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IELTS Reading: gap-fill

Read the following passage about creative writing.

New research, prompted by the relatively high number of literary families, shows that there may be an inherited element to writing good fiction. Researchers from Yale in the US and Moscow State University in Russia launched the study to see whether there was a scientific reason why well-known writers have produced other writers.

The study analysed the creative writing of 511 children aged eight to 17 and 489 of their mothers and 326 fathers. All the participants wrote stories on particular themes. The stories were then scored and rated for originality and novelty, plot development and quality, and sophistication and creative use of prior knowledge. The researchers also carried out detailed intelligence tests and analysed how families functioned in the Russian households.

Taking into account intelligence and family background, the researchers then calculated the inherited and the environmental elements of creative writing. They found what they describe as a modest heritability element to creative writing.

Fill each gap in the summary below using a maximum of 2 words.

Creative writing ability may be ______ from parents, according to a new study. Researchers compared ______ written by children and their parents, looking at elements such as originality and use of ______. After conducting intelligence tests and allowing for ______, they concluded that there is a ______ link between genetics and creative writing.

IELTS Reading: finding and understanding

IELTS reading is really a test of 2 things:

1. Can you find the part of the text that contains the answer?
2. Do you understand that part of the text?

Finding
You need to be able to find the right part of the text quickly. I practise this a lot with my students: we decide which words in the question we need to search for, then we try to locate those words (or words with the same meaning) in the text.

Understanding
When you have found where the answer is, you need to read that part of the text carefully. Read the sentences before and after the keywords that you found. Then it becomes a test of your vocabulary knowledge: if you don't understand the words that you are reading, it will be difficult to get the right answer.

IELTS Reading: similar words

Here are some of the key words and phrases that helped my students to get the answers to reading test 4.1 in Cambridge IELTS book 7:

uncannily: means strangely or extraordinarily

IELTS Reading: paragraph questions

There are 2 types of questions that ask you about paragraphs:

1. Paragraph headings - match the sub-headings with the paragraphs.
2. Specific information - which paragraph contains the following information? Try an example: IELTS Reading: Which paragraph?

• For 'paragraph headings' questions, you need to find the main idea of each paragraph. I usually recommend starting with the shortest paragraph first.

• For 'specific information' questions, remember that one paragraph can contain more than one piece of information (e.g. "paragraph A" could be the answer for questions 1 and 2). Some paragraphs may not contain any information, so it doesn't help to start with the shortest one.

Both types of question are easier if you do the other question sections first (gap-fill, true/false/not given etc.). You will then be more familiar with the text, and you might even remember where some of the 'paragraph' answers are.

IELTS Reading: how questions are made

The people who create the IELTS reading tests do so by paraphrasing parts of the passage for each question. In other words, they choose a word or phrase in the passage that they want to test you on, and they write a question using words which have a similar meaning.

The table below shows the similar words from last week's exercise:

Note:
The words highlighted in blue were the correct answers because the same meaning was expressed in the passage and the question.

The phrases in black do not express exactly the same meaning (e.g. the fact that climbers have died does not mean that it is the most dangerous mountain). These answers were therefore wrong.

IELTS Reading: multiple choice

Read the following short text, and answer the question below.

The Eiger is a mountain in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. Since 1935, at least sixty-four climbers have died attempting the Eiger’s north face, earning it the German nickname Mordwand, literally "murder wall" - a pun on its correct title of Nordwand (North Wall). Before it was successfully climbed, in 1938, most of the attempts on the face ended tragically and the Bernese authorities even banned climbing it and threatened to fine any party that should attempt it again. Since the first successful attempt, the north face has been climbed many times, but even today it is regarded as a formidable challenge.

Which TWO of the following statements are true according to the text?

A) The Eiger is the most dangerous mountain in the Bernese Alps.
B) The north face of the mountain has an infamous history.
C) The Nordwand was finally conquered in 1938.
D) The Bernese authorities fined climbers who attempted the north face.
E) Climbers consider the north face to be the world’s most challenging climb.

IELTS reading and listening scores

Students often ask how many correct answers they need (out of 40) to get a band score of 7 in the reading and listening tests.

According to official IELTS guidelines:

• Band 6 is about 23 out of 40
• Band 7 is about 30
• Band 8 is about 35

Note:
The score needed for each band can change depending on the difficulty of each test. If you have a really difficult test, the score needed for band 7 might be 28 or 29. If the test is easier, you might need to score 31 or 32 to get a 7. Click here to see the banding guide on the official IELTS website.

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Read the following excerpt from a book review:

What constitutes the good life? What is the true value of money? Why do we work such long hours merely to acquire greater wealth? These are some of the questions that many asked themselves when the financial system crashed in 2008. This book tackles such questions head-on. The authors begin with the great economist John Maynard Keynes. In 1930, Keynes predicted that within a century people’s basic needs would be met, and no one would have to work more than fifteen hours a week. Clearly, he was wrong: though income has increased as he envisioned, our wants have seemingly gone unsatisfied, and we continue to work long hours. The authors explain why Keynes was mistaken. Then, arguing from the premise that economics is a moral science, they trace the concept of the good life from Aristotle to the present and show how our lives over the last half century have strayed from that ideal. Finally, they issue a call to think anew about what really matters in our lives and how to attain it.

Are the following statements true, false or not given?

1. Before 2008, people were less concerned about economics.
2. Keynes’ prediction about working hours was wide of the mark.
3. The book asks us to consider what is important in life.

IELTS Reading: the importance of vocabulary

IELTS Reading is basically a vocabulary test. If you don't understand words or phrases in the text, it will be difficult to get the right answers.

Try doing the test on page 46-49 of Cambridge IELTS book 4. Here is some of the key vocabulary from this test:

When I did this test with my students, nobody knew that a "chronic" illness means a "long-term" illness. The words "disillusioned" and "sceptical" also caused problems.

If you didn't know these words, look them up and write them down in your notebook. If you don't have a vocabulary notebook, you should start one now!

IELTS Reading: academic and general

There is a difference between the types of articles used in the academic and general reading tests. However, the types of questions and the techniques for answering them are the same. For this reason, I recommend using both types of exam paper for practice.

The main technique for finding answers in both reading tests is the 'keyword' technique: search in the passage for the key words in each question.

Here's a table of keywords from the GT test in Cambridge book 6, page 118:

IELTS Reading: paragraph heading

Read the following paragraph about the inventor Thomas Edison.

Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large-scale teamwork to the process of invention, and because of that, he is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. Edison is the fourth most prolific inventor in history, holding 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He is credited with numerous inventions that contributed to mass communication and, in particular, telecommunications.

Choose the best heading for the paragraph from the list below.

A) The creator of the first industrial research laboratory.
B) A pioneering and prolific inventor.
C) Edison’s contribution to mass communication.

IELTS Reading: paragraph headings

Match the correct headings with the paragraphs below.

1. The causes of stress among employers and employees
2. The increase in work-related stress
3. The increase in visits to physicians
4. Stress has wide-ranging effects on the body and on behaviour

A) The number of stress-related disability claims by American employees has doubled according to the Employee Assistance Professionals Association in Arlington, Virginia. Seventy-five to ninety percent of physician visits are related to stress and, according to the American Institute of Stress, the cost to industry has been estimated at $200 billion-$300 billion a year.

B) It is clear that problems caused by stress have become a major concern to both employers and employees. Symptoms of stress are manifested both physiologically and psychologically. Persistent stress can result in cardiovascular disease, a weaker immune system and frequent headaches, stiff muscles, or backache. It can also result in poor coping skills, irritability, jumpiness, insecurity, exhaustion, and difficulty concentrating. Stress may also perpetuate or lead to binge eating, smoking, and alcohol consumption.

IELTS Reading: difficult vocabulary

Some IELTS reading questions cause problems because of difficult vocabulary.

Read the following sentences from Cambridge IELTS 4, page 46.

• We've had a tradition of doctors being fairly powerful and I guess they are pretty loath to allow any pretenders to their position to come into it.
• A better educated and less accepting public has become disillusioned with the experts in general, and increasingly sceptical about science.
• Those surveyed had experienced chronic illnesses, for which orthodox medicine had been able to provide little relief.

Find the words in the sentences above which have the following meanings:

1. long-term or persistent
2. having doubts or reservations
3. reluctant or unwilling
4. conventional or normal
5. disappointed when something is not as good as you thought it was

IELTS Reading: collecting vocabulary

Whenever you read something in English, it's a good idea to write useful vocabulary in a notebook. But don't just write individual words, write the related words too. For example, do you know which verb is usually used with the noun "commitment"?

As an example, read the following short text:

A New Year’s resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a personal goal, project, or the reforming of a habit in the coming year. Some examples include resolutions to lose weight, learn something new, or give up a habit such as smoking.

Recent research shows that while 52% of participants in a resolution study were confident of success with their goals, only 12% actually achieved their goals. A separate study in 2007 at the University of Bristol showed that 78% of those who set New Year’s resolutions fail.

Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, a system where small measurable goals are set, while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.

Here is some key vocabulary from the text:

• make a commitment to something
• give up a habit
• be confident of something
• set measurable goals
• make something public
• get support from

Remember: understanding the meaning of a word is not the same as being able to use it correctly.

IELTS Reading: another keyword table

Here's my keyword table for test 1.3 in Cambridge IELTS book 4:

This test also contains some tricky words to describe shapes and movement. Look them up in a dictionary if you don't understand them. Line shapes: curved, wavy, bent, dashed. Movement: spinning, wobbling, jerking.

IELTS Reading: more keywords

Last week I did a reading test from Cambridge IELTS 7 (page 48-52) with one of my classes. Here is some of the vocabulary that helped us to get the answers:

The fifth row of the above table is interesting: "20% outside the local area" means the same as "80% was within the local area".

Another question confused some of my students: If a survey showed that "households spent seven hours a day on transporting themselves and their goods", does this mean that it was "a survey of household expenditure on transport"?

IELTS Reading: paragraph heading

Read the paragraph below and choose the best heading from the list.

Reading underwent serious changes in the 18th century. Until 1750, reading was done “intensively”: people tended to own a small number of books and read them repeatedly, often to a small audience. After 1750, people began to read “extensively”, finding as many books as they could, and increasingly reading them alone. Libraries that lent out their material for a small price started to appear, and occasionally bookstores would offer a small lending library to their patrons. Coffee houses commonly offered books, journals and sometimes even popular novels to their customers.

1. The appearance of the first public libraries.
2. Intensive and extensive reading habits.
3. The reading revolution.

IELTS Reading: some sites for daily practice

People often ask about extra reading practice: Is it a good idea to read newspapers or magazines, and which ones are the best for IELTS practice?

Two good places to find articles are The Economist and National Geographic. Try to spend a few minutes every day reading something from one of these sites. Make a note of some new words or phrases, and gradually your reading will improve.

IELTS Reading: keywords

Here's a table showing the keywords that helped us to get the correct answers to last week's Yes, No, Not Given exercise.

Remember: you can only be sure that you have the correct answer when you can point to specific words in the passage that have a similar meaning to the words in the question.

IELTS Reading: yes, no, not given

Read the following passage about 'habits'.

“All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits,” William James wrote in 1892. Most of the choices we make each day may feel like the products of well-considered decision making, but they’re not. They’re habits. And though each habit means relatively little on its own, over time, the meals we order, what we say to our kids each night, whether we save or spend, how often we exercise, and the way we organize our thoughts and work routines have enormous impacts on our health, productivity, financial security, and happiness. One paper published by a Duke University researcher in 2006 found that 40 percent or more of the actions people performed each day weren’t actual decisions, but habits.

Do the statements below agree with the ideas expressed by the author? Write YES, NO or NOT GIVEN.

1. The majority of choices we make on a daily basis are conscious decisions.
2. Saving money is the key to financial security.
3. Habits account for at least 40 percent of the things we do each day.

Note:
The passage above comes from a book I read recently called The Power of Habit. If you're looking for a book to read, I definitely recommend it.

IELTS Reading: paragraph headings

Here are my top 4 tips for how to answer 'paragraph headings' questions:

1. Do these questions last
'Paragraph headings' questions are difficult, especially because the answers will not be in order in the text. For most other types of question, the answers will be in order in the text. So, do the other questions first, then you will be familiar with the text when you return to the 'paragraph headings' questions. You might even find that you are able to match some of the paragraphs really quickly because you remember what they were about.

2. Start with the shortest paragraphs
Instead of starting with the first paragraph, why not start with the shortest paragraph? If there is a really short paragraph, it should be easier to match it to a heading. Then you will have fewer headings to choose from for the longer paragraphs.

3. Look for similar words
As with most types of IELTS reading question, you should be able to find words in the paragraph that are similar to words in the heading.

4. Move on if you are spending too much time
'Paragraph headings' questions often take a long time. Don't allow yourself to use more than 20 minutes for each reading passage. If you haven't finished after 20 minutes, move on to the next passage.

IELTS Reading: keyword table

The table below shows some of the keywords that help you to find the answers to test 4, passage 1 in Cambridge IELTS book 6.

If you have book 6, try the test using the table to help you.

IELTS Reading: choose the best summary

Yesterday I recommended reading descriptions and reviews on amazon.com. Here's an example description, with a quick exercise below.

Description of the book What are Universities for?

Across the world, universities are more numerous than they have ever been, yet at the same time there is unprecedented confusion about their purpose and scepticism about their value. What Are Universities For? offers a spirited and compelling argument for completely rethinking the way we see our universities, and why we need them.

Stefan Collini challenges the common claim that universities need to show that they help to make money in order to justify getting more money. Instead, he argues that we must reflect on the different types of institution and the distinctive roles they play. In particular we must recognise that attempting to extend human understanding, which is at the heart of disciplined intellectual enquiry, can never be wholly harnessed to immediate social purposes - particularly in the case of the humanities, which both attract and puzzle many people and are therefore the most difficult subjects to justify.

At a time when the future of higher education lies in the balance, What Are Universities For? offers all of us a better, deeper and more enlightened understanding of why universities matter, to everyone.

Which statement best summarises the book's message?

A) We do not necessarily need universities nowadays
B) Universities should be harnessed for social purposes
C) Universities must justify the money they are given
D) We need to change our understanding of the role of universities

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Look at the following extract from a text about diaries:

Many diaries of notable figures have been published and form an important element of autobiographical literature. Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) is the earliest diarist who is well-known today; his diaries, preserved in Magdalene College, Cambridge, were first transcribed and published in 1825. Pepys was amongst the first who took the diary beyond mere business transaction notation, into the realm of the personal.

According to the text, are the following statements true, false, or not given?

1. Samuel Pepys is more famous today than he was during his own lifetime.
2. Pepys kept a diary for purely business reasons.

Please share your answers in the "comments" section below. Can you explain your answers? I'll add the correct answers tomorrow.

IELTS Reading: easy questions first

A good technique for the IELTS reading test is to do easy questions first. If you get stuck on difficult questions, miss them. Do the easy questions, then return to the tricky questions later.

What's the easiest type of question?

The easiest type of question is probably any question that contains a name, number or date. For these questions, it should be easy to scan the text to find where the answer is.

If you find it difficult to get started in the exam, look for a question with a name, number or date, and start there. An easy question will help you to start confidently.

IELTS Reading: multiple choice exercise

Read the following passage about 'learning styles'.

The term ‘learning styles’ refers to a variety of ways of learning. The ‘learning styles’ theory is based on the observation that most people prefer an identifiable method of interacting with, taking in, and processing stimuli or information. The idea of individualised ‘learning styles’ originated in the 1970s, and acquired enormous popularity. Proponents say that teachers should assess the learning styles of their students and adapt their classroom methods to best fit each student's preference.

The basis and efficacy of these proposals are extensively criticised. Although children and adults express personal preferences, there is no evidence that identifying a student's learning style produces better outcomes, and there is significant evidence that the hypothesis (that a student will learn best if taught in a method deemed appropriate for his or her learning style) may be invalid.

Choose the best answer (A, B, or C) for questions 1 and 2 below.

1. The idea that people should learn according to their preferred learning style

A) has influenced all teachers.
B) became popular around 40 years ago.
C) has never been disputed.

2. There is no evidence that

A) people have learning preferences.
B) the hypothesis might be wrong.
C) it is beneficial to identify students’ preferred learning styles.

IELTS Reading: paragraph heading

Choose the correct heading for the paragraph from the list below.

A) The environmental impact of estuaries
B) The human impact on certain coastal areas
C) Why estuaries will disappear

An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries are amongst the most heavily populated areas throughout the world, with about 60% of the world’s population living along estuaries and the coast. As a result, estuaries are suffering degradation by many factors, including overgrazing and other poor farming practices; overfishing; drainage and filling of wetlands; pollutants from sewage inputs; and diking or damming for flood control or water diversion.

IELTS Reading: multiple choice

Read the following text and answer the multiple choice questions below.

In linguistics, a corpus (plural corpora) is a large and structured set of texts (now usually electronically stored and processed). A corpus may be used to help linguists to analyse a language, or for the purpose of dictionary writing or language teaching. The British National Corpus (BNC) is a 100-million-word text corpus of samples of written and spoken English from a wide range of sources. The corpus covers British English of the late twentieth century from a wide variety of genres with the intention that it be a representative sample of spoken and written British English of that time.

1. What is a corpus?

A) A type of large dictionary.
B) A single written text.
C) A tool for language analysis.

2. Why was the BNC compiled?

A) For the purpose of language teaching.
B) To document written and spoken English from a particular period in time.
C) To document the history of the English language.

IELTS Reading: keywords

Vocabulary is the key to doing well in IELTS Reading. Usually there are "keywords" in the questions that are similar to the words you need to find in the text. For example, if the text contains the word "global", the question might use the word "international".

The table below shows keywords for Test 4 in Cambridge IELTS book 4:

Try making your own keyword tables for other practice tests. It's a good way to improve your vocabulary, and it will help you to see how IELTS reading questions are made.

IELTS Reading: find the similar words

In the IELTS Reading test, you need to be able to match words in the questions with words in the passage. Read the following text, then try the exercise below.

What is an 'elevator pitch'?

An “elevator pitch” is an overview of a product, service, person, group, organisation or project, and is often part of a fund-raising, marketing, brand or public relations program. The name "elevator pitch" reflects the idea that it should be possible to deliver a short but effective presentation in the time span of an elevator ride from the ground floor to the directors’ boardroom on the top floor of a building.

An elevator pitch is often used by an entrepreneur pitching an idea to an investor to receive funding. Venture capitalists often ask entrepreneurs to give an elevator pitch in order to quickly weed out bad ideas and weak teams. Other uses include job interviewing, dating and professional services. Proposals for books, screenplays, blogs and other forms of publishing are often delivered via an elevator pitch, which may be presented in oral, written or video formats.

Which words or phrases in the passage are similar to those below?

1. a summary
2. succinct
3. gain financial backing
4. eliminate
5. spoken

IELTS Reading: paragraph headings

Read the following passage about cognitive behavioural therapy:

A) Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a psychotherapeutic approach: a talking therapy. CBT aims to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviours and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure in the present.

B) The particular therapeutic techniques vary, but commonly may include keeping a diary of significant events and associated feelings, thoughts and behaviours; questioning and testing cognitions, assumptions, evaluations and beliefs that might be unhelpful and unrealistic; gradually facing activities which may have been avoided; and trying out new ways of behaving and reacting. Relaxation, mindfulness and distraction techniques are also commonly included.

C) Going through cognitive behavioural therapy is not an overnight process for clients; a typical course consists of 12-16 hour-long sessions. Even after clients have learned to recognise when and where their mental processes go awry, it can in some cases take considerable time or effort to replace a dysfunctional process or habit with a more reasonable and adaptive one. CBT is problem-focused and structured towards the client. It requires honesty and openness between the client and therapist, as a therapist develops strategies for managing problems and guiding the client to a better life.

Choose the best headings for paragraphs A, B and C from this list:

1. A slow process
2. A new type of therapeutic approach
3. The benefits and drawbacks of CBT
4. A goal-oriented therapeutic approach
5. CBT therapists are always honest with their clients
6. The range of CBT interventions