MULTIPLE CHOICE, SINGLE ANSWER
-Tackle each reading item in a different way. Adapt your reading strategy according to the
direction of the question and the purpose of your reading.
-If the topic of the reading passage is unfamiliar to you, concentrate on what you understand
rather than worrying about words that are new to you. Focus on extracting the general gist of
what is in the text rather than the meaning of individual words and phrases.
-After you have chosen your response, quickly check the remaining response options against the
passage one-by-one, to make sure they can be eliminated.
Best reading strategy for each of the following different types of questions, e.g.:
1.What is the main idea/main aim/point … ? (main idea or gist; useful reading strategy: look for
topic sentence(s))
2.According to the text, which of the following …? (supporting information; useful reading
strategy: read for specific details, look for key words in the options and find similar words in the
text)
3.Why does the writer …? (writer’s purpose; useful reading strategy: look for reasons or words
indicating reasons)
4.What is the writer’s point of view/opinion on … ? (writer’s opinion; useful reading strategy:
look at the conclusion or concluding sentence)
MULTIPLE CHOICE, MULTIPLE ANSWERS
-Decide whether or not it is appropriate to draw on your background knowledge of the topic to
help you answer the question.
-Use the structure of the reading text, the section headings, sub-headings and paragraphing, etc.
to help you locate information. Direct your reading according to the information you need to
find. Identify the “focus” of both the question and response options, and redundant information
that can be ignored.
-Identify keywords and clues in the response options, and look for words and phrases with
similar meanings in the text to locate the information you need.
First identify the focus of the question:
Examples:
1. According to the text, how are online news sources making the news industry more
competitive? (No; clue “According to the text…”)
2. Which of these countries uses electronic voting machines? (Yes; background knowledge
of the topic of voting and elections may be useful in helping students predict or select
correct responses)
3. What does the writer believe is likely to happen in future? (No; clue “What does the
writer believe…”)
4. Which of the following can be inferred from the text? (No; clue “... can be inferred from
the text…”)
5. One present indicator of climate change is . (Yes; background knowledge of the topic of
climate change may be useful in helping students predict or select correct responses)
RE-ORDER PARAGRAPHS
-Quickly read the content of the text boxes to yourself. While you are reading, listen for one text
box that sounds complete by itself and makes most sense alone. This sentence is likely be the
most logical introduction to the paragraph or topic.
-Once you have identified the introduction or topic sentence, quietly read the remaining boxes to
yourself again to listen for flow. While you are reading, look for language patterns that will help
you identify a sequence. Check the language patterns in each box to confirm your sequence (i.e.,
use of connectives, use of indefinite articles for first reference, definite articles for further
reference, use of pronouns, etc).
-Read the boxes to yourself in the order that you have sequenced them. This will help you check
whether the sentences flow smoothly from one to another, and whether the passage makes sense
and sounds logical and correct as a whole.
“Hearing” the text may help them recognize patterns and flow that they might oversee when
skimming or scanning. So quiely read it to yourself.
The flow and sequence within English texts is created with connectives, the use of indefinite
articles for first reference and definite articles for further reference, the use of pronouns to
replace nouns that have been identified earlier and so on.
FILL IN THE BLANKS
-First read the whole text quickly to make sure you understand the general topic and meaning.
-Look at the context around the gap and try to predict the word or type of word that could
logically fill each gap before you look at the word options.
- Look at and analyze the options. Choose the one that best matches your predictions.
-For this item type it is important to quickly skim the whole text first to get an overall sense of the
meaning. When we read gapped texts quickly for gist, our mind automatically predicts and fills in gaps in
our reading with logical information.
-Use your knowledge of collocation and grammar to help you guess or predict the word or type
of word that best fits each blank.
-Eliminate options that you know are not appropriate in terms of meaning or the grammatical
context.
-Read each sentence in your head several times, inserting each of the remaining possible options
one-by-one. This will help you activate your knowledge of collocation. Listen to the way the
sentence sounds and choose the option that sounds best in the sentence.
