How To Answer Sentence Completion Type Questions in IELTS | Academic Reading

Sentence completion type in IELTS academic reading may ask for NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER or sometimes A WORD only or NOT MORE THAN TWO WORDS. In some cases, candidate may be asked to complete an incomplete statement.

So how do you solve these problems?

To answer a question that asks for NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS, it is best to identify the KEYWORD in the question. This keyword will be used to find the section or area in the passage where your can find the answer. If you are asked to write the word/s taken from the passage, don't forget to spell the word/s correctly.

If you are asked to complete a statement, it would help if key ideas from that incomplete statement are identified. Then, scan the passage to find for similar ideas, and choose the best one from the given possible answers. You need to be careful though because the number of choices here are more than the number of questions.

For you to save time, it is not necessary for you to go back at the beginning because the information occurs in text order.

Remember that you only have 60 minutes to answer 40 questions from 3 different passages, so you need to utilize certain strategies like this.

The Strategy in Answering True or False and Not Given Questions in IELTS | Academic Reading

Identifying the writer's view or simply the true or false and not given question is probably the most difficult to answer in IELTS academic reading.

This type may ask whether the given statement agrees with the view or claim of the writer, or whether the statement agrees with the information in the text. The purposes of these question types are to determine the examinee's ability to identify opinions or ideas or to recognize particular points of information that a passage conveys. In this type, the candidate is usually confused on which answer to give.

What is the best approach to break this confusion?

One way is to find the keywords in the statement. These keywords will help you to identify the area in the passage that possibly contains the answer. Then, skim the passage and read the first statement carefully and thoroughly. Having done this, scan the passage again for the area that will confirm (true) or deny (false) the given statement.

In the case of not given, this would probably your answer if the information in the passage neither confirms not denies the statement.

This question type may be hard but there is one thing that you should be happy about. The areas in the passage that confirm or deny or neither of the two (not given) are in order in the passage.

So you will save much time because you don't need to return at the beginning to check each statement.

How To Answer Multiple Choice Questions In IELTS | Academic Reading

In any test, multiple choice question is probably one of the hardest types to answer. It is because the candidates are asked to choose from four choices A, B, C, D. All these alternatives appear to be the right answer. However, only the best answer should be chosen.

So how do you break this dilemma in choosing the right answer in IELTS academic reading?

Simple. In answering this type of question in IELTS academic reading, you need to remember that the questions are in the same order as the information in the passage.

This means that your answer to the first question is found before the answer to the second question, and so the answer to the second question appears before the answer to the next question. The pattern continues to the next question.

It may also be sentence completion task.

Don't forget to write on the answer sheet the letter of your answer.

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What's the Correct Word Order?

Click the answer button to see the correct answer.

1. a. brightly
   b. is shining
   c. sun
   d. the
   AnswerThe sun is shining brightly.
2. a. in
   b. lives
   c. my sister
   d. New York
   AnswerMy sister lives in New York.
3. a. birds
   b. sing
   AnswerBirds sing.
4. a. cloth
   b. feels
   c. smooth
   d. this
   AnswerThis cloth feels smooth.
5. a. a
   b. became
   c. doctor
   d. good
   e. Mary
   AnswerMary became a good doctor.

Academic Reading | The Triune Brain

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below

The first of our three brains to evolve is what scientists call the reptilian cortex. This brain sustains the elementary activities of animal survival such as respiration, adequate rest and a beating heart. We are not required to consciously “think” about these activities. The reptilian cortex also houses the “startle centre”, a mechanism that facilitates swift reactions to unexpected occurrences in our surroundings. That panicked lurch you experience when a door slams shut somewhere in the house, or the heightened awareness you feel when a twig cracks in a nearby bush while out on an evening stroll are both examples of the reptilian cortex at work. When it comes to our interaction with others, the reptilian brain offers up only the most basic impulses: aggression, mating, and territorial defence. There is no great difference, in this sense, between a crocodile defending its spot along the river and a turf war between two urban gangs.

Although the lizard may stake a claim to its habitat, it exerts total indifference toward the well-being of its young. Listen to the anguished squeal of a dolphin separated from its pod or witness the sight of elephants mourning their dead, however, and it is clear that a new development is at play. Scientists have identified this as the limbic cortex. Unique to mammals, the limbic cortex impels creatures to nurture their offspring by delivering feelings of tenderness and warmth to the parent when children are nearby. These same sensations also cause mammals to develop various types of social relations and kinship networks. When we are with others of “our kind” – be it at soccer practice, church, school or a nightclub – we experience positive sensations of togetherness, solidarity and comfort. If we spend too long away from these networks, then loneliness sets in and encourages us to seek companionship.

General Reading | Forests and Global Warming

Greg Samdon, environmentalist, writes for Science and the News magazine.

'The interaction between forests and global warming is turning out to be more complicated than was originally assumed. Some of the basic assumptions which have underpinned theories of how deforestation affects the atmosphere are having to be re-examined.

First of all, it needs to be said that forests are an asset to the environment of the planet. They provide a haven for wildlife, and are both beautiful and economically productive in their own right. Also, there can be no doubt that trees are essential 'carbon sinks'. That is, a forest takes global-warming carbon dioxide out of the environment and converts it into solid carbon in the form of wood. Forests also have a role to play as 'green lungs' for the planet. That is, in the process of photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is converted to oxygen without which humans would not be able to breathe. The process of photosynthesis requires water, which is released into the atmosphere through the plant's leaves, cooling the air in the process. Every tree may cause only a tiny drop in temperature, but when taken across forests which make up a considerable percentage of the earth's surface, the effect is noticeable.

That said, the role of forests as 'green lungs' for the planet must not be over-estimated. It has been found that a huge amount of the oxygen in the atmosphere comes not from forests but from other plants on the earth's surface (including crops planted by humans), and even more comes not from the land but from plants such as algae, seaweed and plankton in the sea.

Nor does the absorption of carbon dioxide come without a price. Recently scientists discovered that growing plants emit methane, a gas usually associated with swamps and decay. It has now been shown that growing plants put out hundreds of times more methane that would be emitted if the plants were simply dead and rotting away. Since methane is a greenhouse gas, this means that forests are actually helping with some global warming. In fact some scientists believe that the deforestation which has been happening in some parts of the world has helped to slow methane build-up in the atmosphere.

Another way in which plants help to warm the atmosphere is because the leaves of trees absorb sunlight, and this makes them rather warmer than the air around them. Therefore though the overall effect of trees is cooling, both because they put out evaporated water and because leaves reflect some light back into space (and of course all the green light in the spectrum that falls on them), this effect is less than was originally thought.

General Reading | Going on Holiday This Year?

The Caribbean breakaway. Available between January 22nd and March 1.

Lose your winter blues in the warm tropical sunshine of St Anna, our tropical pdise just off the coast of Latin America. Visitors can spend a fortnight in our luxury four star hotel, or chose a self-catering family cabana near the beach. The cost of your flight is included in the holiday, and if you make a reservation early enough, you can be picked up from your home by our special airport bus. All flights leave from Heathrow on a Monday morning, allowing you to race the sun to your Caribbean holiday getaway.

Transfer in Jamaica to an Island Airways flight (Don't worry about your luggage. We take care of it from when you check in at Heathrow until you collect it at your hotel.) A short flight gets you to the airport at St Anna, where your coach will be waiting to take you to the hotel.

The Cowrie Hotel is a state-of-the art hotel with 900 beds, ranging from a luxury penthouse suite to single bedroom economy rooms. The hotel is built right on the beachfront, and many rooms have wonderful ocean views, with the others looking out over the golf course at the back of the hotel. If swimming and surfing are not enough for you, the hotel also offers pony rides to the interior of the island, a discount membership of the golf club, and even pchuting lessons for the very adventurous.

And don't forget the Pirate Cruise, the chance to take the local ferry out to the nearby island of Santo Alberto where the legendary pirate Blackbeard is supposed to have hidden his stolen loot.

Academic Reading | What is Music?

A. Music has probably existed for as long as man has been human, and it certainly predates civilization by tens of millenia. Yet even today there is no clear definition of exactly what music is. For example, birdsong is certainly melodic, but it is not tuneful, and it is not created with the intention of being musical (in fact it is sometimes meant to sound threatening) - therefore does it count as music?

B. On the other hand, some modern composers have been challenging the idea that music should be arranged in a pleasant manner with the notes falling in an orderly succession. Others, famously the avant guarde composer John Cage have even used silence and called the result music. As a result there is no one definition of music. Perhaps it should be said that music, like beauty, is what the person who sees or hears it believes it to be.

C. Music is divided in many ways. Music itself is split into notes, clefts, quavers, and semi-demi quavers. Ancient and medieval musicologists believed that these notes could be arranged 'horizontally' into melody (making notes that match on the same scale) and 'vertically' (going up and down the scales to create harmony). Another very basic measurement of music is the 'pulse'. This is present in almost all forms of music, and is particularly strong in modern popular music. The pulse is the regular beat which runs through a tune. When you tap your foot or clap your hands in time to a song, you are beating out the pulse of that song.

D. Another way of dividing music is by genre. Even a child who does not know that (for example) rock and roll and classical music are different genres will be instantly aware that these are very different sounds; though he will not be aware that one is a percussion-led melody while the other emphasizes harmony over rhythm and timbre. Each genre of music has numerous sub-divisions. Classical music is divided by type - for example symphonies, concertos and operas, and by sub-genre, for example baroque and Gregorian chant. Just to make it more fun, modern musicians have also been experimenting with crossover music, so that we get Beatles tunes played by classical orchestras, and groups like Queen using operatic themes in songs such as 'Bohemian rhapsody'.

Academic Reading | Gondwanaland

This test is in two parts, one of eight questions, the other of five. For the first part you have to read the text, and then match the paragraph headings A - H with the paragraphs 1-8. Write the letter in front of each heading into the box next to the number of the paragraph it belongs to. When you have finished the whole test press 'Answers' to see if you were right. This part of the test should take 17 -20 minutes.

1. Meet Mesosaurus, a small reptile which lived in fresh-water lakes and streams millions of years ago during the lower Permain age. Mesosaurus has had a big impact on how we view our planet, because he helped to prove the existence of the super-continent called Gondwanaland. 2. Every schoolchild has probably looked at a map of the earth and noticed how Africa and South America fit together like pieces of a giant jigsaw, yet until just over a hundred and fifty years ago, no-one believed that this was more than an odd coincidence. It seemed impossible that the massive continents of the earth could ever be moved, let alone so far apart that they ended up half a planet from each other. 3. Nevertheless, in 1912 Alfred Wegener, a German meteorologist came up with the theory that the continents of the earth had all existed in a single mass, which he called Pangaea (which is Greek for 'all the world'') Later researchers decided that Pangaea had been two continents, one to the north of the other, which had existed about 250 million years ago. From the geological evidence found in the Gondwana area of India, an Austrian geologist, Eduard Suess coined the name 'Gondwanaland' for the southern supercontinent, of which India was once a part. (The northern continent was called Lurasia.) 4. For many years super-continents were regarded as an interesting theory, but no-one knew how it might work in reality. Then the discovery of the mechanisms of plate tectonics showed how continents might drift across the face of the globe. Once it was accepted that the continents were floating on currents of lava, more evidence became apparent. A particular type of an early plant, the seed fern, was found on continents now scattered about the southern hemisphere of the world, as were tillates, a deposit left by glaciers in the Permo-Carboniferous era of 520 million years ago. And Mesosaurus, the little fresh-water reptile, left his remains in West Africa and Brazil. Since Mesosaurus had no way of crossing the Atlantic, researchers realized that it could not be coincidence that this reptile had left remains in exactly the place where Africa and South America fit together so neatly.

5. By investigating similarities in animal fossils, different types of plants found in the southern hemisphere but not in the northern hemisphere, and patterns of rock formations, researchers have managed to put the continents of modern-day earth together like a huge jigsaw to make up the vanished super-continent. Sometimes rock formations can be seen to break off at the ocean's edge, to carry on once more thousands of miles away on another continent. The evidence shows that not only were Africa and South America once joined to Antartica, but so were India and Australia, parts of south Western Europe, and Florida. 6. Although Gondwanaland was located in the far southern hemisphere of the planet, where Antarctica remains today, the climate was much warmer, and we know that huge forests grew there. These forests, fossilized into coal, supply many Indians with energy today. The land animals were adapted to life on their cool continent, with its long dark winter days. Some of the best known dinosaurs, such as Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Tyrannosaurus lived on the northern continents, but Gondwanaland also had some fearsome predators such as Abelisaurus, a large meat-eater that lived during the cretaceous period. The seas were populated with fish called placoderms, a name which they get from their skin, which was so thick that they were practically armoured.

Reading | Practice Test C

     (1)  Anyone who has handled a fossilized bone knows that it is usually not exactly like its modern counterpart, the most obvious difference being that it is often much heavier. Fossils often have the quality of stone rather than of organic materials, and this has led to the use of the term “petrifaction” (to bring about rock). The implication is that bone, and other tissues, have somehow been turned into stone, and this is certainly the explanation given in some texts. But it is wrong interpretation; fossils are frequently so dense because the pores and other spaces in the bone have become filled with minerals taken up from the surrounding sediments. Some fossil bones have all the interstitial spaces filled with foreign minerals, including the marrow cavity, if there is one, while others have taken up but little from their surroundings. 

        (9)   Probably all of the minerals deposited within the bone have been recrystallized from solution by the action of water percolating thru them. The degree of mineralization appears to be determined by the nature of the environment in which the bone was deposited and not by the antiquity of the bone. For example, the black fossil bones that are so common in many parts of Florida are heavily mineralized, but they are only about 20,000 years old, whereas many of the dinosaur bones from western Canada, which are about 75 million years old, are only partially filled in. Under optimum conditions the process of mineralization probably takes thousands rather than millions of years, perhaps considerably less. 

         (16)   The amount of change that has occurred in fossil bone, even in bone as old as that of dinosaurs, is often remarkably small. We are therefore usually able to see the microscopic structures of the bone, including such fine details as the lacunae where the living bone cells once resided. The natural bone mineral, the hydroxyapatite, is virtually unaltered too – it has the same crystal structure as that of modern bone. Although nothing remains of the original collagen, some of its component amino acids are usually still detectable, together with amino acids of the noncollagen proteins of bone.

21. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The location of fossils in North America
(B) The composition of fossils
(C) Determining the size and weight of fossils
(D) Procedures for analyzing fossils

22. The word “counterpart” in line 2 is closest in meaning to
(A) species
(B) version
(C) change
(D) material

23. Why is fossilized bone heavier than ordinary bone?

(A) Bone tissue solidifies with age.

(B) The marrow cavity gradually fills with water

(C) The organic materials turn to stone

(D) Spaces within the bone fill with minerals.

Reading | Practice Test B

    (1)     In addition to their military role, the forts of the nineteenth century provided numerous other benefits for the American West. The establishment of these posts opened new roads and provided for the protection of daring adventurers and expeditions as well as established settlers. Forts also served as bases where enterprising entrepreneurs could bring commerce to the West, providing supplies and refreshments to soldiers as well as to pioneers. Posts like Fort Laramie provided supplies for wagon trains traveling the natural highways toward new frontiers. Some posts became stations for the pony express; still others, such as Fort Davis, were stagecoach stops for weary travelers. All of these functions, of course, suggest that the contributions of the forts to the civilization and development of the West extended beyond patrol duty. 

    (9)    Through the establishment of military posts, yet other contributions were made to the development of western culture. Many posts maintained libraries or reading rooms, and some – for example, Fort Davis  had schools. Post chapels provided a setting for religious services and weddings. Throughout the wilderness, post bands provided entertainment and boosted morale. During the last part of the nineteenth century, to reduce expenses, gardening was encouraged at the forts, thus making experimental agriculture another activity of the military. The military stationed at the various forts also played a role in civilian life by assisting in maintaining order, and civilian officials often called on the army for protection. 

  (16)     Certainly, among other significant contributions the army made to the improvement of the conditions of life was the investigation of the relationships among health, climate, and architecture. From the earliest colonial times throughout the nineteenth century, disease ranked as the foremost problem in defense. It slowed construction of  forts and inhibited their military functions. Official documents from many regions contained innumerable reports of sickness that virtually incapacitated entire garrisons. In response to the problems, detailed observations of architecture and climate and their relationships to the frequency of the occurrence of various diseases were recorded at various posts across the nation by military surgeons.

11. Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage?
(A) By the nineteenth century, forts were no longer used by the military.
(B) Surgeons at forts could not prevent outbreaks of disease.
(C) Forts were important to the development of the American West
(D) Life in nineteenth-century forts was very rough.

12. The word “daring” in line 3 is closest in meaning to
(A) lost
(B) bold
(C) lively
(D) foolish

13. Which of the following would a traveler be likely be LEAST likely to obtain at Fort Laramie?
(A) Fresh water
(B) Food
(C) Formal clothing
(D) Lodging

Reading | Practice Test A

     (1)  The conservatism of the early English colonists in North America, their strong attachment to the English way of doing things, would play a major part in the furniture that was made in New England. The very tools that the first New England furniture makers used were, after all, not much different from those used for centuries – even millennia: basic hammers, saws, chisels, planes, augers, compasses, and measures. These were the tools used more or less by all people who worked with wood: carpenters, barrel makers, and shipwrights. At most the furniture makers might have had planes with special edges or more delicate chisels, but there could not have been much specialization in the early years of the colonies.
       (8)  The furniture makers in those early decades of the 1600’s were known as “joiners,” for the primary method of constructing furniture, at least among the English of this time, was that of mortise-and-tenon joinery. The mortise is the hole chiseled and cut into one piece of wood, while the tenon is the tongue or protruding element shaped from another piece of wood so that it fits into the mortise; and another small hole is then drilled (with the auger) through the mortised end and the tenon so that a whittled peg can secure the joint – thus the term “joiner.” Panels were fitted into slots on the basic frames. This kind of construction was used for making everything from houses to chests.
     (14)  Relatively little hardware was used during this period. Some nails – forged by hand – were used, but no screws or glue. Hinges were often made of leather, but metal hinges were also used. The cruder varieties were made by blacksmiths in the colonies, but the finer metal elements were imported. Locks and escutcheon plates – the latter to shield the wood from the metal key – would often be imported.
     (18)  Above all, what the early English colonists imported was their knowledge of, familiarity with, and dedication to the traditional types and designs of furniture they knew in England.

1. The phrase “attachment to” in line 1 is closest in meaning to
(A) control of
(B) distance from
(C) curiosity about
(D) preference for

2. The word “protruding” in line 10 is closest in meaning to
(A) parallel
(B) simple
(C) projecting
(D) important

3. The relationship of a mortise and atenon is most similar to that of

(A) a lock and a key
(B) a book and its cover
(C) a cup and a saucer
(D) a hammer and a nail

Reading Comprehension - American Classroom Customs

Read this, then answer the questions at the bottom of the page.

1. If the teacher asks a question, you are expected to give an answer. If you do not understand the question, you should raise your hand and ask the teacher to repeat the question. If you do not know the answer, it is all right to tell the teacher that you do not know. Then he or she knows what you need to learn.
2. There is no excuse for not doing your homework. If you are absent, you should call your teacher or someone who is in your class and ask for the assignment. It is your responsibility to find out what assignments you have missed. It is not the teacher's responsibility to remind you of missed assignments.
3. You must not be absent on a test day. If you are seriously ill, call and let the teacher know you will not be there for the test. If your teacher allows make-up tests, you should take the test within one or two days after returning to class. Serious illness is the only reason for missing a test.
4. Be on time! It is considered rude to be late. Also, it bothers other students. If you must come in late, be sure to do it quietly. Have your books and papers out of your bag before you come into the room. Then go to your seat and sit quietly. In the U.S. it is not necessary to knock before you enter the classroom. Most of the ELC teachers will give you a low grade if you are often late.
5. Have your book out and be ready to begin when the class starts. Your teacher should not have to ask you every day to take out your book. Be sure you have a paper and a sharp pencil ready.
6. In America, you should call your teacher by his or her last name, not "teacher". Also you should use Mr., Miss, Ms. or Mrs. before the last name (such as Mrs. Smith or Mr. Jones). This is considered polite. The teacher will tell you his or her preferred title.
7. Be courteous to other students. If another student is answering a question, giving a report or an explanation, you should listen quietly and give them your attention. Everyone must be treated with the same respect you would like them to give to you. Also, the question they are asking may be something you need to know.
8. It is considered impolite in the U.S. to eat, drink or chew gum during class. This is reserved for the break. Also, removing one's shoes in the classroom is not polite.
9. If you must leave during class, do so quietly. There is no need to ask the teacher's permission. However, leaving the class for something other than an emergency is not acceptable. (Getting a drink or sharpening your pencil is not considered an emergency.)
10. Copying another student's test or paper is never acceptable. It is called cheating. At BYU and most schools in the U.S., students who cheat are expelled (kicked out).
11. Posters, bulletin boards, or any other thing hanging on the wall is considered property of the school and shouldn't be written on or removed without permission. (A sign-up sheet may be written on, but only put your name on it.)
12. It is not acceptable to put up any sign, announcement or advertisement without first getting permission from the school office.
13. Books, backpacks, lunches--anything that belongs to other people is considered private and should not be moved or tampered with.
14. Entering a teacher's office or any office with a closed door without knocking first is not acceptable. Knock first, then wait to be invited in.
15. It is not considered polite to yell at people to get their attention. When talking in a group, you should not speak so loudly as to disrupt others who are close by.
16. Wearing a hat in class is considered impolite by many teachers. Some teachers/programs may ignore it, but you should ask permission first.

Answer These Questions

1. When the teacher asks a question, you should ___.
   a. raise your hand.
   b. give an answer.
   c. repeat the question.
   Answerb
2. If you miss a class, what should you do to find out what assignment was given?
   a. call the teacher or a classmate.
   b. give an excuse.
   c. remind the teacher you were absent.
   Answera
3. When are you allowed to take a make-up test?
   a. when you are absent on a test day.
   b. when you are really sick and call the teacher justifying your absence.
   c. when there's a test two days after the previous one.
   Answerb
4. A synonym for bother is ___.
   a. please.
   b. worry.
   c. disturb.
   Answerc
5. Teachers in the USA should be called ___.
   a. by their preferred title plus their last name
   b. 'teacher'.
   c. by their first name.
   Answera
6. A student is considered impolite when he/she ___.
   a. eats and drinks during the break.
   b. takes off his/her shoes in class.
   c. treats everyone with respect.
   Answerb
7. In most schools in the USA, cheating is considered ___.
   a. acceptable in some cases.
   b. a minor fault.
   c. a serious fault.
   Answerc
8. What are you not allowed to do without previous permission.
   a. speak quietly in a group.
   b. knock at the door before entering the teacher's office.
   c. put up an announcement.
   Answerc
9. To tamper means ___.
   a. to damage.
   b. to insult.
   c. to steal.
   Answera
10. Wearing a hat in class is considered ___ by many teachers.
    a. indignified.
    b. rude.
    c. charming.
    Answerb