D. polices.
2. SAH's new organizational structure requires
A. 75% of the old management positions.
B. 25% of the old management positions.
C. 25% more management positions.
D. 5% fewer management positions.
3. The SAH's approach to organizational structure required changing practices in
A. industrial relations.
B. firing staff.
C. hiring staff.
D. marketing.
4. The total number of jobs advertised at the SAH was.
A. 70
B. 120
C. 170
D. 280
5. Categories A, B and C were used to select.
A. front offices staff
B. new teams
C. department heads
D. new managers
EXERCISE 2
Complete the following summary of the last four paragraphs of the above reading passage using ONE OR TWOwords from the reading passage for each answer.
What They Did at SAH
Teams of employees were selected from different hotel departments to participate in a 6 exercise.
The information collected was used to compare7processes which, in turn, led to the development of 8 that would be used to increase the hotel's capacity to improve 9 as well as quality.
Also, an older program known as 10 was introduced at SAH. In this program, 11 is sought from customers and staffs. Whenever possible 12 suggestions are implemented within 48 hours. Other suggestions are investigated for their feasibility for a period of up to 13.
Again, there is little need for reasoning on behalf of the test taker. The main task is to seek and find a specific word from the reading passage. So how can one do so? The easiest and fastest way is to rely on a few of our golden rules. Primarily, we check for hotspots in the question, things like dates, numbers, or symbols. Unfortunately, here there are no such hotspots. We then rely on the information we gained from our reading techniques. After scanning for hotspots, none of which seem obvious in this question, we think of the topics we encountered when reading the first and last sentences of each paragraph. Here, too, this is not apparent in the question. Thus we begin to look at examples presented in the reading passage, still keeping our eyes out for hotspots. We know from the test question that we are looking for a particular "exercise". We can thus immediately rule out the paragraphs with a lot of figures and data. We are
looking for something more descriptive of a single project.
Two things stand out and attract our attention. There are two words, "Take Charge" and "benchmarking", that are in quotation marks. One of the words is even capitalized. This should draw our attention. Since reading the first and last sentences of each paragraph still has not allowed us to locate this specific information, we begin to read examples. We start with these two paragraphs for they are most conspicuous.
We read that one method for labor cost reduction given in the text is "benchmarking". Although we do not necessarily know what "benchmarking" means, we know from our "context is key" principle that we do not have to. Looking at these two examples, whose whereabouts we noted through two hotspots—quotation marks and capital letters—we see that the "benchmarking" process used teams "made up of employees from different departments within the hotel". This is all the information we need to know. The answer is right there in front of us. The answer to Question #6 must be "benchmarking".
So, as we have stated, this section is not difficult at all. Using certain of our principles we can track down the right answer and move on.
B. Multiple-Choice
The multiple-choice section of the IELTS test is the same as any other multiple-choice test. There are three types of multiple-choice questions seen in the IELTS test. In the first, you will be asked a question and given four or five potential answers to choose from. The second will provide a list of seven possible answers and you will be asked to choose two. This section is relatively straightforward and simple. Still, there are certain tricks particular to the IELTS examination that we should keep in mind.
Primarily, the multiple-choice section is one of the few sections of the IELTS test that will ask you to use your reason to answer questions. This is one of a few examples where the answers may not all be in front of you. You may be asked to do more than simply repeat information provided in the text. You may instead be asked about the main idea of a section of the passage. Obviously, our hotspots will not help us find this main idea. We should state clearly, however, that more than ninety percent of the time the multiple-choice questions deal with information written explicitly in the text. Thus, you can rely on our first principle—the answer is right in front of you—for the large majority of questions.
Occasionally, the question will not be so specific.
Do the following exercise and we'll see how it works:
PRACTICE READING PASSAGE TWO
The Pursuit of Happiness
New research uncovers some anti-intuitive insights into how many people are happy—and why.
Compared with misery, happiness is relatively unexplored terrain for social scientists. Between 1967 and 1994, 46,380 articles indexed in Psychological Abstracts mentioned depression, 36,851 anxiety, and 5,099 anger. Only 2,389 spoke of happiness, 2,340 life satisfaction, and 405 joy.
Recently we and other researchers have begun a systematic study of happiness. During the past two decades, dozens of investigators throughout the world have asked several hundred thousand representatively sampled people to reflect on their happiness and satisfaction with life—or what psychologists call "subjective well-being". In the US, the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago has surveyed a representative sample of roughly 1,500 people a year since 1957 and the institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan has carried out similar studies on a less regular basis, as has the Gallup Organization. Government-funded efforts have also probed the moods of European countries.
We have uncovered some surprising findings. People are happier than one might expect, and happiness does not appear to depend significantly on external circumstances. Although viewing life as a tragedy has a long and honorable history, the responses of random samples of people around the world about their happiness paints a much rosier picture. In the University of Chicago surveys, three in 10 Americans say they are very happy, for example. Only one in 10 chooses the most negative description "not too happy". The majority describe themselves as "pretty happy"...
How can social scientists measure something as hard to pin down as happiness?
Most researchers simply ask people to report their feelings of happiness or unhappiness and to assess how satisfying their lives are. Such self-reported well-being is moderately consistent over years of re-testing. Furthermore, those who say they are happy and satisfied seem happy to their close friends and family members and to a psychologist-interviewer. Their daily mood ratings reveal more positive emotions, and they smile more than those who call themselves unhappy. Self-reported happiness also predicts other indicators of well being. Compared with the depressed, happy people are less self-focused, less hostile and abusive and less susceptible to disease.
We have found that the even distribution of happiness cuts across almost all demographic classifications of age, economic class, race and educational level. In addition, almost all strategies for assessing subjective well being—including those that sample people's experience by polling them at random times with beepers—turn up similar findings.
Interviews with representative samples of people of all ages, for example, reveal that no time of life is notably happier or unhappier. Similarly, men and women are equally likely to declare themselves "very happy" and "satisfied" with life, according to a statistical digest of 146 studies by Marilyn J. Haring, William Stock and Morris A. Okun, all then at Arizona State University. Wealth is also a poor predictor of happiness. People have not become happier over time as their cultures have become more affluent. Even though Americans earn twice as much in today's dollars as they did in 1957, the proportion of those telling surveyors from the National Opinion Research Center that they are "very happy" has declined from 35 to 29 percent. Even very rich people—those surveyed among Forbes magazine's 100 wealthiest Americans—are only slightly happier than the average American. Those whose income has increased over a 10-year period are not happier than those whose income is stagnant. Indeed, in most nations the correlation between income and happiness is negligible—only in the poorest countries, such as Bangladesh and India, is income a good measure of emotional well being.
Are people in rich countries happier, by and large, than people in not so rich countries? It appears in general that they are, but the margin may be slim. In Portugal, for example, only one in 10 people reports being very happy, whereas in the much more prosperous Netherlands the proportion of very happy is four in 10. Yet there are curious reversals in this correlation between national wealth and well being—the Irish during the 1980s consistently reported greater life satisfaction than the wealthier West Germans. Furthermore, other factors, such as civil rights, literacy and duration of democratic government, all of which also promote reported life satisfaction, tend to go hand in hand with national wealth. As a result, it is impossible to tell whether the happiness of people in wealthier nations is based on money or is a by-product of other felicities.
Although happiness is not easy to predict from material circumstances, it seems consistent for those who have it. In one National Institute on Aging study of 5,000 adults, the happiest people in 1973 were still relatively happy a decade later, despite changes in work, residence and family status.
Questions 1-3
Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.
1. What point are the writers making in the opening paragraph?
A. Happiness levels have risen since 1967.
B. Journals take a biased view on happiness.
C. Happiness is not a well-documented research area.
D. People tend to think about themselves negatively.
2. What do the writers say about their research findings?
A. They had predicted the results correctly.
B. They felt people had responded dishonesty.
C. They conflict with those of other researchers.
D. Happiness levels are higher than they had believed.
3. In the fourth paragraph, what does the reader learn about the research method used?
A. It is new.
B. It appears to be reliable.
C. It is better than using beepers.
D. It reveals additional information.
In Question #1 of Practice Reading Passage Two, for example, we are asked the following:
"What point are the writers making in the opening paragraph？ "For our purposes now, it is not that important to look at the specific passage. What is important to note is the slightly different way this question is phrased. We are being asked to make a judgment based on our understanding of the first paragraph of the passage. We are not being asked about a specific detail, as we normally are. What is the best way to deal with a question like this?
Since all such questions will refer to a specific part of the article (we are asked about the "opening paragraph" here, although typically we are asked questions concerning the latter half of the article) it is best to go back and re-read this section. Before answering the question or looking at the possible answers, take a few seconds to read the first and last sentences of the paragraph again. Based upon these two sentences, summarize the passage to yourself using your own words. By doing so you will understand more clearly the main idea of the paragraph.
In this example we read:
"Compared with misery, happiness is relatively unexplored terrain for social scientists. Between 1967 and 1994, 46,380 articles indexed in Psychological Abstracts mentioned depression, 36,851 anxiety, and 5,099 anger. Only 2,389 spoke of happiness, 2,340 life satisfaction, and 405 joy."
Here, since the paragraph is so short, we will summarize the whole passage, not just the first and last sentences. How should we summarize this paragraph? A suitable summary would be, "Unlike misery or other emotions, happiness is not researched that often." We then take a look at our answer choices:
A Happiness levels have risen since 1967.
B Journals take a biased view on happiness.
C Happiness is not a well-documented research area.
D People tend to think about themselves negatively.
Answers A and D are not even mentioned in this paragraph so we immediately rule them out as possible answers. Is the answer then B or C? The answer most similar to the summary we came up with is C. B is indeed true. But is B the main point? No, it isn't.
So our summary approach has taught us an important lesson: do not mistake examples or proof for the main idea as the main idea itself. This quick, one-sentence summary method is the ideal way to deal with these questions about the main point of a specific paragraph.
If, after reading the first and last sentences of the paragraph(s) mentioned we are still unclear of the meaning, then read the examples. If still not clear, then read the entire passage. This is simply a variation of the "scan, scan, read, read" principle.
There is still, however, one other tricky aspect to the multiple-choice questions. This is the tricky language that the IELTS test makers sometimes like to use in multiple-choice questions. This is obviously just to test the student's language ability. But since we will be prepared and aware of such tricks, these questions will give us no trouble at all.
Let's go back to Practice Reading Passage One which states in relation to management changes within the Sydney Airport Hotel:
"Partly as a result of this change, there are 25 per cent fewer management positions."
Yet, Question #2 asks us:
"SAH's new organizational structure requires..."
A 75% of the old management positions.
B 25% of the old management positions.
C 25% more management positions.
D 5% fewer management positions.
The text states this number in the negative using the word "fewer." Of the original 100% of management, 25% are now no longer needed. The question asks us for the same figure positively, asking us how many of the original 100% are still needed. The answer is A.
When one reads tricky questions like this, especially ones that involve a lot of numbers, one should read them slowly and carefully. There is very likely some tricky language being used. There are many other examples of this subtle word choice throughout the IELTS test. Being aware of this fact will mean you are not easily fooled. The number of questions you answer correctly will thus increase.
C. List of Headings
Perhaps this section of the IELTS is the easiest to recognize. Each IELTS will include one and only one list of headings section. Passages that include list of heading questions will always be preceded by a list of titles. After you read the text, you will be asked to match a title from this list to every paragraph of the reading passage.
As we have explained before, while taking the IELTS test it is best not to read the entire text. The same principle applies here. Even though we are being asked to understand the "meaning" of the text, there is still no need to read every word. How should we approach this section then?
First, scan all the possible title choices before reading the text. Do this when you scan the other questions as part of your scan, scan, read, read approach. Unlike other questions, there will probably be no typical hotspots here. Dates, numbers, and proper names might all be missing. Therefore, our standard for what is a hotspot must change in this section. Here, the important things to note are the keywords of the possible titles. These words are often verbs and sum up very succinctly the general idea of a passage.
Let's study the following test item:
PRACTICE READING PASSAGE THREE
The KEYLESS SOCIETY
A. Students who want to enter the University of Montreal's Athletic Complex need more than just a conventional ID card—their identities must be authenticated by an electronic hand scanner. In some California housing estates, a key alone is insufficient to get someone in the door; his or her voiceprint must also be verified. And soon, customers at some Japanese banks will have to present their faces for scanning before they can enter the building and withdraw their money.
B. All of these are applications of biometrics, a little-known but fast-growing technology that involves the use of physical or biological characteristics to identify individuals. In use for more than a decade at some high-security government institutions in the United States and Canada, biometrics are now rapidly popping up in the everyday world. Already, more than 10,000 facilities, from prisons to day-care centers, monitor people's fingerprints or other physical parts to ensure that they are who they claim to be. Some 60 biometric companies around the world pulled in at least $22 million last year and that grand total is expected to mushroom to at least $50 million by 1999.
C. Biometric security systems operate by storing a digitized record of some unique human feature. When an authorized user wishes to enter or use the facilities, the system scans the person's corresponding characteristics and attempts to match them against those on record. Systems using fingerprints, hands, voices, irises, retinas and faces are already on the market. Others using typing patterns
and even body odours are in various stages of development.
D. Fingerprint scanners are currently the most widely deployed types of biometric application, thanks to their growing use over the last 20 years by law-enforcement agencies. Sixteen American states now use biometric fingerprint verification systems to check that people claiming welfare payments are genuine. In June, politicians in Toronto voted to do the same, with a pilot project beginning next year.
E. To date, the most widely used commercial biometric system is the hand-key, a type of hand scanner which reads the unique scape, size and irregularities of people's hands. Originally developed for nuclear power plants, the handkey received its big break when it was used to control access to the Olympic Village in Atlanta by more than 65,000 athletes, trainers and support staff. Now there are scores of other applications.
F. Around the world, the market is growing rapidly. Malaysia, for example, is preparing to equip all of its airports with biometric face scanners to match passengers with luggage. And Japan's largest maker of cash dispensers is developing new machines that incorporate iris scanners. The first commercial biometric, a hand reader used by an American firm to monitor employee attendance, was introduced in 1974. But only in the past few years has the technology improved enough for the prices to drop sufficiently to make them commercially viable. "When we started four years ago, I had to explain to everyone what a biometric is," says one marketing expert. "Now, there's much more awareness out there."
G. Not surprisingly, biometrics raise thorny questions about privacy and the potential for abuse. Some worry that governments and industry will be tempted to use the technology to monitor individual behaviour. "If someone used your fingerprints to match your health-insurance records with a credit-card record showing you regularly bought lots of cigarettes and fatty foods," says one policy analyst, "you would see your insurance payments go through the roof." In Toronto, critics of the welfare fingerprint plan complained that it would stigmatise recipients by forcing them to submit to a procedure widely identified with criminals.
H. Nonetheless, support for biometrics is growing in Toronto as it is in many other communities. In an increasingly crowded and complicated world, biometrics may well be a technology whose time has come.
Questions 1-7
This reading passage has eight headings for paragraphs A-H from the list of headings below. Write the appropriate numbers (i-x) in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use all of them.
List of Headings
i. Common objections
ii. Who's planning what.
iii. This type sells best in the shops.
iv. The figures say it all.
v. Early trials
vi. They can't get in without these.
vii. How does it work.
viii. Fighting fraud
ix. Systems to avoid
x. Accepting the inevitable
1. Paragraph B
2. Paragraph C
3. Paragraph D
4. Paragraph E
5. Paragraph F
6. Paragraph G
7. Paragraph H
Questions 8-14
Look at the following groups of people and the list of biometric systems (A-F) below. Match the groups of people to the biometric system associated with them in the passage. Write the appropriate letters A-F in boxes 8-14 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any biometric system more than once.
8. Sports students
9. Olympic athletes
10. Airline passengers
11. Welfare claimants
12. Business employees
13. Home owners
14. Bank customers
List of Biometric Systems
A. fingerprint scanner
B. band scanner
C. body odour
D. voiceprint
E. face scanner
F. typing pattern
For example, as we look at some of the possible titles from the above exercise, we encounter the following choices: "Common objections", "Who's planning what?" "This type sells best in shops," and "Fighting fraud". There are more choices, but these few will make an acceptable example. Looking at each title, we choose a word or two that summarizes the idea of the title. From the first, for example, we may choose "objections". Now we know this title will be linked with a paragraph concerning objections or complaints. From the second title we know that the passage should be concerned with "plans". We thus look for a paragraph containing many ideas about future plans.
As you look at the reading passage paragraphs, again use the first and last sentences to get an approximate idea of that paragraphs meaning. If this is not enough, then look at an example in the paragraph. Finally, and only if necessary, read the entire paragraph. Now you have a general understanding of each paragraph, an understanding that can now be compared to the key words chosen from the possible headings.
What is a good method for quickly comparing our title and paragraph choices? Well, underlining the word or two in each heading is a good start. As you read the passages first and last sentence, also underline words that best summarize that paragraph. Now you have a readily visible tool for later reference.
Also, very rarely will you be asked about to choose a heading for the first paragraph of a reading passage. Scan it as normal, noting hotspots, but do not worry about summarizing or finding a representative sentence. Use this time on other questions.
D. True/False/Not Given (Yes/No/Not Given)
We already discussed this section briefly while discussing one of our golden rules—ignore your background knowledge. In the True/False/Not Given (Yes/No/Not Given) section you will be given a series of statements relating to the reading passage. If the statements are confirmed by information found in the article, you will answer "True". If the information in the text is the opposite of the given statement, you will answer "False". If the information is not discussed at all in the text, the answer must be "Not Given".
As you can see, this section of the IELTS requires the test taker to make constant reference to the reading passage. You will need to either confirm or deny the given statements. In order to be comfortable with our answers, we should check the original text repeatedly. Remember to use the "mental map" principle to reduce the amount of time needed to check your answers. Most True/False/Not Given (Yes/No/Not Given) questions will also relate to typical hotspots, so that principle is also important here. Using these two principles, we begin to look for the answers.
In order to understand this section better, let us look at an example.
PRACTICE READING PASSAGE FOUR
There is a great concern in Europe and North America about declining standards of literacy in schools. In Britain, the fact that 20 per cent of 16 year olds have a reading age of 14 or less has helped to prompt massive educational changes. The development of literacy has far-reaching effects on general intellectual development and thus anything which impedes the development of literacy is a serious matter for us all. So the hunt is on for the cause of the decline in literacy. The search so far has focused on socioeconomic factors, or the effectiveness of "traditional" versus "modern " teaching techniques.
The fruitless search for the cause of the increase in illiteracy is a tragic example of the saying "They can't see the wood for the trees". When teachers use picture books, they are simply continuing a long-established tradition that is accepted without question. And for the past two decades, illustrations in reading primers have become increasingly detailed and obtrusive, while language has become impoverished—sometimes to the point of extinction.
Amazingly, there is virtually no empirical evidence to support the use of illustrations in teaching reading. On the contrary, a great deal of empirical evidence shows that pictures interfere in a damaging way with all aspects of learning to read. Despite this, from North America to the Antipodes, the first books that many school children receive are totally without text.
A teacher's main concern is to help young beginner readers to develop not only the ability to recognize words, but the skills necessary to understand what these words mean. Even if a child is able to read aloud fluently, he or she may not be able to understand much of it: this is called "barking at text". The teacher's task of improving comprehension is made harder by influences outside the classroom. But the adverse effects of such things as television, video games, or limited language experiences at home, can be offset by experiencing "rich" language at school.
Instead, it is not unusual for a book of 30 or more pages to have only one sentence full of repetitive phrases. The artwork is often marvelous, but the pictures make the language redundant, and the children have no need to imagine anything when they read such books. Looking at a picture actively prevents children younger than nine from creating a mental image, and can make it difficult for older children. In order to learn how to comprehend, they need to practise making their own meaning in response to text. They need to have their innate powers of imagination trained.
As they grow older, many children turn aside from books without pictures, and it is a situation made more serious as our culture becomes more visual. It is hard to wean children off picture books when pictures have played a major part throughout their formative reading experiences, and when there is competition for their attention from so many other sources of entertainment. The least intelligent are most vulnerable, but tests show that even intelligent children are being affected. The response of educators has been to extend the use of pictures in books and to simplify the language, even at senior levels. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge recently held joint conferences to discuss the noticeably rapid decline in literacy among their undergraduates.
Pictures are also used to help motivate children to read because they are beautiful and eye-catching. But motivation to read should be provided by listening to stories well read, where children imagine in response to the story. Then, as they start to read, they have this experience to help them understand the language. If we present pictures to save children the trouble of developing these creative skills, then I think we are making a great mistake.
Academic journals ranging from educational research, psychology, language learning, psycholinguistics, and so on cite experiments which demonstrate how detrimental pictures are for beginner readers. Here is a brief selection:
The research results of the Canadian educationalist Dale Willows were clear and consistent: pictures affected speed and accuracy and the closer the pictures were to the words, the slower and more inaccurate the child's reading became. She claims that when children come to a word they already know, then the pictures are unnecessary and distracting. If they do not know a word and look to the picture for a clue to its meaning, they may well be misled by aspects of the pictures which are not closely related to the meaning of the word they are trying to understand.
Jay Samuels, an American psychologist, found that poor readers given no pictures learnt significantly more words than those learning to read with books with pictures. He examined the work of other researchers who had reported problems with the use of pictures and who found that a word without a picture was superior to a word plus a picture. When children were given words and pictures, those who seemed to ignore the pictures and pointed at the words learnt more words than the children who pointed at the pictures, but they still learnt fewer words than the children who had no illustrated stimuli at all.
Questions 1-4
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 1-4 write
YES if the statement agrees with the information given
NO if the statement contradicts the information given
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this
1. It is traditionally accepted that children's books should contain few pictures.
2. Teachers aim to teach both word recognition and word meaning.
3. Older readers are having difficulty in adjusting to text without pictures.
4. Literacy has improved as a result of recent academic conferences.
In the above,the test takers are provided with the following four statements:
1. It is traditionally accepted that children's books should contain few pictures.
2. Teachers aim to teach both word recognition and word meaning.
3. Older readers are having difficulty in adjusting to text without pictures.
4. Literacy has improved as a result of recent academic conferences.
Let us first look at Question #1. While reading the text, we come across the following statement, "When teachers use picture books, they are simple continuing a long-established tradition that is accepted without question." We now know that the use of picture books is part of a long teaching tradition. This is a refutation of the first statement that claims that teachers do not like to use picture books, or would prefer to use books with few pictures. The answer to Question #1 is therefore clearly "False". This example is fairly straightforward. Let us look at some more.
Later in the same text, we read, "A teacher's main concern is to help young beginner readers to develop not only the ability to recognize words, but the skills necessary to understand what these words mean." Question #2 is simple a re-wording of this very sentence. The answers are indeed all right there in front of us. The answer is clearly "True".
Both of these examples seem very simple. In fact, like most of the IELTS tests, this section is indeed simple. There are, however, some tricks to keep in mind. Not only must we ignore our background knowledge, we should also note one other principle particular to this section: the definition of "Not Given" is very strict. What does this mean? Let us illustrate this principle by way of example.
In the reading passage we read that, "The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge recently held joint conferences to discuss the noticeably rapid decline in literacy among their undergraduates." We can assume from this statement that the two universities probably came up with some good solutions and found ways to improve literacy rates among their undergraduates. Question #4 states, "Literacy has improved as a result of recent academic conferences." Based upon our logic, the answer to this question should be "True". But if we chose this answer we will be wrong. Why?
Although we can assume that the conferences had a positive impact on literacy rates, this is not stated in the text. We cannot make assumptions when we answer True/False/Not Given (Yes/No/Not Given) questions. Remember, the definition of Not Given is very strict. Just like we cannot answer based upon our background knowledge, we cannot assume things about the reading passage. If the text does not explicitly state something in the positive or negative, the answer must be "Not Given". The answer to this question is indeed "Not Given".
In summation, while answering True/False/Not Given (Yes/No/Not Given) questions, make constant reference to the text. Use the basic principles you now know to do so quickly and efficiently. Do not answer these questions based upon your background knowledge. Also, do not make any assumptions based on the text for you will be wrong. The definition of "Not Given" is very strict. If it is not stated explicitly in the text, the answer must be "Not Given".
It should be noted that this section of the examination is perhaps the most time consuming. Since that is so, the test maker should fully utilize the principles we have introduced to rapidly find the answers. Please note all dates, numbers, and symbols. These will aid you immensely as you answer these questions.
E. Summary
This section is a little similar to the word sentence completion section, for you will also be asked to here to complete a sentence that is missing words. In this section, however, you will be provided with an entire paragraph, not just a single sentence. The paragraph will be missing several key words and will be followed by a list of words. The student chooses the appropriate words from this list to complete the paragraph. Since the format has slightly changed, our approach to these questions must change as well.
Unlike the sentence completion questions, the focus of the summary section is not on single words. The questions designed in the sentence completion section are all designed to test a particular word. In the summary section, however, you will be asked to examine a much larger sphere. Usually this will be indicated in the question. You might be asked a question about paragraphs four and five in particular. Also, these summary sections almost always concern the latter part of the reading passage. The section normally tests the second half to last third of the text.
So how does one approach this section?
First look for any hotspots you can find in the summary. Also look for grammar phrases or words that are themselves unchanging. Words, especially conjunctions, will stay the same and are easily found. Examples are like "and", "as well as", and "moreover". These words might also suggest a list, and thus we can start looking for a list as we hunt for the answers.
If there are these hotspots, use them. If there are none, look at the first and last sentences of the given paragraphs for an idea of its topic. This should help to indicate where the answer is found. You can possibly eliminate some paragraphs with this step. The look at examples, and finally, if needed, read the appropriate sections.
F. Table Completion
The IELTS examination will almost always include a table completion section. In this section, the test maker will be provided an incomplete graph. There may be several categories on this graph, including date, place name, etc. One or two pieces of this information will be missing for each item on the table. It is your job to fill that information in.
Let's study the following test item:
PRACTICE READING PASSAGE FIVE
The choice of design and materials for an artificial reef depends on where it is going to be placed. In areas of strong currents, for example, a solid concrete structure will be more appropriate than ballasted tyres. It also depends on what species are to be attracted. It is pointless creating high-rise structures for fish that prefer flat or low-relief habitat. But the most important consideration is the purpose of the reef.
In the US, where there is a national reef plan using cleaned up rigs and tanks, artificial reefs have mainly been used to attract fish for recreational fishing or sport-diving. But there are many other ways in which they can be used to manage the marine habitat. For as well as protecting existing habitat, providing purpose-built accommodation for commercial species (such as lobsters and octupi) and acting as sea defences, they can be an effective way of improving fish harvests.
Japan, for example, has created vast areas of artificial habitat—rather than isolated reefs—to increase its fish stocks. In fact, the cultural and historical importance of seafood in Japan is reflected by the fact that it is a world leader in reef technology; what's more, those who construct and deploy reefs have sole rights to the harvest.
In Europe, artificial reefs have been mainly employed to protect habitat. Particularly so in the Mediterranean where reefs have been sunk as physical obstacles to stop illegal trawling, which is destroying sea grass beds and the marine life that depends on them. "If you want to protect areas of the seabed, you need something that will stop trawlers dead in their tracks," says Dr. Antony Jensen of the Southampton Oceanography Center.
Italy boasts considerable artificial reef activity. It deployed its first scientifically planned reef using concrete cubes assembled in pyramid forms in 1974 to enhance fisheries and stop trawling. And Spain has built nearly 50 reefs in its waters, mainly to discourage trawling and enhance the productivity of fisheries. Meanwhile, Britain established its first quarried rock artificial reef in 1984 off the Scottish coast, to assess its potential for attracting commercial species.
Questions 1-5
Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answer in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
AREA/COUNTRY TYPES OF REEF PURPOSE
U.S. Made using old 1 To attract fish for leisure activities
Japan Forms large area of artificial habitat To improve 2
Europe Lies deep down to form 3 To act as a sea defense
Italy Consists of pyramid shapes made of 4 To prevent travelling
Britain Made of rock To encourage 5 fish species
Here we are supplied with information about various artificial reefs around the globe. There are three categories: country, type of reef, and purpose. We must use the given information to find the ungiven information.
Primarily, rely on the unchanging categories to track down the answers. Proper nouns, in this case the given country names, are easily found when one scans a text. Use them, rather than specific information about certain reefs, to track down the other information. For example, if we are given dates, use that information to find the missing data from the other tables. After you have scanned the appropriate sections and located this unchanging word, read the section around it. The answer should be found here.
G. Matching
The matching section of the IELTS examination is the last of the question types we will discuss. Like the sentence completion and map labeling sections, the matching section is relatively straightforward. In this section you will be given a list of words. You will be asked to match the items on this list with either items on another provided list or a series of statements. The relationship between these items will be given in the reading passage. Again, like much of the IELTS test, the answers are all in front of you. There is no need for reasoning in this particular section of the test.
There are two good examples of this section that we should briefly discuss. The first such example is found in the following exercise.
PRACTICE READING PASSAGE SIX
WHAT IS A PORT CITY
The port city provides a fascinating and rich understanding of the movement of people and goods around the world. We understand a port as a centre of land-sea exchange, and as a major source of livelihood and a major force for cultural mixing. But do ports all produce a range of common urban characteristics which justify classifying port cities together under a single generic label? Do they have enough in common to warrant distinguishing them from other kinds of cities?
A port must be distinguished from a harbour. They are two very different things. Most ports have poor harbours, and many fine harbours see few ships. Harbour is a physical concept, a shelter for ships; port is an economic concept, a centre of land-sea exchange which requires good access to a hinterland even more than a sea-linked foreland. It is landward access, which is productive of goods for export and which demands imports, that is critical. Poor harbours can be improved with breakwaters and dredging if there is a demand for a port. Madras and Colombo are examples of harbours expensively improved by enlarging, dredging and building breakwaters.
Port cities become industrial, financial and service centres and political capitals because of their water connections and the urban concentration which arises there and later draws to it railways, highways and air routes. Water transport means cheap access, the chief basis of all port cities. Many of the world's biggest cities, for example, London, new York, Shanghai, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Jakarta, Calcutta, Philadelphia and San Francisco began as ports—that is, with land-sea exchange as their major function—but they have since grown disproportionately in other respects so that their port functions are no longer dominant. They remain different kinds of places from non-port cities and their port functions account for that difference.
Port functions, more than anything else, make a city. A port city is open to the world. In it races, cultures, and ideas, as well as goods from a variety of places, jostle, mix and enrich each other and the life of the city. The smell of the sea and the harbour, the sound of boat whistles or the moving tides are symbols of their multiple links with a wide world, samples of which are present in microcosm within their own urban areas.
Sea ports have been transformed by the advent of powered vessels, whose size and draught have increased. Many formerly important ports have become economically and physically a result. By-passed by most of their former enriching flow of exchange, they have become cultural and economic backwaters or have acquired the character of museums of the past. Examples of these are Charleston, Salem, Bristol, Plymouth, Surat, Galle, Melaka, Soochow, and a long list of earlier prominent port cities in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Much domestic port trade has not been recorded. What evidence we have suggests that domestic trade was greater than external trade. Shanghai, for example, did most of its trade with other Chinese ports and inland cities. Calcutta traded mainly with other parts of India and so on. Most of any city's population is engaged in providing goods and services for the city itself. Trade outside the city is its basic function. But each basic worker requires food, housing, clothing and other such services. Estimates of the ratio of basic to service workers range from 1∶4 to 1∶8.
No city can be simply a port but must be involved in a variety of other activities. The port function of the city draws to it raw materials and distributes them in many other forms. Ports take advantage of the need for breaking up the bulk material where water and land transport meet and where loading and unloading costs can be minimized by refining raw materials or turning them into finished goods. The major examples here are oil refining and ore refining, which are commonly located at ports. It is not easy to draw a line around what is and is not a port function. All ports handle, unload, sort, alter, process, repack, and reship most of what they receive. A city may still be regarded as a port city when it becomes involved in a great range of functions not immediately involved with ships or docks.
Cities which began as ports retain the chief commercial and administrative center of the city close to the waterfront. The center of New York is in lower Manhattan between two river mouths, the City of London is on the Thames, Shanghai along the Bund. This proximity to water is also true of Boston, Philadelphia, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Yokohama, where the commercial, financial, and administrative centers are still grouped around their harbours even though each city has expanded into a metropolis. Even a casual visitor cannot mistake them as anything but port cities.
EXERCISE 1:
Look at the following descriptions of some port cities mentioned in the reading passage. Match the pairs of cities (A-H) listed below, with the descriptions.
1. required considerable harbour development
2. began as ports but other facilities later dominated
3. lost their prominence when large ships could not be accommodated
4. maintain their business centres near the port waterfront
A. Bombay and Buenos Aires
B. Hong Kong and Salem
C. Istanbul and Jakarta
D. Madras and Colombo
E. New York and Bristol
F. Plymouth and Melaka
G. Singapore and Yokohama
H. Surat and London
Here we are provided with a list of city names and we are told to match them to the appropriate statements. If the statements correctly describe these cities, it is a correct match. This section again proves to us the importance of noting hotspots. All of the city names included on the list come directly from examples provided in the reading passage. These proper names, along with numbers, symbols, and data are all hotspots and easily recognizable. We should therefore have noted this information as we scanned.
If we use our hotspots principle, this section will not be problematic at all. This section is in fact very easy. All we need to do is to make reference to the text and confirm which cities match with the given information. There are no real tricks to this section. We simply need to find information written explicitly in the text. So, just rely on our hotspot and mental map strategies and everything will be fine.
Another way the matching section is typically presented is found in Practice Reading Passage Three Questions #8-14. Here, instead of a series of descriptive statements, we are asked to match items on one list (groups of people) with items on another list (types of biometric systems). Again, by making reference to the text and confirming the relationship between these two lists, there should be no problem in dealing with questions of this type.
This test section shows the importance of paying attention to specific examples used in the reading passage as you read. The best way to deal with the large amount of information provided in the text is to underline certain key words while reading. This will reduce the time you spend making reference and make finding the answers that are there in front of you an easier task.
Ⅵ. Conclusion
By now, the IELTS examination should be pretty familiar to you. The fact that there is a method to how the test is constructed should be clear. Once you understand this method, you know the sorts of details that the test makers want to emphasize. They want to emphasize very specific data presented in the text as well as the best ways to summarize particular sections of the reading passage. You also know how to deal with the typical questions of the IELTS and get the answers correct. We know all of this from our seven principles: the answers are all in front of you, hotspots, scan, scan, read, read, mental map, chronological order, ignore your background knowledge, and vocabulary in context. In addition to these seven principles, you also know the particular ways to deal with each individual question type of the IELTS.
As with any test, preparation is extremely important. Once you are well prepared, there is nothing to worry about. By now we have mastered the basic principles—the so-called golden rules—to taking the IELTS examination. As long as you follow these simple guidelines the test will no longer be a mystery to you and your test score should rise immediately. By now the IELTS test is like a familiar friend you have known for a long time. You are comfortable with it and feel confident. Your test scores will reflect this.
Academic Reading Test 1
INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE
TESTING SYSTEM
ACADEMIC READING
TEST 1
TIME ALLOWED:1 hour
NUMBER OF QUESTIONS:41
Instructions
