Transcript Document

• Reading 40 questions 60 minutes:
• Three reading passages with a total of 2000 to
2750 words(Academic) or 2000 to 2500
(General Training).
• All answers must be entered on an answer
sheet during the test.
• No extra time is allowed to transfer answers.
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Academic:
Each section contains a long text
Authentic material
Texts are taken from magazines, journals , books
and newspapers which have been written for a
non-specialist audience. They deal with issues
which are interesting and accessible to
candidates entering undergraduate or
postgraduate courses or seeking professional
registration.
• Al least one text contains detailed logical
argument .
• Text range from the descriptive and factual to
the discursive and analytical
• Texts may contain non-verbal materials such
as diagrams , graphs or illustrations.
• If texts contain technical terms , then a simple
glossary is provided.
• General Training Reading
• Section 1 contains 2 or3 short factual texts
• Texts are taken from notices, advertisements,
official documents, booklets, newspapers,
instruction manuals , company handouts, leaflets,
timetables, books and magazines.(everyday life)
• The first section, ’social survival’, contains texts
relevant to basic linguistic survival in English.
• The second section contains 2 short factual
texts focusing on work –related
issues(applying for jobs, company policies…)
• ‘Training survival ’, focuses on the training
context-either training itself or welfare needs.
• This section involves a text or texts of more
complex language.
• The third section ‘general reading’, involves
longer, more complex texts.(general interest)
Task Types
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Questions are chosen from the following types:
Multiple choice
Short answer questions
Sentence completion
Note completion
Summary completion
Labelling a diagram
Table/flow-chart completion
Matching headings
Identifying writer’s claims/views Yes/No/Not given
Identifying information True/False /Not given
Locating information
Classification
Matching information
Matching sentence ending
SKILLS ASSESSED
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Reading for gist
Reading for main ideas
Reading for detail
Understanding inferences and implying
meaning
• Recognising a writer’s opinions , attitudes and
purpose
• Following the development of an argument
• Efficient ways to improve reading
skills.
• The Academic Reading module is a
little bit different from the General
Training – instead of 4 or 5 it has
only 3 passages (more difficult
ones). Actually, the first passage is
usually the easiest and then they
become more and more difficult.
Tips
• Don’t read the whole passage. Train
yourself to scan and notice only the
important information. After you go
over the text for the first time, you
should know what each paragraph is
about, what its main idea is. This
way of “reading” saves you a lot of
priceless time.
• Watch your time closely. Don’t
divide the 60 minutes you have into
3 equal parts of 20 minutes. Why?
Because the last passage is the
hardest and you are going to need
more than 20 minutes to do it. So I
suggest 15 – 20 – 25, but feel free
to look for any other timing that
works for you.
• Don’t forget to copy your answers to
the Answer Sheet. You can write
them in the question booklet as you
read the passage, but you get your
score based on what is written in the
Answer Sheet.
• If you can’t find an answer to a
certain question – mark it with a
big fat ??? so you can easily see
it later and move on to the next
one, don’t get stuck. Later you
can get back, find all the
question marks and try
answering those questions again
if you have time left.
• Count the words in your answer.
If the instructions say “answer in
3 words” – you need to answer
in EXACTLY 3 WORDS, when
even an “a” and a “the” count as
a word!
• When you practice, read your
passage, answer the questions,
compare your answers to the Answer
Sheet and pay special attention to
the wrong answers. You need to
understand WHY you made those
mistakes and remember them, so
you won’t make them again.
“How to begin
• Before turning to the questions, take a brief
look at the text to gain a general idea of
what it is about.
• Read the questions clear and more than
once to be able to answer more efficiently.
• After having an idea of what the text and
especially each paragraph is mainly about,
it is wise to determine which questions
belong to which paragraphs. You can also
write a short title for each paragraph to
make the classification of the questions you
need to answer easier. It takes less time to
search for a particular point when you know
what each paragraph contains.
Dealing with difficult questions
• When facing a difficult or confusing
question, the best thing to do is to
leave it and turn to other sections and
fill out the other blanks in your answer
sheet. When you are done with the
easy questions, you can go back to the
difficult ones and this time, you have
more time to concentrate on them and
are, therefore, more relaxed and able
to think clearly, without worrying about
other questions as you have already
done them.
Tip for TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN
Do not in any way confuse a NO with a
NOT GIVEN or a FALSE with a NOT GIVEN
upon reaching YES, NO, NOT GIVEN or
TRUE, FALSE, NOT GIVEN questions.
When a phrase is FALSE, make sure to
find its exact opposite in the text. If you
cannot, or if such a phrase is not
mentioned, then it is NG. As for YES or
TRUE phrases, you must be able to locate
them as they are often clearly stated in
the text, paraphrased and with words of
similar meaning.
Write answers in the right places
It is quite essential to check whether
you have written the answers in their
right places. For instance, if you write
the answer of question 12 beside
question 13, then both are marked as
false and just like that, you lose two
points, even if both answers are
correct. So check the questions and
the answers every now and then.
• Don’t re-think your answers
Do not dwell too much on your alreadyanswered questions. Chances are that
you would not only correct your
answers but choose wrong ones
• Some texts contain an opinion which you
have to recognize. Remember that sentences
starting with phrases like 'While it can be
argued that…' do NOT express the author's
opinion, they are more often a statement of
someone else's opinion.
• You might get a text with masses and masses of
long, complicated words. Very often these words
are key to the meaning of a sentence and
therefore key to answering a question. However,
equally often these words are unnecessary - they
are adjectives or adverbs that provide greater
description rather than play a part in meaning. If
you start focusing on words you don't
understand, you will run out of time. If the some
words are too difficult, ignore them.
• Eleven…………………………………….lucky………………
landing…………………….Maredy………Wednesday……
……………….Cessna…………………………………
damaged…………survived…….injury.
• ………………………….scheduled…………….Wye…..
Rambak…………………………………….director……….yes
terday…………………..investigator………… safety
department……already…….determine....................
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If you get a text with a lot of dates, circle
them as you go along - chances are the dates
are going to be important. If you circle them
you can find them again easily .
• If a reading text is very specific in topic (e.g.
the development of the computer chip), don't
think to yourself that you don't know anything
about that topic and therefore can't answer
the questions - the more specific the topic,
the more factual and straightforward it will to
allow everyone to have a chance at answering
the questions .
• Make the most of your Reading test:
• look out for the title, headings and any special features
such as capital letters, underlining, italics, figures,
graphs and tables
• make sure that you understand the questions and
follow instructions carefully
• pay attention to timing; do not spend too long on one
passage or question
• do not try and read every word; remember, you are
reading for a purpose
• if you do not know the answer to a question, attempt it
but do not waste time; move quickly onto the next one
• do not panic if you do not know anything about
the subject of the text; all the answers can be
found in the text
• the word(s) you use must be taken from the
Reading text; you must not change the form of
the word(s) in the text
• do not worry if there is a word that you do not
understand – you may not need to use it
• check your spelling
• be careful to use singular and plural correctly
• focus precisely on what you are asked to do in
‘completion’ type questions
• if the question asks you to complete the note ‘in the…’
and the correct answer is ‘evening’, just use ‘evening’
as your answer; note that ‘in the evening’ would be
incorrect
• pay attention to the word limit; for example, if you are
asked to complete a sentence using no more than two
words, if the correct answer is ‘silk shirt’, the answer
‘shirt made of silk’ would be incorrect
• attempt all questions; there are no penalties for
incorrect answers, so you have nothing to lose
• check your answers
How We Read
• Although you spend a good part of your day
reading, have you ever thought about how
you read?
• How do your eyes make sense of the shapes of
the letters, and then put those letters
together to form a sentence that you can
understand?
• When you actually think about it, reading is quite a
complex skill. Previously, scientists believed that
when you read, both of your eyes focused on a
particular letter in a word. Recent research shows
this isn't the case.
• Scientists now believe that each of your eyes lock
onto a different letter at the same time, usually two
characters apart. Your brain then fuses these images
together to form a word. This happens almost
instantaneously, as we zip through pages and pages
of text!
Advantages of Speed Reading
• Many people read at an average rate of 250 words per
minute. This means that an average page in a book or
document would take you 1-2 minutes to read.
• However, imagine if you could double your rate to 500
words per minute. You could zip through all of this
content in half the time. You could then spend the time
saved on other tasks, or take a few extra minutes to
relax and de-stress.
• Another important advantage of speed reading is that
you can better comprehend the overall structure of an
argument. This leads to a "bigger picture"
understanding, which can greatly benefit your work
and career.
Breaking Poor Reading Habits
• If you're like most people, then you probably
have one or more reading habits that slow you
down. Becoming a better reader means
overcoming these bad habits, so that you can
clear the way for new, effective ways of
reading.
Sub-Vocalization
• Sub-vocalization is the habit of pronouncing each word in
your head as you read it. Most people do this to some
extent or another.
• When you sub-vocalize, you "hear" the word being spoken
in your mind. This takes much more time than is necessary,
because you can understand a word more quickly than you
can say it.
• To turn off the voice in your head, you have to first
acknowledge that it's there, and then you have to practice
"not speaking." When you sit down to read, tell yourself
that you will not sub-vocalize. You need to practice this
until this bad habit is erased. Reading blocks of words also
helps, as it's harder to vocalize a block of words.
• Eliminating sub-vocalization alone can increase your
reading speed by an astounding amount.
Reading Word-by-Word
• Not only is it slow to read word-by-word, but when you
concentrate on separate words, you often miss the
overall concept of what's being said. People who read
each word as a distinct unit can understand less than
those who read faster by "chunking" words together in
blocks. (Think about how your eyes are moving as you
read this article. Are you actually reading each word, or
are you reading blocks of two, or three, or five words?)
• Practice expanding the number of words that you read
at a time. You may also find that you can increase the
number of words you read in a single fixation by
holding the text a little further from your eyes. The
more words you can read in each block, the faster
you'll read!
Inefficient Eye Motion
• Slow readers tend to focus on each word, and work their way
across each line. The eye can actually span about 1.5 inches at
a time, which, for an average page, encompasses four or five
words. Related to this is the fact that most readers don't use
their peripheral vision to see words at the ends of each line.
• To overcome this, "soften" your gaze when you read – by
relaxing your face and expanding your gaze, you'll begin to see
blocks of words instead of seeing each word as distinct unit.
As you get good at this, your eyes will skip faster and faster
across the page.
• When you get close to the end of the line, let your peripheral
vision take over to see the last set of words. This way you can
quickly scan across and down to the next line.
Regression
• Regression is the unnecessary re-reading of material.
• Sometimes people get into the habit of skipping back to
words they have just read, while, other times, they may
jump back a few sentences, just to make sure that they
read something right. When you regress like this, you lose
the flow and structure of the text, and your overall
understanding of the subject can decrease.
• Be very conscious of regression, and don't allow yourself to
re-read material unless you absolutely have to.
• To reduce the number of times your eyes skip back, run a
pointer along the line as you read. This could be a finger, or
a pen or pencil. Your eyes will follow the tip of your pointer,
helping you avoid skipping back. The speed at which you
read using this method will largely depend on the speed at
which you move the pointer.
• To determine your current reading speed, take a book and
count the number of words in 5 lines. Divide this number of
words by 5, and you have your average number of words-perline.
• Example: 62 words/5 lines = 12.4, which you round to 12
words-per-line.
• Next, count the number of text lines on 5 pages and divide by
5 to arrive at the average number of lines per page. Multiply
this by average number of words-per-line, and you have your
average number of words per page.
• Example: 154 lines/5 pages = 30.8, rounded to 31 lines per
page x 12 words-per-line = 372 words per page
• Mark your first line and read with a timer for 1 minute exactlydo not read faster than normal, and read for comprehension.
After exactly one minute, multiply the number of lines by your
average words-per-line to determine your current words-perminute (wpm) rate.