A SENSE OF ENGLISH
Last month I gave some tips for how to approach the IELTS speaking exam. This time we are going to think a little about the reading test.
For any readers not familiar with the reading test, a good starting point is www.examenglish.com/IELTS/IELTS_reading.htm - there is an example text and five accompanying questions.
One of the difficulties that most students have is time. The exam consists of three different passages of reading, which can total more than two-and-a-half thousand words.
There are then 40 questions and only sixty minutes to answer them all. You should also bear in mind that the questions become progressively more difficult.
Another challenging aspect of the exam is that the subject matter that comes up can be about almost anything.
You might get a reading text about nuclear power stations, for example, which could include some vocabulary of a technical and specialized nature.
So, are you expected to know all the words in the dictionary? Do you have to understand the texts perfectly to pass the IELTS reading test? Of course the answer is no.
The questions are designed to test your general understanding of the text. This means you need to develop a technique that I call “thin-slicing”. This refers to ways of separating the key information from the rest.
Try the following method to do this. Read the whole of the first paragraph. Then read the first line of each of the other paragraphs. The first line introduces you to what the rest of the paragraph is going to be about.
This will then help you to locate the specific areas of the texts that relate to the different questions. It is not a substitute for reading the whole text from start to finish (see below), but it is the best way to give yourself an overview.
Think of it like spreading a world map out on the table in front of you and locating immediately the different continents. When the question then asks you to locate a smaller place, you’ll at least know which part of the map to start looking at.
After that read the set of questions that relate to the text, and then read through the whole passage.
When doing this, don’t stall over trying to unravel complex sentence structures. The time to do that is when you are sure that that particular part of the text relates directly to one of the questions.
Following this method puts you in the best place to then locate the specific information that the question requires you to find.
There are several types of multiple-choice questions that are used. Sometimes you have to choose one answer only from a choice of four, other times it’s a case of selecting several answers from a list.
Whatever type of question is used, always ask three questions about each multiple-choice option. The answer to all three questions must be “yes” for it to be a correct option to select.
Firstly, is it actually mentioned in the article? Even though it may look like a reasonable or true answer, it might not be sourced in the text.
Secondly – if the statement/option is mentioned, is it true according to the information in the article? Make sure you’ve read the question very carefully as well in this case, as sometimes it’s easy to understand the exact opposite of what is being asked.
The third question to ask? Is the statement/option relevant to the question? It’s not enough that it is mentioned in the article and concurs with the information given. It must be specific to what the question is asking.
Good luck to all those sitting IELTS anytime soon - next month in this column we will look at the Writing test.
Monday, 29 June 2009
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