The LANTITE Literacy test is 65 questions in 120 minutes, delivered in a single session. It covers two distinct areas: Reading (approximately 44 questions) and Teaching Skills for Writing (TSW) (approximately 21 questions). Many candidates underestimate the TSW section because it looks like "grammar," but the content is more specific than that.
Reading: What the Questions Actually Test
Reading questions are divided across three cognitive processes:
| Process | Proportion of Reading Questions |
|---|---|
| Access and identify | 35–40% |
| Integrate and interpret | 40–50% |
| Evaluate and reflect | 10–20% |
The bulk of questions fall into the middle band: integrating and interpreting information across a text. This means you will regularly be asked to draw inferences, identify implied meaning, or synthesise information from multiple parts of a passage. Pure retrieval tasks ("access and identify") make up a smaller share than many candidates expect, and high-level critical evaluation questions are relatively rare.
Text Formats and Lengths
Passages appear in three formats: continuous (prose paragraphs), non-continuous (tables, graphs, diagrams, lists), and mixed (a combination of both). Text lengths range from 100 to 900 words. You may encounter a short policy excerpt or a longer classroom scenario. Non-continuous texts require you to read visual or tabular information rather than flowing prose.
Contexts
Questions are drawn from three real-world contexts in set proportions:
- Personal and community: 45–55% of questions
- Schools and teaching: 30–40% of questions
- Further education: 10–20% of questions
Most texts relate to everyday life or community settings. Roughly a third use school or classroom scenarios. This distribution means you cannot focus only on education-themed passages and expect to be prepared.
TSW: Teaching Skills for Writing
TSW is the section that most surprises candidates. It does not ask you to write anything. Instead, you read student or sample texts and answer multiple-choice questions about syntax and grammar, spelling, word usage, and text organisation. Each area makes up 20–30% of the TSW questions.
The content is mapped to ACSF levels. Approximately 80% of all LANTITE questions are at Levels 3 and 4, with 20% at Levels 2 and 5 combined. For TSW, the breakdown across levels looks like this:
| ACSF Level | Approx. Share | Example Skills Tested |
|---|---|---|
| Level 3 | 35% | Commas, apostrophes, question marks, quotation marks; phonic and visual spelling strategies; cohesive text structure |
| Level 4 | 45% | Modal verbs, accurate punctuation across a range of marks; spelling technical terms; logical paragraph structure |
| Level 5 | 15% | Semi-colons, brackets, italics; high spelling accuracy; broad vocabulary including idiomatic expressions |
Level 4 carries the most weight. That means modal verbs (words like "could," "should," "might"), accurate use of a range of punctuation marks, the ability to spell subject-specific vocabulary, and logically structured paragraphs are the core skills to master before test day.
What Is Not Tested
LANTITE Literacy does not ask you to produce a piece of writing. There is no essay, no extended response, and no free-text field. All questions are multiple choice. You are never asked to recall a grammar rule from memory in isolation. Questions are always embedded in a text context, so you are applying knowledge to real language rather than completing a decontextualised drill.
Why TSW Surprises Candidates
Most candidates spend the bulk of their preparation time on Reading and arrive underprepared for TSW. The term "teaching skills for writing" sounds like pedagogy, but the questions test your own language knowledge. If you cannot identify an incorrectly placed comma or recognise a modal verb in a sentence, those questions will cost you marks. The four TSW areas each carry equal weight, so neglecting any single area, especially text organisation, is a significant risk.
Practice LANTITE Literacy Questions
Our Literacy practice tests cover all three reading processes and all four TSW areas, mapped to ACSF levels so you know exactly where to focus.
Start Literacy Practice TestsAll facts on this page are sourced directly from teacheredtest.acer.edu.au. For the latest information, always refer to the ACER website.