Simon IELTS: Reading

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Reading Lesson 1: Introduction & Techniques

IELTS reading is a vocabulary test.

Basic Exam Techniques

1. Don’t read the passage first
2. Just read the title
3. Then go to the first question
4. Underline ‘keywords’ in the question [key technique]
5. Then search for those words (similar) in the passage [key technique]
6. Underline those words in the passage

   • Underline things means that you won’t forget or lose them.
   • Also it helps you to focus on the important words (keywords) that get you the answers.

7. Read that part of the passage (where you found the keywords in the passage) carefully.
8. Try to get the answer.

Pieces of Reading Advices

1. Read at normal speed (from the beginning of the passage until you find the answer)
2. Only skim / scan for names or numbers

   Don’t skim or scan for most words, just read at normal speed.

   • Skim / Scan Read: 1998; James Smith
   • Normal Read: buy = purchase
3. Miss any difficult questions, get to the end of the test

   As soon as you feel that one question is difficult and you can’t find the answer, miss the difficult ones that you’re stuck on, keep going and get to the end of the test and then return to the questions that you missed.

Question Types

1. Gap-fill
2. True / false / not given
3. Yes / no / not given
4. Multiple choice
5. Matching paragraph headings
6. Matching paragraph information
7. Matching sentence endings
8. Matching other features e.g. names
9. Short answer questions

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Reading Lesson 2: Gap-fill Question

Types of Gap-Fill Question

1. Fill the gaps with words from the passage
2. Fill the gaps to label a diagram
3. Fill the gaps with words from a list / box
4. Fill the gaps in a table

You can normally find the answers in order in the passage.

Tips

• Make a keyword table when practicing at home.
  • keywords in questions v.s. similar words in the passage
• The more you used to finding keywords, the better you’ll get at IELTS reading.

Keyword Table

Keywords in questions	Similar words in the passage
inside	containing
shaded	shady
moist	damp
not classed as parasties	never parasitic
seen as	consider
special qualities	sense of calm, age and stillness
to dress wounds	as dressings on soldiers’ wounds

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Reading Lesson 3: True/False/Not Given && Yes/No/Not Given Question

Differences Between the Two Question Types

• True/False/Not Given

  • when the passage is about facts

  Are the statements true according to the information in the passage?

• Yes/No/Not Given

  • when the passage is about the writer’s views / opinions

  Do the statements agree with the views expressed by the writer?

• Tips:

  • These difference are not important.
  • We can approach both question types in the same way.
  • Just think: Correct / Incorrect / Not Given

Comparison

• True / Yes: the correct information is given
• False / No: different information is given, contradicting the statement

  Whatever the question statement says, the information in the passage is different, maybe opposite. It proves the statement is wrong.

• Not Given: we don’t know the answer, there is not enough information or sometimes there is not any information

Techniques

1. Find the ‘keywords’ and then compare the question and passage carefully.
2. Answers are always in the correct order in the passage (for this type of question).

   When it comes the True/False/Not Given && Yes/No/Not Given Question, you should be confident that the answer are going to come in order in the passage.

Keyword Table

Keywords in questions	Similar words in the passage
more intricate	more complex
made out of wood	constructed out of logs
majority of cities	most cities
poor sanitation	sewerage… so inadequate
the Industrial era	during the Industrial Revolution
posed a health risk	source for the outbreak of disease
complete network	comprehensive system

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Reading Lesson 4: Matching Paragraph Headings

Question Types

• List of headings
• Choose the best heading for each paragraph in the passage

Paragraph headings questions are difficult because:

• the answers are not in order in the passage.
• some of the headings may be similar.

Techniques

1. Do ‘Paragraph Headings’ questions last.
   • Do all other questions for that passage first.

     You’ll know a lot about the passage already.

   • You will then be more familiar with the passage.
   • You might get some of the answers from memory.

     Even if you don’t get the answers from memory, you’ll know something about a few of paragraphs or maybe all of them already. It’ll be much easier and much faster to do the Paragraph Headings questions at that point.

2. Underline keywords in each heading on the list.
3. Read the shortest or easiest paragraph first, or the one you know the best already.

   • You don’t need to start at the beginning of the text with the Paragraph 1 or Paragraph A. You can choose any of the paragraphss and match them with the heading. So why not start with the easiest one, usually the shortest paragraph is the easiest.

   • Read at normal speed through the paragraph.
   • Underline the main ideas in the paragraph.
   • Compare with all of the headings.
   • Choose the best one as your answer.

Keyword Table

Keywords in questions	Similar words in the passage
need for increasingly sophisticated systems	required more complex sewer systems
wooden sewage pipes	sewer constructed out of elm logs
ancient sewers updated for modern use	ancient sewers re-routed to modern sewer facilities
new invention not widely implemented	despite this innovation, most cities did not have a functioning system
poor sanitation a cause of health problems	sewerage so inadequate… a source for the outbreak of disease
impact of waste water treatment	attempted to treat sewage … succeeded in reducing diseases

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Reading Lesson 5: Which Paragraph Contains?

Question Types

• List of statements
• Find which paragraph contains the information in each statement

Which Paragraph Contains questions are difficult because:

• the answers are not in order in the passage.
• the same paragraph may contain more than one answer.
• some of the paragraphs may not contain any answers.

Which Paragraph Contains v.s. Matching Paragraph Headings

• Which Paragraph Contains Questions
  • You’re not looking for the main idea of the whole paragraph for a heading.
  • You’re looking just for one detail, one specific piece of information inside a paragraph.
• Matching Paragraph Headings Questions
  • One heading for each paragraph.

Techniques

1. Do ‘Which Paragraph Contains’ questions last.
   • Do all other questions for that passage first.
   • You will then be more familiar with the passage.
   • You might get some of the answers from memory.

   This saves a lot of time and makes this type of question easier.

2. Underline keywords in each statement on the list before you search for any of the answers.

   Instead of just starting with question 1 / statement 1, you would read through all of the statements, underlining the main words in each one first.

3. Start with the easiest statement first.
   • Information that you remember reading about.
   • The easiest statement might be the one constains the easy keywords / information to scan for.
   • Leave the most difficult one until last.

     Notice that I don’t usually recommend scanning which is technique that often causes problems because people miss the answers by scanning too quickly. However, for this difficult type of question, if you do see a statement that’s got some very distinctive words (names / numbers), just start with that and scan for it, you might get lucky and find something quickly.

Keyword Table

Keywords in statements	Similar words in the passage
a technique to preserve wines	heat wine to kill microbes
examples of foods appeal derives from how they are preserved	cheese, yoghurt … common examples seen as desirable methods … the food being preserved
spoiled food continues to cause illness	foods are susceptible to spoiling … food poisoning is still common
preserved food eaten by soldiers	salt pork … to feed Roman armies
example of different preservation techniques working together	preserving jam, for example, involves boiling … sugaring … sealing

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Reading Lesson 6: Multiple Choice Questions

• You can normally find the answers in order in the passage.

  Almost always the answers go in order.

Multiple Choice Questions are difficult because:

• there is a lot to read.
• the choices can be similar and confusing.

You have to be carefull about your decision.

Keyword Table

Keywords in questions	Similar words in the passage
people first used the term	the term was coined
to refer to	to describe
skilled Europeans	scientists and technologists from Europe
after the Second World War	in the 1950s … post-war
brain drain the result of	… contribute to the brain drain
problems people face	lack of opportunities, political instability etc.
allure of a better life	offer better living conditions
when people emigrate	migrating individuals
help families by sending money home	send remittances home to family
to curb negative effects of brain drain	to retain skilled workers
schemes have been implemented	initiatives have been established
in some countries	some governments have …
to bring migrants home	assist professionals to return to their home countries

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Reading Lesson 7: Matching Names

Question Types

• A list of question statements
• A box containing a list of names

Your job is to match the statements with the names. For each question, you have to say which person said the statement, or which of the names it might not be names of people, which of the names matches each statement.

Matching Names Questions are difficult because:

• the answers are not in order in the passage.
• one name may be used for more than one answer (if it matches more than one of the statements, you can use the name several times).
• some of the names may not be needed (some names may not be the answer to any of the questions).

Techniques

1. Underline keywords in each statement (question)

   You look at the questions first, not at the names or the passage. Start with the questions, underline the main words / the meaning words (maybe nouns / verbs), which later were going to match with keywords in the passage.

2. Scan the passage to find all of the names.

   You can scan quickly through the whole passage to find those names, they should be distinctive, names can’t be changed for any synonyms. You should be able to find the most names which start with a capital letter (this makes them easy to find).

   • Highlight each name clearly (e.g. circle them)

     I usually put a circle round the names to make them really clear, and anytime a name is repeated, circle it again so that you see all of the places in the passage where those names are mentioned.

3. Choose the name with the shortest description.

   You highlight the names in the passage, and you’ll see that some of them have lots of information about them, maybe a whole paragraph or more than one paragraph of information about that name, about what that person said or thought. But you’ll probably see that one or two of the names only have short descriptions, they don’t have much information about them, maybe only one or two sentences. Start with the name that has the shortest description / smallest amount of information written about it. Because it’s easier to read a short amount of information.

   • read the sentences around that name
   • underline the main ideas relating to that name
4. Compare with all of the question statements.
   • go through the question statements to see if any of them match what you read (and decide on the answer)

   • You might find that one of the question statements matches with that information about the name, or you might find two of them match, or none of them.
   • You might find that none of the question statements match anything that you’ve read about that name, in which case that name is not the answer for any of the questions.

Keyword Table

Keywords in questions	Similar words in the passage
genes play a role	50% genetically determined
taking a long-term view	work out a long term policy
being unhappy can affect a chemical	cortisol levels 48% higher
people compliment us	praise of others
cannot be achieved without action	requires activity or action
nagative experiences sometimes valuable	some pains are worthwhile
lead to future happiness	lead to greater pleasures

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Reading Lesson 8: Short Answer Questions

This type of question is quite easy, we’re just giving an answer to a question. It’s the most normal type of question you could ever expect.

Techniques / Method

• keyword technique

Keyword Table

Keywords in questions	Similar words in the passage
groups of theories about humour	types of theories … humour
good for us	very healthy
what function did comedy have	comedy has been used as
royal courts	courts of the Western Kings
of the past	throughout history 纵观历史

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Reading Lesson 9: Matching Sentence Endings

Techniques / Method

• keyword technique
  1. Underline keywords in the sentence endings
  2. Start with question 1 (beginning of sentence)

     The question should be in order in the passage. If possible, always start with the first question. In general, we’ll always try to do them in order because the answers should be in order in the passage.

  3. Underline keywords in the question
  4. Read the passage at normal speed (from the beginning)

     If you’re skimming or scanning, you might miss the answers.

  5. Underline keywords that you find
  6. Compare the passage with the sentence endings
  7. Choose the best one

Keyword Table

Keywords in questions	Similar words in the passage
assess subjects	examine a person’s
unwilling to express their thoughts	reluctant to describe their think
based on the belief that	the assumption is that
according to their own specific perceptions of life	based on person-specific needs, motives and conflicts
original aim was not	never intended
diagnose a mental disorder	diagnosis of schizophrenia

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Reading Course Summary

Summary

1. The main technique: keyword technique

   • It’s about underlining the main words in the question and searching for those words or similar words (synonyms) in the passage.
   • Practise this method as much as you can before the test, and you will get better at finding the answers.

2. Reading is a vocabulary test.

   • IELTS Reading is testing your understanding of English vocabulary. If you understand the words that you read, you should be able to get the right answer.
   • Always write down the key vocabulary from any reading test or exercise as you do. As your vocabulary knowledge grows, you’ll find the test easier.
   • Vocabulary is the key to the test.

3. Question types
   • Group 1: Keyword Technique

     These types of questions, the keyword technique works very well. You can just take each question in order using the keyword technique to find the answers.

     1. Gap-fill
     2. True / false / not given
     3. Yes / no / not given
     4. Multiple choice
     5. Short answer questions
   • Group 2: Matching Question

     Any matching question becomes a bit more difficult and we have to use some other techniques as well as the keyword technique.

     6. Matching paragraph headings
     7. Matching paragraph information
     8. Matching sentence endings
     9. Matching other features e.g. names
4. The time problem

   • The solution is not faster reading or more skimming and scanning. If you read too quickly, you’ll miss the answer and waste time.
   • Don’t skim or scan, unless you’re searching for something very easy (like a number / name / distinctive / special word, may be a technical word). If you’re searching for a number or a name or a distinctive word, you can skim quickly or even scan the text to find it, but normally I wouldn’t recommend doing that.
   • Recommend reading at a normal speed.

   • Use the keyword technique.
   • Miss any difficult questions.

     • Move on and get to the end, do all 40 questions in the test and then go back to the questions that you missed.
     • It’s best to leave the difficult ones, get the easy question done. Anything that’s taking you too long, it’s too difficult to find the answer, you’ve got to miss it and move on.

   • Spend 20 minutes for each passage.

     • Don’t spend longer on any of them, we don’t know which passage is more difficult.
       Spend 20 minutes on each one, keep to that schedule and you’re more likely to finish the test.
       Be strict with yourself with the timing, make sure you get to the end and finish.

5. Do lots of practice
   • Official Cambridge IELTS books
   • Keep following the advices and practicing the techniques in videos and blog lessons
   • You shouldn’t always treat it as a test, try going slowly and carefully through a test.

     • You could even use a dictionary.
     • You don’t need to do a full test, just do sections, work on certain question types slowly and carefully during the week as you prepare and then maybe do a full practice test at the weekend. That’s a good technique to try. So you’re not always testing yourself.

   • High score first, get faster later.

     • It’s easier to work on getting a high score first, then trying to get faster later.
     • Work on your techniques, your understanding of how to do the test first, and look at your speed later. You’ll get faster as you get better at the techniques.

   If you want to improve, lots of practice is the final piece of advice.