IELTS Lesson - Multiple Choice Questions
Objectives:
· To practice IELTS multiple choice questions
· To practice scanning techniques
· To practice skimming techniques
· To look at the use of synonyms in IELTS reading questions
Strategies to answer the questions
1. Look through the questions first
2. Underline key words from the question
3. Then scan the text for those key words that you have underlined
4. The answer should be found close to that word
5. The answers will be found in the text in the same order as the questions
Things to beware of
There will be synonyms used in the reading - the words in the IELTS multiple choice questions may not be the same as in the text
Identifying the question type
Before you start any reading passage, you should firstly take a look at the question stems to get an idea of what you may need to look out for.
So now look at the IELTS reading multiple choice questions below this reading.
If you look at the question stems, you will see that names are often mentioned e.g. James Alan Fox, John J. DiIulio, Michael Tonry. So this immediately tells you it is a good idea to underline 'names' as you read the text.
You will then be able to quickly scan the text later to find where the answers are.
Looking at the question stems first also gives you an idea of what the reading is about.
Underline / highlight key words
As you read the text, you should get into the habit of highlighting words that you think may be important and will help you find answers later.
These are often nouns like names, dates, numbers or any other key words that stand out as a key topic of that paragraph.
Looking at the IELTS reading multiple choice questions quickly first may help with this.
IELTS Reading Multiple Choice Questions
This type of question follows the order of the text. So when you have found one answer, you know that the next one will be below, and probably not too far away.
When you start looking at the questions, you should underline key words in the question stem to help you find the answers in the text.
Look at the IELTS reading multiple choice questions again - as you will see, key words have been highlighted. You can use these to help you scan the text to find the answers more quickly.
Reading in detail
When you read the text for the first time, you should focus on the topic sentences, and skim the rest of the paragraph.
But once you start answering the IELTS reading multiple choice questions and you have found where the answer is, you will need to read the text carefully in order to identify the correct choice.
Tip: Do not think that just because you have found some words in the multiple choices (a, b or c) that match the words in the text that this must be the right answer. It's usually not that simple so you must read the section where you think the answer is carefully.
One Paragraph Practice Exercise
Before looking at a longer reading, we'll have a practice with two paragraphs. It is the first part of the full reading you will do.
Identify the key word in the question first of all. Then scan the text to find it. When you have done this, read the sentences around this key word and see what information best matches the three choices you have.
1. What is dry farming?
(A) Preserving nitrates and moisture.
(B) Ploughing the land again and again.
(C) Cultivating fallow land.
Australian Agricultural Innovations:
1850 – 1900 During this period, there was a wide spread expansion of agriculture in Australia. The selection system was begun, whereby small sections of land were parceled out by lot. Particularly in New South Wales, this led to conflicts between small holders and the emerging squatter class, whose abuse of the system often allowed them to take vast tracts of fertile land. There were also many positive advances in farming technology as the farmers adapted agricultural methods to the harsh Australian conditions. One of the most important was “dry farming”. This was the discovery that repeated ploughing of fallow, unproductive land could preserve nitrates and moisture, allowing the land to eventually be cultivated. This, along with the extension of the railways allowed the development of what are now great inland wheat lands. |
To answer this question you should have highlighted the word dry farming. You should then have been able to scan the two paragraphs to quickly find this word. Reading the information around it more carefully would the give you the answer: Cultivating means to improve and prepare (land) by ploughing or fertilizing, for raising crops.
So the answer was "the ploughing of fallow land...to eventually be cultivated."