IELTS READING TECHNIQUES AND TIPS

DOMINIC COLE

IELST READING

TECHNIQUES, TRAP-AVOIDING,
PROBLEM-SOLVING AND TIPS
ACADEMIC MODULE

Collected and re-edited by TR N M NH TRUNG
HONG DUC UNIVERSITY

2016



IELTS READING
TECHNIQUES AND TIPS
Written by DOMINIC COLE
Collected and edited by Tran Manh Trung – Hong Duc University - 2016

PART 01:
IELTS READING TECHNIQUES AND TIPS
I. IELTS multiple choice reading questions
The multiple choice question should be familiar to most candidates. That doesn’t make it
easy though. In many ways the skills needed for this question are the same as for the
True/False/Not Given type – only here you get 4 options and not 3. So, in a sense, it’s harder.

A. The primary reading skill
As with the True/False question type, IELTS multiple choice reading questions require
very close reading of one or two paragraphs of the text. Very frequently the difficult part is
reading the question carefully too. At least 3 of the 4 possible answers may look ok until you read

them closely.

B. The two types of question – fact and opinion
It’s very important to recognise that there are 2 types of question those that:
- ask you for the writer’s opinion
- ask you to find factual information
Let me explain why this distinction matters with this easy example:
Different people read for different reasons. For example, the attraction of reading detective
fiction can be in the intellectual challenge of finding out who did it, in an autobiography we can
eavesdrop on the conversations of the great and good or we can laugh at folly in the celebrity
magazine. For many children it is a magic gateway to some other world. Sadly, that is one of the
greatest mistakes they can make.
According to the author, the attraction of reading for young people is:

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1.
2.
3.
4.

they find out about other countries
different from other generations
escaping into another world
foolish
Without the words highlighted in red, the answer must be 3., with those words it becomes 4.

Tip 01: don’t stop reading too soon. An answer may seem right but if the next word is
something like “but” the meaning changes completely.

C. The traps and how to avoid them
It helps to know how the examiners try and trap you. The way they do this is fairly
predictable. Let’s look at another example:
What were the findings of the research in Scotland:
1.
2.
3.
4.

anti-smoking legislation was more effective in the USA
advertising of tobacco products had less effect on old than on young people
the legislation was unpopular with the print media
almost a third of young people stopped smoking after the legislation
These conclusions are the result of extensive research carried out over the past 20 years around
various countries into the effect of banning tobacco advertising. In Scotland it was found that the
incidence of smoking fell by 30% in the 18-24 age group after legislation prohibiting the
advertising of tobacco products in all print media was introduced. A separate piece of research
in the United States of America found that when tobacco advertising was banned in 34 states,
this reduced the level of smoking by 50%.

1. In the text but doesn’t answer the question
Answer 1 above is wrong because it doesn’t answer the question. This was not the
findings of the research in Scotland It’s easy to fall for this trap as the information is correct.

Tip 02: always go back and re-read the question before you answer
2. Probably true but you’re guessing information
Answer 2 is wrong because we don’t have the information in the text. We might be able
to guess that this is true, but if it doesn’t say so in the text the answer is not correct.

Tip 03: always make sure you look at all answers, don’t guess too soon. You may find a
better answer later.

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3. You’re word matching – read the context
This one contains most words from the text so there is an obvious temptation to say
“yes”. There is in fact no evidence for this in the text at all. A very typical mistake is to match
words in the question and text. You need to read the context for meaning to avoid this mistake.

Tip 04: always refocus on the exact wording of the question before giving the answer.
Be suspicious of answers that contain almost the same language as the text

4. Correct – you match meanings –
“almost a third” = “30%” and “18-24 age group” matches “young people”

D. Suggested procedure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Look at the questions first to see what topics you need to look for – be aware you may need
to look for synonyms
Concentrate on the stem of the question when you are looking for the right part of the text
Skim the text to identify the correct paragraphs to read: the questions will go in order so

question 5 will come between 4 and 6
Read the the correct part of the paragraph carefully and then re-read the question – looking at
each option in turn
Ask yourself if you are looking for fact or opinion
Delete the answers you know to be incorrect
Underline the words in the text that give you the answer

II. True / False / Not given Questions
Perhaps the question type that gives most pain to most IELTS candidates is the
True/False/Not given question type. Here are some pointers to help you improve your IELTS
band score with a link to some specific practice on this type of question.

A. The question types
In fact there are two question types here:
1.
2.

True/False/Not given: fact based
Yes/No/Not given: opinion based
In each case you need to decide if the information in the text agrees with the information in the
question. You should note that in the “Yes/No/Not given” questions, you are normally asked to
look for the writer’s opinions rather than facts.

B. Note the key skill
The key skill here is to understand that you are interpreting the text and the question.
This means that you need to read very closely and pay attention to what the writer means. Don’t

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think of it just as a skimming question, rather a question where you need to read parts of the text
and the whole question closely and decide what the writer means.

C. How to get the answers right
True/Yes
There is information in the text that agrees exactly with the statement in the question.
Note that you will almost certainly need to look for synonyms here and match meaning and not
words.
False/No
There is information in the text that is directly opposite to or contradicts the statement in
the question. Again note that you will also need to think about meaning here. You should pay
careful attention to “little” words that qualify or change meaning such as: some , all, often,
occasionally
Not Given
This is the one that normally causes the most problems. Something is not given if there is
no information about it in the text. Do not spend ages looking for Not Given answers because
you will waste time.

D. Guessing intelligently
This is probably the hardest question type. Don’t despair though you have a good chance
of guessing correctly. In fact the questions are hard because you have a one in three chance of
guessing! Here is my suggestion
1.

if you find information in the text about the statement in the question:
guess True or False but remember to read the whole question and not just match words in it
2.
if you find no information in the text about the statement guess Not Given – don’t waste
time. Typically, answer are Not Given when they match just one or two words in the question
3.

if you have no idea, then guess Not Given. You have a one in three chance of being right
and you may have no idea because it isn’t there!

E. Some examples of how the questions work
Macallan is one of the four top selling brands of malt whisky in the world. It is made in barrels
made of Spanish oak that have previously been used for sherry because this adds sweetness to its
flavour.
True
Macallan is globally successful.
This is true because top selling brands of malt whisky in the world matches globally successful.

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False
Macallan is made in metal containers.
This is false because the text says it us made in barrels of Spanish oak. Because oak is a wood
this contradicts the words int he question metal containers. Note that you need to think about
meaning
Not Given
Macallan is made in Spain.
There is no information about where it is made. Be careful of the trap of seeing the
words Spanish and made in the text. Usually with Not Given answers you will find some words
in the text that match words int he question without matching the meaning of the whole
question.

F. A difficulty – Not Given
The “Not Given” variation is probably what makes this type of question so difficult. How can
you deal with this problem? You need to understand that:




“Not given” does not mean no words in the question are used in the text. Typically, you
will find some of words from the question in the text – they simply don’t answer the whole
question
You cannot add information that is probably true: you can only use the information given
in the text

G. Some practical tips
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Read the whole question. Do NOT focus on key words. Think about the meaning of the
question.
Be especially careful with words such as “often” and “some”. They can change the
meaning of the question dramatically.
Be careful with questions beginning “The writer says”: here you need to think about the
writer’s opinions and not about facts.
The questions will follow the order of the text: if you can’t find answer 12, you know it
must be somewhere between 11 and 13.
Do not spend too long on any one question. If the answer is “Not Given”, there may be
nothing for you to find.
One possibility is to mark all the “True” answers and all the “False” answers and then
guess “Not Given” for the others.

H. A suggested procedure
Here is my suggested procedure:
1.

Read the instructions carefully and note whether you are being asked to look for facts or
opinions.

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2.
3.

4.
5.
6.

Look at all the questions and see what topics they ask about. You may note key words
here, but only to identify the correct part of the text to read.
Skim the text to identify which paragraphs you need to read more closely. Note that the
questions will follow the order of the text and so the answer to question 10 will follow the answer
to question 11
Mark on the question paper which paragraphs relate to which question: eg, write 11
against paragraph E
Refocus on the question and read the whole question: be careful with tricky words like
“usually”
Underline the words in the text that give you the answer. This helps you concentrate and
also allows you to change your mind, if you find a better answer later.
A variation is to mark the “True” answers first as they tend to be the easiest and then go back to
the “False” and “Not given” later.

I. True False Not Given – some tips and an
exercise
This lesson reminds you of some tips on the True False Not Given question type in
IELTS reading. There are two main points to focus on when you are answering the question:
firstly, to think about meaning and not just words, and secondly to focus on the question as much
as the text itself. There is also an interactive quiz at the bottom for you to test your skills.

A. Tip one – Underline the part of the text that shows the answer
A forgotten reading skill is to learning how to read intensively when you are looking for the
answer itself. Forget “key words” – they only show where to find the answer. Once you have
found the right part of the text, read very carefully – you want to find something that says:
1.
2.

This agrees with the information in the question – True
This contradicts the informnation in the question – False
Do NOT read generally at this point. You want to find something you can underline. If you
cannot find anything specific that you can underline, then the answer is likely to be Not Given.

B. Tip two – Refer back to the whole question and think about its
meaning
IELTS reading is designed how well you understand reading passages. This means you
always want to focus on meaning when you are looking for the answer. Once you have found the
right part of the text, forget key words. It’s quite possible to find words in the text that match
words in the question, but the overall meaning is quite different.
1.

Go back to the question and re-read it carefully – focus on the little words
too (some, never, generally etc), these can change the meanings of questions dramatically. Ask

yourself if you are looking for something absolutely true or something that is qualified in some
ay.

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2.

Re-read the text. Does it mean the same as the question? Make sure you check the
text and question against each other – that they mean the same thing.

C. Some practice questions
The majority of professional players on the ATP and the WTA tours now use polyester
strings made by Luxilon, a company that specialised in the past in manufacturing fibres for
female undergarments. The trend was started by the then little-known Brazilian player Gustavo
Kuerten who more or less by chance discovered that this string was almost completely “dead” –
meaning that the players are able to swing much harder at the ball and impart much more spin on
it without it flying off uncontrollably as it would do with a traditional gut string. Kuerten of
course went on to achieve much success and, in the clay court game at least, is regarded as one of
the modern greats. His most lasting legacy though may not be his titles, rather it may be that his
use of a material primarily made for women’s bras allowed him and successive champions to
change how the tennis ball flew. Players were able to find completely new angles on the court
because, in the hands of a master, a shot hit with a luxilon string that might look as if it were
heading way out of court would suddenly drop like a stone, describing an almost perfect
parabola. This technological innovation has revolutionised the way in which the game is now
played. For example, Roger Federer, a man who many regard as the greatest player of all time,
may have begun his career as an attacking all-court player, but in latter years he has been forced
become a much more defensively orientated player who chooses his time to attack more
carefully. Indeed, he is on record as saying that new string technology has changed the face of the
game and that he has had to adapt his game to counter players who stand behind the baseline and

produce winning shots from almost nowhere.

True/False/Not Given – Luxilon
Question 1
Roger Federer uses luxilon to string his tennis racket.

A
B
C

True
False

Not Given
Question 2
The use of luxilon allowed players to hit new types of shots.

A
B
C

True
False
Not Given
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Question 3
Roger Federer has always played an attacking game of tennis.

A
B
C

True
False
Not Given

Question 1 Explanation:
We know that “The majority of professional players on the ATP and the WTA tours now use
polyester strings made by Luxilon” and that Federer believes”new string technology has
changed the face of the game”. You might assume therefore that he uses the string. There is,
however, no information in the text about what type of string Federer uses – he may be part
of the majority, he may be part of the minority, we simply don’t know.
Question 2 Explanation:
We find the answer in “ the players are able to swing much harder at the ball and impart
much more spin on it without it flying off uncontrollably” and “Players were able to find
completely new angles on the court because, in the hands of a master, a shot hit with a
luxilon string that might look as if it were heading way out of court would suddenly drop like
a stone, describing an almost perfect parabola.”
Question 3 Explanation:
We have enough information in the text from “Roger Federer, a man who many regard as the
greatest player of all time, may have begun his career as an attacking all-court player, but in
latter years he has been forced become a more defensively orientated player who chooses his
time to attack more carefully.” This is a “trick question” if you look only at the words
“Federer” and “attacking”, you may want to say True. If, however, you read the whole
question including the word “always”, then the answer must be False. The idea is that
Federer has changed the way he plays into a more defensive style

D. True False Not Given reading practice

This lesson has two purposes. In it you will find a short exercise to test your
True/False/Not Given skills and an explanation of how to deal with more difficult words in
IELTS reading texts.

1. The skill of reading closely
The text is designed to be slightly harder than the average IELTS text as it contains quite
a high proportion of unexpected words and long sentences. The idea is to focus you on the skill

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of reading closely. The idea is that you need to try and read the text closely before you decide on
your answer.
This is especially important in T/F/NG questions which require you to understand the
writer’s meaning and not just to see whether you can find a particular word in the text. If you
simply match the words in the question with the words in the text, you will very likely go wrong
with this text.

2. Dealing with harder words
The first point to note is that you should not panic if you find a word you cannot understand:


it may not be important to understanding of the passage and /or finding the answer
you may be able to guess its general meaning from context (the words around it)
This text contains three words that may well be new to you:
utopia
dystopia
manifesto
You should be able to guess their general meaning by simply reading on. You don’t need a
dictionary definition – just a good idea about what the words mean. The tip is to pay close

attention to relative clauses (and disguised relative clauses with -ing forms):
utopias which paint a picture of an ideal society
dystopias in which the world is a much less desirable and often frightening place
a political manifesto proposing a form of government
From this you should see that a utopia is something good (“ideal”), dystopia something
bad (“less desirable and frightening”) while manifesto is to do with politics and proposes.

3. Visions of the future – True False Not Given reading
Humans have always speculated about what society may or should look like in the future
and there is a long and honourable tradition of writers who have described their vision of the
world in a future age. One possible division of these books is into utopias which paint a picture
of an ideal society and dystopias in which the world is a much less desirable and often
frightening place. Perhaps the most famous utopia remains Plato’s Republic, written around two
and half thousand years ago, which is also partly a political manifesto proposing a form of
government where philosophers kings rule in the interests of the many. In its day, this most

9


undemocratic proposal was less controversial than it would be today, as there was a strong body
of opinion in Athens that democracy was not a model form of government. While many today may
find Plato’s vision unpleasant, his intention was otherwise and the book has the optimistic goal
of showing how the ills of society could be cured. This optimism stands in stark contrast to
George Orwell’s dystopian nightmare 1984. That book too presents a version of what society
may look like in the future, but it has a quite different purpose: the aim of the book is to serve as
a warning. The reader is meant to be shocked and horrified by the world of deception and
tyranny it portrays, a world where the state authorities, in the form of Big Brother, have absolute
control of every aspect of individuals’ lives and where truth is lost.

Test yourself

trt

Question 1
The society proposed by Plato in The Republic is democratic.

A
B
C

True
False
Not Given

Question 2
George Orwell wrote 1984 as a warning against communism.

A
B
C

True
False
Not Given

Question 3
1984 presents a pessimistic view of the future.

A
B

C

True
False
Not Given

Question 1 Explanation:
Don't be caught out by the word "proposed" in the question and match it to "proposal" in the
text. The idea is "undemocratic"
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Question 2 Explanation:
In life this is in fact true, but there is nothing in the text about communism. We have no
information on the topic, so the answer is Not Given
Question 3 Explanation:
"This optimism stands in stark contrast to George Orwell’s dystopian nightmare 1984." The
opposite of optimism is pessimism and you need to see that 1984 contrasts to the optimism of
The Republic. You can also understand this from the word "nightmare", even if you do not
understand "dystopian".

4. True/ false/ not given reading practice
This is a little quick practice on the most hated type of reading question. Before you
tackle it remember:
True means that there is something in the text that agrees with the question
False means that there is something in the text that contradicts the question
Not given means that there is nothing in the text that answers the question one way or another,
You need to look for meanings and not just words. In most cases you get the answer right
by interpreting the meanings of phrases/sentences. You should also be careful with your key
word strategy. This is one type of question where you need to pay attention to all the words in the

question before you answer it – the key words only tell where to look not what the answer is.

a. The reading practice
CLOCK - WATCHES
The first timepieces that were worn are the so-called clock-watches of the mid 16th
century. They were quite different from the modern day wristwatch in several respects. They
were made almost completely from brass and were not round but cylindrical in shape with a
hinged metal cover instead of a glass face. This was in the form of a grill so that the hour hand –
there was no minute hand or second hand – could be seen without opening it. Another difference
was that these clock-watches were almost entirely decorative in purpose and were worn in the
same way as a necklace or a brooch, typically being attached to the clothing or hung around the
neck. Part of the reason for this is that the many of the first watch makers were jewellers by trade,
men who had to find a new form of work after Calvin banned the wearing of jewellery in 1547.
So they brought the skills of ornamentation to their new craft. So while the most famous clockwatches were the plain Nuremburg Eggs made by Peter Henlein, who is sometimes credited with
the invention of the watch, the designs rapidly became increasingly ornate and included shapes
such as flowers, stars and animals. Indeed, the nobility, who were the only people able to afford
these timepieces, bought them almost exclusively for their appearance and not for timekeeping

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purposes for the simple reason that they would often gain or lose several hours in the course of a
day.

Clock-watches readingSt
Question 1
Clock watches only had one hand

A
B

C

True
False

Not Given
Question 2
Peter Henlein first worked as a jeweller

A
B
C

True
False

Not Given
Question 3
All the first clock-watches were ornate.

A
B
C

True
False
Not Given

Once you are finished, click the button below. Any items you have not completed will
be marked incorrect.

Question 1 Explanation:
Fairly simple I hope. You look for the word "hand" to see where to get the answer
and then you read this: "the hour hand - there was no minute hand or second hand - could be
seen without opening it". That should tell you there was only one hand,
Question 2 Explanation:
This may be the trick question. You do have information about Peter Henlein but
there is nothing about his FIRST job. Don't be fooled by seeing this "many of the first watch
makers were jewellers by trade". This does not mean that he was one. We just don't know.

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Question 3 Explanation:
Another question where you need to read for meaning and pay close attention to the
question. In some ways the key word is ALL. Read this "So while the most famous clockwatches were the plain Nuremburg Eggs made by Peter Henlein, who is sometimes credited
with the invention of the watch, the designs rapidly became increasingly ornate". That means
that some clock-watches were plain and not ornate.

III. IELTS paragraphs and headings
A. The IELTS paragraphs and headings task
1.
2.
3.

The task is to match between 5 and 7 headings to paragraphs in the text.
There are always more headings than paragraphs
You may need to read the whole text or only a part of it

B. The reading skill – skimming and general meaning
The main skill tested here is your ability to read quickly and get the main meaning of a

paragraph. This means that:
1.

If you find a word you don’t understand: ignore it – you are looking for meanings of
paragraphs not words
2.
Don’t simply match a word in the question with a word in the text – read the
sentence/paragraph to see how it is being used
3.
Concentrate on the openings and closings of paragraphs – that is where the writer
normally makes the main point

C. Some problems and their solutions
This can be one of the easier types of question but it is also easy to get them all wrong!
Here are one or two difficulties.

a. A large part of the text – too much to read
You may need to read the whole text or a large part of it anyway. Make this problem into
a virtue.
One idea is that you do this task first – even if it is not the first set of questions. This
allows you to understand what the text is about.

b. Just matching words
Sometimes you can find the answer by matching words in the heading with words in the
text. Often though it is not as simple as matching words.The word in the heading may
be environmental and the word in the paragraph may be green.

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Think meaning, not words. When you look at the headings remember that the paragraphs may not
contain those exact same words.

c. Similar headings
Some of the headings seem quite similar and contain similar words.
Make sure you spend time reading them all and try every heading with every paragraph.
This may take time but you will avoid a lot of mistakes.
Avoid concentrating on words that are common to all or many of the headings. Look for words
that are special to that heading.

d. Only looking at first lines – trying to go too quickly
You want to work efficiently, so often you avoid reading the whole paragraph. Often you
can guess the meaning from the first few lines of the paragraph. This is because the writer uses a
topic sentence at the start to say what the paragraph is going to be about. The problem is that this
only works sometimes. The meaning you need may be in the last few lines of the paragraph, or
sometimes from the whole paragraph itself.
Look to see if the final sentence of the paragraph gives a summary of what the paragraph is
about.
Don’t stop reading too quickly and skim the whole paragraph. Some paragraphs are a
combination of ideas and to get their general meaning you need to skim the whole paragraph for
general meaning.

e. Wasting time on one paragraph
Often you waste time because the first paragraph is the hardest to match. You may spend
a long time concentrating on that one because it is one of the harder matches and you have lots of
options.
Easy. Write in 2/3 headings it could be and move on. When you come back after doing
the other questions, it may seem obvious. Don’t guess immediately. Do the task twice and using
a code. The code I suggest is that you mark in capital letters (CD etc) if you are certain and small
letters (cd etc) if you are unsure.

D. A suggested procedure
1.

Look at the headings first. Don’t spend too much time on this, as at least some of them
will be wrong. Try and identify what the more important words are. By looking at the headings
first, you get a good idea of the general meaning of the text. That will help your reading.
2.
Look at the first paragraph. Try to ignore the detail and look for the main point – these
are normally found in the first few lines – that may be the topic of the paragraph. Does it

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3.
4.
5.

6.
7.
8.

match any of the headings? Don’t forget to check final sentences too – that may be a summary
of the paragraph.
Try all the headings for each paragraph. Lots of mistakes happen because you try and
work too quickly.
If you are unsure and it could be heading a) or b) – write down a) or b). Don’t guess yet.
Come back at the end.
Make sure you underline/circle the words in the text that best match the heading. If you
do this, you can easily check your answer, if you want to use the same heading for another

paragraph later on.
Move onto the next paragraph and repeat the process. Don’t expect to complete all the
paragraphs first time around.
Go back at the end and make a decision about the paragraphs you didn’t do first time. Try
and be as careful as possible. Don’t rush.
If you are uncertain, it sometimes makes sense to use the same heading for 2 paragraphs.
You will get one wrong and one right. If you guess, you may get two wrong (or two right!)

IV. ELTS reading text completion questions
This is the next in my series of IELTS reading tutorials where I look at the different types
of questions you can expect to find in the exam. In this one, I talk you through the IELTS reading
text completion task, showing you some of the problems it can cause and giving you strategies to
deal with them.

A. Test yourself
Below is a complete reading passage with 6 sample text completion questions. You can either do
it now or take the tutorial and come back to it.
1. Text completion exercise

Weather forecasts
It is hard to imagine a world without weather forecasts they have become so essential
to so many facets of everyday life in the 21st Century. On an individual basis, of course,
people use weather forecasts to decide what to wear: whether they need an umbrella,
protection against the sun or even medication against abnormally high pollen levels. The
forecast is also seen as a necessary safeguard to protect life and property and we have also
become accustomed to receiving warnings against extreme weather conditions such as
drought, heavy snow, flooding or high winds. In our increasingly motorised age, the weather
report is now seen as vital for advising drivers of difficult driving conditions. The forecast is
equally important in agriculture and commerce so that famers can grow their crops and
commodity brokers can trade them on stock markets. Energy providers are also among a

wide range of institutions that rely on an accurate forecast so that they can plan ahead for the
services they provide.

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While the technology we use today to provide weather forecasts is new, the study of
weather patterns is as old as the hills as mankind has always been dependent on weather. In
primitive civilisations, hunters, warriors, farmers and shepherds alike would look to the gods
in the sky as the force behind the weather. Often the priests of these gods would enjoy high
status and considerable power in the belief they could influence the gods to provide the right
weather conditions by performing a rain dance or even, in the case of the Aztecs,
commanding a human sacrifice. The actual forecasting methods usually relied on
observed patterns of events, also termed pattern recognition. For example, if the sunset was
particularly red, the following day often brought fair weather. This form of weather lore,
which was passed from one generation to the next, has not entirely disappeared as is
evidenced by such sayings as “red sky at night, shepherds’ delight”. However, not all of these
predictions proved reliable, and many of them have since been found not to stand up to
rigorous statistical testing by meteorologists today.

Our roots of our modern scientific tradition can be traced back to the Babylonians
who began to predict weather from cloud formations and, more particularly, the Ancient
Greeks. As is the case in so many other fields, Aristotle is considered to have founded the
modern science of meteorology when he correctly identified the hydrologic cycle in 350 BC.
This cycle, which describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the
surface of the Earth, is fundamental to much of modern weather forecasting. However,
Aristotle himself and his follower and pupil Theophrastus largely failed to make the
connection between the water cycle and weather forecasting and their science was scarcely
more reliable than the aboriginal rain dance. Indeed, the word “meteorology” literally means
the study of heavenly bodies and the Greeks attempted to explain weather conditions through

heavenly signs such as colours of the sky, rings and halos.
The influence of Aristotle on weather forecasting lasted for almost 2000 years and
was only gradually eroded by a combination of a series of scientific discoveries and advances
in communication technology. One important step forward was made in 1654 when Fernando
de Medici set up the first weather observation network with meteorological stations in eleven
separate European cities. When this data was centrally collected in Florence, it became
possible to analyse weather patterns on a grander scale than ever before by allowing maps to
be produced that showed atmospheric conditions over a large area of the Earth’s surface. The
invention of the telegraph in 1837 allowed such observations to be collected more
quickly and from a wider region than ever before and as a consequence meteorologists were
able to identify the global nature of weather patterns.
A central figure in turning the science of meteorology into the modern-day weather
forecast was Robert Fitzroy. Fitzroy was a man of many talents who had sailed with Charles
Darwin in The Beagle, helped to pioneer the use of barometers in the navy and correctly
identified sunspots as an influence on weather conditions As a former naval captain he was
aware of the necessity of accurate forecasting and he helped to establish The United
Kingdom Meteorological Office, which became the first national meteorological service in
the world. This office would advise ports around the United Kingdom when a gale was
expected so that the fishing fleets would not put out to sea. These forecasts were so reliable
that they were published in the newly-founded daily newspapers and it is said that Queen
Victoria would not sail anywhere unless Fitzroy had said the seas would be calm.

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How has weather forecasting evolved in the past 20 years? There have been a number
of influences and perhaps the most visible is the use of satellite technology. It is almost
impossible to watch a forecast on television nowadays without seeing a satellite picture
showing where the areas of high pressure and low pressure are and how the weather is likely
to develop. Indeed, a whole new industry of “nowcasting” has developed, telling us what the

weather is like now and what we could expect tot see if we could be bothered to look out of
the window. A less evident, but equally relevant, innovation has been the application of the
comparatively new science of mathematical modelling to weather forecasting. This involves
using the massive computational powers of supercomputers to process all the different
variables so as to provide some likely forecasts of what will happen next with the weather.
Even here, however, the science is by no means complete and the weather experts still need
to choose between different possible forecasts. How do they do that? Experience and
judgment – not perhaps that different from the ancient Babylonians who decided if it was
going to rain by looking at the shape of the cloud.

Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Early societies used to predict the weather by noting
not completely

in making forecasts, it was more accurate than performing a rain dance. While the

discovery of

was academically important, it did not notably improve forecasting methods.

The establishment of an
meteorologists

. Although this body of knowledge was

was a major step forward because then early
charts showing weather patterns. However, real progress was not made until the

information that formed the basis of these charts could be sent

by means of telegraph.

2. The task
The task is to complete a text with words from the passage. The text you need to complete can
vary, sometimes it is a series of sentences, sometimes a table and sometimes a short summary.

Notes
- Typically, you will need to read 2/3 paragraphs to get all the answers. Sometimes you may need to
read the whole passage
- The questions will follow the order of the passage.
- If there is one thing that makes this task tough, it’s that you need a little grammar to do it well!

Problem 1 – read the question
Be very careful to read the question carefully as the examiners use different words sometimes.
Look at these examples:
1.

Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the
passage for each answer.

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2.

Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage
for each answer.
3.

Answer the question below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
In each case you need to do something different.
1.

This a text completion task and you can use 1,2 or 3 words from the passage for your
answer

2.

This is also a text completion task, but this time you can only use 1 0r 2 words from the
passage

3.

This is not a text completion task. The words you use do not need to come from the
passage

Tip: remember in this task you need to use words from the passage. You cannot change
the form or order of those words. You must write them down as they appear in the
passage.

Problem 2 – a test of grammar
The words you use to complete the text must fit grammatically. Look at this simple example:
Passage
Traditionally, it was always supposed that it was the Egyptians who first domesticated the cat.
The primary evidence for this are the depictions of cats in paintings and statuary in Egypt from
over 3,500 years ago and it is indeed the case that the ancient Egyptians had an extraordinarily
close relationship with cats. One of the major deities in the New Kingdom, Bast, was a catgoddess that symbolised fertility and motherhood and the Greek historian Herodotus tells how
cats were often mummified and given a funeral, sometimes with the mummified remains of mice
so that they could enjoy the afterlife

This traditional view has been overturned, however, by the discovery in 2004 of a grave in
Cyprus that was 9,500 years old in which the remains of a cat were found next to a human.
Clearly, the human association with cats predates the ancient Egyptians by many millennia. It is
now thought that it was in the Fertile Crescent, modern-day Iraq, that humans first domesticated
the cat. Agriculture was invented in this region and the likelihood is that cats were used to
control the rodents and other vermin that fed on the crops and raided the grain stores.

Questions
The (1)________________ were the first people to have the cat as a pet. We know this from
(2)______________________ created over millennia ago and it is thought that cats
(3)_________________ so that they could enjoy eternal life. There is, however, some doubt

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about this (4)__________________ theory because the remains of a cat were found buried with
human remains in (5)____________.
Even before you read, you should be able to predict
- must be a noun after “The”
- likely to be a noun after “from”
- must be a verb form
- must be an adjective between “this” and “theory”
- either a place or a time after “in”

Tip: Even if you can’t predict the correct word form before you read, you must check
afterwards that what you have written is good grammar.

Problem 3 – recognise synonyms
Another major problem is that the words used in the text you have to complete will not exactly
match the words from the passage. This means that you need to read for meaning and simply

look for the same words in the passage. So there is no point looking for the word “pet” as the
word in the passage is “domesticated”.

3. A suggested technique
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.
7.

Read the instructions very carefully: check how many words you can use
Read the summary/table/sentences to see what general information you are looking for.
Ignore any specific words, think about meaning
Skim the text quickly to find the paragraphs you need to read more carefully. It’s a good
idea to concentrate the first and last question as they will tell you how much of the text you need
to read.
Look back at each question one by one and look for what specific information you need.
If you can, try and decide if you are looking for nouns, prepositions, verbs or adjectives
Find the sentence in the passage that you think most clearly matches the question
Check carefully that what you have written fits grammatically and makes sense too.
Spell the words correctly!

Answers
Weather text
1.

patterns of flight

2.
3.

reliable
hydrologic cycle

4.
5.

observation network
produced

6.

collected more quickly

Tài li u chia s t i DI N ĐÀN H C TI NG ANH - Admin: TR N M NH TRUNG
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Cat text
1.
2.

Egyptians
paintings and statuary

3.
4.

were often mummified
traditional

5.

Cyprus

V. Summary completion
This is the next in my series of reading tutorials and looks at the summary completion
question type in IELTS reading. First of all I talk you through the task and discuss the problems
it presents and the reading skills you need to improve your band score. Then I suggest a
procedure to deal with this type of question. There is a sample reading test for you to do at the
end.

A. Format of the question
The format of the question is that you are asked to complete a summary of the reading passage
by selecting words from a box. You should note:
1.
2.
3.
4.

there are more words in the box than questions
the words on the box are not usually the same as in the reading passage
the summary may relate to the whole passage or only a part of it
the text of the summary will follow the order of the text of the passage

B. Key reading skills
Concentrate on understanding the meaning of the passage. Don’t try and match words in

the summary and the passage.
The main skill here is the ability to read a text quickly and understand its general
meaning. If you can do this, you should be able to predict many of the correct answers even
before you analyse the text.
The vocabulary skill you need most is the ability to recognise “synonyms”or words that
have a similar meaning. This is because the words from the summary may not exactly match the
reading passage itself.
Another key skill is to think grammar. Each word you place in the summary must fit in
grammatically. It helps to know whether you need a noun, adjective, verb or adverb.

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C. Problems and common mistakes
Remember that the completed summary must make sense grammatically. Check the parts
of speech and read through the completed summary at the end
The main difficulty this task presents is that it requires you to read all or a large part of
the passage. One suggestion is to do it first even if it is not the first set of questions – that way
you should get a better understanding of the passage as a whole.
Another problem is that there are a lot of possible words to consider – normally they
give twice as many words as there are spaces. It’s important to be methodical here and make sure
you consider all the words before you put in your answer. it may take more time, but you’ll get
more questions right that way.
A very common mistake is to fill in a word because you recognise it form the passage.
Try not to do this, but rather think about meanings of words as you are almost always looking for
a synonym.
Another common mistake is to choose a word that has the right general meaning but does
not fit grammatically in the summary passage. One way to avoid this mistake is to read the
summary sentence by sentence and not just look at the words either side of the gap.

D. Sample task – vocabulary and synonyms
Read this short passage and then decide which is the best word to complete the summary
sentence:
Passage
Another possibility is that an asteroid or comet will crash into Earth, wiping out most if not all of
mankind in seconds. In 1908, an asteroid just 60 metres in diameter exploded above Tunguska in
Siberia, destroying 80 million trees. If that happened over an inhabited area, the death toll would
be millions – and that was just a small hit, predicted to happen about one every 100 years. The
asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs was more than 10kn across, and there are craters in
Australia and Norway that suggest that similar-sized rocks have hit in the distant past.
Instructions: Click the answer button to see the correct answer.
1. An asteroid strike was responsible for making the dinosaurs ______________.
a. destroyed
b. dead
c. extinct

Answer: c

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The answer is “extinct” even though it doesn’t appear in the original passage. It is
correct because it summarises the meaning of the passage and is a close synonym of “killed
off”.
E. Sample task – grammar and word forms
To help you understand this task, look at this sample summary. What can you predict about each
word?
An (1)___________ amount of young people are suffering from depression and other mental
(2)__________. There is a (3)_________ with older generations who have been shown to be
living longer. Research into this has been carried out by scientists in the United States. They

have (4)___________ that there is almost certainly a connection between (5)___________ and
mental health.

In the grammar task:
1. Must start with a vowel sound because of “an” and is presumably an adjective coming
before the noun amount.
2.We need a noun that follows “mental”.
3. Must be a noun following “a”
4. This is surely a verb form between “have” and “that” – probably a past participle
5. This is possibly an adjective such as “physical” to balance “mental” or it could be a noun
such as “diet” to balance the word “health”.

A suggested procedure
1.
2.
3.

4.

5.
6.

Don’t get stuck on any one question. If you can’t find the answer, move on and come back
to it later.
Read the instructions to the questions very carefully.
Skim through the summary ignoring the blanks to understand its general meaning
Identify which part of the passage the summary relates to. You don’t want to waste time
looking at parts of the passage that are not included in the summary.To do this look at the first
and last questions in the summary.
Look at each gap in turn. If you can, try and predict the meaning of the word from your

understanding of the text. Then see if any of the options match your prediction. Remember to
look through all the words.
Check with the passage. You can use your “key word” strategy to identify the correct part
of the passage but remember you are looking for synonyms
Check to see if your word is grammatical – think about nouns, adjectives, verbs and
adverbs.

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VI. IELTS reading matching features
In this lesson I look at the IELTS reading matching features question. I help you along
with a suggested strategy for approaching this type of question and show you some of the more
common traps.

A. An example of how it works
The way this reading works is you have to find elements in the text that match a list of
people/places
eg, You have a list of names such as
A. George Stephenson
B. Richard Trevithick
C. Archimedes
D. James Watt
E. the Corinthians
F. John Fitch
and you have to match them to items in the text:
Which pioneer
1. was responsible for building a life size steam locomotive
2. legally protected the design of the working model of the steam locomotive
3. created a small scale replica of a steam locomotive

4. was defeated by the limitations of the raw materials available to him
5. understood the potential of steam locomotives to transport people
6. used steam as a form of propulsion
7. discovered how to use steam engines in the manufacturing industry
8. used animals and not steam to power a form of railway

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