Hey all,
I have a student that has taken the pre1 Eiken multiple times. I have successfully helped with increasing their Interview/Essay score, but they always struggle with the long reading section and Listening section 2.
Besides doing practice tests and memorizing vocabulary, are there any other ideas/methods?
TIA
1 comment
First, they need to read a LOT to increase vocabulary and reading comprehension. They need to be reading all the time – not just with you and not just practice tests. Give them science, history, and cultural articles to read. Get some reading comprehension books – not just ones for ESL students but at Pre-1 they should be able to read the articles in intermediate level reading comprehension textbooks intended for native speakers.
Second, there are a few tricks specific to Eiken. Teach them to ‘confirm’ their answer by matching the answer they chose to where it appears in the text. The correct answer will not have only one ‘matching’ point. They should be able to match 2-3 words/ideas from the answer with the text. This is also where vocabulary is important, as we all know Eiken loves to use synonyms in the answer for the words in the text. They can rule out answers by noticing that points in the answer don’t “match” with the text. This is time consuming, though, so it won’t work for slow readers – they need to be reading more to increase their speed.