Cloze test for LIC AAO

A cloze test looks like five or six fillers glued together, and many candidates treat it that way: they jump to blank 1, try each option, and move on. That throws away the best clue you have, which is the paragraph itself. The blanks are linked. The tense set in the first line, the contrast signalled in the third and the list that runs through the last sentence all decide which option fits.

The good news is that cloze questions are among the fastest marks in the section once you have a method. Most blanks fall to grammar alone. Only one or two need you to think about meaning.

What a cloze test checks

Each blank tests one of five things. Naming the type before you look at the options makes the choice much faster.

A five-step method

1. Read the whole paragraph once without looking at the options. Get the topic and the direction: is it describing a problem, a process, an argument?
2. Label each blank with what it needs: verb, adjective, noun, linking word or preposition.
3. Cut options that fail the grammar. This usually leaves one or two.
4. Choose between the survivors on meaning, reading the sentence before and after the blank.
5. Read the finished paragraph once. A wrong linking word shows up at once when you read it whole.

Worked passage

When a policyholder dies, the family must (1) ___ a claim with the insurer. The process is simpler when the nominee's details are (2) ___ and the documents are complete. Insurers are (3) ___ to settle claims within set time limits. (4) ___, delays still occur when information is missing. Families can avoid many problems by keeping policy papers in a safe place and (5) ___ the nominee about them.

Blank 1: (c) file. A modal verb such as "must", "can" or "should" is followed by the base form. "Must files" and "must filing" are never correct. "Must filed" would need "have": must have filed, which changes the meaning to the past.

Blank 2: (b) correct. After "are" we need a word that describes the details, so an adjective. "Correctness" is a noun ("the details are correctness" makes no sense). "Correctly" is an adverb and describes a verb, not a noun. "Corrected by" would need someone after "by", and the sentence goes straight on to "and the documents".

Blank 3: (d) required. The pattern is be required to do something. "Are requiring to" is not English, "are requires" has two verbs clashing, and "requirement" is a noun.

Blank 4: (a) However. The previous sentence says insurers must settle within time limits. This one says delays "still" occur. "Still" is the signal: it marks something that happens in spite of the previous point, so we need contrast. "Therefore" would present the delays as a result of the time limits, which is illogical. "Because" would leave an incomplete sentence. "Moreover" adds a point in the same direction.

Blank 5: (c) informing. "By keeping… and informing…" is a parallel pair after the preposition "by". A preposition takes the -ing form, and both halves of the pair must match.

Clues that settle most blanks

• After a modal (can, must, should, may, will): base verb.
• After "to" as part of a verb: base verb ("to settle"). After "to" as a preposition in fixed phrases such as "look forward to", "committed to" or "be used to" (meaning accustomed to): the -ing form.
• After a preposition (by, for, without, after, before): a noun or an -ing form.
• Time words decide tense: "last year" and "ago" take the simple past; "since" and "for" usually take the present perfect.
• Articles: "a" or "an" signals a singular countable noun next; "the" often signals something already mentioned.
• Contrast signals: still, yet, despite, although, on the other hand.
• Result signals: so, therefore, as a result, hence.

Practice passage

Try this in about three minutes, then check the explanations.

Buying a policy is only the first step. To keep the cover (1) ___, the policyholder must pay premiums on time. Most policies allow a grace period after the due date, (2) ___ which the cover continues. If the premium is still unpaid when this period ends, the policy (3) ___. A lapsed policy can often be revived, but the policyholder may have to pay the arrears with interest and, in some cases, (4) ___ proof of good health. It is therefore (5) ___ to set up automatic payments or reminders than to (6) ___ a revival later.

Answers

1. (a) active. The pattern is keep something + adjective ("keep the room clean"). "Actively" is an adverb, "activity" a noun and "activate" a verb.
2. (c) during. "During which" means "in the course of which", and the cover continues in the course of the grace period. "While" and "unless" are conjunctions and cannot be followed by "which". "Since which" would mean from the start of the period onwards, which is not what a grace period is.
3. (d) lapses. An "if" clause in the present ("is still unpaid… ends") takes a present or future verb in the main clause for a general rule. "Lapse" does not agree with the singular "policy", "lapsing" has no helping verb, and "had lapsed" breaks the tense.
4. (a) submit. "May have to pay… and… submit" is a parallel pair: both verbs follow "have to", so both take the base form.
5. (b) wiser. "Than" signals a comparison between two courses of action, so the comparative form is needed.
6. (d) seek. "Than to seek" mirrors "to set up": to + base verb.

If you took a moment on blank 2, that is normal. It is the one blank where two options look close until you test the phrase "while which", which is not possible in English.

Common mistakes

• Filling blanks in isolation without reading the paragraph, and missing the tense or contrast set earlier.
• Ignoring subject-verb agreement. "The policy lapse" looks fine at a glance and fails on a second look.
• Breaking a parallel list. If one item is "keeping", the next is "informing", not "inform".
• Spending two minutes on one blank. Mark your best guess and return at the end. The next blank may reveal the answer.

What to do next

• Do one cloze passage a day for a week, labelling each blank's type before you look at the options.
• Revise the verb and agreement rules in error spotting for LIC AAO; the same rules decide most cloze blanks.
• Practise single blanks fast with fillers for LIC AAO.
• Place the cloze passage in your 20-minute section plan from the English plan.