IELTS reading lesson

IELTS Reading Lesson Reading Lesson 1 - Matching Paragraph Headings Objective: to practice matching paragraph headings to paragraphs.. Matching Paragraph Headings - Practice Read and f

IELTS Reading Lesson

Reading Lesson 1 - Matching Paragraph Headings

Objective: to practice matching paragraph headings to paragraphs

A common type of IELTS Reading question will ask you to select headings of paragraphs and match them to the paragraphs from a text

On this page there is a full reading text and some practice questions At the end

of the page, there is a discussion of the answers and how you should have identified the correct match

Strategies to answer the questions

1 Quickly read through the paragraph headings so you can see what they say

2 Then look at the first paragraph

3 Often only the topic sentence needs to be read carefully because the main idea and answer are there - you may be able to just skim the rest

4 Sometimes, however, the answer is not in the topic sentence and the whole paragraph needs to be read more carefully

5 If a match is not immediately obvious, move on to the next one

6 If you are unsure between two answers at first, put them both in You may be able to eliminate one answer later if it fits another paragraph better

7 If at the end you are still stuck between two answers for a question, pick which fits best

Things to beware of

1 There are always more choices of paragraph headings on the list than

paragraphs, so be careful when matching them

2 Watch out for synonyms - often words in the paragraphs and paragraph headings will not be the same; they will be synonyms

3 Having a noun from a heading that is in the paragraph does not guarantee they match - you still need to read it carefully to check

One Paragraph Practice Exercise

Before you do a full reading, we'll have a practice with one paragraph

This is the first paragraph from the full reading you will do There are only five choices of paragraph headings for this first one (less than on the full reading)

Follow the procedure shown above, and click on what you think is the correct answer The topic sentence is in red to remind you to focus on that

Yoruba Towns

A The Yoruba people of Nigeria classify their towns in

two ways Permanent towns with their own governments are

called “ilu”, whereas temporary settlements, set up to

support work in the country are “aba” Although ilu tend

to be larger than aba, the distinction is not one of size,

some aba are large, while declining ilu can be small, but

of purpose There is no “typical” Yoruba town, but some

features are common to most towns

1 Match the correct heading to the paragraph

Matching Paragraph Headings - Practice

Read and focus on the topic sentences in the text below and then match the paragraph headings to their paragraphs One has been done for you

The reading passage has seven paragraphs: A – G

Choose the most suitable paragraph headings B – G from the list of headings on

the right

Write the appropriate numbers (i –ix) in the text boxes below the headings NB

There are more paragraph headings than paragraphs so you will not use them all

Yoruba Towns

A The Yoruba people of Nigeria classify their towns in two ways

Permanent towns with their own governments are called “ilu”,

whereas temporary settlements, set up to support work in the country

are “aba” Although ilu tend to be larger than aba, the distinction is not

one of size, some aba are large, while declining ilu can be small, but of

purpose There is no “typical” Yoruba town, but some features are

common to most towns

B In the 19th century most towns were heavily fortified and the

foundations of these walls are sometimes visible Collecting tolls to

enter and exit through the walls was a major source of revenue for the

old town rulers, as were market fees The markets were generally

located centrally and in small towns, while in large towns there were

permanent stands made of corrugated iron or concrete The market

was usually next to the local ruler’s palace

C The palaces were often very large In the 1930’s, the area of Oyo’s

palace covered 17 acres, and consisted of a series of courtyards

surrounded by private and public rooms After colonization, many of

the palaces were completely or partially demolished Often the rulers

built two storey houses for themselves using some of the palace

grounds for government buildings

D The town is divided into different sections In some towns these are

regular, extending out from the center of the town like spokes on a

wheel, while in others, where space is limited, they are more random

The different areas are further divided into compounds called “ile”

These vary in size considerably from single dwellings to up to thirty

houses They tend to be larger in the North Large areas are devoted

to government administrative buildings Newer developments such as

industrial or commercial areas or apartment housing for civil servants

tends to be build on the edge of the town

E Houses are rectangular and either have a courtyard in the center or

the rooms come off a central corridor Most social life occurs in the

courtyard They are usually built of hardened mud and have roofs of

corrugated iron or, in the countryside, thatch Buildings of this

material are easy to alter, either by knocking down rooms or adding

new ones And can be improved by coating the walls with cement

Richer people often build their houses of concrete blocks and, if they

can afford to, build two storey houses Within compounds there can be

quite a mixture of building types Younger well-educated people may

have well furnished houses while their older relatives live in mud

walled buildings and sleep on mats on the floor

F The builder or the most senior man gets a room either near the

entrance or, in a two storied house, next to the balcony He usually

has more than one room Junior men get a room each and there are

separate rooms for teenage boys and girls to sleep in Younger

children sleep with their mothers Any empty room are used as

storage, let out or, if they face the street, used as shops

G Amenities vary In some towns most of the population uses

communal water taps and only the rich have piped water, in others

piped water is more normal Some areas have toilets, but bucket

toilets are common with waste being collected by a “night soil man”

Access to water and electricity are key political issues

569 words

Paragraph Headings Answer Discussion

Paragraph B

(vi) - Historical foundations

B In the 19th century most towns were heavily fortified and the foundations of

these walls are sometimes visible Collecting tolls to enter and exit through the walls was a major source of revenue for the old town rulers, as were market fees The markets were generally located centrally and in small towns, while in large towns there were permanent stands made of corrugated iron or concrete The market was usually next to the local ruler’s palace

In this first question, the word 'foundation' is in the topic sentence This does not automatically make 'vi' the correct answer However, it is a good reason to

flag this up as a possibility The heading also refers to 'history', so the reference

to '19th century' in the topic sentence tells us the paragraph is about the history

A quick skim of the paragraph confirms this

Paragraph C

(ix) - Various changes

C The palaces were often very large In the 1930’s, the area of Oyo’s palace

covered 17 acres, and consisted of a series of courtyards surrounded by private and public rooms After colonization, many of the palaces were completely or partially demolished Often the rulers built two storey houses for themselves using some of the palace grounds for government buildings

The second part of the paragraph goes on to discuss changes that took place

Paragraph D

(iii) - Urban divisions

D The town is divided into different sections In some towns these are regular,

extending out from the center of the town like spokes on a wheel, while in others, where space is limited, they are more random The different areas are further divided into compounds called “ile” These vary in size considerably from single dwellings to up to thirty houses They tend to be larger in the North Large areas are devoted to government administrative buildings Newer developments such

as industrial or commercial areas or apartment housing for civil servants tends

to be build on the edge of the town

The answer is first seen in the topic sentence The word 'divided' should have flagged this up to you as a possibility Notice the use of the synonym 'urban' to replace 'town' It is common to see synonyms in paragraph headings questions and other IELTS reading questions

Paragraph E

(iv) - Architectural features

E Houses are rectangular and either have a courtyard in the center or the

rooms come off a central corridor Most social life occurs in the courtyard They are usually built of hardened mud and have roofs of corrugated iron or, in the countryside, thatch Buildings of this material are easy to alter, either by knocking down rooms or adding new ones And can be improved by coating the walls with cement Richer people often build their houses of concrete blocks and,

if they can afford to, build two storey houses Within compounds there can be

quite a mixture of building types Younger well-educated people may have well furnished houses while their older relatives live in mud walled buildings and sleep on mats on the floor

The topic sentence starts to give you a clue that 'iv' is the correct choice of the paragraph headings as it discusses architectural styles, which are then

discussed further in the supporting sentences that follow

Paragraph F

(vii) - Domestic arrangements

F The builder or the most senior man gets a room either near the entrance or,

in a two storied house, next to the balcony He usually has more than one room Junior men get a room each and there are separate rooms for teenage boys and girls to sleep in Younger children sleep with their mothers Any empty room are used as storage, let out or, if they face the street, used as shops

In this context, 'domestic' means of or relating to the home, so the heading is referring to the arrangements within the home Again, just by reading the topic sentence you can see that this paragraph is discussing home arrangements and skimming through the rest of the paragraph confirms this

Paragraph G

(i) - Town facilities

G Amenities vary In some towns most of the population uses communal water

taps and only the rich have piped water, in others piped water is more normal Some areas have toilets, but bucket toilets are common with waste being collected by a “night soil man” Access to water and electricity are key political issues

'Facilities' is a synonym of 'amenities' so this is the first clue that this could fit this paragraph, but you need to read on to confirm that the paragraph is discussing the facilities of the town, which it is

Lesson 2: IELTS Multiple Choice Practice Objectives:

 To practice IELTS multiple choice questions

 To practice scanning 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

1 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

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?

Preserving nitrates and moisture

Ploughing the land again and again

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."

_

Full Practice - IELTS Multiple Choice

1 What is dry farming?

Preserving nitrates and moisture

Ploughing the land again and again

Cultivating fallow land

2 What did H V McKay do?

Export the stripper

Improve the stripper

Cut, collect and sort wheat

3 What was the stump jump plough’s innovation?

It could cut through tree stumps

To put the plough shear on wheels

It allowed farmers to cultivate land that hadn’t been fully cleared

4 What did John Custance recommend?

Improving wheat yields

Revitalising the industry

Fertilizing the soil

5 Why was William Farrer’s wheat better?

It was drought resistant

It wasn’t from England or South Africa

It was drier for Australian conditions

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

The inland areas of Australia are less fertile than most other wheat producing countries and yields per acre are lower This slowed their development, but also led to the development of several labour saving devices In 1843 John Ridley, a South Australian farmer, invented “the stripper”, a basic harvesting machine By the 1860s its use was widespread H V McKay, then only nineteen, modified the machine so that it was a complete harvester: cutting, collecting and sorting McKay developed this early innovation into a large harvester manufacturing industry centred near Melbourne and exporting worldwide Robert Bowyer Smith invented the “stump jump plough”, which let a farmer plough land which still had tree stumps

on it It did this by replacing the traditional plough shear with a set of wheels that could go over stumps, if necessary

The developments in farm machinery were supported by scientific research During the late 19th century, South Australian wheat yields were going down An agricultural scientist at the colony’s agricultural college, John Custance, found that this was due to a lack of phosphates and advised the use of soluble superphosphate fertilizer The implementation of this scheme revitalised the industry

From early days it had been obvious that English and European sheep breeds had to be adapted to Australian conditions, but only near the end of the century was the same applied to crops Prior to this, English and South African strains had been use, with varying degrees of success William Farrer, from Cambridge University, was

the first to develop new wheat varieties that were better

able to withstand dry Australian conditions By 1914,

Australia was no longer thought of as a land suitable only

for sheep, but as a wheat growing nation

422wds

Lesson 3:

IELTS True False Not Given

Objectives: to practice answering IELTS True False Not Givenquestions This lesson explains how to answer True and False questions for IELTS

You also have a Not Given option with this type of task

Firsly, you will be presented with a list of facts

You then have to look at the text in order to decide if the facts are true, false, or not given

Below are some tips and strategies to help you answer this type of question

Tips

 If the fact you are given is clearly in the reading it is True

 If the reading says the opposite of the fact you've been given it is False

 If it is not true or false, it is Not Given

Strategies to answer the questions

 The questions follow the order of the text

 Read the question carefully to make sure you fully understand what it is

saying

 Scan the text to find where the answer is using key wordsfrom the

question

 When you find where the answer is, read the text carefullyto identify if you

think it is T, F or NG

 The questions will probably use synonyms rather than the words in the text

 Look out for controlling words such as “only”, “all’, “never” etc For

example, if the fact in the question says 'some' and the fact in the text says 'all', then it is F

 Do not spend a long time looking for the answer to one question; it is

probably NG, if you cannot find it

 Make sure you use the correct code; 'Yes', 'No', 'No Information' is sometimes used (these question are slightly different and you look for opinions rather than facts)

Example

Look at this statment, taken from the first sentence in the reading below:

Chiles originate in South America and have been eaten for at least 9,500 years

Here are some example IELTS True False Not Given statements with answers:

1 Chiles come from South America - T

2 People began eating Chiles in the last few centuries - F

3 South Americans were the first people to start eating Chiles -NG

Number one is clearly true Notice the use of the synonym 'come from' used

instead of 'originates' It is common to use different words

Two is clearly false as it was 9,500 years ago, not a few 100 years ago Three is not in the text Be careful about making assumptions then thinking it

is true It is quite probable the South Americans began eating Chiles first as they originated there; however, you can't be sure of that and the text does not tell you that

_

IELTS True False Not Given - Practice

Now, read the following text and answer the questions to the right of the reading using the drop down menu to choose either True, False, or Not Given

An explanation of the answers is provided below

Do the following statements agree with the information in the text? Mark them:

T if the statement agrees with the text

F if the statement does not agree with the text

NG if there is no information about this in the text

Chilies

Chiles originate in South America and have been eaten for at least 9,500 years Organised cultivation began around

5,400BC Christopher Columbus was the first European to

encounter chilies, when he landed on the island of Hispaniola

in 1492 He thought it was a type of pepper and called it the

“red pepper”, a name still used today After their

introduction to Europe they were an immediate sensation and were quickly incorporated into the diet From there they

spread to Africa, India and East Asia

The reason for the chili’s “hotness” lies in a chemical called Capsaisin Capsaisin causes temporary irritation to the trigeminal cells, which are the pain receptors in the

mouth, nose and throat After the pain messages are

transmitted to the brain, endorphins, natural pain killers, are released and these not only kill the pain but give the chili eater a short lived natural high Other side effects include:

an increased heart rate, a running nose and increased

salivation and sweating, which can have a cooling effect in hot climates

The reason for the presence of Capsaisin is thought to be to deter animals from eating the fruit Only mammals feel the burning effects; birds feel nothing As birds are a better method of distributing the seeds, which pass intact through their guts, Capsaisin would seem to be a result of natural selection

The smaller chilies tend to be the hottest This may reflect the fact that they tend to grow closer to the ground and are therefore more vulnerable to animals The heat of a chili is measured on the Scoville scale The hottest types such as the Habenero and the Scotch Bonnet rate between 100,000 and

300,000, the world famous Tabasco sauceÒ rates at 15,000 to 30,000, about the same as the Thai prik khee nu, while the popular Jalapeno is between 5,000 and 15,000 Powdered chili

is 500 to 1,000 and the mild capsicins and paprikas can range between 100 and 0

325 wds

_

IELTS True False Not Given - Answers Discussion

Question 1

Chilies became popular as soon as they were brought into Europe - T

After their introduction to Europe they were an immediate sensation and were quickly incorporated into the diet

There two statements are clearly saying the same thing Notice the use of synomyms:

Became popular = sensation

As soon as = immediately

Brought into = introduced

_

Question 2

Capsaisin damages the mouth - F

Capsaisin causes temporary irritation the trigeminal cells

This is false as the statement says 'damage' This is not the same as a 'temprary

irritation'

_

Question 3

Chilies can be part of a birds diet - T

Only mammals feel the burning effects; birds feel nothing As birds are a better method of distributing the seeds, which pass intact through their guts

This is true as this section in the reading clearly tells us birds feel nothing (when they eat them) and they distribute them around when it leaves their body So clearly chiles are eaten by birds In other words, they can be a part of a birds diet

_

Question 4

All large chilies grow high off the ground - NG

The smaller chilies tend to be the hottest This may reflect the fact that they tend to grow closer to the ground and are therefore more vulnerable to animals

We are told here that small chiles grow closer to the ground It can be assumed then that many of the large ones are higher off the ground

However, it says 'all large chiles' We are not given any information to say all

of them grow high off the ground It's possible some don't, so we don't know

which means it is Not Given

_

Question 5

People breed chilies for their heat - NG

The heat of a chili is measured on the Scoville scale

Again, this is Not Given We are given some information about heat in this sentence and those that follow

But these are just descriptions about how they are hot We are not told

specifically that this is the reason they are breeing them

Lesson 4:

IELTS Paragraph Headings

This lesson provides you with further practice on IELTS paragraph

headings matching type questions

Imagine you are doing a reading task which involves choosing the correct headings for paragraphs from a list of possible headings

It may be very tempting to cross off the headings that you have used as you go

For example, here is an example of a task that someone is halfway through after choosing four IELTS paragraph headings

1 A climate of fear

2 Fan violence returns

3 FIFA's response

4 Cancelling the cup

5 Legal action is taken

6 Not just the fans

7 Italy has a serious problem

8 Not to blame

9 Violence back in the news

10 A widespread problem

What is the possible problem with this way of doing things?

The problem with crossing off choices is that it means you no longer consider those options for any of the remaining paragraphs

Let's suppose that you have incorrectly chosen heading i for paragraph 1, when heading i should in fact be used for paragraph 5 If you cross out the options as you go, it means that when you come to do paragraph 5 you

will choose a different incorrect option

In this way, making one mistake can lead to another Making two mistakes

early on can easily lead to five or six wrong answers!

A much better idea is just to write down a paragraph number at the end of each option as you go For each paragraph consider all the possible headings,

and at this stage don't worry if you have more than 1 paragraph number after each heading

So you may, for example, have something like this as you go through the exercise:

Paragraph 2 - viii / iv

When you get to the end of the passage you will probably have a single

paragraph number after most of the IELTS paragraph headings You can now cross off those options For one or two perhaps you will have more than one For

each of these go back to the passage and decide which of your choices is the best; the paragraph you are left over with must need one of the other

headings that you didn't choose

Paragraph 2 - viii / iv

We are now going to try this method You will be reading a short article about

the problem of soccer violence from the Guardian newspaper

Use the boxes at the side to input your answers You can put in more than one choice as you go along if you are not sure, but remember to delete one of them

at the end before you submit your answers

Don't look below the reading until you have finished as there is a discussion of the answers

Soccer Violence

1 Fiorentina's exclusion from the UEFA Cup after a match

official was injured by a firecracker thrown during their

second-round match with Grasshopper Zurich in Salerno brought hooliganism back in the media

2 The Florence club are appealing against the decision,

arguing that the object was thrown by rival Salernitana fans and the ban would set a dangerous precedent But UEFA will have borne

in mind that Fiorentina were playing so far away from home only

because they had been banned from their own ground for crowd trouble in Europe last season

3 Whether Fiorentina have been hard done by or not, fan violence

is a problem in the Italian game Fighting before Sunday's 1-1 draw between Bologna and Roma left eight people in hospital, two with stab wounds After the game a Roma supporters' bus was stoned and set on fire

4 But Italy is not the only country suffering from what used

to be called "the English disease" At the weekend police in Bucharest fired tear-gas and made 20 arrests after a pitch

invasion at the Steaua-Dinamo derby, reflecting a marked growth

in hooliganism in Romania The Greek first division match between PAOK Thessaloniki and Olympiakos Piraeus last week was abandoned after one of the linesmen was left concussed by home fans furious

at a disallowed goal, a decision which brought 10,000 people on

to the streets of Salonika in protest In neighbouring Albania, Skenderbeu Korce were fined and docked three points last month after a brawl involving players, fans and the referee

5 Hooliganism is taking its toll on the South American game too An Argentinian judge suspended all second division matches this month in an effort to combat rising violence The same judge halted the first division for two weeks in May for the same reason

6 Football violence has claimed 37 lives in Argentina in the Nineties and leading clubs routinely have to dole out free

tickets and cash to their gangsterish fans, known as barras bravas, whose activities include extortion This is leading to

a frightening atmosphere A recent survey in Brazil found that

61 per cent of fans said they stayed away from matches because they were too scared to attend

7 FIFA is considering the postponement of the Confederations Cup, scheduled for January, which may persuade the world

champions France to take part, a FIFA spokesman said yesterday

IELTS Paragraph Headings - Answers Discussion

1 You might have chosen heading ii but this is wrong because we don't know

that violence ever disappeared (it may have been there all the time but just

nobody was talking about it) It has to be heading ix because it's back in the

public eye - i.e in 'the news' / 'the media' again

2 This should be viii because Fiorentina are claiming that it was not their fault

i.e they are not to blame

3 The paragraph describes the situation in Italy which is serious, so you should

choose heading vii

4 This paragraph describes the situation in a number of European countries, so

the answer must be heading x

5 You might have wanted to choose heading x here, as it does introduce the

problems in another part of the world But, you need this heading for the previous paragraph, and this paragraph talks about the actions of a judge

The answer should be heading v

6 This paragraph discusses how people are frightened and scared so you

should choose i

7 Paragraph 7 discusses what action FIFA is considering, in other words, its

response So iii is the correct answer You should not choose iv The

paragraph does talk aboutpostponing the cup, but not cancelling it

Lesson 5:

IELTS Sentence Completion

Objectives: to practice how to answer IELTS sentence completiontasks and

to examine paraphrase and synonyms

Often in the reading the test requires the candidate to complete a sentence

In this type of task, you are given a sentences from the reading with a gap in it

You have to fill it with words taken directly from the reading

Check if the question tells you to use the exact words from the reading - some

do not

When doing this, various factors are important to keep in mind:

 make sure the answer does not exceed the stated word limit Articles and unneeded adjectives can sometimes be left out to achieve this

 make sure the answer fits into the statement grammatically

 be aware that the statement will not use the same words as the text

As the statement you are given in IELTS sentence completion tasks will not be taken exactly from the reading, you need to be aware

ofparaphrasing and synomyms

These will both be used in the questions This is what they mean:

Paraphrase: to repeat something written or spoken using different words

Synonym: a word or phrase which has the same or nearly the same meaning

as another word or phrase in the same language

So when you look at the question, you will need to find a paraphrase of that sentence and probably some synomyms in the reading in order to find the right one, and then work out the answer

You should have identified it as this first sentence in paragraph 2:

A number of reasons contributed to Britain's decision tocolonise Australia

And these were the paraphrases / synomyms:

reasons = factors

Colonise = send people to live and govern

So you should then be able to work out that the correct answer to put in the gap

is "a number of"

Now, using this technique and the tips at the top, read the full passage and do the IELTS sentence completion exercise below (the reading is shorter than a real IELTS reading)

IELTS Sentence Completion Practice Exercise

European Settlement of Australia

European settlement of Australia began in 1788 when a British penal colony was established on the east coast From this starting point Australia grew rapidly and continually, expanding across the entire continent

A number of reasons contributed to Britain's decision to colonise Australia The most important factor was Britain's need to relieve its overcrowded prisons Several violent incidents at overcrowded prisons convinced the British government of the need to separate unruly elements from the rest of the prison populace

Additionally, Australia was of strategic importance to Britain, and

it provided a base for the Royal Navy in the eastern sea Also, Australia could be used as an entry point to the economic

opportunities of the surrounding region All these points figured

in the decision by Lord Sydney, secretary of state of home affairs,

to authorise the colonisation

To this affect, on May 13, 1787, Captain Arthur Phillip, commanding eleven ships full of convicts, left Britain for Australia He successfully landed a full fleet at Botany Bay on January 18, 1788 However, they left the bay eight days later because of its openness and poor soil, and settled instead at Port Jackson, a few kilometres north The ships landed 1,373 people, including 732 convicts, and the settlement became Sydney Australia Day is now celebrated on

26 January each year, to commemorate this first fleet landing

224 words

Complete the following statements using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS

(put your choice into the gaps - use small letters and don't put any spaces after your last word)

1 Australia was originally founded as

2 The major consideration in colonizing Australia was Britain’s

IELTS Sentence Completion - Correct answers:

These are the paraphrases and synomyms that you would have needed to identify in order to successfully find the answers:

Original word from the

Question 2 most important factor major consideration

Question 4 all these points figured took every factor into account

authorise official permission

Lesson 6:

IELTS Reading Multiple Choice

Objective: IELTS reading multiple choice and skimming and scanning practice

You won't have time in the reading test to carefully read the whole passage all

of the way through, so you need to find the answers in the text quickly

This lesson shows you how skimming and scanning can help with this

Identifying the question type

Before you start any reading pasage, 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