IELTS 8.5

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🔰Holiday and Travel

🇺🇸accommodation: a room or building in which you stay during holidays or live.
🇺🇸all holiday: a time after you lost your job.
🇺🇸all-inclusive: a hotel deal where the price includes accommodation, meals and drinks at any time.
🇺🇸half-board: if you request 'half-board' at a hotel, breakfast and dinner would be included in the hotel price (as part of the package).
🇺🇸full-board: if you request 'full-board' at a hotel, that would include all three meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) in the price of your accommodation.
🇺🇸self-catering: a holiday deal where meals are not provided.
🇺🇸to book (something): to arrange and confirm a place on a flight, a room in a hotel or a ticket for an event in the future.
🇺🇸breathtaking view: an amazing view.
🇺🇸charter flight: a cheap regular flight.
🇺🇸check-in desk: the place at the airport where you register for your flight and deposit your luggage.
🇺🇸far-off destination: a distant place.
🇺🇸getting away from it all: escaping in order to rest from a daily routine.
🇺🇸go off the beaten track: to visit an uncommon place.
🇺🇸guided tour: a tour in which a group of people is guided by an expert.
🇺🇸head for: go in a direction for.
holiday brochure: a publication with details of holiday.
🇺🇸holiday destination: where you go for a holiday.
🇺🇸holiday of a lifetime: a very special holiday, once in a lifetime.
🇺🇸holiday resort (tourist resort): a place where lots of people go for a holiday.
🇺🇸hordes of tourists: crowds of tourists.
🇺🇸in the middle of nowhere: in a place that is far away from where most people live.
🇺🇸local crafts: thighs made in the region.
🇺🇸out of season: not within the main holiday period.
🇺🇸passport control: a place where you get your passport checked.
🇺🇸package tour: a holiday at a fixed price in which the travel company arranges your travel, hotels, and sometimes meals for you.
🇺🇸picturesque village: a nice, beautiful village.
🇺🇸places of interest: memorable and honorable places.
🇺🇸short break: a little holiday.
🇺🇸stunning landscape: a beautiful countryside.
🇺🇸to go sightseeing: to go visiting sights of interest.
🇺🇸tourist attractions: places which tourists tend to visit.
🇺🇸tourist trap: place with many tourists.
🇺🇸travel agency: a shop that specializes in booking holidays.
🇺🇸wildlife safari: an observational holiday, mainly in Africa.
🇺🇸youth hostel: a cheap hotel.

IELTS Writing Task 1⃣

The bar chart shows the divorce rates in two European countries from 2011 to 2015.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
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IELTS bar chart answering strategy:

1. Introduction

You should start your answer by writing an introduction. The introduction is 1 or 2 sentences, where you paraphrase the information from your question. You should mention two things in your introduction:

what your graph shows
for what period of time
In our example, the introduction can look like this:

The bar chart provides information about the percentages of divorces in Finland and Sweden between 2011 and 2015.

See how I used synonyms to paraphrase the question:

shows → provides information about
divorce rates → percentages of divorces
two European countries → Finland and Sweden
from 2011 to 2015 → between 2011 and 2015.

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General Overview

The second paragraph of your answer is a general overview, where you briefly describe major trends on your graph. Ideally, you should describe 2-4 key features.

To make major trends easier to notice, you can outline Sweden’s bars and Finland’s bars like this:

Now it’s obvious that:

Sweden experienced a downward trend. Finland experienced an upward trend both countries showed fluctuations. Initially, Finland had a lower rate, but in 2015 Finland outraced Sweden
Use word overall to start your general overview. In our case, the overview may look as follows:

Overall, Sweden experienced a downward trend, while Finland showed an upward trend throughout the period. Both countries’ divorce rates had some fluctuations. Although Finland initially had a lower rate, it outraced Sweden at the end of the period.

***********************************************
Specific details

After we’ve written the introduction and general overview, it’s time to give the specific details. You should describe the specific features in 2 or 3 (sometimes more) paragraphs.

You can group data in such way:

1⃣Details about Sweden
2⃣Details about Finland
❗️When you have two countries (or two cities or any other two things depicted on the graph), the simplest way of grouping data - is to describe each country’s trend in a separate paragraph.

When giving specific features, you have to write exact numbers/percentages and include as much details as you can.

💠In our case, the specific details may look as follows:

Sweden’s divorce rate was about 45% in 2011, being higher than Finland’s rate by approximately 8%. Then, it rose to almost fifty percent in 2012. However, the figure showed a gradual decrease to about 47% in 2013, and continued to decline steadily to the end of the period, reaching around 45% in 2014 and hitting a low-point of about 37% in 2015.

Percentage of divorces in Finland was less than 40% in 2011, and it decreased in 2012, when about one third of marriages in Finland ended with a divorce (as opposed to almost a half in Sweden). However, the figure experienced a steady growth during the next two years. It rose to approximately 39% in 2013, then increased by around 3% in 2014, and remained steady for the next year, outracing the rate of Sweden.

Collection of 100+ IELTS Materials Ready to Download Online

Click the Link Below: https://mega.nz/folder/Tc5BVR5Q

VARY YOUR LANGUAGE

As with any Writing task 1, this is important. You should not keep repeating the same structures. The key language when you write about pie charts is proportions and percentages.

Common phrases to see are the proportion of… or the percentage of…

Percentage Fraction

80% = four-fifths
75% three-quarters
70% = seven in ten
65% = two-thirds
60% = three-fifths
55% = more than half
50% = half
45% = more than two fifths
40% = two-fifths
35% = more than a third
30% = less than a third
25% = a quarter
20% = a fifth
15% = less than a fifth
10% = one in ten
5% = one in twenty

Percentage Qualifier

77% = just over three quarters
77% = approximately three quarters
49% = just under a half
49% = nearly a half
32% = almost a third

Percentage proportion / number / amount / majority / minority

75% - 85% = a very large majority
65% - 75% = a significant proportion
10% - 15% = a minority
5% = a very small number

The two maps below show road access to a city hospital in 2007 and in 2010.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Structure

To describe two maps I advise my students to follow a four paragraph structure.

Paragraph 1- Paraphrase Sentence
Paraphrase question using synonyms.

Paragraph 2- Overview
Make two general statements about the map. You should describe the maps generally and write about the most noticeable differences between the two maps.

Paragraph 3- Main Body 1
Three to four sentences about specific changes that have occurred.

Paragraph 4- Main Body 2
Further three to four sentences about specific changes that have occurred.

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EXAMPLE

The two presented maps describe the changes that took place at a city hospital from 2007 to 2010. Looking from an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that the largest changes involved transportation, including additional public parking, the construction of a nearby bus station and new roundabouts.

The majority of the hospital underwent very little change. The roads (Ring, City, and Hospital road) all remained largely the same, though two small lanes were built off of hospital road to link up with the new bus station and roundabouts on either end of Hospital road (where it bisects with Ring and City road) were added. The city hospital building itself was unaltered.

The changes were mainly around the hospital and the largest of these was related to parking. In 2007, there was a small parking lot along Hospital road for both staff and the public. By 2010 they had decided to separate the public and staff parking by adding an exclusively public parking area running along the east side of the city hospital.

Vocabulary
readily apparent: very clear
additional: more
roundabouts: rotaries/circular intersections that help ease traffic congestion
underwent: changed
largely the same: mostly unchanged
lanes: where cars and motorbikes drive on streets
built off of: added on to
link up with: join together
on either end of: on both sides of
bisects: cuts through/across
unaltered: unchanged
parking lot: where cars can park
the public: people who do not work at the hospital
separate: distinct from
exclusively public: only for the public
running along: next to
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How to Describe Specific Changes in Map

Below I will list various buildings and features and verbs we could describe their change.

Buildings – demolished, knocked-down, flattened, replaced, renovated, built, constructed, reconstructed, developed, extended, expanded, relocated, converted and modernized.

Examples:
1⃣ The government demolished the industrial estate and developed a sports ground.
2⃣ They removed the shops and replaced it with a skyscraper.
3⃣ A port was constructed at the edge of the river.
4⃣ The factory in the city centre was demolished and relocated to the north of the city.

Trees and Forests- cleared, cut-down, chopped-down, removed, planted.

Examples:
1⃣ The forest was cut-down and replaced with a shopping centre.
2⃣ The trees were cleared to make way for houses.
3⃣ Roads, bridges and railways lines- constructed, built, extended, expanded and removed.
4⃣ The main road was extended and a new bridge built over the river.

Leisure facilities- opened, set up, developed.

Examples:
1⃣ A skate park was set up next to the swimming pool.
2⃣ A park was developed beside the forest.

How to Describe General Changes

As this is an IELTS writing task 1 question we must write an overview and this is where we talk generally about the main changes that have occurred between the two maps.

Example:
1⃣ Over the period, the area witnessed dramatic changes.
2⃣ From 1995 to 2005, the city centre saw spectacular developments.
3⃣ The village changed considerably over the time period.
4⃣ During the 10 year period, the industrial area was totally transformed.
5⃣ Over the past 20 years, the residential area was totally reconstructed.
6⃣ Over the time period, the old docks were totally redeveloped.
7⃣ Between 1995 and 2005, the old houses were rebuilt.
8⃣ The central business district was completely modernised during the time period.

How to Describe Locations

You will also be expected to describe where things are maps and describe where changes have occurred.

You can use ‘to the left’ and ‘to the right’, but a better way is to use ‘north’, ‘south’, ‘east’ and ‘west’. I normally advise my students to draw the symbols on the question paper if they are not already there.

Examples:
1⃣ The forest to the south of the river was cut down.
2⃣ A golf course was constructed to the north of the airport.
3⃣ The houses in the south-west of the town were demolished.
4⃣ The green fields to the north-west of the city were redeveloped as a park.
5⃣ The airport in the centre of the city was relocated to the north-east of the river.
6⃣ The school to the south-east was knocked down and a new one built to the east of the forest.

Finally, you will also be expected to use prepositions of place, e.g. at/in/on/by/beside/to/off/from, to describe where things are.

Examples:
1⃣ Dramatic changes took place in the city centre.
2⃣ To the south of the town, there is a golf course surrounded by trees.
3⃣ A new school was built next to the swimming pool.
4⃣ The old road running from north to south was replaced by a new motorway.
6⃣ A marina was built on the banks of the river.

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The diagram illustrates the process that is used to manufacture bricks for the building industry.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

IELTS Process Model Answer

The diagram explains the way in which bricks are made for the building industry. Overall, there are seven stages in the process, beginning with the digging up of clay and culminating in delivery.

To begin, the clay used to make the bricks is dug up from the ground by a large digger. This clay is then placed onto a metal grid, which is used to break up the clay into smaller pieces. A roller assists in this process.

Following this, sand and water are added to the clay, and this mixture is turned into bricks by either placing it into a mould or using a wire cutter. Next, these bricks are placed in an oven to dry for 24 – 48 hours.

In the subsequent stage, the bricks go through a heating and cooling process. They are heated in a kiln at a moderate and then a high temperature (ranging from 200c to 1300c), followed by a cooling process in a chamber for 2 – 3 days. Finally, the bricks are packed and delivered to their destinations.
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A process will have a number of stages that are in time order. So you should start at the beginning, and describe each stage through to the last one.

Processes are not always this clear, and you may have to look more carefully to spot the beginning, and there may also be two things happening at the same time.

So it is important that you look at other sample processes to get a good understanding of how they can vary.

Introduce the Diagram

As with any task 1, you can begin by paraphrasing the rubric:

The diagram explains the way in which bricks are made for the building industry.

As you can see, this has been taken from the question, but it has not been copied. You need to write it in your own words.

Highlight the Main Points

An IELTS process diagram is different to a line, bar, pie chart or table in that there are not usually key changes or trends to identify. However, you should still give an overview of what is taking place.

As there are no trends to comment on, you can make a comment on, for example, the number of stages in the process and how it begins and ends:

Overall, there are eight stages in the process, beginning with the digging up of clay and culminating in delivery.

Give the Detail

Time Connectors

A process is a series of events, one taking place after the other. Therefore, to connect your stages, you should use time connectors.

These are some common IELTS process diagram connectors:

To begin
Following this
Next
Then
After
After that
Before
Subsequently
Finally

Example:

To begin, the clay used to make the bricks is dug up from the ground by a large digger. This clay is then placed onto a metal grid, which is used to break up the clay into smaller pieces. A roller assists in this process.

Following this, sand and water are added to the clay, and this mixture is turned into two differing types of brick by either placing it into a mould or using a wire cutter. Next, these bricks are placed in an oven to dry for 24 – 48 hours.

In the subsequent stage, the bricks go through a heating and cooling process. They are heated in a kiln at a moderate and then a high temperature (ranging from 200c to 1300c), followed by a cooling process in a chamber for 2 – 3 days. Finally, the bricks are packed and delivered to their destinations.

The Passive voice

When we describe an IELTS process that involves humans (a man-made process as opposed to a natural one), the focus is on the activities, NOT the person doing them.

When this is the case, we use the passive voice, not the active. For a natural process, such as the life-cycle of a frog, we use active voice as there is not a person doing the activity in the diagram.

Most sentences use this structure:

Subject + Verb + Object
A large digger digs up the clay in the ground.
In the active voice (as above),
the digger is doing the verb i.e. the digger is doing the digging.

When we use the passive voice. We should change the sentence object in the beginning of the sentence and the subject in the end of the sentence and To be + Verb³or Verb+ed between the object and the subject in the sentence

Structure

Object + To be + V³/Ved + by Subject

(O) The clay in the ground (to be) is (V³) dug up (S) by the digger.

This is difficult as some verbs cannot take the passive. For example, to go cannot be passive, so it is kept in the active voice:
..the bricks go through a heating and cooling process.

Here is the same example description with uses of the passive highlighted:

To begin, the clay (which) is used to make the bricks is dug up from the ground by a large digger. This clay is then placed onto a metal grid, onto a metal grid, which is used to break up the clay into smaller pieces. A roller assists in this process.

Following this, sand and water are added to the clay, and this mixture is turned into bricks by either placing it into a mould or using a wire cutter. Next, these bricks are placed in an oven to dry for 24 – 48 hours.

In the subsequent stage, the bricks go through a heating and cooling process. They are heated in a kiln at a moderate and then a high temperature (ranging from 200c to 1300c), followed by a cooling process in a chamber for 2 – 3 days. Finally, the bricks are packed and delivered to their destinations.

IELTS Writing Task 2 Structures

21 Model Answers for Speaking

💎The Day's Idiom

🆔 To lose my touch

Ⓜ️ Meaning: To no longer be skilled in doing something

Example:

👨‍🏫Examiner:
What kind of activities did you do in your childhood

👨‍🎓Candidate:
When I was younger, I used to play football with my classmates and I can say that I was good at playing football but nowadays I seem to have lost my touch because I have been busy with my study. I don't have enough time to play football.

✅ SPEAKING PART 2

⚫️Describe a time you needed to use imagination
You should say:
🔸what the situation was;
🔸why you needed to use imagination;
🔸what the difficulties were;
🔸and explain how you felt about it.

✅BAND 9.0 SAMPLE ANSWER:

I would like to talk about the time I had to get out of my comfort zone to join an Innovation Challenge Contest which made me think out of the box and work flat out to become the runner-up.

This annual contest is open to all undergraduates and postgraduates around the world. Each year this contest draws the attention of more than 30 000 people so it was really competitive and challenging for me. Therefore, when I was awarded the runner-up prize, I was deliriously happy and extraordinarily excited.

The goal of the Challenge was to recognize individuals and organizations that were working on internet-based solutions to promote education and economic
empowerment in countries throughout the world. Therefore, it really required creativity and imagination from each team joining the contest. I had to buckle down and brainstorm ideas for the challenge until I came up with the best one to be accepted for 4 consequent rounds.

At the end of the day, my team and I had really gone extra miles to become the runners-up and it was really an unforgettable experience to me. After all, I can take pride in myself for all the thing I achieved with my imagination and creativity.

Linking Words...

💠Describe an activity you do for your health or fitness

📌You should say

🔰What you do
🔰How often you do
🔰Where you do it
🔰and explain how you think this activity helps you stay healthy or fit

Staying in good shape is everyone's concern and I am no exception. To be honest, I have been caught up in my study since I was received a prestigious university that I have a problem in organising my daily routine. However, I have been participating in a yoga class for about 2 years, which takes me only 1 hour a day, to try to lead a healthy lifestyle. Unlike dancing or running, yoga definitely involves stretching actions. You might look at yoga and think that it is light and easy but it is more demanding than it appears. Yoga allows me to work on all the parts of my body. It can burn a lot of calories in just one hour of training. Also, I can enhance my flexibility and suppleness in every single movement. What I enjoy the most about yoga is meditation. It is all about regulating your breathing and helping you take things off your mind easily. Another thing is that doing yoga is supposed to be good for curing headaches and digestion related problems, so it benefits not only physical well-being but also mental health. By maintaining a schedule of taking part in the yoga class on a daily basis, I feel extremely relaxed and full of energy after the class. It helps me to keep fit and refresh my mind after a long stressful day. And of course, I don't see myself stopping practicing this activity any time soon.

Band 7.5 👏👏👏

Vocabulary

- In good shape: [expression] good physical condition of someone.
- Caught up: [phrasal verb] completely involved in something.
- Stretching actions: [noun] actions which make your muscles
stronger by exercises in which you extend your arms and legs
- Demanding: [adjective] needing a lot of effort.
- Burn a lot of calories: [expression] use up a lot of energy
- Meditation: [noun] thinking deeply in silence, to make you feel
calm
- Take things off your mind: [expression] forget things which are
causing you anxiety or stress.
- Don't see myself stopping: [expression] I don't think that I will
stop.
- Any time soon: [expression] in the near future,

The pie chart shows the amount of money that a children's charity located in the USA spent and received in one year, 2016.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

Model Answer:
The pie charts show the amount of revenue and expenditures in 2016 for a children’s charity in the USA. Overall, it can be seen that donated food accounted for the majority of the income, while program services accounted for the most expenditure. Total revenue sources just exceeded outgoings.

In detail, donated food provided most of the revenue for the charity, at 86%. Similarly, with regard to expenditures, one category, program services, accounted for nearly all of the outgoings, at 95.8%.

The other categories were much smaller. Community contributions, which were the second largest revenue source, brought in 10.4% of overall income, and this was followed by program revenue, at 2.2%. Investment income, government grants, and other income were very small sources of revenue, accounting for only 0.8% combined.

There were only two other expenditure items, fundraising and management and general, accounting for 2.6% and 1.6% respectively. The total amount of income was $53,561,580, which was just enough to cover the expenditures of $53,224,896.

Band 7 161 words

🔰IELTS Reading lesson 1: TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN?🔰

💠TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
💠FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
💠NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

Answering strategy:

1⃣Read the first passage.
2⃣Look up for answers for the first few questions.
3⃣If you found an answer - read the whole sentence carefully, and only then answer the question.
4⃣When there are no answers left - move on to next paragraph, and repeat this strategy.
5⃣If you prefer, you can read the whole text and only after that answer the questions.

⚠️Tips:

1⃣This type of questions needs attention to details. Don't just look for key words - read the whole question and the whole sentence with answer.
2⃣Words like often, always, never, some can completely change the meaning of the question. Be careful!
3⃣The order of questions can help you. Answer for question 4 will be between answers for questions 3 and 5 in the text.
4⃣If you can't find answer for some question, don't spend too much time on it and return to it in the end. Probably, this information is just not given in the text.

🔰Reading test🔰

Programmable plants

In electronics, even the most advanced computer is just a complex arrangement of simple, modular parts that control specific functions; the same integrated circuit might be found in an iPhone, or in an aircraft. Biologists are creating this same modularity in – wait for it – plants, by designing gene "circuits" that control specific plant characteristics – color, size, resistance to drought, you name it.

The relatively new, interdisciplinary field is synthetic biology – the design of genetic circuits, just like in electronics, that control different functions and can be easily placed in one organism or the next. Most of today's synthetic biologists work with simple microorganisms, like E. coli or yeast.

A CSU team led by June Medford, professor of biology, and Ashok Prasad, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, is doing the same thing, but in the much more complex biological world of plants.

TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN questions:

1⃣The scientists are using a technique from electronics to control specific plant properties.

TRUE

This is the first question, so answer to it should be somewhere in the first (or second) paragraph. The first sentence of the first paragraph tells us about electronics, and then we have:

Biologists are creating this same modularity in – wait for it – plants, by designing gene "circuits" that control specific plant characteristics – color, size, resistance to drought, you name it.

same modularity = same technique as in electronics
control specific plant characteristics = control specific plant properties

✅So this statement just summarizes the first paragraph. It is obviously true.

2⃣Some synthetic biologists work with genetic circuits of mammals.

NOT GIVEN

The second passage only tells us that

Most of today's synthetic biologists work with simple microorganisms, like E. coli or yeast.

But we don't know anything about some biologists. Maybe some biologists work with mammals, maybe not. So the answer is not given.

3⃣Most of synthetic biologists work with mammals.

FALSE

The word some from the previous question was changed to most of, and this completely changed the meaning of the question! Now, this statement is clearly false as it contradicts the text:

Most of today's synthetic biologists work with simple microorganisms, like E. coli or yeast.

This example shows how important is it to read the questions carefully, as one word can drastically change the meaning of the whole question.

🔰Reading Practice🔰

💠The hottest month

According to the Met Office, the UK had its warmest July day ever on July 1, when temperatures hit 36.7 C near London. There were record heat waves in many countries including Spain, while the African continent had the second-warmest July on record.

While the impact of increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a key driver of rising temperatures, another important factor is El Nino. This natural phenomenon, which appears as a large swathe of warm water in the Pacific every few years, is known to push up global temperatures.

In recent days there have been reports that this year's El Nino will be particularly intense. As a result, many experts believe that 2015 will be the warmest year on record by some margin.

The seas have also been soaking up a large amount of heat, the NOAA said, with record warming in large expanses of the Pacific and Indian Oceans

Peter Stott, head of climate monitoring and attribution at the UK Met Office, said: "A strong El Nino is under way in the tropical Pacific and this, combined with the long-term global warming trend, means there is the potential to see some very warm months throughout this year - as the new figures for July appear to show.

In boxes 1-5, chose

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

1⃣Africa had the warmest July day ever on July 1.

2⃣The temperature is rising due to the increased level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

3⃣2015 might be the hottest year in the history.

4⃣Record warming was recorded in various seas, such as Black and Azov Sea.

5⃣The year 2015 might very well consist of a number of very warm months.

Comment your answers below

IELTS Reading lesson 2:

🔰Multiple Choice

✅Useful information about multiple choice questions:

1⃣Questions follow the order of the text.
2⃣Questions repeat key words (or their synonyms) from the text.
3⃣Irrelevant answer that gives information, which is not stated in the text.
4⃣Answer that gives completely opposite information.
5⃣Answer that gives information that figures in the text, but not what you're asked about.
5⃣You should obviously choose the correct answer, not confusing it with other answers

💠Answering strategy:

1⃣Read the first question and underline the key words.
2⃣Read the text from the beginning, simultaneously scanning it for the information that relates to the question.
3⃣Once you found the key words or their synonyms in the text - look for the answer (it should be somewhere close).
4⃣One you've found the answer, read the next few lines of the text to make sure that it is correct. Also, reread the question.
5⃣Repeat this strategy with other questions, but now read the text from the place where you stopped the last time.

💠Tips:

1⃣Scan text for the key words and their synonyms.
2⃣Cross out the answers which are obviously wrong. This will help you to identify the correct answers more quickly.
3⃣The order of questions can help you. Answer for question 4 will be between answers for questions 3 and 5 in the text.
4⃣Don't rely on your own knowledge, the correct answer contains ONLY information stated in the text.
5⃣Multiple choice exercises with detailed explanations:

✅Example:

Rice That Fights Global Warming

More than half the global population relies on rice as a regular part of their diet. But rice paddies have a downside for the planet too: they produce as much as 17 percent of the world's total methane emissions. That is even more than coal mining emissions, which make 10 percent of total! So Christer Jansson, a plant biochemist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, spent the past 10 years developing SUSIBA2, a genetically modified rice plant that emits almost no methane.

💠Multiple choice question:

1. What is the negative effect of rice?

A) It is regular part of more than half of the world population’s diet.
B) Rice paddies emit more methane than coal mining industry.
C) Its plantations produce 17% of the world’s total methane emissions.
D) Rice has genetically modified sort SUSIBA2, which is harmful for health.

In this question key words are “rice” and “negative effect”.
Now let's consider all the answers:

Answer A gives us true, but completely opposite information from what we're looking for. The first sentence tells us that

More than half the global population relies on rice as a regular part of their diet.

But it is a positive effect! And we're looking for the negative one. So this answer is false.

Answer B also gives us true information, but it is not what you’re asked about. Look at the third sentence, which contains information that answer B uses:

That is even more than coal mining emissions, which make 10 percent of total!

This sentence is used only to highlight the negative effect, not to state it.

Answer C is correct. The second sentence clearly states the negative effect:

But rice paddies have a downside for the planet too: they produce as much as 17 percent of the world's total methane emissions.

downside = negative effect
❗️As you see, it's very important to search keywords or their synonyms in the text.

Answer D is irrelevant: it was not written anywhere that SUSIBA2 is harmful. This answer uses some words from the text just to confuse you.