Academic ReadingBryan Esteban Botia Rodriguez

Francy Alvarez Pineda María Alejandra Hurtado

The test

• This part is very difficult because you only hear one time and you only have 60 minutes. The time is limited. so, you have to go answering the question in the answer sheet while you go listening. If you don’t do that you would have to answer very fast. So, nobody won’t be able to read your answers.

Strategies• Skimming—This means reading very

quickly to get the gist of the text: Looking at the headings, subheadings, the beginning of each paragraph, any pictures and illustrations, noticing the layout of the text and noticing the words that are repeated throughout the text.

• Scanning—This means looking only for specific things in a text: Perhaps types of words, words with capital letters, numbers or specific words or phrases.

DO NOT READ THE READING PASSAGE FIRST

It is a mistake to begin reading a passage without first read a basic information. There are 3 parts to the Reading Test, and many candidates begin each part in the same way - by reading the passage.

They might read it in detail, or scan it quickly to find out what the topic of the passage is and to get a general idea of the contents.

READ THE TEST IN A LOGICAL ORDER

you need to look at the information in any of the 3 parts of the Reading Test:

Read each part of the test in the order: 1.The Title of the reading passage should give you a rough idea about the

main topic of the passage.2.The Headings for each section of the passage refer to what is contained

in each section, and where information can be located.3. Bold printed words indicate that those words are of some importance.

They can also help you to predict information contained in the passage. 4. It is said that a Picture is worth a thousand words. Always look at

illustrations, figures, tables, graphs and diagrams that accompany a reading passage.

5. The Instructions contain important information that you must read. If you do not read the instructions, you will almost certainly answer some of the questions in the wrong manner.6. The Example not only provides you with the correct way to answer the questions, it tells you, in summarised form, more about the passage itself. 7. the Questions themselves provide valuable hints about the ideas contained in the passage as well as specific information to look for on your first reading.

CONSIDER THE PASSAGE LAYOUTThere are 8 basic types of IELTS reading question tasks:

• matching tasks • multiple choice tasks • short-answer question tasks• true/false tasks • sentence completion tasks • classification tasks• gapfill tasks • table, chart or diagram completion tasksEach reading passage requires a certain strategy or approach in order to make

the best use of your time.The strategy to use depends on the type of question tasks that accompany

each passage. for example: it might be better to search the passage for the question topic

keywords/phrases, and to look closely around those keywords for further matching keywords/phrases to obtain the answer you require.

SCAN THE READING PASSAGE Scanning is the method to use when you need to search a page quickly for

information that you require. You may be looking for the general idea of the information on the page (skim quickly through the information), or you may wish to scan for specific information. In either case, the method is to sweep your eyes across the page slowly and smoothly, starting at the top left, and working your way across and down the page in a wavelike motion as in the illustration below.

42 Read the topic sentences first

When you are ready to search for the passage of the reading to obtain the information you must know which parts of the passage should read first, since you do not have time to read every word of the passage especially if your reading rate is of average type.

45. Matching tasks

Matching tasks can be divided into 2 types:

Type 1: Consists of a list of elements in which equal numbers are chosen

to match to make.

Type 2: This consists of a much longer list of items to choose the number

of matches to make.

50 Read the GlossaryThe passage of reading comes with a glossary, which

helps to know the meaning of the words that do not understand this helps to better understand the words used in that context.

Remember maxium words requirement

It’s very important to follow the rules, you have pay close attention what the questions are saying that you do. For example If the question says that the answer has three words you have to look for the answers that have only three words. I’t doesn’t mind that the answer be closer to what you are thinking.

55. check figures and diagrams Do not forget that the answers you are looking for may be given in a figure, diagram, illustration, graph, table or chart that accompanies the reading passage. Always check footnotes, too.

57. CONSIDER THE LOCATION OF THE ANSWER

You must see the word after the key words and the distance between one and another keyword. Also the phrase between two keywords.

The answer usually is at the paragraph of the keyword.

58. CHARTS AND TABLES IN QUESTION TASKSKeywords, keyphrases, and examples are also features of questions within

charts and tables. Do not overlook the words already contained in a chart or table in your hurry to find the answer in the reading passage. These words can also be considered as 'examples'.

Differences between academic reading and

general reading.• The reading test is different for the academic and general training modules. The academic reading consists of three long reading passages with around thirteen or fourteen questions for each reading passage. There are forty questions in total and candidates have one hour to complete the test. The texts are more academically orientated than the general training texts. The general training reading test is also in three sections and it also lasts an hour. Section one has two or three texts and they will be on subjects that tests a candidates to operate in an English environment. Section two is on training or work topics and there are also two texts. Section three has one longer text. Like the academic reading, there are around thirteen or fourteen questions for each reading section and there are forty questions in total.

PRACTICE READING TEST ONE

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-15. -You do not forget to look at questions.- Do not forget to look specific information.- Need scanning and skimming.- There are three types of questions1.table chart or diagram completion tasks. 2. classification tasks.

3. true/false tasks.

ANSWERS

Ql. BritishQ2. not givenQ3. (equal) 3 Q4. GQ5. CQ6. AQ7. DQ8. FQ9. B

Q10. FQ11. NQ12. TQ13. TQ14. NQ15. T

Practice reading test one passage twoYou should spend 20 minutes on the questions 16-31

• Read the question carefully• Find specific information• Read the questions first• Quickly skim the reading text to try to understand the

general meaning of the text.

ANSWERS

Q16. Asia Q25. Permission to studyQ17. japan/japanese respondents Q26.CQ18.further study(in Australia) Q27.AQ19.5 Q28.HQ20.4 Q29.FQ21.8% Q30.DQ22.nationality Q31.EQ23.returning homeQ24.quality of tuition

Reading passage three

• 20 minutes• around 90 questions• multiple choice• open questions where you write No more than three

words.

ANSWERS32: C33: D34: C35: B36: Alcohol37: (the chemical) serotonin38: return to normal39: free the personality / liberate some users / remove one's

defenses.40: addictive