DET Read and Select
A list of words, some real English and some invented, and you select the real ones. With 15 to 18 of them, it is the most frequent item type in the test and the one where vocabulary breadth converts into score most directly.
Breadth, not depth
You do not need to know what the word means — only that it exists. That makes passive recognition the useful skill here, which is the opposite of what essay-focused preparation builds.
- Read widely rather than studying definitions.
- Invented words usually break English spelling patterns subtly — an impossible letter sequence, a suffix on the wrong kind of root.
- Trust first instinct. Staring at a real word long enough makes it look wrong.
Selecting carefully
- Go through at a steady pace, selecting what you recognise.
- Do not select a word just because it looks plausible.
- Do not leave a real word unselected because you cannot define it.
- Move on — there are many of these and they are quick.
Both kinds of error count: missing a real word and selecting an invented one. The aim is accuracy, not maximising selections.
Read and Select — FAQs
2 questions
No, only whether they are real English words.
Usually 15 to 18, making it the most frequent item type.
More adaptive question types
Sources
Written from the test board's own published material and checked on 1 October 2026.