Overview

• 60 minutes | 40 Questions
• Each of which is worth one mark.
• The Reading test has three Sections
• There are 13 or 14 questions associated with each of the readings.
• Negative marking does not exist.
• You must transfer all of your responses onto an answer sheet. No extra time will be provided to transfer
the answers.
Useful Reading Tips
• Don't start reading the passage. Begin with the questions.
• Read and follow the instructions carefully.
• Emphasize/underline the main terms/keywords.
• Try not to mark too much detail that is mentioned in the passage.
• Always use the spelling that is specified in the paragraph.
• Avoid spending too much time on a single question.
What type of questions
will I need to answer?
• Sentence completion
• Summary, note, table, flow-chart completion
• Short-answer question
• Diagram label completion
• Multiple choice
• Matching heading
• Matching information
• Matching features
• Matching sentence ending
• Summary completion
Reading Skills
Important IELTS Reading Skills
• Skimming: to get the overview/ gist/crux/main idea of the passage
• Scanning: to look for specific details in the passage
• Detail reading or careful reading
• Marking keywords: proper nouns, numbers, dates, years
• Prediction: nature of the answer to be predicted, whether it will be a
noun or a verb or it will be a number.
• Deducing meaning from the context.
Skimming
Scanning
Deducing meaning from
the context
• Can I have a word with you?
• Your words do not match with your actions.
• I repeated his speech word to word.
Instructions Check
1. If the question asks you to write TWO WORDS AND/OR A
NUMBER, this means the answer may be:
• One word
• One word + a number
• Two words
• Two words + a number
Remember that even if a number is written as a word,
it counts as a number (e.g. twenty-five trees- one
word and a number)
Strategies for Sentence
Completion
1. Read the title of the passage then move on to the questions.
2. Identify keywords
3. Scan the passage to find the keywords
4. Read carefully
5. Choose the word as it is
Let’s Go Bats
The Sonar and Radar pioneers didn’t know it then, but all Questions 1-4
the world now knows that bats, or rather natural selection Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE
working on bats, had perfected the system tens of millions THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each
of years earlier, and their radar achieves feats of detection answer.
and navigation that would strike an engineer dumb with
admiration. It is technically incorrect to talk about bat 1. Long before the invention of radar,
‘radar’, since they do not use radio waves. It is sonar but __________ had resulted in a sophisticated
radar-like system in bats.
the underlying mathematical theories of radar and sonar
2. Radar is an inaccurate term when referring to
are very similar and much of our scientific understanding bats because __________ are not used in
of the details of what bats are doing has come from their navigation system
applying radar theory to them. The American zoologist 3. Radar and sonar are based on similar
Donald Griffin, who was largely responsible for the __________
discovery of sonar in bats, coined the term ‘echolocation’ 4. The word ‘echolocation’ was first used by
to cover both sonar and radar, whether used by animals someone working as a __________
or by human instruments.
Answers:
1. Natural selection
2. Radio waves
3. Mathematical theories
4. Zoologist
Delivering The Goods
Questions 1-4
Countries still trade disproportionately with their Complete the summary using the list of words,
A-K, below.
geographic neighbours. Over time, however, world output
Write the correct letter, A-K, in boxes 1-4 on your answer
has shifted into goods whose worth is unrelated to their sheet.
size and weight. Today, it is finished manufactured
products that dominate the flow of trade, and, thanks to THE TRANSPORT REVOLUTION
Modern cargo-handling methods have had a significant
technological advances such as lightweight components, effect on 1. ………………….. as the business of moving
manufactured goods themselves have tended to become freight around the world becomes increasingly streamlined.
lighter and less bulky. As a result, less transportation is Manufacturers of computers, for instance, are able to
import
required for every dollar’s worth of imports or exports. 2. ………………….. from overseas, rather than having to
rely on a local supplier.
To see how this influences trade, consider the business of
The introduction of 3. ………………….. has meant that bulk
making disk drives for computers. Most of the world’s cargo can be safely and efficiently moved over long
disk-drive manufacturing is concentrated in South-east distances.
Asia. This is possible only because disk drives, while While international shipping is now efficient, there is still a
need for governments to reduce
valuable, are small and light and so cost little to ship. 4. …………….. in order to free up the domestic cargo
Computer manufacturers in Japan or Texas will not face sector.
A. Tariffs B. Components
hugely bigger freight bills if they import drives from
C. Containers ships D. Output
Singapore rather than purchasing them on the domestic E. Employees F. Insurance costs
market. Distance, therefore, poses no obstacle to the G. Trade H. Freight
globalisation of the disk-drive industry. I. Fares J. Software
K. International standards
ANSWERS:
G
B
C
A
Short-Answer Question
• Short-answer questions often begin with wh-words because they are designed to test whether you can
find concrete facts and information.
• Read the instructions and questions carefully before you start.
• You need to scan (e.g. to find a word/name/number) or skim for the answer.
Diagram Completion
In this question type, you will be asked to complete labels on a diagram, which relates to a description
contained in the text.
The instructions will make it clear how many words or numbers you should use in your answers, e.g. ‘NO
MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage.
The answers do not necessarily occur in order in the passage. However, they will usually come from
one section rather than the entire text.

The diagram will be one of the following:

1. A design or plan
2. A technical drawing, e.g. a machine or invention
3. A diagram of something in the natural world
Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD

Manufacturing Process of Pencils

Matching Sentence Ending
• This question type requires you to match matching sentence endings.
• You need to understand how ideas are connected within the reading passage.

How to approach
• Use keywords in the question (part sentence) to locate the idea in the passage.
• Read the idea in the passage very carefully.
• Select the correct sentence ending/idea from the passage.
Matching features
• Matching features tasks are used with Reading passages that contain theories or comments about
different people, place, years and things.
• Question will not be in the same order as in the passage.
• The people mentioned may appear in several different sections. You need to scan the whole passage
carefully.
• Some of the people on the list may be distractors, and you may not need to use all of the letters.
THANK
Y U!