MET Reading & Grammar

Overview

A sentence or a short exchange with one gap. The four options are the same kind of word or structure, so meaning and grammar must both fit.

How to approach it

• •Read the whole sentence first. Time words (yesterday, since, by next year) and linking words (although, unless) usually decide the answer.
• •Check agreement: singular or plural subject, countable or uncountable noun, active or passive.
• •If two options look possible, try each one aloud in your head — only one will sound natural with the words around it.
• •Aim for about 30 seconds per item so you have time for the longer reading parts.

An informational passage of a few paragraphs with questions on the main idea, details, what a word refers to, vocabulary in context, the author’s purpose and inferences.

How to approach it

• •Skim the passage once for the main idea of each paragraph before you look at the questions.
• •Questions point you to a paragraph or a sentence. Go back and read that exact place, plus the sentence before it.
• •For "the word X means…" questions, replace the word with each option and see which keeps the meaning of the sentence.
• •For "what does they refer to" questions, look back to the nearest noun that makes sense.

Three short texts on one topic — for example a notice, a personal post and an article — followed by questions on each text and some that connect two or more texts.

How to approach it

• •Notice the type of each text first. A notice gives facts and dates; a post gives opinions; an article explains.
• •Questions come in order: text A, then B, then C, then questions about two or more texts. Read each text just before its questions.
• •For cross-text questions, find what the writers agree or disagree about, or how one text gives an example of another.
• •Leave this part enough time — it has many questions and a lot of reading.

Worked example (our own item, Part 1 style)

Choose the option that completes the sentence.

1. A. spends
2. B. has spent
3. C. will have spent✓ correct
4. D. was spending

Why

• •"By the time … next spring" points to a moment in the future, and the spending will be complete before it — that needs the future perfect: will have spent.
• •"has spent" is present perfect: finished by now, not by next spring.
• •"spends" and "was spending" do not show an action completed before a future time.