AEAS Vocabulary: format and how to prepare

Vocabulary is the one section where the format genuinely changes shape depending on which year band you're sitting -- not just the difficulty, the structure itself.

Years 4-9: 30 minutes, three parts, 50 questions

• Part 1, Word Meanings (15 questions): definitions matched against words drawn from repeating pools of 5, each pool lettered A-E. Several definitions are asked per pool before the next set of 5 words appears -- it's a genuine matching task with a small shared option set, not five independent multiple-choice questions.
• Part 2, Words in Context (15 questions): one gapped sentence per question, exactly one missing word, with the word's first letter already given in the blank (for example: "The rise in temperatures b______ in the Midwest" -- answer: began).
• Part 3, Spelling (20 questions, Years 4-9 only): a sentence containing exactly one misspelled word. Find it and write the correct spelling.

Years 10-12: 20 minutes, two parts, 30 questions

Years 10-12 sit only Word Meanings and Words in Context -- there's no Spelling part at that level at all.

How to actually prepare

• For Words in Context, practise recalling a word from just its first letter and the sentence's meaning -- that's a different skill from recognising a word in a word bank.
• For Word Meanings, get comfortable holding 5 words in mind at once and matching several definitions against the same set, since that's the real task shape, not one-off multiple choice.
• If you're in Years 4-9, don't skip spelling practice assuming vocabulary study alone covers it -- knowing a word and spelling it correctly under time pressure are different skills.