LỜI NÓI ĐẦU

Hằng năm, mỗi tỉnh thành, khu vực trên cả nước lại tổ chức các kỳ thi học sinh giỏi tiếng Anh
cho bậc trung học phổ thông. Đây là những sân chơi bổ ích nhằm giúp các bạn học sinh có
năng lực Anh ngữ tốt, hay nói cách khác là “học sinh chuyên Anh”, được trau dồi và phát
triển khả năng ngôn ngữ của mình. Việc đạt thành tích tốt ở những kỳ thi này vừa là minh
chứng cho kỹ năng tiếng Anh học thuật của học sinh và thúc đẩy sự cải thiện tiếng Anh trong
học tập và các lĩnh vực khác của đời sống, vừa là điểm cộng cho bộ hồ sơ của học sinh trong
quá trình xét tuyển đầu vào của các đại học trong và ngoài nước.

Nhận thấy nhu cầu tìm kiếm tài liệu tiếng Anh nâng cao của học sinh chuyên Anh ngày càng
gia tăng, nhóm English On Your Wish List quyết định cho ra mắt bộ sách Pathway to
Excellence. Là một phần trong chuỗi các hoạt động hướng đến cộng đồng chuyên Anh tại
Việt Nam của English On Your Wish List, bộ sách hướng đến sự phát triển các kỹ năng
Nghe, Từ Vựng & Ngữ Âm, Đọc và Viết cho học sinh trung học phổ thông – vốn là những
mảng kiến thức căn bản trong phần lớn các kỳ thi học sinh giỏi tiếng Anh.

Lấy cảm hứng từ hai kỳ thi giao lưu học sinh giỏi khu vực tiêu biểu: kỳ thi Olympic Truyền
Thống 30 tháng 4 các tỉnh phía Nam và kỳ thi học sinh giỏi các trường THPT chuyên khu vực
Duyên hải và Đồng bằng Bắc bộ, sách hứa hẹn mang đến cho độc giả những kiến thức có
ích trong quá trình ôn luyện cho các kỳ thi học sinh giỏi. Do vậy, sách phù hợp nhất với các
bạn học sinh đang trong quá trình tự học để tham gia vào những sân chơi tiếng Anh cấp khu
vực như hai kỳ thi trên. Ngoài ra, các giáo viên dạy môn tiếng Anh trong các đội tuyển học
sinh giỏi cũng có thể sử dụng Pathway to Excellence như một công cụ giảng dạy hữu ích.

Những dạng bài tập có trong đề thi của hai kỳ thi trên là nền tảng cho các đơn vị bài học
trong bộ sách này. Bộ sách có hai phần: phần lý thuyết nằm trong cuốn sách độc giả đang
cầm, bao gồm thông tin về các dạng bài kinh điển của hai kỳ thi trên, cách tiếp cận từng dạng
và phương pháp luyện tập; và phần mở rộng chính là một tr [nội dung bị ẩn] mà English On
Your Wish List đã tạo ra dà [[nội dung bị ẩn] riêng cho độc giả mua sách, bao gồm kho bài
tập tiếng Anh liên tục cập nhật theo định kỳ, được biên soạn và tổng hợp từ các nguồn tài
liệu uy tín kèm theo các đường dẫn đến tệp âm thanh cho bài tập Nghe. Trong quá trình sử
dụng sách, độc giả có thể nhận được sự trợ giúp về chuyên môn từ đội ngũ cộng tác viên
thông qua [nội dung bị ẩn].

Quá trình soạn sách không tránh khỏi sai sót, do vậy các tác giả rất mong nhận được sự
đóng góp của độc giả để bộ sách có thể trở nên hoàn chỉnh hơn. Mọi ý kiến đóng góp xin vui
lòng gửi về địa chỉ email englishonyourwishlist@gmail.com.

Xin trân trọng cảm ơn.

Nhóm English On Your Wish List

English On Your Wish List | Page 1

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
This section covers:
► Two regional English language contests: OTT 30/4 and DHBB
► Preparation guide for these competitions

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What is Olympic Truyen Thong 30/4?
Kỳ thi Olympic Truyền Thống 30/4 các tỉnh phía Nam (referred to as OTT 30/4 within this
book) is an interscholastic competition held annually in early April among high schools for the
gifted in the southern parts of Vietnam. Competing subjects include Maths, Vietnamese
Literature, English Linguistics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Geography, Information
Technology, and French. Every year, a participating institution will send several competing
teams, each comprising short-listed tenth and eleventh graders with outstanding performance
in their respective subjects. Depending on the number of competitors, the awards will be
divided, by ratio, into three medal categories: Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
First hosted by Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted in Ho Chi Minh City in 1995, the
competition witnessed the congregation of high-school English language alumni who went
on to achieve stellar results in the National English Language Competition (Kỳ thi Học Sinh
Giỏi Quốc Gia môn tiếng Anh), hence contributing to its regional prestige.

What is Duyen Hai Bac Bo?

Kỳ thi HSG các trường THPT chuyên khu vực Duyên hải và Đồng bằng Bắc bộ (referred to
as DHBB within this book) are sometimes considered OTT 30/4’s Northern sibling. Held
annually by provinces on the coast and deltas of Northern Vietnam, DHBB gathers a host of
talented high-school participants in various competing subjects similar to those in OTT 30/4
but with the addition of Russian and Chinese linguistics. Unlike OTT 30/4 whose host is fixed,
DHBB is held by a different school in a different province every year. After a day of test-
taking, eligible students will receive gold, silver, and bronze medals, and consolation prizes.
Over the years, DHBB has witnessed consistent growth in popularity, gradually attracting a
higher number of participating schools. Many participants have later attained high prizes in
the National Scholastic Competition (Kỳ Thi Học Sinh Giỏi Quốc gia).

Language ability testing

The English language tests of both competitions focus on the rigorous and thorough
development of English language skills at an advanced level. They call for students’ ability to
use conversational and academic English in various settings. The overall scores are
calculated by totaling the scores attained in each section of the test papers.

Format differences
OTT 30/4 and DHBB’s English test papers differ from each other mainly in terms of test
design, language focus, and structure.
Before the year 2019, the papers for both competitions draw on a pool of contributed test
items by participating schools (officially termed “proposed papers”), with no more than one
item per school adapted in the final papers. Since 2019, however, OTT 30/4’s test design has
been handed over to the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, while
DHBB still maintains the resource-pooling modus operandi.
OTT 30/4 places a heavy focus on the lexicon-grammar elements of English; students who
manage to achieve high OTT 30/4 results tend to have vocabulary as their language forte,
which is transferable to other areas of English. Meanwhile, DHBB puts to test a decently
rounded combination of skills, including Listening, Lexicon-Grammar, Reading, and Writing.

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As a result, the papers for both competitions have vastly dissimilar structures. The table below
shows the skills tested.
Listening Lexicon-Grammar Reading Writing
OTT 30/4    
DHBB    

In fact, OTT 30/4’s paper does contain Reading- and Writing-related tasks such as Multiple
Choice Reading in the first section of the test and Sentence Transformation in the second.
These, however, are in small numbers, and so are not considered reflective of a student’s
aptitude in those areas.

Regardless of these aspects, success in either of the two competitions contributes in different
ways to defining a student’s language credentials at an advanced level.

A breakdown of test structures

1. Olympic Truyen Thong 30/4 (OTT 30/4)
The OTT 30/4 test lasts 180 minutes and is divided into two sections – Multiple Choice and
Written Test, mostly centering around word and grammar use. The test overall is relatively
similar in format and focuses to the Use of English section of the Cambridge English
Advanced (CAE) and the Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) exams, except there is a
clearer categorization of aspects of vocabulary and grammar in OTT 30/4. There is no
difference between tenth and eleventh graders’ test structures.
Points No. of No. of PTS per
Section Task type
(PTS) parts questions question
I. Grammar and
5 1 10
Structures
II. Phrasal Verbs
A. MULTIPLE 5 1 10
and Prepositions
CHOICE 0.5
III. Vocabulary 10 1 20
(40 PTS)
IV. Guided Cloze 10 2 20
V. Reading
10 4 20
Comprehension
I. Cloze Test 20 2 20
B. WRITTEN II. Word Formation 20 2 20 1
TEST III. Error Correction 10 1 10
(70 PTS) IV. Sentence
20 1 10 2
Transformation
Overall 110 15

Based on OTT 30/4’s 2021 official paper for eleventh graders

2. Duyen Hai Bac Bo (DHBB)

A DHBB test also lasts 180 minutes. Its structure draws inspiration from the National English
Language Competition’s test paper, with a difficulty around CAE and CPE levels. The way
the tests for tenth and eleventh graders are structured differs in several parts, notably in the
Listening section where the IELTS-based note/form completion in tenth graders’ papers is
replaced by short-answer questions in those of eleventh graders.

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 No. of PTS per
Section Task type PTS
questions question
Part 1. Multiple
10 5
Choice Listening
A. LISTENING Part 2. True/False 10 5
2
(50 PTS) Part 3. Short-answer
10 5
Questions
Part 4. Gap-filling 20 10
Part 1. Multiple
10 10
Choice Questions
B. LEXICON
Part 2. Error
AND 5 5
Correction 1
GRAMMAR
Part 3. Prepositions 5 5
(30 PTS)
Part 4. Word
10 10
Formation
Part 1. Guided
10 10 1
Cloze
Part 2. Open Cloze 15 10 1.5
Part 3. Multiple
C. READING 10 10 1
Choice Reading
(60 PTS)
Part 4. IELTS-based
10 10 1
Reading
Part 5. Multiple
15 10 1.5
Matching
Part 1. Summary 15 1 15
D. WRITING
Part 2. Graph 15 1 15
(60 PTS)
Part 3. Essay 30 1 30
Overall 200

Based on DHBB’s 2019 official paper for eleventh graders

“How can I prepare for them?”

Preparing (or prepping) for any upcoming exam is tiring, and even more so when it’s a major
one like OTT 30/4 and DHBB. Having marshaled the test-taking experiences of English
language gurus from all over the country, we put simply these three golden mantras that
should relate to everyone:
One, time is diamond.
Not only for OTT 30/4 and DHBB but for every test you take, depending on its structure and
task difficulty, you should work out how much time is suitable for each task or section of the
test. Without track of time, you are bound to fall behind in an exam, and before you realize it
the clock has already ticked. We, therefore, underscore the importance of time management;
further notes on time allocation for all parts of OTT 30/4 and DHBB can be found throughout
this book.
Two, change your mindset.
Have you ever approached a task, mind blank, trusting in your language instincts so that you
will come out with at least something done at the end?

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Not thinking through each and every question is a harmful way of approaching tasks, which
in the long run prevents you from climbing higher. Critical inquiry is needed in English learning
more than ever. Whenever you read a question, ask yourself, “Why is this asked?” “Why are
things organized that way?” “Is this option correct or not?” By figuring out how a test is made,
you could easily figure out the intentions of test makers. Read more on how you could
maintain a critical mindset throughout the course of reading this book.
Three, practice makes perfect.
An epic Vietnamese proverb goes, “Don’t wait for the windfalls.” If you’re reading this book
while thinking about putting it off for another day just by its formidable length, drop that attitude
because that day will almost certainly never come! Even if you’re already good, more practice
doesn’t hurt that much.
These are some of the main prepping tips:
 Extensive practice: Frequently expose yourself to as wide a variety of spoken and
written English as possible. News articles, books, academic studies, blogs, podcasts,
and Youtube videos are superb ways to start your journey.
 Intensive practice: Try working in chunks: targeted, focused practice can really help to
stretch your ability and develop subskills related to a task type.
 Familiarize yourself with the format of every test, including its task types and
complexity. Know what tactics to apply for each task. Work through several mock tests
and at least one past paper before test day, which we will provide via our [nội dung bị
ẩn].
 Detect possible problems during practice and think about how you can address them.
Are there distractions? Choose a suitable environment. Lapses of concentration? Get
enough sleep and converge your thoughts on the task. Lack of vocabulary or skills?
Get lexical practice to enrich your vocabulary repertoire. Unfamiliarity with the task?
Practice more with similar ones.
 Create an English bubble. there is no magical way to become an English language
talent if you do not pretend to be one; always practice expressing your thoughts in both
verbal and non-verbal forms, and get someone, preferably a native person, to talk or
chat with you in English.

But chill out! Practice is vital, but over-practice becomes counter-productive. Particularly
when you do not feel that there is any improvement, take a break from further practice and
review the exercises you have done. If you feel lost, find a mentor (or us!) and tell them your
problems. When you have an awareness of your overall self, it is time you make a master
plan for your journey of self-improvement.
We know, deep down, you have this burning passion and you won’t be easy on yourself. But,
know when to stop. Place your mental and physical health above all else, and listen to your
body’s feelings. Make sure there are intervals between each practice session so that you can
unwind. Like machines, humans need some downtime too!
We also know burdensome it is cramming knowledge in a time crunch before a major exam.
How do we know? After all, we have been in your shoes. During the hardest moments, you,
as we did, might have wished Doraemon gave you his memory bread to free yourself from
this excruciating pressure. Sadly, Doraemon is not real. That is why we advise you to study

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wisely: make a long-term plan starting from now and never “live for the moment” when it
comes to important occasions.

General group activities

Although this book is most suitable for self-learning students, an all-alone study experience
would be no fun. It is nice sometimes to have your friends and teachers involved. Create a
study group with a leader who could be a friend, a senior, or a teacher. For leaders, here are
some of the general group activities to carry out that apply to all tasks.
 Before diving into a task, ask your group to brainstorm about its topic. What do they
already know about it, and what kind of new information can they expect to get out of
it? Tell them to speak up, or write down their thoughts and gather them into a note.
Stimulating background knowledge is a great way to disambiguate the task and
increase student engagement.
 Start with easy tasks. It is a bad idea to jump straight away into reading long-winded
passages, listen to Youtube videos with x1.5 speed, or write about unfamiliar topics if
yours is new to major English language competitions.
 After students have completed a task, tell them to self-explain the answers. Assemble
the mistakes everyone has made on the same task. This allows them to not only
realize their own mistakes but also sidestep potential errors. Also give everyone a
chance to talk about the gist of the task, or what new knowledge they have gathered
from it.
 At the end of the study session, hand out specialized practice for further self-practice.
Our [nội dung bị ẩn] provides very useful material for this.
 For first-time participants in major competitions, have them get used to the test format.
Have at least a session where students take a mock test under real exam conditions
and timing.
 Design new questions. Instead of doing practice with available material, spice things
up by asking the group to find new listening, reading, or writing material, create sets
of questions based on that, and exchange tasks with each other. This might help
students get into test writers’ brains and figure out how they form questions.
NB: When creating a question, make clear which skill and feature it will be based on. Steer
clear from inventing vague questions that do not have a clear focus and force overthinking.
 Manipulate the difficulty levels. By changing the number of options and rewording
original questions and information, group leaders and teachers can adjust the difficulty
of the task to suit their groups.

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Chapter 2
LISTENING
This section covers:
► General tips for the Listening section of DHBB
► Detailed breakdowns of four Listening task types:
 True/False
 Multiple Choice
 Short-answer Questions
 Gap-filling

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 INTRODUCTION TO LISTENING
“I love immersing myself in new cultures, meeting new people, and listening to their stories…
Except that I don’t like the listening section.”
For students without an ear for the listening section in English exams (figuratively), listening
to other people talking for 30 minutes non-stop could be exhausting. The fact that, in many
English language exams, this section weighs more than the rest only serves to worsen the
problem. Even with proper technique, one could always lose concentration during the test,
and there is no way to turn back the clock – once you miss that crucial phrase, it’s done.
This chapter is dedicated to DHBB since, obviously, there’s no listening in OTT 30/4’s paper.
Here are the things you need to know about the listening section of DHBB.

Section information (DHBB)

• The listening section contains four parts with four audio recordings and a
total of 25 comprehension questions. Each question carries two marks.
• There are pauses at the beginning of each part to read the questions.
Format

• True or False
• IELTS-based note/form completion, or short-answer questions
• Multiple Choice
Task types • Gap-filling

• From standardized test books (CAE/CPE) or authentic material

• Documentaries, talks, interviews, news broadcasts, promotional videos,
Audio discussions, commentaries, phone conversations...
sources

Critical strategies
 The listening section overall lasts approximately 40 minutes. Keep your concentration
high by having a sense of purpose – know what each task type focuses on so that you
have an idea of what to look out for. For example, the focus of True/False listening
tends to be on recognizing mentioned facts, opinions, and attitudes.
 Don’t waste the 20 seconds before each part. Use this precious time to read the
instructions and questions carefully, underlining key words in the stems. You can also
try predicting what the speakers will say if time permits.
 Always be on the lookout for key words, or their paraphrases, while listening. They are
the words, phrases, or sentences that signal where the answer lies. But be careful!
You need to know which words are the right ones. False starts, repetition, rephrasing,
and attitude changes might appear to trick you into picking the wrong options.

Study tips
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  Enrich your social knowledge. Foreknowledge can be useful for you, especially in
tasks involving authentic listening. If you have acquired a decent repertoire of topic-
related words, you may find it easier to figure out the answers. There can be
terminologies that are hard to figure out.
 In practice sessions, before listening to the whole audio, play a snippet and get
yourself “tuned in” to the speakers’ accents. This also helps you distinguish between
them.
 Get to know yourself and pay attention to your problems: are you prone to spacing
out? Get a fidget tool. Are you especially worried about identifying numbers? Brush up
on that particular point. During practice, don’t simply check the answer keys and move
on: it’s important to remember why an error was made – perhaps the audio was too
fast, the answer was garbled or the data you looked for was not what the passage
asked for – and take note of both the error and ways to remedy it.
 Re-read the transcripts if possible! This will help to identify even more gaps in your
knowledge that you could fill in and expand your vocabulary at the same time.
 After all, we hear before we speak, so listening could be a great way to prepare for
speaking. As you listen to a fluent speaker, pay close attention to aspects such as
pronunciation, idea connection, intonation,… and try to imitate them. A suggestion is
to listen to celebrities’ speeches and mimic every sentence.

Challenges for listeners

► Train yourself to become familiar with as wide a range of accents and delivery styles
as possible. American/Canadian English and British English are the most prevalent,
but also be ready for… South Asian English! Even within American and British English,
there are legions of regional accents that takes a LOT of effort to get used to.
Why is this so important? Students who are not surrounded by diverse cultures and
who lack exposure to various accents lack the natural feel for spoken English required
to understand unfamiliar voices. They might struggle to comprehend even the most
basic words a speaker enunciates, let alone meaning. That is not to mention the
immense time pressure, and while they are trying to figure out a word, the audio does
not mercifully stop; it continues and it is not long before they find themselves lost.

► Once your base skills have been got down, the subpar sound system can always let
you down in the most crucial of segments. Therefore, it is not enough that you can
understand what is being said, but with noise and reverberations on top of that as well.
You may introduce such noise into your listening practice, and also train how to infer
what you missed from what you have already heard, as there can be phrases you do
not know or failed to catch from all the overlapping sounds.

► Still wanting something challenging? Speed up whatever you listen to!

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1 TRUE/FALSE
OVERVIEW
Most of us have probably heard something like this in our math classes: every issue has two
sides, and only two sides. Either it is right, or it is wrong; there is no “half right half wrong” or
“in-between”. That philosophy is true for True/False listening.
True/False is considered typical of most listening tests, and DHBB is not the exception. This
part comprises 5 statements, accounting for 10 marks. Should the given statement agree with
the information you hear from the audio recording, write “True”; otherwise, write “False.” The
order of the statements is the same as the information found in the recording.
Wish List urges that you strictly follow the instructions. For instance, in some cases, the
abbreviation “T” or “F” is entrusted in the instruction, in which the answer should be written
as “T” or “F”; if they simply say “Listen and decide whether the statements are True or False”,
then the answer must be written as “True” or “False”.
Most people who find the True/False part convoluted struggle with processing the information
they hear, including their inability to recognize paraphrasing of the spoken words. Some may
even regard their limited lexical resources as a hindrance to comprehending the statements.
Therefore, Wish List has proposed some tips you can apply to “survive” this part as explained
below!

TIPS AND STRATEGIES

Focuses of listening
1. Listen for global understanding

Although this is uncommon, students might be asked to take a step back and get the gist of
a speech or conversation.

Take this example statement in an imaginary True/False task: “The speaker mainly talks
about an archaeological finding.” At the beginning of the audio, you could hear: “We homo
sapiens are more similar to our fellow Neanderthals than we usually thought. Andy Green, a
research scientist at the Geoscience institute, Germany, documented the gene patterns of
several early Neanderthal fossils found in the Feldhofer Cave. […]”

Suppose the speaker goes on to detail the similarities in genes between homo sapiens and
homo neanderthals. Then, it can be reasonably inferred that the main topic is about how
these two human species resemble each other, not about “an archaeological finding”. The
mention of “several early Neanderthal fossils” at the start might trick you into writing “True”,
but then the discussion needs to be built solely around these fossils throughout the recording
for them to become the main theme, which in this case they are not because the speaker
only mentions them as a basis for the discussion of gene similarities.

2. Listen for specific information

For the majority of listening tasks, students will be asked to listen for specific information
found in the recording. These vary wildly, and students could only rely on key words found in
the statements to hear relevant information in the recording.

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An example:

For questions 1-5, listen to a radio discussion on wearing face masks and decide
whether the statements are true (T) or false (F).
1. Since face masks have been proved to reduce COVID-19 cases, wearing them
remains compulsory as we enter the third year of the pandemic.
2. People who have already received their booster jab can still get infected with COVID-
19 if they do not wear masks.
3. If the number of cases stays at under 10 per 10000 for one or two weeks, it is OK
whether you wear a mask or not.
4. It is advisable to take into consideration the health status of oneself when deciding
whether to put on a mask or not.
5. Our goal is to put a complete end to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As you can see, all these questions require you to catch several types of information, like
whether (according to the audio) face masks have been proved to reduce COVID-19 and are
compulsory in the mentioned context. In the audio, the speaker(s) will have at least a
sentence talking about this, so pay attention to key phrases such as “reduce COVID-19
cases” and “remain compulsory” and look out for something similar in the audio.

NB: pay very close attention to extreme modifiers like “completely” in statement 5 above.
Listen for whether the speakers’ goal is to completely end the COVID-19 pandemic, or,
maybe, only help to alleviate its severity.

3. Listen for attitudes and opinions

While listening for specific information means listening for what the speakers are literally
saying, listening for attitudes and opinions requires inference of what they actually mean.
Attitudes and opinions convey a speaker’s feelings and position on a certain issue, and they
vary since, of course, the human emotional spectrum is diverse. There could be love, hate,
admiration, criticism, belief, suspicion,… Sometimes you are asked to decide whether two or
more speakers agree or disagree on something.

Remember that an opinion and feeling can always change, especially when there are phrases
indicating time like “initially”, “first impression”, and “when…” in both the statements and the
audio, so always make a mental timeline. In addition, what you think is a speaker’s opinion
might not actually be theirs, but someone else’s! In this case, phrases like “but”, “however”,
and “for me” might pop up, so look out for those. Last but not least, a speaker can think
positively about something, but negatively about another thing; try to be aware of what they
are referring to.

Example statements:

When her son had an imaginary friend, she felt from time to time worried about
the situation.

He thinks that Anne’s advice to writers is absolutely useful.

The speakers disagree about the availability of medical aid when talking about
emergency doctors.

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Traps that catch you unawares
All but the easiest True/False statements involve changes in wording and meaning, often
even taking advantage of the hesitation and confusion among speakers themselves to baffle
you. Generally, however, a statement is true only when it is clearly supported or implied by
the dialogue.

Statement: Susan does not like the restaurant because it is too expensive.
Tapescript:
JANE: “How about that new all-you-can-eat Thai buffet on the corner of Elmwood
and Rosemary?”
SUSAN: “Oh that… It’s nothing new really. I mean, I’ve been there once and I can’t
say I like it. The food’s all too spicy, and… you know me. And besides, I’d prefer it
if we went somewhere less crowded.”
 The answer is “False”. Susan says that she does not like the restaurant’s
crowdedness and the food’s spiciness. She never mentioned the prices, so the given
statement is clearly not supported.

Nonetheless, oftentimes it will not be so straightforward. This example involves one of the
traps we will address shortly—let’s see if you can tell which one!

Statement: Houseflies can be seen on every continent.

Tapescript:
The housefly is probably the insect with the widest distribution in the world,
accompanying humans wherever there are permanent settlements, from Oceania
to Europe and the Americas, save for Antarctica.

 The answer is “False”. Geography lessons tell us that Antarctica is also one of the
world’s continents. Because according to the tapescript, houseflies are not found in
Antarctica, the example statement is invalid.

As you can see, many elements can be replaced and substituted with a view to posing a
challenge to unkeen listeners. Nevertheless, there are some common tactics and stratagems
that test writers employ, which can be categorized and acquainted with. Let us address each
of these variations sequentially:

1. Additive or subtractive traps

When quantifying objects, even a simple addition or subtraction can mark the downfall of an
unscrupulous examinee. For example:

Statement: There are three bus stops near the museum.

Tapescript: (at the museum)
A: “Do you know of any buses that run through here to the city center?”
B: “Well, there’s one on the main street a few blocks away, and another one down
from the intersection that has route 15 passing through the center.
A: “What about that one over there?
B: “Oh, don’t take that—that’s for the bus going uptown.”
 The answer is “True”. While there are only two suitable bus stops, the speaker lists
three total in proximity to the museum in question.

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 2. Changing the modifier

This tests students’ understanding of the totality or specificity of the subject concerned. Be
sure not to confuse “all”, “every”, and “no”—indication that an entirety of a group is
mentioned—with “most” and “almost/virtually all”, and look out for key words such as “except
for”, “save for”, “not including”, and others. Here is a demonstration:

Statement: Most students have to register for boarding.

Tapescript:
Every student must register their accommodation before the 29th of April; students
who have been housed off-campus are not excepted and must also fill in their
accommodation status for tabulating purposes. Please be noted that students
doing courses online have been excluded from our database and therefore need
not register.
 The answer is “True”. The key here is to listen to the second sentence, which states
that online students “have been excluded”, even though no mention of the word “most”
or its synonyms exists.

3. Double Negative
In conversations, you will often hear speakers discussing a decision, and as a result, you will
hear no end of hesitation and backpedaling, sometimes twice over. Missing out on the final
choice is the real issue, so do not be too worried if you did not catch the whole of their
conversation. To exemplify what an actual exam may contain, here is a sample:

Statement: Peter decided to go to the cinema.

Tapescript:
PETER: “Why not go to the cinema today? There’s a new film on, and I’ve got a
half-off discount for both of us.”

JANE: “Hm, that’s great but… there’s a play I’ve been meaning to go to at the
theatre today, and it’s starring some of the nation’s best actors.”

PETER: “OK, that’s fine, we’ll go to the theatre if you want; the film will be on for a
few more weeks anyway.”

JANE: “Great, thanks! Wait, oh no! The play starts at eight and the theatre’s twenty
minutes away… it’s already half-past seven and the line’s going to be really long.
We’re hardly going to make it.”

PETER: “Splendid foresight, haven’t you? I guess we’ll stick to my plan after all.”

JANE: “It’s a real let-down; my bad. But hold on, let me check again… Ooh, there’s
another performance tomorrow, and tickets are less hefty… Say, why don’t we
hold this over and go tomorrow? You like plays, don’t you?”

PETER: “Oh, I wanted to go for the whole day today… But that’s a great idea since
I’m probably in need of some rest after all of that… Tomorrow it is! We can always
watch that film sometime.”
 The answer is “False”. A series of unexpected complications led to Peter and Jane
both deciding to go to the theatre.

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 4. Wording
It is not rare that key words in a sentence may be switched around or the wording changed
to test the limits of the listeners’ comprehension. As this involves basic paraphrasing, the
examples of this part will be shorter than the previous.

a. Synonyms

Statement: All students have to sign up for their residence before the 29th of April.
Tapescript:
Every student must register their accommodation before the 29th of April.
 The answer is “True”.

b. Antonyms

Statement: Mary would have to take a long time to get to the mall.
Tapescript:
It might be a short ride away from my place, but it’s hardly near Mary’s.
 The answer is “True”. “Hardly near” means rather far, and since the distance is
proportional to time traveled, the statement is true. These phrases are antonymous.

c. Paraphrasing

Statement: The pool is open on weekdays except for Tuesday.

Tapescript:
The Palm Swimming Centre is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
 The answer is “True”.

5. Logical reversals

Logical reversals are especially common in True/False tasks and are among the easiest to
get wrong. A statement reversed in logic contains the same portions as those of the
information in the audio, but their place is swapped. For these statements, a complete
understanding of relevant information is more necessary than ever.

View the following example:

Statement: Mr. Johnson appointed a new head for the International Student Office.
Tapescript:
The well-being of international students has improved significantly ever since Mr.
Johnson was appointed head of the International Student Office, who has been
successful in providing inclusive services and programs that support their overall
success on campus and helping them get used to the American culture and way
of life.
 The answer is “False”. Mr. Johnson did not appoint someone else as the head of the
office, but he himself was. Notice the passive voice in the tapescript that was changed
into active in the statement.

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 6. Distracting figures

When you are required to determine the accuracy of a certain statistic, do not hope the
speaker will simply quote the number. By contrast, they will add in at least one more figure
to confuse you, and if you are unaware of which is for which, you are bound to get lost.

Statement: There has been a 10% improvement since the share’s first offering.
Tapescript:
January 2021’s financial statement show that the entertainment giant made nearly
$1bn within the second decade of the 21st century, a record high ever since its first
revenue report in 2010. Its share price in June last year was 300% of the initial
$10, and a further, almost immediate 10% increase of that amount can be seen
after the company’s press release of new development goals.
 The answer is “False”. We know the share’s first offering was $10, which rose by
300% and by another 10% after two timestamps. So, the improvement wasn’t only 10%.

STUDY TIPS
Before listening

► Spend time analyzing the statements. Look for key words and
think of its synonyms to help you predict what the speakers might
say.
► Think of all the statements as true. Know that if even a word is
wrong, it leads to the whole statement being wrong.
► Don’t freak out if you see a lengthy paraphrased sentence.
Remember: get the gist.

While listening

► Listen while taking notes. Always watch out for traps, and keep
a fresh mind because confusion may fog your mind.

► Be careful! Sometimes a certain word will be repeated in the

audio but the statement might be wrong. Don’t just match key
words – instead, match meanings.

► If you are slightly unsure, you may leave the box empty. Or if
you’re brave enough, trust your instincts and write whichever you
feel is right!

► On the second listen, strive to make a definite decision – don’t

overthink since your first hunch might be correct!

After listening

Move on. Don’t agonize when you can’t decide; spend that energy
for the next tasks.

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Identify your flaws
“Why are the statements so different from what they say? I get lost trying to find relevant
information!”
You might not be able to track the flow of a recording because you do not know that the
statements are the paraphrased versions of what is actually said, thus having difficulty
matching between spoken and written statements. It can be addressed by trying to come up
with synonyms for the statements’ key words and phrases. This will help you get a better drift
of what the radio is going to talk about.
“What if my limited vocabulary doesn’t allow me to understand the statements?”
When it comes to a limited range of vocabulary, most people would cram words as a
solution. However, it may not work if you sit the exam at short notice, not to mention no one
is sure to have learned all the words possibly appearing in the test. Hence, try to guess the
overall meaning of the statement by the words you’ve already known in it. Then, guess the
relative implication of the unfamiliar word. These steps might do wonders for your listening
scores when you have at least a faint idea about the validity of the information afterwards.
“Okay then… but I don’t always understand the whole statement in order to do so!”
You can always predict the core idea of the statement through emphatic nouns, verbs,
and adjectives; by this, your brain will recognize it right away as it is heard. Just give it a try!
The last suggestion for you is to try to transform the statements into questions in your
mind, then predict whether they are true or false before listening to confirm your supposition.

“Thanks! I’ll try them out…”

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Chapter 4
READING
This section covers:
► General tips for the Reading section of OTT 30/4 and DHBB.
► Detailed breakdowns of four Reading task types:
 Cloze Test
 Multiple Choice (MCR)
 IELTS-based Reading
 Multiple Matching

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2 MULTIPLE CHOICE
OVERVIEW
By the time you are reading this, you probably already have some familiarity with the classic
multiple-choice reading (MCR) that appears in English exams of all levels. Specifically for
OTT 30/4 and DHBB, MCR passages are taken from a diverse pool of authentic resources
such as books, articles, and magazines.

MCR tasks in major exams generally consist of a passage followed by ten four-option
multiple-choice questions, which are worth differently (in terms of points) across exams. The
table below compares the number of MCR tasks and questions in OTT 30/4 and DHBB:

Competition Number of MCR tasks Number of questions Total points

DHBB 01 10 (1 point/question) 10/200
OTT 30/4 (2021) 04 20 (0.5 points/question) 10/110

MCR tasks for high-school English language majors are invariably at CAE/CPE level,
requiring the ability to comprehend long sophisticated passages of various genres. Many
exams and competitions in Vietnam use ready-made MCR tasks from trusted international
books (CAE, CPE, TOEFL) or websites as testing material. This is the case for DHBB and
was also for OTT 30/4 (before it replaced two TOEFL Reading passages with four ECPE
Reading passages in 2019).

What is tested?
MCR questions are designed to test students’ understanding of the main ideas, details,
attitudes, tones, functions, implied messages,… of a text, or parts of it.

TIPS AND STRATEGIES

Question types
1. Main Idea/Big Picture Question

Among the most common question types, main idea/big picture questions ask about the
central idea, theme, or argument of a text or a paragraph. Below is an example:

Q1. What is the passage mainly about?

A. The rise of nineteenth-century nature
For questions like Q1, you need to recognize
documentation.
each paragraph’s main idea and how they
B. The entertainment and educational
contribute to constructing the whole text.
values of a nature film.
Another way is to read the first and last
C. The change in nineteenth-century
paragraphs, which may sum up the whole
people’s viewing preferences.
theme of a passage.
D. The application of microscopes in
theatrical production.

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 TIP BOX!
There are two ways to deal with this type successfully: either answer it first or save
it till the last. You may answer it first if you understand the text’s content after the first
read, but we highly recommend the second approach. Since you need to know how
the main idea is expressed throughout the whole text, you may save this question
type for last until you have read each paragraph and completed all the other
questions.

NB: Main idea/Big picture Questions ask about the theme of the text as a whole, not
the main idea of each paragraph or section of the text. Do not pick options that only
reflect the idea of a single paragraph.

2. Detail Question

Appearing in diverse forms and with high frequency are Detail questions. Commonly they ask
you to recognize factual information explicitly stated in a portion of the text. View this example:

Q2. What does the author suggest

about Charles?
A. His practical skills were limited.
B. He conducted research on a book.
C. He owned a private library.
D. His ultimate goal was not education.
Usually, we will approach questions like these
by scanning for key words. For questions like
Q2, simply scan for “Charles” in the reading
passage.

TIP BOX!
► Underline key words and references in the question stems (number of the
referenced paragraph, names, dates, subjects,...) so that you can quickly
skim for the parts where essential information is located.

► Do not automatically select an answer just because it contains words or

phrases from the paragraph. Make sure you evaluate each option based on
the small information you have read to determine if it is correct.

1. Attitude/Tone Question

Recognizing a person’s feelings in real-life conversations is relatively easy, but not as much
in written language. You can’t observe the author’s verbal and facial expressions, so you
would have to rely on how they “play” with words to display certain tones or attitudes.

The author achieves a certain overall tone by use of word choice, sentence structure/type,
and other stylistic devices such as repetition, metaphors, similes,... Answer tone questions
by looking for these elements and inferring what they convey.

On the other hand, attitude questions pertain to a subject and require you to go through a
two-step process. The first is to locate the information or features of the text that convey(s)
the author’s opinion of a subject. Second, infer the tone or attitude of the author from those
clues.

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 Q3.1: The tone of the passage as a whole
can best be described as
A. introspective
B. somber For Q3.1, you need to understand the tone
C. moralizing that blankets the whole passage – in other
D. lugubrious words, the mood with which the author wrote
it.
Q3.2: The author’s attitude towards his
Meanwhile, Q3.2 requires you to recognize
ex-companion is best described as
the author’s attitude towards cats, or his
A. disparaging
opinion of a group of subjects.
B. reverential
C. apathetic
D. affectionate

TIP BOX!

► Step 1: Read the question and decide whether it asks for tone or attitude.

 Step 2-1: If it’s a tone question, scan the passage for indicators of tone. They
can be words that the author chooses to use in a special way to convey a
feeling and sentence structures/types to establish a flow or for emphasis.

 Step 2-2: It it’s an attitude question, scan the passage for indicators of
attitude, including the signals above but which point to the author’s opinion
of a subject.

► Step 3: Check the options and see which is correct.

2. Function Question

Function questions ask you to identify the purpose behind a particular portion of the passage.
Similar to attitude/tone questions, you are required to infer the author’s intentions; you need
to understand the role a certain piece of information plays in the course of the passage.

Q4. The reference to the Industrial Revolution primarily For Q4, you need to scan for
serves “the Industrial Revolution”,
A. to underscore its transformative power in the economy. then read the information
B. as an analogy of the movement. about it and determine why
C. to highlight the author’s confidence in his prediction. it’s there, or its role in
D. to criticize the outdated model of mass production. illustrating a particular point.

TIP BOX!

Ask yourself, “Why is it there in the first place?” and “What would happen if I ignore
it?” Answering them will help you get an idea of how a portion included by the author
serves to develop an idea, argument, or narrative. This is only effective if you are
aware of the content surrounding that portion.

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 3. Inference Question

Inference questions are one of the most challenging types of MCR questions. They involve
reasonable judgment and reading between the lines; that is, making logical assumptions and
connections based on presented information in the passage. An inference question asks you
to draw on indirect clues in the text to make a conclusion, as the answer will not be stated
explicitly.

Q5. Which of the following can be

inferred from the third paragraph?
A. Hackerspaces’ success in Detroit
demonstrates why they failed elsewhere. Inference questions require more than just
B. Hackers can’t perform experiments in English skills; they ask for logical thinking. For
enclosed spaces. Q5, you not only have to understand the third
C. The development of hackerspaces in paragraph’s content but also look deeper into
Detroit is still in its infancy. the logic of the author.
D. The human factor determines the
overall outcome of hackerspaces.

TIP BOX!
Here are five steps you can follow to answer an inference question:

► Step 1: Read the question carefully and identify the subject asked.
► Step 2: Make sure you understand the main idea of the text and the author’s
stylistic intentions.
► Step 3: Summarize what the text says about the subject.
► Step 4: Use your logical thinking. The inference is correct if it aligns logically with
the information in the passage. Compare your inference to the answers.

Pay special attention to answers repeating certain words from the passage, or those
containing absolute language such as always, never, only, and so on. These are
usually “half-right” answers made to catch you unawares. Collate these answers with
what is said in the passage.

4. Vocabulary Question

Given the contexts of the passages, you are required to select an option that could replace a
certain word without losing its original meaning. Having a wide range of vocabulary may
advantage you in answering these questions with high certainty.

Q6. The word “deciphered”

Although the words may often be too complicated to
in the first paragraph most
understand, guided by the context, you can still make
probably means
educated guesses. These are the “score-getters”, so make
A. comprehended
sure you get them right! For Q6, even without knowing the
B. infiltrated
meaning of “decipher”, you can still make a guess based
C. unraveled
on the context in which it is used.
D. obscured

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 TIP BOX!
Try the “plug-in” strategy: replace the word in the text with the options, one by one.
For example, to find out the answer to Q6, you can plug “comprehended”, “infiltrated”,
“unraveled”, and “obscured” respectively into the text in place of “deciphered”.

NB: Do not circle an option immediately just because it is synonymous with the
replaced word. A word can have two meanings and more, so find out which one is
utilized in the text. This is a vocabulary-in-context question type, so always pay
attention to the context of the word!

General tips
1. For DHBB’s MCR, aim to spend 3 minutes skimming the whole passage and 12
answering the questions. For OTT 30/4, this section should take approx. 20 minutes.

2. Be specifically careful with selecting an answer: it is vital to check that the other answers
are incorrect even when you are sure of your choices. Certain information may mislead
you into choosing the wrong option.

3. If you are uncertain about answering a question in the task, or if the question is too difficult
and confusing, do not make a guess yet. Take some time off if you need it – a quick break
will refresh your mind, and you may notice or realize something you did not pay attention
to.

4. During practice, it’s important to know which answers are (not) correct and why they are
that way. Checking the answer keys and then moving on is not a good idea as you need
to constantly review your mistakes to know exactly why you’re (not) making headway in
MCR and your overall reading comprehension.

Reading approaches
There is no single best approach to multiple-choice reading passages; it is more a matter of
personal preference. While some online sources may advise you to follow a fixed set of steps,
you can, and should, try out every method possible and pick the one you find most efficient
(time- and accuracy-wise), convenient and comfortable for you. Read the suggested
approaches below to see if you know them, and experiment with them if you don’t.

1. Skim the text first and then the questions

This approach, probably the most commonly used one, is recommended by a lot of people.
You will be able to locate quickly where the answers are if you skim the correct way.

► Step 1: Skim the whole reading passage for a general idea of its topic, main ideas,
and organization. Don’t try to understand every single word, detail, and sentence.

► Step 2: Read the questions one by one. Underline the key words in the questions and
locate which part of the passage the question is targeting. Then, scan for the
information containing the answer.

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 ► Step 3: Look at the options and decide which one is the closest to answering the
question. The whole option has to match what is written in the text – underline the
part(s) of the text that support your chosen answer.

NB: It might take longer to fully comprehend complex passages on your first read, so reading
them too quickly may sometimes backfire. To get the gist of such passages, you should skim
through them at a slightly slower pace.

2. Read the question stems first and then the text

The next approach also works for many English language students. Here’s how it goes:

► Step 1: Read the instructions and the passage title, then go to the question stems and
read each one. Underline key phrases in the stems, such as the numbers of the
paragraphs and the cue words which could help you locate information on the answers
in the passage. Do not read the options yet.

► Step 2: Read the whole passage. While you read, identify the cue words you have
underlined and scan information around them. Keep in mind what the questions ask.

► Step 3: Answer the questions using the information you have absorbed.

NB: Using this approach, you need to understand at the beginning what the questions ask
you. If you are unsure, you might focus on the wrong aspect(s).

Critical skills and strategies

Let’s play a game! Read through the following skills and strategies and tick  in the boxes
next to those that you have practiced. For those that you haven’t, cross .

 You have practiced:

 Effective skimming: When you skim, there are two things you need to look for: what
the passage is about (the main idea/theme) and its overall structure (how the text is
constructed, what the function of each paragraph is, etc). Having a general idea of
the passage throughout will help when you want to answer questions since you would
want to refer as quickly as possible to the section where the answer is without wasting
time searching. A few things to note:

 Locate the main ideas by skimming the opening and closing paragraphs of the
text, and also the topic/concluding sentence of each paragraph.

 Underline timestamps, names, and other key words during skimming for later
reference.

 Do not skim the passage with an eye for detail. We are not supposed to focus
on remembering small details on the first read. If you want to enjoy the whole
content, do so when you are not in serious practice.

 Do not just move your eyes quickly across the lines without a purpose. Doing
so will only waste your precious time.

 Effective scanning: having skimmed the passage and read the questions, you now
need to scan a text for relevant details and make out the answers. Note the following:

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  Read the questions and think about what you are looking for. If you are looking
for a timestamp, look for the number of a year or month first. If you need to find
a person, scan for his or her name. Understand what the questions are asking
you so you know the type of information needed.

 When you scan a text, move your eyes at a moderate speed until you find the
information.

 Only pay attention to the specific word or phrase you are scanning for. Again,
do not read every word of the text for meaning. Concentrate on the essentials
and ignore the niceties.

 Inventing an answer: Instead of reading the question and then the options, you may
consider coming up with your own answer by first looking only at the stem and not at
the options. Then identify the section in the text where the evidence is, deduce a
possible answer from that, and finally see if any of the options match your thinking.

 Spotting cues – key words: Your teacher has probably told you to underline key
words during reading lessons. While this is particularly helpful if you want to locate
answers quickly, you probably have not been told how to properly do so.

 Key words are words, be they in the question blurbs or the texts, that help you
indicate where the answers may lie. They may vary in kind from text to text, but
in many cases, key words in questions are the same as, or synonymous with,
those in the text (and vice versa). They can also be words that point to the same
concepts (i.e. “electrodes” and “current” both come under the umbrella of
“electricity”) or fixed terms like the specific name of someone or something.

 When you read the questions, underline the key words, locate them (or their
paraphrased version) in the passage, then carefully read the information around
them.

 Eliminating wrong answers: A clever test-taker is not only able to justify their
choices, but also prove that the others are wrong. Having the ability to distinguish
between apparently similar options, you will fundamentally improve your ability to
sidestep many trap answers. Traps may seem reasonable, but if you carefully analyze
subtle details, it will become clear that they are there to merely distort the passage.
Most of the time, the trap answers:

 Are either too specific or too general.

 Are contradictory to the information given in the passage.
 Include terms and phrases that are extreme, not mentioned or not supported
by the passage.
 Are true according to the passage but do not answer the question.

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 STUDY TIPS
Like all other reading exercises, it takes great effort and dedication to master MCR tasks.
During practice, try following these reading activities, which we believe will be of great help.

Pre-reading
As a warm-up activity, try to brainstorm the topic of the reading text. Look at the text’s
headings, pictures (if any), and the first or last paragraph to predict what you will read about.

Mid-reading
► Read carefully the questions. Know which aspect of reading they focus on (gist, detail,
attitude,…) and apply different reading strategies accordingly.
► If you encounter a question you are even very slightly unsure of, mark that question
and return to it after completing the section/practice test.
► Time yourself. MC Reading requires processing huge chunks of information within a
time limit. Remember to plan and use your time effectively (we recommend the 15-
minute time scale).

Post-reading
► Grade your paper and look for the questions you marked or have got wrong. Note
down why you blundered, and how you will avoid such mistakes in future practice.
► You may encounter reading texts with cool arguments and complex ideas, so reflect
on these and relate them to your knowledge or experience. Many students skip this
part – that’s not bad, but you should try writing them down somewhere for later use in
essays and speeches. Notice how this will do wonders to your world knowledge!
► Expand your vocabulary storage. Have a dictionary at hand to look up new words,
collocations, fixed expressions, and other components of writing. However, during
reading, you should cope with unfamiliar vocabulary by the use of contextual clues.
Practice summarizing reading texts, either by bullet points or a paragraph. Focus on the
main points, relevant details, and progression of ideas within an argument or throughout the
passage.

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 MỤC LỤC
Lời nói đầu ........................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 3
Chapter 2: LISTENING ......................................................................................................... 9
1. TRUE/FASLE ............................................................................................................... 12
2. MULTIPLE CHOICE ..................................................................................................... 19
3. SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS .................................................................................. 23
4. GAP-FILLING ............................................................................................................... 26
Chapter 3: LEXICON & GRAMMAR .................................................................................. 32
1. MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS (MCQ) ................................................................... 34
2. ERROR CORRECTION ............................................................................................... 40
3. WORD FORMATION.................................................................................................... 44
Chapter 4: READING ......................................................................................................... 50
1. CLOZE TEST ............................................................................................................... 53
2. MULTIPLE CHOICE READING (MCR) ........................................................................ 60
3. IELTS-BASED READING ............................................................................................. 69
4. MULTIPLE MATCHING ................................................................................................ 74
Chapter 5: WRITING .......................................................................................................... 77
1. SENTENCE TRANSFORMATION ............................................................................... 80
2. SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 84
3. GRAPH WRITING ........................................................................................................ 90
4. ESSAY ....................................................................................................................... 101

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