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IELTS Reading: how to do 'T, F, NG' questions

Let's look at how we found the answers to 3 questions in last week's lesson:

Question 1 - False
The question says that "laughter is biologically important" but the passage says that laughter "serves no biological purpose". As you can see, the answer is false because the passage says the opposite to what the question says.

Question 5 - True
The question says that "Graeme Richie's work links jokes to artificial intelligence" and the passage says that "Graeme Richie studies... jokes in order to understand... reasoning in machines". There is definitely a link between his study of jokes and 'machine intelligence'.

Question 6 - Not Given
The answer to question 6 is 'not given' because the passage doesn't mention anything about comedians using personal situations. We know that comedians use situations in their jokes, but we do not know whether these situations are personal.

These 3 questions illustrate the difference between 'true', 'false' and 'not given'.
- True = part of the passage expresses the same idea as the question.
- False = the passage expresses the opposite or a different idea.
- Not Given = some information is missing, so we cannot answer true or false.

IELTS Reading: more practice

The following exercise comes from Cambridge IELTS 5, page 43.

Here are the questions with the relevant part of the text below each one. Study the questions and the text sentences carefully. Decide whether the statements are true, false or not given.

1. Arthur Koestler considered laughter biologically important in several ways.

• Arthur Koestler dubbed it the luxury reflex: 'unique in that it serves no apparent biological purpose'.

2. Plato believed humour to be a sign of above-average intelligence.

• Plato expressed the idea that humour is simply a delighted feeling of superiority over others.

3. Kant believed that a joke involves the controlled release of nervous energy.

• Kant felt that joke-telling relies on building up a psychic tension which is safely punctured.

4. Current thinking on humour has largely ignored Aristotle's view on the subject.

• Most modern humour theorists have settled on some version of Aristotle's belief.

5. Graeme Richie's work links jokes to artificial intelligence.

• Graeme Richie studies the linguistic structure of jokes in order to understand not only humour but language understanding and reasoning in machines.

6. Most comedians use personal situations as a source of humour.

• A comedian will present a situation followed by an unexpected interpretation.

7. Chimpanzees make particular noises when they are playing.

• Chimpanzees have a 'play-face' - a gaping expression accompanied by a panting 'ah, ah' noise.

IELTS Reading: keyword table

Here's a table of key vocabulary from Cambridge IELTS 8 (test 1, passage 1).

Remember that there are always words in the passage that are similar to words in the questions. If you find the similar words, you've found the answers.

IELTS Reading: keywords

Here's a table showing the key vocabulary from last week's reading exercise. I recommend making a keyword table every time you practise a reading test.

bolster (verb) = support or strengthen

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Today's questions are about the passage that I used last week. This time you need to decide whether the statements below are true, false or not given.

Read the following text about the printing press:

From a single point of origin, Mainz, Germany, printing spread within several decades to over two hundred cities in a dozen European countries. By 1500, printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million volumes. In the 16th century, with presses spreading further afield, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies. The operation of a press became so synonymous with the enterprise of printing that it lent its name to an entire new branch of media, the press.

In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information and ideas transcended borders and threatened the power of political and religious authorities. The sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle class.

Answer TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN:

1. By the beginning of the 16th century, the printing press was in use in several different countries.
2. The printing press was popular because it was so easy to operate.
3. Movable type printing can be linked to a rise in the number of people who could read and write.
4. Printing had a negative effect on the middle classes.

IELTS Reading: paragraph headings

Match two of the following headings with the paragraphs below. I'll reveal the correct answers tomorrow.

1. Rapid sales of printing presses.
2. The revolutionary impact of the printing press.
3. New information and ideas.
4. The printing boom.

From a single point of origin, Mainz, Germany, printing spread within several decades to over two hundred cities in a dozen European countries. By 1500, printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million volumes. In the 16th century, with presses spreading further afield, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies. The operation of a press became so synonymous with the enterprise of printing that it lent its name to an entire new branch of media, the press.

In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information and ideas transcended borders and threatened the power of political and religious authorities. The sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle class.

IELTS Reading: practise 'general' tests too

The General Training reading test is a bit different to the Academic test. However, the techniques you need to use to find the answers are the same:

- Underline key words in the question.
- Look for those words, or words with the same meaning, in the passage.

General Training questions are sometimes a bit easier than those in the Academic test, so I often give my students a section from a GT test as an introduction to the reading exam.

Here's an example GT test section from the official IELTS website: click here

IELTS Reading: matching

Today I've attached a matching exercise so that you can practise using the method I described in last week's reading lesson.

Click here to download

The answers are given on the last page, but try not to look at them until you've done the exercise.

IELTS Reading: match the names

One type of question asks you to "match the names with a statement". You will see a list of people's names (often researchers or experts) and you have to match each name with a statement about what he/she did or said.

Here's some advice for this type of question:

1. Find all of the names in the passage first. Scan the whole passage quickly (don't read it, just search for the names) and underline all the names that the question asks you about.
2. Remember that academic articles often only use surnames. For example, if one of the names is Robert Smith, you might not see the first name 'Robert' in the passage. Just look for the surname 'Smith'.
3. Do difficult questions last. If one name is mentioned 3 times in 3 different paragraphs, it will be more difficult to match with a statement than a name that is only mentioned once. Start with the name that is only mentioned once.
4. When you find a match, put a cross next to the statement; you will only use each statement once.
5. As usual, look for "keywords" - words in the passage that are similar to words in the question statements.

I'll try to find an example of this type of question for next week's lesson.

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Read the following text and answer true, false or not given.

Coffee consumption has been shown to have minimal or no impact, positive or negative, on cancer development. However, researchers involved in an ongoing 22-year study by the Harvard School of Public Health state that "the overall balance of risks and benefits [of coffee consumption] are on the side of benefits."

Other studies suggest coffee consumption reduces the risk of being affected by Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, diabetes mellitus type 2, cirrhosis of the liver, and gout. A longitudinal study in 2009 showed that those who consumed a moderate amount of coffee or tea (3–5 cups per day) at midlife were less likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer's disease in late-life compared with those who drank little coffee or avoided it altogether.

1. Scientists have linked coffee consumption to accelerated cancer development.
2. Some scientists believe that the benefits of drinking coffee outweigh the drawbacks.
3. Recent research links coffee consumption with a reduced risk of some illnesses.

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Read the following text and answer true, false or not given.

The killer whale, commonly referred to as the orca, and less commonly as the blackfish, is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Killer whales are found in all oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas. As a species they have a diverse diet, although individual populations often specialize in particular types of prey. Some feed exclusively on fish, while others hunt marine mammals such as sea lions, seals, walruses and even large whales. Killer whales are regarded as apex predators, lacking natural predators and preying on even large sharks.

Killer whales are highly social; some populations are composed of family groups which are the most stable of any animal species. Their sophisticated hunting techniques and vocal behaviors, which are often specific to a particular group and passed across generations, have been described as manifestations of culture.

1. Killer whales are predominantly found in cold water areas.
2. Some killer whale groups only eat fish.
3. They may even eat large sharks.
4. Killer whales are able to pass on skills to their young.

IELTS Reading: paragraph headings

Try this 'paragraph headings' question from Cambridge IELTS 7, page 48-50.

Choose the correct heading for the paragraph below.

1. Co-operation of district officials.
2. Government authorities' instructions.

It would have been easy to criticise the MIRTP for using in the early phases a 'top-down' approach, in which decisions were made by experts and officials before being handed down to communities, but it was necessary to start the process from the level of the governmental authorities of the district. It would have been difficult to respond to the requests of villagers and other rural inhabitants without the support and understanding of district authorities.

Note:
- Is it true that you only need to read the first sentence of the paragraph?
- Why is it a good idea to do 'paragraph headings' sections last?

Please share your answers in the "comments" area below. I'll reveal the correct answer tomorrow.

IELTS Reading: reading to get ideas

You shouldn't think that reading practice is only useful for the reading test. Reading articles in newspapers, magazines or online is also a great way to improve your vocabulary knowledge and collect ideas for the writing and speaking tests.

For example, a recent question in the writing test asked whether or not it's useful to study history. I did a quick search online and found this article:

Click here for the article "Why Study History?"

You don't need to read the full aricle, but it would be useful to note down some of the main ideas. Can you find 3 arguments against studying history, and 3 reasons why we should study it?

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Read the following text about last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is making Americans think more about a clean energy future – but not yet to the extent of having to pay for it, or to tackle climate change, one of the leading US thinkers on global warming policy said yesterday.

US citizens are "horrified" by the pollution in the Gulf of Mexico, and are starting to think more about cleaner energy sources such as wind and wave power, said Eileen Clausen, president of America's foremost climate think-tank, the Washington-based Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

However, she said, when consumers are asked by pollsters if they would be willing to pay more for such a future, they say no, and say the government should pay. Furthermore, Ms Clausen said, the Gulf disaster was giving US energy policy "a nudge rather than a shift" in the direction of clean energy, but it would probably not be enough to bring forward legislation to curb carbon emissions, at least for the present.

(The Independent, 21.6.10)

Are the following statements true, false or not given according to the text?

1. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the result of a human error.
2. US citizens accept that they will need to pay for a clean energy future.
3. In spite of the disaster, the government is unlikely to introduce laws to reduce carbon emissions.

IELTS Reading: keyword tables

When I do reading tests with my students, we always make a 'keyword table' with the words and phrases that helped us to get the answers.

Here's our table for test 1, passage 1 in Cambridge IELTS book 6:

Don't just test yourself. Study the answers, your mistakes, and the key vocabulary whenever you do a reading test. Try making a keyword table.

IELTS Reading: choose the best title

Read the following article and choose the best title from the list below.

A new survey reveals that a family sit-down at dinnertime may reduce a teenager’s risk of trying or using alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. The study surveyed more than 1,000 teens and found that those who dined with their families five to seven times a week were four times less likely to use alcohol, tobacco or marijuana than those who ate with their families fewer than three times a week.

A recent UK survey also found that dining together as a family is a key ingredient in ensuring a child's happiness. Children in the survey reported higher levels of happiness when they dined together with their families at least three times a week. "Contrary to the popular belief that children only want to spend time playing video games or watching TV," said researcher Dr. Maris Iacovou of the University of Essex, "we found that they were most happy when interacting with their parents or siblings."

A) Children's happiness
B) Why teenagers use alcohol, cigarettes and drugs
C) What teenagers really want
D) Why families should dine together

(article adapted from The Independent)

Read to improve your vocabulary

The best way to improve your vocabulary knowledge is to read things that interest you. Collect vocabulary (words, collocations, phrases) in a notebook.

Even a short article about football can contain useful expressions:

The organisers of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa are hoping it will stimulate the nation's economy and leave a lasting physical and social legacy. Danny Jordaan, the man who led the bid to secure the event, believes hosting the World Cup could be worth as much as $6 billion to South Africa, while also boosting the construction, telecommunications and tourist industries.

South Africa predicts at least 400,000 people will visit the country for the tournament, the first World Cup ever to be held in Africa. Some 160,000 jobs are expected to be created from hosting the event, according to the national football bid committee. Furthermore, it is estimated that for each visitor to the World Cup, another 150 will be indirectly influenced in their perceptions about the host country, through word-of-mouth by the fans when they return home, or as a result of global television coverage of the event.

Here are some "verb + noun" collocations from the text:

- stimulate the economy
- leave a legacy
- host/hold an event
- boost industries
- create jobs
- influence people's perceptions

You don't need to read long articles or whole books to learn new vocabulary. Just find a short, interesting text every day, and study it in detail.

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Click the link below to try today's exercise. It's the same passage we saw last week, but the questions are different.

True, False, Not Given

I'll put the answers in the 'comments' area tomorrow.

IELTS Reading: which paragraph contains...?

Today's reading exercise is attached as a PDF. Click below to download it.

Which paragraph contains?

I'll put the answers in the 'comments' area tomorrow.

IELTS Reading: should you read the whole passage?

1. Should you read the whole passage before looking at the questions?
2. Should you go to the questions first, then skim/scan to find the answers?

My answer to question 1 is no. You don't have time to read the whole passage unless your English is almost 'native speaker' level.

My answer to question 2 is yes and no.
Yes - go to the questions first.
No - don't skim or scan unless the question contains a name or number.

My advice is to do the questions one by one. Instead of skimming or scanning, read the passage carefully. The answers to most question sections will be in order in the passage, so you will gradually read the whole passage as you find the answers.

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Read the following article about the effects of television on young children.

Watching television makes toddlers fatter and stupider at primary school, according to new research. Scientists who tracked the progress of pre-school children found that the more television they watched the worse they were at mathematics, the more junk food they ate, and the more they were bullied by other pupils.

The findings, which support earlier evidence indicating television harms cognitive development, prompted calls for the Government to set limits on how much children should watch. American paediatricians advise that under-twos should not watch any television and that older children should view one to two hours a day at most. France has banned shows aimed at under-threes, and Australia recommends that three to five year-olds watch no more than an hour a day. Britain has no official advice.

Researchers said that pre-school is a critical time for brain development and that TV watching displaced time that could be spent engaging in "developmentally enriching tasks". Even incremental exposure to TV delayed development, said the lead author Dr Linda Pagani, of Montreal University.
(The Independent)

According to the article, are these statements TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN?

1. Scientists believe that there is a link between the amount of television young children watch and their mental ability.
2. Shows aimed at under-twos are banned in the USA.
3. Children’s television programming is more strictly controlled in France than in Britain.

IELTS Reading: which paragraph contains...?

"Which paragraph contains the following information?" This type of question is not the same as "match the headings to the paragraphs".

Here are some tips for "which paragraph contains?" questions:

• Instead of looking for the main idea of each paragraph, you need to find one piece of information.
• Some paragraphs might not contain any answers.
• The same paragraph might contain more than one answer.
• It's not usually difficult to understand the question or answer, but it is difficult to find the answer.
• Do these questions last. By doing other questions first, you will become familiar with the passage, and you might remember where some of the answers are.
• Look for the easiest information first: questions that contain names, numbers or big/unusual words might be easier to find.

Click here to try an example "which paragraph contains?" question from the official IELTS website.

IELTS Reading: more vocabulary practice

Read the following text about bad behaviour in schools.

The misbehaviour of children is common in all schools, although most schools manage to maintain tolerable standards of discipline. Low levels of indiscipline can result in a detrimental working environment for children, while poor disciplinary management within a school can cause a more general breakdown in order.

Problems with school discipline have also led to a reduction in the number of people willing to become teachers, especially in schools regarded as difficult. Student misbehaviour and rudeness is the leading cause of teacher resignations. In some areas and countries, this has led to a severe teacher shortage, with classes either not taught, or taught by an unqualified person. In some schools, a class may have up to a dozen different teachers in a single year, as the replacements decide to leave rather than deal with student behaviour. Many countries are now trying to offer incentives to new teachers to remain in such schools, but with very limited success.

Find words or phrases in the text that are similar to those in the list below.

1. sufficient levels
2. negative
3. resulted in
4. main reason for
5. serious
6. as many as twelve

IELTS Reading: similar words

IELTS Reading is basically a test of your vocabulary knowledge. You need to be able to find words in the text that are similar to words in the questions.

Read the following text about single-sex education (educating boys and girls separately).

You might have thought that boys brought up in a single-sex environment would find relationships with girls difficult to handle. Now research due to be published tomorrow proves it. It shows that boys taught in single-sex schools are more likely to be divorced or separated from their partner than those who attended a mixed school by their early 40s.

The findings, taken from studying a cohort of all those born in a single week of 1958, will be presented by Professor Diana Leonard, from London University's Institute of Education. The research covered 17,000 adults who had been taught in a range of institutions from private boarding schools to state comprehensives. The majority had been brought up in day schools.

Dr Leonard's findings have fuelled claims from teachers' leaders and education psychologists that boys brought up in a single-sex environment are less able to relate to the opposite sex than those taught in a co-educational school.

Find words in the text that are similar to the words/phrases below.

- raised
- to cope with
- co-educational
- a group
- a variety of
- high schools
- added weight to

(Text taken from The Independent)

IELTS Reading: paragraph headings

Read the following paragraphs, taken from The Guardian newspaper.

A) The hunt for intelligent species outside Earth may be a staple of literature and film – but it is happening in real life, too. Nasa probes are on the lookout for planets outside our solar system, and astronomers are carefully listening for any messages being beamed through space. How awe-inspiring it would be to get confirmation that we are not alone in the universe, to finally speak to an alien race. Wouldn't it?

B) Well no, according to the eminent physicist Stephen Hawking. "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," Hawking has said in a forthcoming documentary made for the Discovery Channel. He argues that, instead of trying to find and communicate with life in the cosmos, humans would be better off doing everything they can to avoid contact.

C) Hawking believes that, based on the sheer number of planets that scientists know must exist, we are not the only life-form in the universe. There are, after all, billions and billions of stars in our galaxy alone, with, it is reasonable to expect, an even greater number of planets orbiting them. And it is not unreasonable to expect some of that alien life to be intelligent, and capable of interstellar communication.

Match each paragraph with one of the headings below.

1. A pessimistic prediction.
2. The probability of life existing on other planets.
3. Astronomers send messages through space.
4. How to avoid contact with aliens.
5. The search for alien life-forms.
6. Life-forms exist on other planets.

Share your answers in the "comments" area below. I'll reveal the correct answers tomorrow.

IELTS Reading: multiple choice

Read the following text, and chose the best answer to the questions below.

The Placebo Effect

A placebo is a sham or simulated medical intervention. Sometimes patients given a placebo treatment will have a perceived or actual improvement in a medical condition, a phenomenon commonly called the placebo effect.

A study of Danish general practitioners found that 48% had prescribed a placebo at least 10 times in the past year. The most frequently prescribed placebos were antibiotics for viral infections, and vitamins for fatigue. Specialists and hospital-based physicians reported much lower rates of placebo use.

1. The placebo effect refers to

A) a simulated medical treatment
B) an improvement in a patient’s health as a result of a simulated medical treatment
C) a common medical phenomenon

2. According to a study, placebos were prescribed in Denmark

A) mainly by doctors working in hospitals
B) instead of antibiotics
C) for fatigued patients or those suffering with viruses

IELTS Reading: look for keywords

Imagine the question asks about "longer days". If you read the text and find "increasing day lengths", you know you have found the answer.

In other words, the technique for finding answers in the IELTS Reading test is to look for keywords (similar words in the questions and in the text).

The table below shows keywords that helped my students to find the answers for one section of a reading test (Cambridge IELTS 5, page 94-97).

Did you know words like considerable, trigger, cue or adequate? If you don't know the vocabulary, it's very difficult to get the right answer.

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Read the following text about 'collocation':

Collocation is defined as a sequence of words or terms which co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. Collocation comprises the restrictions on how words can be used together, for example which prepositions are used with particular verbs, or which verbs and nouns are used together. An example of this (from Michael Halliday) is the collocation strong tea. While the same meaning could be conveyed through the roughly equivalent powerful tea, the fact is that English prefers to speak of tea in terms of being strong rather than in terms of being powerful. A similar observation holds for powerful computers which is preferred over strong computers.

If the expression is heard often, the words become 'glued' together in our minds. 'Crystal clear', 'middle management', 'nuclear family', and 'cosmetic surgery' are examples of collocated pairs of words. Some words are often found together because they make up a compound noun, for example 'text message' or 'motor cyclist'.

Are the statements below true, false or not given in the text?

1. It is possible, but not normal, to say 'powerful tea'.
2. It is equally acceptable in English to say 'powerful computers' or 'strong computers'.
3. Our brains remember some pairs of words better than others.

IELTS Reading: 'keyword' technique

What do I mean by the 'keyword' technique?

By 'keywords' I mean: words in the text that have a similar meaning to words in the questions.

The table below shows the keywords that helped my students to find the answers to the test on page 122 of Cambridge IELTS 6.

Note: this comes from a General Training test, but the technique is the same for both general and academic tests.

IELTS Reading: similar paragraph headings

Sometimes two paragraph headings are very similar, making it difficult to decide which one is correct. Look at this example from Cambridge IELTS 1.

Paragraph:
For the first time, dictionary publishers are incorporating real, spoken English into their data. It gives lexicographers (people who write dictionaries) access to a more vibrant, up-to-date vernacular language which has never really been studied before. In one project, 150 volunteers each agreed to discreetly tie a Walkman recorder to their waist and leave it running for anything up to two weeks. Every conversation they had was recorded. When the data was collected, the length of tapes was 35 times the depth of the Atlantic Ocean. Teams of audio typists transcribed the tapes to produce a computerised database of ten million words.

Which paragraph heading would you chose, and why?

1. New method of research
2. The first study of spoken language

Feel free to discuss this question in the "comments" area below this lesson. I'll give you my answer and explanation tomorrow.

IELTS Reading: paragraph headings

Read the following passage about a chess-playing computer.

A) On February 10, 1996, Deep Blue became the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion (Garry Kasparov) under regular time controls. However, Kasparov won three and drew two of the following five games, beating Deep Blue by a score of 4–2. Deep Blue was then heavily upgraded and played Kasparov again in May 1997, winning the six-game rematch 3½–2½. Deep Blue won the deciding game six, becoming the first computer system to defeat a reigning world champion in a match under standard chess tournament time controls.

B) After the loss, Kasparov said that he sometimes saw deep intelligence and creativity in the machine's moves, suggesting that during the second game, human chess players had intervened on behalf of the machine, which would be a violation of the rules. IBM denied that it cheated, saying the only human intervention occurred between games. The rules provided for the developers to modify the program between games, an opportunity they said they used to shore up weaknesses in the computer's play that were revealed during the course of the match. This allowed the computer to avoid a trap in the final game that it had fallen for twice before. Kasparov demanded a rematch, but IBM refused and dismantled Deep Blue.

Choose the best heading for paragraphs A and B from the list below.

1. The first chess-playing computer
2. Developers’ intervention is questioned
3. Chess champion accepts defeat
4. Program developers caught cheating
5. A victory for artificial intelligence