Essential Strategies for Reading Part B

One of the most difficult aspects of Part B is the limited timeframe in which to complete the task. Therefore it is necessary to plan your approach so that you can complete most or all of the questions within 45 minutes.

Procedure for Part B

1. Read the title of the text (but not the text).

2. Read the Question 1.

3. Underline key words/phrases in Question 1 and its multiple choices.

4. Scan the corresponding paragraph for words and phrases that match the multiple choice answers.

5. Finally read carefully to eliminate which answers are incorrect and determine which answer is the most suitable.

6. Repeat steps 2 – 5 for the remaining questions.

Reading Part B: An Overview

Texts and Context

The two texts are on health-related topics and are similar to texts found in academic or professional journals.

The reading texts are usually between 600 and 800 words in length.

Requirements

The questions are in multiple choice format with four possible answers.

There are between 8 and 10 questions for each text and you must choose the response which you think is most correct.

Candidates have 45 minutes in which to skim and scan two texts to answer a set of questions for each text.

If you get 65% of questions correct you should be able to get a B grade

Question Types

All questions are multiple choice and will require the candidate to

· identify words and phrases with similar or opposite meanings

· understand main ideas

· work out the meaning of a word or phrase from the context it is used in

· distinguish fact from opinion

· complete unfinished statements

· summarise a paragraph

· find specific details