Top Careers & You™ IELTS 1

READING STRATEGIES

1. Over viewing a passage

Remember the main purpose is to understand the subject, the main topic of discussion. Start
doing it by getting a total picture or the overview of the passage. How one should overview a passage is
as follows:
• Firstly, read the title and heading of the passage to understand what the passage is all about.
• If any diagrams, tables etc are given look at their titles.
• Don’t read word by word.
• Don’t worry about the words that you don’t understand.

The total over viewing should not take more than two minutes. After over viewing you should have the
idea what the passage is all about and what is the writer’s purpose.

2. Understanding the main points

In every paragraph there will be one sentence which contains the entire summary or gist of the entire
paragraph. This line might be in the beginning, ending or in the middle.
As you read through the paragraph keep underlining this main line.

3. Understanding relationships in passages

Try to find out the existing relationship between words and phrases in a sentence, between the
sentences in a paragraph and between whole paragraphs this will help you to read more effectively.
Some of the most common types of relationship linking ideas in passages are
(a) addition/adding new information (b) cause and effect
(c) contrast/comparison (d) time
(e) general and particular

Try to infer when you can’t get direct links through words.

4. Interpreting Diagrams, Tables and Graphs

Some passages in IELTS test might contain diagrams, tables and graphs and such passages are
referred to as Non linear texts

You should be aware

• The information given in the non-linear texts can be used to understand the written text.

• If you have to refer to a non linear text, understand it as you read and understand the other
passage by over viewing and finding links.
• Try to express the information given into the words.

5. Understanding the organization of a passage

The following purposes are common in academic writing
• describing process
• viewing advantages/disadvantages, benefits/risks
• describing / proposing solutions to problems
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The passage contains ideas in a particular order. Understanding this order helps you to read more
efficiently

Checking references
In order to read efficiently you should be able to understand the way in which words can refer to other words
in a passage.

Irrigation schemes and livestock management projects frequently co-occur and both have

been promoted as the solution to the problems of local economies.

Their co-occurrence is logical, as in the case of the wet rice zone of Asia, where the

relationship between these types of projects is well established. In semi-arid regions,

however, their co-existence presents planners with new challenges.

In the preceding passage, all of the underlined words refer to ‘irrigation schemes and livestock management
projects’. Understanding such references is essential for the comprehension of passages.

6. Finding the information you need

Sometimes you need to extract specific information from the passage. For this, you should
• focus on relevant information
• look at the places where information possibly lies. For this you need to know the organization of
the text
• look for words and phrases which are associated with the target information
• Use print styles like Names, Numbers, Italics etc to help you locate your answer as they stand
out from the rest of the passage

7. Evaluating information
Simply understanding the information is not enough, you should be able to evaluate it also. You should
critically evaluate the information you read by distinguishing between facts and opinions. Your ability to
evaluate may be tested by asking you to determine writer’s point of view or by comparing two or more
statements.

8. Understanding unknown words

You may not understand all the words in the reading passages. Faced with an unknown word, some
readers panic and believe that they will not be able to answer the questions Remember, however, that
you often do not need to understand every word to carry out the required tasks.
If it is essential to know the meaning of an unfamiliar word in order to complete the task, you should first
check whether the word is defined in a glossary at the end of the passage.
It is also possible to guess the meaning from the context. One way of guessing is to use your
knowledge of the possible relationship between words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs. The word
you do not understand may relate to other words in the passage which you do understand.

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9. Matching information
IELTS tasks may also require you to compare two sets of information and decide whether they have the
same meaning.

Do’s and Don’ts in Reading Test

Do’s
• Read the instructions carefully and follow them.
• Take care of word limit while answering the question.
• Go through the text quickly so that you are familiar with the topic.
• Make sure the spellings are correct.
• Leave time to check the answers at the end of test.
• Transfer the answers very carefully.

Don’ts
• Don’t worry if you don’t understand every word or some text.
• Don’t exceed the word limit.
• Don’t spend too much time on one question as each question carries one mark.

Consider the following passages to solve all the below mentioned question types.

Classroom Reading Passage – 1

Read the following passage and answer the questions.

THE MANHATTAN PROJECT

A. Many books and journals have appeared to trace the history and achievements of the famous
Manhattan Project that produced the most deadly weapons of the last century and which metamorphosed the
political and geographical scenario of the world, opening the gates of Cold war era which lasted for fifty years.
The political circumstances which led to the origin of the Manhattan Project are quite interesting to the
historians. Many research papers and articles have appeared on this topic. In 1939, the US military suffered a
series of defeats in the Pacific and they lost many American soldiers. Japan had pursued the policy of
imperialism in the Pacific and Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbour forced America to enter the Second
World War. American causalities amounted to 2388 dead and 69 wounded, 188 aircrafts were destroyed and
five battleships were sunk in the Pearl Harbour attack. President Roosevelt was shocked to know the details
of the causalities. He addressed the Congress and delivered the famous “Infamy Speech” and admitted that
“there is no blinking at the fact our people, our country and interests are in grave danger”. He denounced “the
dastardly and unprovoked attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941”. Germany was also gaining
supremacy in Europe; the Nazis were rumoured to be developing an atomic bomb. Two German scientists,
James Franck and Gustav Hertz carried out an experiment; they had successfully bombarded mercury atoms
with electrons and traced the changes in energy that resulted from the collisions. Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner
had already discovered nuclear isomers. On 2nd August, 1939, three Jewish scientists, including Albert
Einstein jointly wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning him that the German scientists had been
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working on the techniques for using uranium to produce nuclear weapons. The political circumstances
compelled Roosevelt to set up a scientific advisory committee to look into the matter. He also had talks with
Churchill about ways to stop Germany from producing nuclear weapons. In May 1940, the German army
invaded the home of Niles Bohr, the expert on atomic research. Bohr escaped to the United States.
Ultimately, in August 1942, Roosevelt signed the historical document and placed the Manhattan Project to the
care of “Army Corps of Engineers” headed by Brigadier General Leslie Grooves. Scientists recruited to
produce an atom bomb included Robert Oppenheimer, David Boehm, Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, and Niles
Bohr.
B. Philip Morrison who was actively involved in the Manhattan Project highlighted his harrowing
experiences and recorded all the challenges involved in the making of nuclear weapons, in his book “The
Good War”. He worked with eight scientists who had to risk their lives day and night using high explosives and
radio--active material in large quantities. There were a series of events that rocked the scientists but they
never gave in and continued struggling to teach a lesson to Japan for the betrayal and treachery committed in
1941. They were doing something unprecedented and they knew they would create history in the nuclear field
but nature always tests the patience of man, a big blow to the Project occurred when they witnessed an
accident which killed two prominent scientists. Under the Manhattan Project, three main research and
production facilities were set up at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, at Hanford and Los Alamos. The Oak Ridge
provided Uranium 235, Hanford provided weapons grade plutonium and the Los Alamos Laboratory became
the site for assembling nuclear weapons. Los Alamos produced four weapons, two of which” Little Boy” and
“Fat Man” were used against Japan in 1945. No one in America knew its cost, 1 25 000 people were
employed and the project was a top defence secret. Roosevelt and British P.M. Churchill co-operated in the
research though some of the workers betrayed the secrets to Stalin. However, he received the details of the
bomb’s progress from the atomic scientists such as Klaus Fusch and David Green glass.
C. After the sudden death of President Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman became the American President on April
12, 1945. Henry Simpson, the Secretary of War briefed President Truman about the Manhattan Project, as
Truman had known nothing about the Project that always remained top Defence secret. He was told that the
atom bomb would be ready to test in July, 1945. The war in Europe appeared to be nearing its final phase.
Germany was no longer the prime target. General Grooves and his advisers turned their sights on Japan, and
the pressure was to bring the project to fruition in time to end the war and bring Japan to its knees. At Los
Alamos, preparations were in an advanced stage to finalize the bomb designs and for testing of the first
nuclear weapon. Truman set up an “Interim Committee” to recommend on the use of weapon against Japan.
The Interim Committee estimated that the atom bomb would be equal to 20 tons of TNT and with its radiation
would kill more than 20,000 Japanese. The Committees agreed on June 1 1945 that for maximum
psychological effect, the bomb ought to be used without warning against a Japanese city. The scientists,
working on the Manhattan Project were, however, not unanimous on this. Szilard, James Franck and many
others asserted that its use against the Japanese people was immoral and would start a post war nuclear
arms race. On July 16, 1945, the first atomic test, “Trinity” was tested. Groves and Oppenheimer and Bush
watched in awe. The blast equalled 20 tons of TNT and generated a fireball visible from 60 miles.
Oppenheimer quoted the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagvad Gita which says: ‘Now, I am become
death, the destroyer of worlds”. The horrible scene as kept him psychologically disturbed for many days.
General Dwight Eisenhower, the supreme commander of the ally forces, told President Truman that Japan
was already defeated and that the use of the bomb was completely unnecessary. There was dissension
among the scientists over the use of the weapon on the innocent unarmed people of Japan as she was no
more a threat to America and could surrender at any time. President Truman was at the “Potsdam
Conference” in Germany when he was informed of the successful test. On July 24, Truman casually
mentioned to Stalin that American had a new weapon of special destructive force. Stalin showed no unusual
interest and all that he said was it would make “good use of it against the Japanese”. On 26th July President
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Truman issued “Potsdam Declaration”, calling for unconditional surrender of Japan, failing which it would face
destruction. Tokyo was not in a mood to surrender, the Emperor was arrogant and ill-informed as he could not
foresee the imminent destruction of his country. When Tokyo declined to consider the offer, Truman on 30th
July 1945 ordered the US Air forces to drop two Atomic bombs, one each on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
D. On 3rd August 1945, orders were issued to drop the first bomb and the dance of death started. Those
who survived the attacks had harrowing stories to tell to posterities. The primary target of “Enola Gay” was the
industrial city Hiroshima. At 8.15 am, local time, “Little boy” was dropped from 31 600 feet. It detonated in the
centre of the city fifty seconds later. A 20 000 foot mushroom cloud of smoke and debris whirled upwards. A
combination of heat, fire and lethal radiation killed 60 000 civilians and several thousand military personnel. It
destroyed 81 percent of the buildings of the city. The Japanese government remained deadlocked. The US
officials bombed Nagasaki around 3.30 am on 9th August 1945. The “Fat man” was dropped from 28 900 feet,
35 000 persons were killed and 40 000 died from radiation. Hirohito realized for the first time that the situation
was hopeless, Japan surrendered unconditionally on 14th August 1945 and the Second World War was over.
E. The journey of the Manhattan Project was complete but the atomic age had begun. The dropping of
Atom bombs on Japan ushered in the era of the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the Cold War. For the
first time, it was realized that the nuclear weapons posed a new threat to modern civilization. The Super
powers started piling up the lethal weapons, China emerged as a Super power and accumulated huge lethal
weapons and the balance of power in South-East Asia was disturbed. The US and the Soviet Union tried in
vain to bring these lethal weapons under international control. The conflict between the Western powers and
the Soviet bloc subsequently grew into a cold war. France, England, China added new weapons in their
arsenals. Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and other heads threatened the peace and harmony of the planet.
It was felt that there was no mechanism to provide protection against nuclear weapons. Human
defencelessness is the basic fact of the nuclear age. The survival now only depended on mutual deterrence,
preventing the nuclear weapons from being used. The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the famous
“Trinity” test of the bombs manufactured by the Manhattan Project taught many lessons to humanity. The
nuclear weapons are useless and a threat to humanity but the nuclear power, if used for peaceful purposes,
could lead to prosperity and growth worldwide.

Questions 1 – 3: Using No More Than Three Words, answer the following questions.
1. Which incident provoked America’s entry into the Second World War?
2. Who remained psychologically disturbed for many days after the first atomic test?
3. Which war did the dropping of atom bombs lead to?

Ans: 1. ____________ 2. ___________ 3. _____________

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Steps for Short Answer Questions:

Step 1: Read the instructions carefully.

Step 2: Briefly read through all of the questions to get an idea of what information you will
have to find in the text.
Step 3: Read the first question more carefully. Decide what information you will skim for. In
this case you will skim for reference to America’s entry into the Second World War.
Step 4: Once you have found the relevant section of the reading text, look back at the
question and decide what specific information you need to answer the question. In
this case, you need to find the sentence: “Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbour
forced America to enter the Second World War”.
Step 5: Read that part of the text more carefully to confirm the answer.
Step 6: Your answer does not need to be a complete sentence but it does need to make
sense grammatically.

Questions 4 – 7: Choose the appropriate letters A – D.

4. According to the passage, the US President sanctioned the Manhattan Project because
A. American military suffered heavy losses in the Pacific in 1939
B. Japanese forces had invaded the US naval base, the Pearl Harbour
C. he wanted to counter Nazi attempts to develop nuclear bombs
D. Albert Einstein warned President Roosevelt about Gorman nuclear venture

5. President Truman issued Potsdam Declaration

A. calling up Japan to end hostilities and come to the negotiating table
B. calling up Germany to leave French occupied territories
C. giving ultimatum to Japan to surrender unconditionally
D. threatening Japan of a large scale American attack if it attacked American interests

6. The Manhattan project was headed by

A Albert Einstein B. Robert Oppenheimer
C. Leo Szilard D. Leslie Grooves

7. President Truman appointed “Interim committee”

A. recommended dropping of atom bombs on Japan
B. opposed the use of nuclear weapons on civilians of Japan
C. opposed the use of atom bombs on Japan on moral grounds
D. feared that the dropping of nuclear weapons on Japan would start a nuclear age

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Steps for Multiple Choice Questions

Step 1: Read the instructions carefully.

Step 2: Skim all the questions briefly to get an idea of the topics for which you will be
searching when reading the text.
Step 3: Read the first question again more carefully. Decide what you will need to read to
answer the question. Is the question asking you for a particular detail that you
need to find in the text? Or is the question asking you for an answer which
requires a global understanding of the whole text?
Step 4: Once you have decided the best strategy for dealing with the question (as above),
you will need to proceed to read the text in the appropriate manner, for example
reading for gist, reading for detail etc.

Questions 8 – 15: Complete the table below using information from the reading passage. Write no more than
three words for each answer.

Month & Year of

occurrence?
Event Person/Country responsible
(If not available, write
‘Doesn’t say’)
Attack on Pearl harbour (8)_______________ December, 1941

Sanction of Manhattan Project (9)_______________ (10)_____________

Attack on home of Bohr The German Army (11)_____________

Infamy speech President Roosevelt (12)_____________

Appointment of scientific
President Roosevelt (13)_____________
advisory committee
Discovery of nuclear isomers (14)_____________ (15)_____________

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Steps for table completion task

Step 1: Read the instructions carefully. Note that in the sample task you TIP
may use your own words, if you wish, based on the information in If you are
the reading text. In other cases you will be instructed to use the
instructed to
words from the reading text only. Note also that here you may write
complete the
only three words or fewer.
Step 2: Look at the table and especially any headings. Decide which way is notes using

the most useful to read the table. In this case you need to read it the words
horizontally to answer the questions. Glance at the other information printed in the
given in the table to get an idea of what information you will be passage and if
searching for when you read. you do not do
Step 3: Look at the first row under the headings. Decide what key ideas you
so, you will be
will need to search for as you skim the reading text. Decide also
penalized.
what information you will need to complete the first gap. For
example, in the sample task you will skim for a paragraph or section
discussing attack on Pearl Harbour.
Step 4: Skim the text for the appropriate paragraph or section.
Step 5: Read that section more carefully and decide on the best word or
words to fill the gap. Remember that you will need to use the
appropriate form of any verbs.

Questions 16 – 20: Choose the heading that best sums up the information furnished in any one of the
paragraphs A, B, C, D and E of the text. Write the appropriate numbers (i – vii) in boxes 16 – 20.
NB: Write only one number for each answer.

List of Headings
i. How deadly atom bombs were dropped on Japan
TIP
ii. How the political and strategic considerations compelled the US
There might be a
President to start the Manhattan Project
iii. How Los Alamos produced the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima number of ideas in a

and Nagasaki paragraph but select

iv. How the atomic age began after August 1945 the heading that
v. Potsdam Declaration cleared the way to drop bombs on Japan covers the main
vi Challenges before the scientists presented by Pearl Harbour theme.
vii How Manhattan Project ultimately succeeded in its aims

16. Paragraph A _____ 17. Paragraph B ______ 18. Paragraph C _____

19. Paragraph D _____ 20. Paragraph E _____

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Steps for Matching Headings

Step 1: Read the instructions carefully. Note that the heading you choose should sum up the
main idea of the paragraph. Also note which paragraphs you need to look at, as you
are often not required to view all of them.
Step 2: Familiarise yourself with the list of paragraph headings by skimming through them
quickly.
Step 3: Read through the first paragraph for which you have to find a heading. Remember that
you are reading to find out the main idea of the paragraph. Concentrate on the main
idea or focus of the paragraph and try not to be distracted by details or by unfamiliar
vocabulary. Generally the heading is lying either in first two lines or in last two lines of
the paragraph.
Step 4: Choose the heading from the list which best sums up the main point of the paragraph
you have just read. If you can’t choose between two headings, go on to the next
paragraph – you can come back to that question later. But don’t forget to make a
choice before the end of the test because if you leave a blank or you have marked two
answers on your answer sheet, you will be graded as incorrect for that question.

Questions 21 – 25: Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in the reading passage? In
boxes 21 – 25 write:
Yes: If the statement agrees with the information in the passage.
No: If the statement contradicts the information in the passage.
Not given: If there is no information about the statement in the passage

21. Science Panel Report to the “Interim Committee” was submitted to President Truman on June 1, 1945.
22. Roosevelt met Stalin at “Potsdam” in Berlin and the latter took keen interest in the destructive weapon
to be used against Japan.
23. The prime target of “Enola Gay” was to drop “Fat man” on Nagasaki on 9 August, 1945.
24. British Prime Minister, Churchill co-operated in the Manhattan Project.

25. The atom bombs were designed at Los Alamos laboratory.

Ans: 21. ___ 22. ____ 23. _____ 24. ____ 25. ____

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Steps for Yes/ No/ NG

Step 1: Read the instructions carefully. Note that you are asked to identify the writer’s opinion,
which may not necessarily be the same as the facts. Note also the difference among the
three categories you have to use, particularly:
Yes: The statement agrees with the information in the text.
No: The statement contradicts the writer.
Not Given: The writer does not give an opinion on this point.
Step 2: Skim through all of the statements to get an idea of the topics you will be searching for
in your reading of the text.
Step 3: Read the first statement again more carefully. Note the main point or opinion given in
the statement.
Step 4: Skim the text for the section which refers to that idea. If you come across information
relating to other statements, put a mark beside the section so that you can find it quickly
again later.
Step 5: Once you have found the appropriate section of the text, read more carefully. Decide if
the statement agrees with the view of the author (mark Yes on your answer sheet) or
disagrees with the author (mark No on your answer sheet). If the author doesn’t give an
opinion which agrees or disagrees with the statement then mark Not Given on your
answer sheet.

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