R 3 LO N G PA S S A G E S

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COMPLETION
TASK
 SUMMARY COMPLETION

Read the following passage about the discovery of penicillin.

The discovery of penicillin is attributed to Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming. Fleming

recounted that the date of his breakthrough was on the morning of September 28, 1928. It
was a lucky accident: in his laboratory in the basement of St. Mary's Hospital in London,
Fleming noticed a petri dish containing Staphylococcus culture that he had mistakenly left
open. The culture had become contaminated by blue-green mould, and there was a halo of
inhibited bacterial growth around the mould. Fleming concluded that the mould was
releasing a substance that was repressing the growth of the bacteria. He grew a pure culture
and discovered that it was a Penicillium mould, now known to be Penicillium notatum.
Fleming coined the term "penicillin" to describe the filtrate of a broth culture of the
Penicillium mould.

Fill the gaps in the summary below using words from the passage.

Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by ______ on September 28, 1928. He found

that the growth of bacteria on a petri dish was ______ by a blue-green mould that had
contaminated the culture. He realised that the mould was producing a substance that was
responsible for ______ bacterial growth.
 Complete the summary below by choosing your answers from the box. There are
more words than you will need to fill the gaps. You may use any words more than
once.

Generally size younger connection

rigidity inability creativity limited
teaching university society sometimes

Foreign families iving in Japan have to decide whether to send their

children to 1 ............. schools or to make other arrangements.
Those who choose to use Japanese schools are demonstrating a
2................ to the Japanese way of life. Many foreign families are
concerned about their 3 ............... to use the language and the
possibility that they will only stay in Japan for a 4 .................
time. Those who do use Japanese system are pleased by the free
education, standard of5 ................, the facilities and 6
the .................. Of the elementary schools. They also see
advantages for their children in becoming7 part of
Japanese .................
SENTENCE COMPLETION
FLOW CHART COMPLETION

CHOOSE onE WORD ONLY FROM THE PASSAGE FOR EACH ANSWER.
WRITE YOUR ANSWERS ON YOUR ANSWER SHEET.

THE PRODUCTION OF BAKELITE

Phenol
combine under vacuum

Formaldehyde
1
stage 1 resin, called .................

cool until hardened

break up and grind into powder

2 ................. (e.g. Cotton, asbestos)

 TABLE COMPLETION

cHOOSE NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS FROM THE PASSAGE FOR EACH
ANSWER.
WRITE YOUR ANSWERS IN BOXES 38-40 ON YOUR ANSWER SHEET

SCIENCE WRITTEN IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 17TH CENTURY

Language used Latin English

Type of science Original 1. ..................

Examples 2. .................. Encyclopedias

International 3. .................., but

Target audience
scholars socially wider
NOTE COMPLETION
MATCHING
 PARAGRAPH MATCHING

 READING PASSAGE 1 HAS 5 PARAGRAPHS A – E

 WHICH PARAGRAPH MENTIONS THE FOLLOWING
(QUESTIONS 1-4)?
 WRITE THE APPROPRIATE LETTERS (A-E) ON YOUR ANSWER SHEET

1. The fact that childern are able to identify and discuss the important
elements of fiction.
2. The undervaluing of children’s society
3. The impact of a particular fictional character on the sales of children’s
books.
4. An inaccurate forecast regarding the reading habits of children.
MATCHING

list
of
headings
 LIST MATCHING

Look at the following LIST OF PEOPLE A-E AND THE LIST OF STATEMENTS.
MATCH EACH STATEMENT WITH ONE OF THE PEOPLE LISTED.
WRITE THE APPROPRIATE LETTERS A-E ON YOUR ANSWER SHEET.

1. Children take pleasure in giving books

to each other.
2. Reading in public is an activity that A. WENDY COOLING
children have not always felt
comfortable about doing B. DAVID ALMOND
3. Some wll-known writers of adult
literature regret that they earn less C. JULIA ECCLESHARE
than popular children’s writers.
4. Children are quick to decide whether D. JACQUALINE WILSON
they like or dislike a book.
5. Children will read many books by an E. ANNE FINE
author they like.
 SHORT-ANSWER QUESTION

USING NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS TAKEN FROM THE READING

PASSAGE, ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
WRITE YOUR ANSWERS ON YOUR ANSWER SHEET

USING ONE OR TWO WORDS TAKEN FROM THE READING PASSAGE,

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
WRITE YOUR ANSWERS ON YOUR ANSWER SHEET

1. For which age group have sales of books

risen the most?
2. Which company has just invested heavily
in an unpublished children’s book?
3. Who is currently the best selling children’s
writer?
L
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 MULTIPLE CHOICE

Read the passage and choose the correct answers to the questions below.
A new ‘super-Earth’ has been discovered that could have a life-supporting
climate and water. The planet, given the catchy name HD 40307g, was
discovered in a multi-world solar system 42 light years from the Sun and lies
at exactly the right distance from its star to allow liquid surface water. It
orbits well within the star's “habitable” or “Goldilocks” zone - the region
where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold to sustain life.

1. According to the passages, why is it thought that the planet may be able to support life?

A) It has been shown to have water.

B) It is 42 light years from the Sun.
C) It orbits its own star at the perfect distance.
D) It has several moons.

2. According to the passage, which TWO statements of the

following are true of the “Goldilocks” zone?
A) It is the region of a planet which has a habitable climate.
B) It refers to a zone which is too close to the parent star.
C) It refers to a planet with several moons and a long orbit.
D) It is an orbit region which is comparable to the Earth’s.
Read the following short text, and answer the question below.

The Eiger is a mountain in the Bernese Alps in

Switzerland. Since 1935, at least sixty-four climbers
have died attempting the Eiger’s north face, earning it
the German nickname Mordwand, literally "murder wall" - a
pun on its correct title of Nordwand (North Wall). Before it
was successfully climbed, in 1938, most of the attempts on the face ended
tragically and the Bernese authorities even banned climbing it and threatened to
fine any party that should attempt it again. Since the first successful attempt, the
north face has been climbed many times, but even today it is regarded as a
formidable challenge.

Which THREE of the following statements are TRUE according to the text?

A) The Eiger is the most dangerous mountain in the Bernese Alps.

B) The north face of the mountain has an infamous history.
C) The Nordwand was finally conquered in 1938.
D) The Bernese authorities fined climbers who attempted the north face.
E) Climbers consider the north face to be the world’s most challenging climb.
CLASSIFICATION
 TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN

Do the following statements agree with the information given in reading passage 1? on
your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts with the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this
 YES/NO/NOT GIVEN

Do the following statements REFLECT THE CLAIM OF THE WRITER IN READING PASSAGE
1?

on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement REFLECTS THE CLAIM OF THE WRITER

NO if the statement contradicts THE CLAIM OF THE WRITER
NOT GIVEN if IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY WHAT THE WRITER THINKS ABOUT THIS

1. According to British Research, a mere of twelve per cent of vehicles tested produced over fifty per cent
of total pollution produced by sample group.
2. It is currently possible to measure the pollution coming from individual vehicles whilst they are moving.
3. Residents of Los Angeles are now tending to reduce the yearly distances they travel by car.
 TIPS
 Don’t assume anything based on your knowledge, read the text! It is the
oldest trick in the book and they use it a lot in IELTS.
 Don’t “over think” your answer - you could start building long logical
sequences that will take you to the wrong answer.
 In a block of short-answer questions you will find that the answers occur in
the text in the same order as the questions; i.e. you will come across the
answer to question 1 first, and so on. remember that when you move on to
another block of questions you may have to start reading from the beginning
of the text again.
 sometimes one question asks you for two or three answers, and then you
would need to get all the answers correct for one mark.
 Make sure you use the exact words that are in the passage and that you spell
them correctly.
 You must copy words correctly as accurate spelling is essential.
 SKILLS
AND STRATEGIES
 PREVIEWING

Study the passage by noting:

•titles
•headings
•illustrations
•diagrams
•any print in bold type or italics.
 SKIMMING
Skimming the text means reading

very quickly. Just look at the headings, subheadings

and first lines and last lines of each section or
paragraph.

The main purpose is to understand the gist --

the general idea of the text, not stopping at words that
you don't understand as this will slow you down
Words that show a greater significance in terms
of the meaning of the whole statement.

KEYWORDS
 FIND THE KEYWORDS
Select the keywords from the statements below :

Networking is not a modern idea.

 'not' makes the statement negative as opposed to
possibly being positive in the text.

People fall into two basic categories.

 'two' determines a specific number of categories which
may differ in the text.
 All teachers are freshmen from Australia.

 'all' determines that every teacher is a freshmen

and not a proportion of.

The first piece of Da Vinci’s art has little effect on

visitors to the gallery.

 'little' has a negative connotation as opposed to 'a

little' another one to watch out for is 'few' and 'a
few‘
 LOOKING OUT FOR:
 Negativity
 A specific number
 The whole or a proportion of
 Positive and negative connotation
 Reference to time (past, present,future)
 Modals e.g. words like must, should, have to (varying degrees
of obligation or certainty)
 Adverbs of frequency e.g. sometimes, always
 Modifiers such as most, some, all
 SCANNING
Scanning a text means looking for a specific piece of
information or specific words.

Ignore the information that is not relevant to your

purpose.

Scanning is a useful strategy to apply when the

questions ask for specific factual information.
KEYWORDS = SYNONYMS
DO NOT EXPECT TO FIND EXACTLY THE SAME
WORDS, THEY ARE MOSTLY PARAPHRASED!!!
 Unknown Vocabulary
The increasing popularity of
quasing is not difficult to explain.
Considering all the factors that
circumstitiliased the prenudery,
we should perhaps be more
gerstined that the sprindle has not
overglouted many years earlier.

When you meet new vocabulary, do not panic!

Do these following ways instead of jumping straight to your dictionary.
 Context
In every country you visit, you will find a sport that captures the
passion of the nation. New Zealand has its rugby supporters,
England has its legions of football fans, the Japanese have taken
baseball to their hearts and Scotland still proudly supports its
curling heroes.

Contrast
It should come as no surprise that younger people spend much of
their leisure time on their feet, engaged in energetic activities,
whereas older people opt for more sedentary pursuits like going to
the theatre or watching television.
 Explanation
There are many examples of the cooperation between people and
dogs. Guide dogs, for example, give essential assisstance to the
blind, while beagles, small dogs with short legs, are often used by
hunters.

Word groups
In my opinion, boxing is an abhorrent sport. Modern society should
be opposed to such violent contat sports.

Logic
Although modern technology has made mountain climbing both
safer and easier, it is not a sport without risks. Bad weather can
come quickly and last for long periods and the effects of severely
cold weather can lead to hypothermia and, if untreated, death.
STRATEGIES
 TRUE/FALSE/NOT
FALSE
GIVEN
Asia and Europe have an equal proportion of obese children.

Underline the keywords Scan them to the passage

Are the question and the passage similar,
contradictive or irrelevant?
PASSAGE LAGS BEHIND ≠≠ EQUAL PROPORTION

According to statistics presented at the European Congress on Obesity

in Finland, more than 20% of the European youngsters between the
ages of 5 and 17 are either over weight or obese. Asia lags behind the
US and Europe in its obesity statistics, but Thailand, Malaysia and
Japan and the Philippines have all reported troubling increases in
recent years.
 other examples :

TRUE
It is forecast that the proportion of overweight or obese
children in China will reach 20% in ten years’ time.

PASSAGE

Up to 10% of China’s 290 million children are already

believed to be overweight or obese, and that percentage
is expected to have doubled a decade from now.

Parents play the most important role in improving eating habits. NG

PASSAGE

What is urgently needed is for schools, health

professionals, parents and children to work together in
changing the bad eating lifestyles of children.
 7. Risen
COMPLETION TYPES OF QUESTIONS 8. Remained
constant
In Britain, convenience meals are now the most popular type of food. Fruit
and vegetable consumption has 7. ...................... and consumption of meat
and fish has 8. ......................

Read the whole questions Underline the keywords from the

questions.
A
D
Find out the A N V J
answer in the D O E E Suit the meaning as SCAN &
choices (make V U R C
well as the grammar UNDERSTAND
E N B
sure you have
T THE PASSAGE
R I
understood all B V
their meanings E
and the usages)
Now less than half say they usually have a roast
each week. Spending on fruit and vegetables,
meanwhile, has gone up by only six per cent –
A third risen despite a huge government education campaign to
Increase older get people eating more healthily. Meat and fish
Remained constant account for a fifth of the UK’s total food market,
but the sector has no growth over the past decade.
 MULTIPLE CHOICE

In his research, Robert Levine measured the speed at which postal B

workers
A. delivered letters UNDERLINE THE KEYWORDS
B. performed a task FROM THE QUESTION AND
C. learned a new skill UNDERTAND THEM
D. answered a question

ELIMINATE THE UNDERSTAND EACH

IMPOSSIBLE ANSWERS SCAN CHOICES
THEM
PASSAGE

Levine and his colleagues have conducted so-called pace-of-life

studies in 31 countries. In a Geography of Time, published in 1997,
Levine describes how he ranked the countries by measuring three
things: walking speed on urban sidewalks, how quickly postal clerks
could fulfill a request for a common stamp, and the accuracy of
public clocks.
 HEADING
There are always some extra headings that you
do not need to use. There is sometimes an
example answer

Match ideas not words. you may find words from

the list of headings in the passage but they may be
in a different paragraph from the one that is the
answer.
Birth attempted to get at how Trinidadians regard time by exploring how
closely their society links time and money. He surveyed rural residents and
found that farmers – whose days are dictated by natural events, such as
sunrise – did not recognize the phrases time is money, budget you time or
time management even though they had satellite TV and were familiar
with western popular culture. But tailors were aware of such notions. Birth
concluded that wage work altered the tailors’ views of time. ‘The ideas of
associating time with money are not found globally,’ he says, ‘but are
attached to your job and the people you work with.’

i. A problem for those reasearching attitudes to time.

ii. Comparing the value of time for different groups of workers.
iii. Variation in theoretical views of time. ii
SKIM AND UNDERSTAND YOU MAY CHOOSE MORE THAN ONE LIST TO
THE PARAGRAPH ENSURE THE ANSWER, THIS MIGHT TAKE SOME TIME.

IS IT TALKING ABOUT DIFFERENT GROUP OF WORKERS?

IS IT TALKING ABOUT THE VALUE OF TIME? PROVE THE
BEST ANSWER
IS IT COMPARING?
DO OTHER TYPES OF QUESTIONS FIRST!!!
 SHORT-ANSWER QUESTION
Usually, each chief had between one and 15 Moai on his
family’s tombs, all of which were between 3m and 8m tall.
More were constantly being built – in total, nearly 12.000
are thought to have been made, using rock from the Rano
Rarku volcano. The largest of the Moai found by Orifici’s
team was 33m tall and weighed nearly 300 tonnes.

UNDERLINE THE
KEYWORDS FROM THE
SCAN SYNONYM
QUESTION THEM PARAPHRASE

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from

the reading passage for each answer.

1. The Moai sculptures were made from rock taken from the ?
2. The possible high of the Moai sculptures is ?
TYPES OF QUESTIONS WHICH FOLLOW
THE ORDER OF INFORMATION

THE ORDER OF
INFORMATION IS ONLY
 YES/NO/NOT APPLIED IF YOU ARE
STILL WORKING IN THE
GIVEN SAMPE TYPE OF
QUESTIONS…
TRUE/FALSE/NOT
GIVEN
SHORT ANSWER
QUESTION
SENTENCE
COMPLETION