The biggest problem is the fact that you need to look at the whole text. The answers could be anywhere in the text and they do not come in order, so it takes time.
Task description
In this kind of question you are asked to match statements to paragraphs in the reading text.
How to approach this task
- Read the questions first. Think about synonyms and how you could paraphrase the statements. This will help you identify the answer. Saying each statement in your own words can help do this.
- Quickly skim the reading text to try to understand the general meaning of the text.
- Read the question statements again and predict which paragraph contains the answer.
- Scan the text paragraphs you think might contain the answer for synonyms. If you find a possible answer underline it.
- Check back with the question statement and mark answer if correct. If not, move on to other paragraphs.
Example
Use the information in the text of the reading passage to match the people (listed A-E) with the opinions (listed 1-7) below.
Write the appropriate letter (A-E) in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.
Some people match more than one opinion.
A Dr Broca
B Dr Brinkman
C Geschwind and Galaburda
D Charles Moore
E Professor Turner
Example | Answer |
Monkeys do not show a species specific preference for left or right-handedness. | B |
1 Human beings started to show a preference for right-handedness when they first developed language.
2 Society is prejudiced against left-handed people.
3 Boys are more likely to be left-handed.
4 After a stroke, left-handed people recover their speech more quickly than righthanded people.
5 People who suffer strokes on the left side of the brain usually lose their power of speech.
6 The two sides of the brain develop different functions before birth.
7 Asymmetry is a common feature of the human body.
Link: http://mini-ielts.com/50/reading/right-and-left-handedness-in-humans
How to solve this test?
- 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.
Keyword table for this practice test:
Keywords in Questions | Similar words in Passage |
Human beings started to show a preference for right-handedness when they first developed language. | Dr Brinkman, a brain researcher at the Australian National University in Canberra, has suggested that evolution of speech went with right-handed preference |
Society is prejudiced against left-handed people. | However, what is alarming, according to Mr. Charles Moore, a writer and journalist, is the way the word “right” reinforces its own virtue. Subliminally he says, language tells people to think that anything on the right can be trusted while anything on the left is dangerous or even sinister |
| Boys are more likely to be left-handed | It should be no surprise then that among mathematicians and architects, left-handers tend to be more common and there are more left-handed males than females. |
Explanation:
Question 1:
- Find the keywords in the question 1 that has similar words in the reading passage: a preference for right-handedness when they first developed language = evolution of speech went with right-handed preference
- So answer of Q1 is B (Dr Brinkman).
Question 2:
- Find the keywords in the question 2 that has similar words in the reading passage: Society is prejudiced against left-handed people.= anything on the left is dangerous or even sinister
- So answer of Q2 is D (Charles Moore).
Question 3:
- Find the keywords in the question 3 that has similar words in the reading passage: Boys are more likely to be left-handed=there are more left-handed males than females.
- So answer of Q3 is C (Geschwind and Galaburda).
Now continue this technique with another questions. This may seem like a lot of work and in the beginning but once you have practised this many times, you will be able to find your answers really fast and with much better accuracy and that will improve your score.
You can practice more this type of question at: http://mini-ielts.com/reading?search=&q10=on&count=&sort=date-desc
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