. Make sure you have answered the question you mean to answer. For example, don’t write your answer to question 20 in the place for answer 19, and don’t shade letter A when you mean to shade letter B.
12. Don’t spend too long on any one part of the test. If you do, you will spoil your chances on the other parts of the test. Divide your time equally across all the questions.
13. Leave five minutes at the end of the test to check your answers.
14. If you are getting too worried to answer properly, take a very short break. Relax.

Good luck!

Sample TKT answer sheet

Page 234 of this book shows the answer sheet you will use in the exam (form DP542/042, headed TKT answer sheet). It has two jobs: recording who you are, and recording your answers to questions 1–80.

Candidate details. The top block of the sheet is for your personal and centre details:

• Candidate Name: if the name is not already printed on the sheet, write it in CAPITALS and complete the Candidate No. grid in pencil.
• Candidate Signature: sign the sheet as you usually sign your name.
• Centre No. and Candidate No.: these printed grids hold one digit per column, with a row of lozenges under each column; write each digit and shade the lozenge that matches it, using pencil.
• Examination Details: the box for the examination title (TKT), the centre and the supervisor’s signature. A supervisor shades the box marked for a candidate who is ABSENT or has WITHDRAWN.

Answering the questions. The rest of the sheet is the answer grid: 80 numbered rows (questions 1–80), set out in three columns, each row carrying one lozenge for every possible letter, A to H. The instructions at the top of the grid are short, and worth reading before you start:

• Use a pencil. Answers must be recorded in pencil, not pen.
• Mark ONE letter for each question. Each question has a single correct letter, so exactly one lozenge is shaded per row.
• For example, if you think F is the right answer to the question, mark your answer sheet like this: the example shows letter F shaded in, with all the other letters of that row left blank.
• Rub out any answer you wish to change with an eraser. Do not cross answers out or shade a second letter.

Fill in the lozenge by shading it completely and darkly, so that a machine can read it, and keep inside the row for the question you are answering – check the row number before you shade, as tip 11 above warns. Work down the numbered rows as you work through the test, then use the last five minutes to check that every row you meant to answer has one, and only one, shaded lozenge. Answers written on the question paper, or notes written to the examiner, are not marked: only the shaded lozenges on this sheet are read.