This is Part 1 of Reading and Use of English: a short text with 8 gaps. For each gap you pick the best of four options (A, B, C or D), and the example (0) at the start shows how it works.
The four options are usually close in meaning, so what really decides the answer is how English puts words together: collocations, fixed phrases, phrasal verbs, linking words, dependent prepositions and fine shades of meaning.
Since the options often mean nearly the same, 'which one makes sense?' rarely settles a gap. Ask instead which word goes naturally with its neighbours: we 'make' a decision, 'pay' attention, 'take' part and 'catch' a cold.
The word after the gap often decides the answer. A dependent preposition ('rely on', 'capable of'), a particle, an infinitive or a 'that' clause can rule out an option that looked perfect when you stopped reading at the gap.
Two options can share a meaning but need different structures. You 'advise someone to do' something but never 'suggest someone to do' it; 'despite' takes a noun or an '-ing' form, while 'although' takes a full clause. The pattern after the gap is your filter.
When a gap opens a sentence or joins two ideas, the options are often linking words. First decide how the ideas relate: contrast, addition, cause, result or example. Then choose the linker that expresses exactly that relationship.
Wrong options are chosen with care: a word that works in your own language, one that goes with a different word nearby, or one that's nearly right but too strong, too weak or too informal. Half a fit usually means a trap.
The best preparation is plenty of reading, noting whole phrases rather than single words: 'heavy traffic', 'make ends meet', 'on the verge of', 'take something for granted'. Recording the verb or preposition that travels with a word is exactly what this part rewards.