Dealing with texts

the smart way

Dealing with texts the smart way
Which steps to take:
 1 - One minute scan
Awareness of the text:
 Read the title: what exactly does it mean ?
 Is there a subtitle? Read it carefully!
 Look at the pictures and lay-out.
 What type of text is it: this determines the approach
 What is it about?
 What do you already know about the subject?

 2 - Is it a scan-question?
YES NO
> Don’t read the entire text > Determine which lines /
>Go to step 4 paragraphs you must read to
find the answer

 3 – Start reading
IS IT EASY TO READ? IS IT HARD TO READ?
> Consider reading the entire > Just read the question and
text quickly; it’ll give you an the part of the text in which
overview you can find the answer;
you’ll avoid getting confused
or running out of time

 4 – Recognize the type of question> answer the question

Use the steps for the type of question

! How many questions to a text? If there is only one question for one point, keep an eye on the time.
You can postpone it till you have dealt with other texts which will earn you more points

Time management
The exam time is 2 ½ hours. With about 42 questions to answer and 11 texts to deal with, the one
minute scan will cost you 11 minutes. Looking up words, if you look up about 5 words per text, will
cost you half an hour. On average answering the questions will cost you 2 ½ minutes. This means you
will use about 146 minutes of the 150 without taking time to go to the toilet or looking around into
consideration. You can conclude that a good pace is vital if you want to leave time at the end to
check some of the answers you weren’t sure about. Regularly doing exam-texts and a wide
vocabulary will increase your speed and ensure a more relaxed exam.
! What’s your pace? It is important to determine how long it takes you to do all the questions. Sit
down for one whole session of 2 ½ hours to do one complete exam. Have the dictionaries at your
side as well as a clock to determine how much time you spend on the questions. There are three
ways to reduce your time: don’t look up too many words (so increase your vocab!) – don’t focus on
what you don’t know word wise, but use what you do know by breaking up words to bits that you are
familiar with – don’t check and double check, this kind of insecure behaviour just costs time and
doesn’t deliver; leave the checking till the end
! Beware of false friends

Types of texts
Type Lay-out Contents
Advertisement The lay-out is meant to catch Meant to sell a product or service
the reader’s attention. Short.

Column A title, followed by a text of The writer’s personal opinion is what counts.
about 300 words. Often no A social issue or personal experience is
paragraphs. Addressed, using humour, irony etc

Review The title of the movie or book A summary is given, the personal opinion of
is often mentioned in the sub- reviewer is the most important
title. The author’s name is men-
tioned separately

Letter to the editor At the end the name and The opinion of the writer of the letter on an
address are often mentioned article or political matter is central

News Longer text, sometimes illu- Meant to inform by addressing a problem and
strated. After the title there supplying a variety of opinions.
might be a short introduction

Interview Question and answer are easy The interviewer gets the interviewee to
distinguish, often by different answer questions about himself or an issue

Approach of types of texts

1 Short texts
These are texts with one to three questions, often without paragraphs. Skim these texts quickly to get
a general idea of the topic. With these texts you should read the questions first as you may find the
answers even when skimming.
2 Long texts
These texts have six to nine questions. To be able to answer these questions you have to understand
the complete text, so thorough reading is required. You should pay attention to the structure of the
text .
3 Scan texts
These are texts in which you need to find specific information. Obviously you read the question
carefully first so that you know exactly what it is you are looking for.
4 Gap texts
These text have words missing. Phrases surrounding the gap will help you find the missing word as
the information often paraphrases the missing word.

! The topic sentence is the sentence containing the most important idea of a paragraph. It can often
be found in the first two lines of a paragraph, although sometimes an author first sums up all his
arguments and then draws a conclusion. In this case the topic sentence is at the end of a paragraph.
It might help you to underline these sentences.

 Follow the logic of a paragraph

 Pay attention to conjunctions
 References often clarify what is meant; regard the sentence: “Fortunately these
disadvantages can be ignored compared to the advantages of …” Now you can be sure that
the writer has just summed up a number of disadvantages.
 A colon (:) indicates that a consequence, reason , conclusion or example will follow.

Types of questions

Steps to take for a judgement

When a judgement is asked, you have to indicate the communicative function or tone of a text, e.g.
What is the tone of the article? What is the opinion of the author?
1 – read the question
2 – read the passage as indicated
3 – determine the meaning to the passage
4 – name author’s use of language: irony, cynicism, understatement…
5 – or name the communicative function: repetition, contrast, putting into perspective…
6 – choose or formulate your answer

Steps to take for a conclusion

1 – read the question
2 – read the passage as indicated
3 – determine the meaning to the passage
4 – draw the conclusion by using the context
! Be aware not to use your own ideas, merely the text
5 – choose or formulate your answer

Steps to take when formulating

This type of question requires you to find the explicit or implicit meaning of a passage. They will be
questions like: What does this mean? What is this about?
1 – read the question
2 – read the passage as indicated
3 – determine the meaning to the passage
4 – choose or formulate your answer
Steps to take when asked for the goal
This type of question asks you to find the connections between passages. The question is about the
structure of the text. Questions can be: How is the second paragraph related to the first? What is the
function of the first paragraph?
1 – when one question is asked, read the question first, followed by an initial, general reading of the
passage
2 – when more questions are asked, read the text thoroughly first, then read the questions
3 – decide what the relation between the parts of text you studied is: cause, consequence, example,
contrast…
4 – choose or formulate your answer

Steps to take for a gap question

1 – carefully read the text preceding and following the gap
2 – don’t read the choices of the answer yet
3 – determine the function of the word you have to fill in
4 – determine the type of word you have to fill in
5 – determine if there is a relation between the parts preceding and following the gap
6 – decide on a word yourself and then look at the choices to check if there is a word which coincides
with your own decision

Steps to take when asked for the topic

1 –get a general idea of the text by skimming if this is the only question about the text
2 – read the text more thoroughly if there are more questions about the text
3 – cross out enumerations, quotes, expansions or examples
4 – you will be left with the topic sentence
5 - choose or formulate your answer

Steps to take when asked for reference

1 – read the question
2 – read the passage to which the question refers
3 – determine what the word refers to
4 – replace the word in the text with the answer you chose and determine if it fits

! Multiple choice questions try to confuse you so always make up your own answer before looking at
the possibilities, this makes elimination and the choice easier

! When answering an open question be aware which language you have to use to supply your
answer; never mingle the two languages
! If you are asked to explain something a simple translation does not suffice
! If one argument is asked, don’t give more since only the first argument counts as a possibility
Tips taken from the CITO exam training
 The general idea: always keep an eye on the general idea (GI)of a text, you do that by
“summarizing” per paragraph – after each paragraph you read you add new elements
 Characteristics of examples: these characteristics indicate an example - think of names &
titles (professor, director, scientist…) geographical positions (countries, cities, rivers…)
numbers & percentages, time elements (dates but also the other day, recently, last year…)
 Strong Words: Strong words are elements in an answer which make the statement very
powerful: only, none, all, most, every, never, always. PAY ATTENTION: 95 % of these answers
are the wrong ones

Steps for Gap-texts

linking words or other words?
 For linking words determine what the function is on the basis of the contents: what is the
function of the gap-sentence in comparison to the preceding sentence? (example – contrast
– conclusion – reason – continuation)
 For other words you need to read the paragraph as far as the gap + one additional sentence
if the sentence starts with a linking word or a demonstrative pronoun: that part will contain
the key.
Then you look up the linking words near the gap:
 So: reason for the gap
 But: opposite of the gap
 : ; contents of the gap
 Can the answers be divided in positive or negative words? Use positive word in a positive
paragraph, and a negative one in a negative paragraph
 Pay attention to contrasts among the possible answers: of the two opposites one is the
correct answer, the other two possibilities are nonsense
 Pay attention to negations!!

Steps for the other texts

 The first question:
 A mc question? You’re asked for the subject of the text; base your answer on TPI
(Title – Picture – Intro) and the GI
 An open question? A difficult title or intro, the key is in the question!
The subject is mentioned in the question
Search the text for the answer element that is given
Base your answer on the TPI and the question

 The other questions:

- Read the question
- underline the part of the text the question addresses
 One or two paragraphs: the answer is about the entire text
 One part of a sentence: two questions are possible:
- Why?...the answer is in the entire paragraph
- What?...the answer is in the preceding or following sentence
The nonsense answers come from the rest of the paragraph
 - Read the text and underline:
o Linking words: your answer is there!
o : ; your answer is there!

 Type of other questions:

There are four types of other questions:
 The Expert question: an expert quoted – information about the expert himself is usually not
important
 Question: what does the expert say? Look for quotation marks – Does or doesn’t he
say it?
 Question: Which side is the expert on? Arguments for his position are always present
 The Argument questions:
 CITO often asks for the counter arguments so that you can demonstrate you
understand the GI
 Pay attention to linking words to find the counter arguments (still, although,
however, but, whereas, while)
 The Example questions:
 CITO will often ask and refer to examples in a sneaky way!
 Question: “How does this sentence / paragraph relate to the preceding one?”
 Question: “what, according to …, is specifically intended?”
 Question: “what does the author of the text mean with this particular example?”
o The example illustrates the GI of the text
o Beware: you’re not meant to give the contents of the paragraph, but the
relation to the GI
o Get rid of all the answers with characteristics of examples
 The Statement questions: which of the following statements is correct
 Read the answers first
 Underline example characteristics in the answers which you can find back in the text
– after all CITO added them to help you
 Underline the word you think you will find back in the text
o Read the text carefully till you find your clue
o Check whether this makes the statement true (after all finding the clue
doesn’t mean the statement is right!)
 If you can’t find anything guess by getting rid of the answers with strong words
and choosing an answer in line with the GI

 The answers
Remember the following about the MC-answers:
 Linking words and semi-colon: the answer is there
 CITO devises three types of answers: 1 correct, 1 too strong, 2 nonsense
 Get rid of rubbish answers: nonsense answers which have little to do with the text
 Answers which are only fleetingly referred to in the text? If there is a linking word or
semi-colon it might be correct, otherwise; get rid of it
 GI questions: if the answer appears in the text only once; get rid of it
 Detail questions: e.g. what is true according to this paragraph?
 o Any doubt? Out!
o Chop the answer into small pieces; are all the elements true?
 For all answers: does it fit in the GI?