Hi

As you probably know, one type of IELTS Reading question is where you have to match headings to paragraphs or sections of a text.

You may not know that a common mistake in this type of question is to choose answers by matching words in the headings with words in the paragraphs without thinking about the main idea of each paragraph.

To show you what I mean, here’s an example from a text about seaweeds in the Academic Reading test from the Official IELTS Practice Materials (Volume 2).

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

List of headings

i) The appearance and location of different seaweeds
ii) The nutritional value of seaweeds
iii) How seaweeds reproduce and grow
iv) How to make agar from seaweeds
v) The under-use of native seaweeds
vi) Seaweed species at risk of extinction
vii) Recipes for how to cook seaweeds
viii) The range of seaweed products
ix) Why seaweeds don’t sink or dry out

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Hi

Here are the answers to the IELTS Reading questions in my post ‘Is it true, false or not given?‘.

As with any IELTS Reading test practice, if you find you’ve got an answer wrong, it’s important to understand why your answer is wrong. Read the full post »

Hi

A common mistake in TRUE, FALSE, NOT GIVEN questions in the IELTS Reading test is to choose answers by matching words in the questions with words in the text without reading the relevant parts of the text carefully.

To show you what I mean, here’s a TRUE, FALSE, NOT GIVEN question from Section 3 of the General Training Reading test in the Official IELTS Practice Materials (Volume 2) and an extract from the text.

Do the following statements agree with the information in the text?

Write:

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information given

34. The average person can name thousands of smells.
35. Participants in smell tests at Hill Top Research are required to avoid using certain products.
36. Most perfumes are made from natural materials.

Extract for question 34: “The average person can detect at least 10,000 odours. Being able to identify those smells is another story. If blindfolded, most people can put a name (‘roses’, ‘fish’, ‘oak’) to fewer than a hundred scents.”

In this example, many candidates would read ‘the average person can detect at least 10,000 odours’ and choose TRUE. The correct answer, however, is FALSE because most people can ‘put a name to fewer than a hundred scents’. Read the full post »

Hi

If you’ve been following the news on the Rena oil spill in New Zealand, you may be interested in the article at the link below. The article talks about the release of some of the little blue penguins that were coated in oil when the container ship Rena ran aground (i.e. got stuck on a reef).

As I’ve said before, as part of your IELTS preparation it’s a good idea to read articles related to environmental issues and the natural world, and this article is related to both of these topics.

Rena oil spill penguins released Read the full post »

Hi

I’d like to suggest a news story for you to follow as part of your IELTS preparation: the story of the oil spill from the container ship Rena in New Zealand.

A common IELTS topic is environmental issues, and most news on the oil spill talks about the immediate and future environmental consequences of this disaster.

If you haven’t seen or heard about the oil spill, have a look at the photos and read the summary of the story in ‘Oil spill disaster on New Zealand shoreline‘.

To read about how the oil spill could affect New Zealand’s wildlife, read the article ‘Rena oil spill could take years for wildlife and environment to recover‘.

Let’s hope that the environmental impacts are not going to be as serious as predicted.

Pete

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