101Helpful Hints for IELTS

Reading Test Hints
FIND SHORT SENTENCES WITHIN PARAGRAPHS
It is important to develop the ability to "see" a short question sentence within a longer sentence or
within a paragraph. The sentences forming the questions usually contain summarised information,
and are, therefore, almost always shorter than the sentence or sentences in the reading passage which
contain the corresponding information.
O Look at Question 2 in Reading Test Two:
It takes practice to "see" the information contained in the sentence of a question within the extra
wording in the reading passage, but it is an important skill. Note that sometimes the information in
the sentence forming the question is not given in the same order as the same information in the
passage. Nonetheless, the ability to "see" a shorter sentence within longer sentences is essential
when trying to locate the correct answer within a large piece of text. (See also Reading Hint 48.)
CONSIDER THE LOCATION OF THE ANSWER
You must be willing to search both before and after the keywords/phrases. The distance of an answer
from the keyword/phrase can vary considerably in the Reading Test, but the answer is usually found
in the same paragraph as the keyword/phrase with which it is connected.
In this book, certain keywords and phrases in the questions (and passages) are referred to as signpost
keywords/phrases because they point to paragraphs in the passage where answers are likely to be
found. Keywords more closely connected with the answer are referred to as destination keywords/
phrases. (See also IELTS Test - Basic Hint 10.)
D Look at Question 22 in Reading Test Three:
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