The Cambridge English: Key (KET) exam tests one’s ability to use English to communicate in simple situations. Its Reading and Writing paper use simple written information such as signs, brochures, newspapers and magazines to test one’s understanding of written English. The candidate will be asked to go through textual information and stories and will be asked to:
- match sentences to the corresponding sign or notice.
- choose the best word to complete the sentence.
- find the right answer for everyday conversations.
- understand the detail and main ideas of a piece of text.
- complete words and sentences.
To be precise, at Part 1 you will be asked to look at some symbols or signages that have short textual descriptions. You will need to map these descriptions to the full length descriptions provided. Part 2 is all about completing sentences through picking the proper words. Part 3 has conversations – you will need to pick the proper responses to the first part of the conversation, which may be a question or a comment (or whatever).
Part 4 is reading comprehension. Instead of simple Yes/No you now have Right/Wrong and Doesn’t say. Part 5 is reading comprehension with grammatical choices provided. Part 6 is all about vocabulary – you will need to come up with words from scratch so to satisfy the descriptions. Part 7 is fill-in-the-blanks for correspondences, and the answers are mostly grammatical. Part 8 has forms to fill in following the instruction provided. Part 9 is writing – you will need to write a short note for a given purpose. This note should be less than 50 words in length.
Do note that the actual exam version you encounter may have a slightly different structure and format!
