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Reading academic: Writing Short Answers

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Writing Short Answers to Questions:


Task Description:

For this task, you need to read the text to answer questions in a short note form. Answers are usually three words or less but check the instructions.

Skills Tested:
  1. skimming for general information.
  2. scanning for details.
  3. identifying the focus of the question.
  4. possibly understanding paraphrase in the question.

What you should do?
  • Read the instructions carefully and check the maximum number of words allowed. You may use words taken directly from the text or your own words.
  • Skim through all of the questions to get an idea of what information you will have to find in the text.
  • Read the first question again to decide exactly what information you are looking for. Find the relevant section of the text and the specific information.
  • As your answer is short, it will not be a complete sentence, but it should be grammatically correct.
Practice Tasks:

Reading Academic: Multiple Choice Questions

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Answering Multiple Choice Questions:


Task Description:

The multiple-choice questions will give you either an unfinished sentence or a question. This will be followed by four options (a,b,c,d), but only one will be correct. You should decide which one. The other three possibilities may seem likely; they may even be deliberately confusing, so make sure you read the sentence or question carefully.

Skills Tested:
  1. Understanding the main points of the text (skimming).
  2. Understanding particular points (scanning).
  3. Understanding the paraphrasing or summarising used in the questions.
  4. Identifying facts or opinions in the text.
What you should do?

  • Read the 'stem' sentence or question carefully, and instructions. Make sure you understand what it is asking for.
  • Skim read all the questions before you read the text, to get an idea of the topics.
  • Read the first question again more carefully. Decide what you will need to read to answer the question. Are you being asked for a particular detail? Or for an answer which requires an overall comprehension?
  • Read the text in the most suitable way to get the information (skimming or scanning).
  • If you are not sure of the answer, make your best guess at the end. Even a random guess is better than no answer as you are not penalized for an incorrect answer.
Practice Tasks:

Reading Academic: Matching Sentence Endings (Causes and Effects)

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Matching Sentence Endings:


Task Description:

You will be provided with two lists. In most cases, one list contains a small number of causes and the other list contains a larger number of effects. The task is to find the effect which arose from (matches) each cause. Make sure you understand clearly what the words 'cause' and 'effect' mean!

Skills Tested:
  1. understanding cause and effect relationships.
  2. understanding gist and paraphrase.
  3. skimming for information.
What you should do?

  • Decide which list you should work from. Usually, the causes list is shorter than the effects list and so it is probably best to use it.
  • Read the first cause.
  • Look at the effects list. Some will be possible, some can probably be eliminated.
  • Find the section in the text which discusses the first cause and read it carefully to find the effect.
  • Then go back to the effects list and choose the one which paraphrases the information in the reading text.
  • If none of the effects listed seem to match, then keep reading the text. Quite often, causes have more than one effect.
Practice Tasks:

Reading Academic: Matching Headings to Paragraphs

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Matching Headings to Paragraphs of Text:


Task Description:

For this type of question, you will be given a shortlist of possible headings and required to match several of them to several paragraphs in the text so they best describe the contents. There will be more headings than paragraphs and you should use them once only.

Skills Tested:
  1. Identify the main idea of a paragraph.
  2. Choose the heading which best paraphrases this idea.

What you should do?
  • Be sure you know which paragraphs you have to consider (often it's not the whole text).
  • Read through the list of paragraph headings.
  • Skim read through the first selected paragraph to find out the main idea. Try not to be distracted by details or by unfamiliar vocabulary.
  • Choose the heading from the list which best sums up the main point of the paragraph.
  • If you cannot choose between two headings, go on to the next paragraph - maybe one will be more suitable for another later. Remember to complete your answers though: guess if you really don't know, as you are not penalized for wrong answers.
Practice Tasks:

Reading Academic: Matching Features

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Matching Features:


Task Description:

In this task, you are given a number of statements. Some paraphrase or summarise what the writer said and some do not. You must demonstrate that you know what information the writer did or did not state on a particular topic, or whether the topic is not given, by choosing the correct option.

Skills Tested:

  1. Skimming the text for general information.
  2. Scanning the text for details.
  3. Understanding paraphrase.
  4. Understanding suggestion or inference.
What you should do?

  • Remember that only three of the possible features/answers are correct, but that the instructions may indicate a particular topic or aspect to concentrate on. Do not choose anything which does not fit into this category.
  • Read through the list of features/answers.
  • Scan the text and find the sections or paragraphs which you need to focus on.
  • Read those sections and select the appropriate three features/answers.
Practice Tasks:

Reading Academic: Identifying the Writer's View or Opinion

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Identifying the Writer's View or Opinion:


Task Description:

For this kind of task, you will be given a number of statements. You must decide if these statements agree with the writer's views or not.
In this task you should be able to recognize the writer's views a) from what is said directly in the text and b) from what is implied or suggested indirectly. For example, a writer may not state directly that they disapprove of private cars on Hong Kong Island, but this is implied if they approve of improving public transport facilities, increasing road tax, etc. Simply describing traffic congestion and pollution does not necessarily imply disapproval, however.
Whilst it is important to be aware of implication and inference, you should not try to guess the writer's views.

Skills Tested:
  1. Identifying opinion and attitude.
  2. Skimming for detailed information.
  3. Making inferences

What you should do?
  • Remember that you are asked to identify the writer's opinion, which may not be the same as the facts. Be aware of the difference between the three categories you have to use: "Yes" means the statement concurs (agrees) with the writer's opinion; "No" means the statement contradicts the writer; "Not Given" means the writer does not express an opinion on this point.
  • Skim through the list of statements given, so you know what kind of topics you will be looking for in the text.
  • Read the first statement again and make sure you understand the main point or opinion given in the statement.
  • Skim the text for the part which refers to that point or opinion. If you come across information relating to other statements, mark that section so you can find it easily later.
  • Read the appropriate section of the text more carefully. If you think the statement agrees with the view of the writer, choose "Yes". If you think it disagrees with the writer's view, choose "No". If you think the writer doesn't give an opinion then select "Not Given".
Practice Tasks:




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