IELTS Reading Strategy: Matching Headings

hi everyone Chris here again with a lesson on matching headings so I'd say true false not given is the one that students worry about the most and then a close second is probably matching headings not as you probably know I don't teach any tips or tricks or anything like that but I'm going to show you a very very powerful I wouldn't call it a trick I call it a very effective method for getting matching headings and correct or nearly all of them correct and I'm gonna share this with you today and I'm gonna show you live and hard to actually do this so I'm gonna look at a real question and I'm gonna show you how I would do this technique and how we're gonna do it so this type of question test your ability to understand the main idea of each paragraph so it's always important to understand what they are testing each of the different types of question tests a different sub skill one of the sub skills that they're testing is your ability to look quickly at a paragraph and understand the main idea the key idea enough headings are short sentences that summarize the information in a paragraph you have to pick the one that best summarizes the information in a paragraph when you look at the real question you'll understand what this means you will be given between five and seven headings and ask too much each paragraph in the reading text to one heading there are always more headings and paragraphs so this is one of the things that they're testing also is can you tell the difference between the headings so it's really testing your ability to understand meaning so what skills are tested understanding the main idea of each paragraph but not only that they're also testing how to hire to quickly understand the general meaning of the paragraph without reading every word alright a quick bit of information on skimming skimming does not mean reading something really really really quickly all right it means strategically looking at certain parts of the paragraph so that you can understand the general meaning and we'll look at this it's easy to say this but it's more difficult for you guys to understand what it actually means without me showing you a real question so if you don't understand what that means don't worry we'll look at a real question in a second how to differentiate between two or more similar headings in other words how to differentiate between different meanings okay so you might get two headings that are very similar and that what they really want you to do is understand what the each means and be able to determine which one matches with the paragraph so let's look at some common problems lots of information to process and not enough time and I'm going to show you some ways to cope with that many students panic when they see these questions and they get oh they get overwhelmed with the amount of information that they see and so we'll look at a technique that that will help you with that not understanding the statements as a whole many people look for keywords alright this comes down to bad teaching all right simply bad teaching many teachers say to their students if you skim and scan and look at keywords you'll get you'll get high marks it's it's a lot more complicated than that it's not complicated as in really really really difficult and as always IELTS is over complicated by poor teaching and misunderstanding of what these questions are and whether or not some of the headings may appear to have the same meaning students do not spend enough time reading the statements and so the actual headings you need to spend time actually understanding what these mean and these will make everything much much easier we'll look at that in a second not understanding the main idea of each paragraph in the text obviously the main thing that they're testing is do you understand the general meaning the main idea and if you don't know that you won't be able to get the questions correct so here's some general advice before we look at the actual questions do this question first and I don't mean look for this question and do this first but I mean if this is in part two or part three of the of the reading test and and you have you know let's say you have a multiple choice true false not given a matching headings all in the same part do the matching headings one first because by doing this you'll be able to get the general meaning of the text as a whole and this will help you with the rest of the question which requires you to take a more detailed look at the text so this is not really about detail and the way to understand the text is to generally quickly look at it first then go into more detail its way it's a lot more difficult to look at the detail first and then the general meaning so if you do see this question do it first because it's much easier to do it that way you're not expected to read every word of the text however that doesn't mean that you should skim really really really quickly okay so that there's a balance here there's a balance between not reading every single word and what some students do is just read the first sentence or just read the first sentence in the lesson it's not really about them read the first one or two sentences on the last sentence of the paragraph you can also briefly look at the rest of the paragraph but you don't have to read every word all right so it's not just about reading the first sentence in the last sentence that's not what it is might be reading the first sentence and the second sentence maybe even the third sentence on the on the last sentence but also you might need to read in between and quickly it don't listen to people who tell you very very strict rules about what you can and can't do and you want to give yourself flexibility why do you want to be flexible because the questions will be different the text will be different so you need to have that flexibility if there are words you don't understand don't worry about this again you should only worry about the general meaning of the paragraph as a whole not individual words I worked with some students and they they see this type of question and they see one word they don't understand they're like oh I don't know I don't know anything about this paragraph it's like you don't need to understand every single word in a paragraph to understand the general meaning if there are two or three headings that are similar write them beside each other beside the paragraph and try to find out the difference if you have time to do that if you still can't decide which one suits best move on and come back later okay so this is a detailed strategy for matching headings and then we'll talk about how to simplify this a bit so let's get into the detail first and because I don't want them anyone to miss out anything and then we'll get into a more detailed strategy or simpler strategy sorry if this type of question is on the test do it first don't look at the headings don't look at the headings first look at the text first read the first one or two sentences in the last sentence of each paragraph to understand the general meaning of the paragraph don't worry about highlighting key words try to sum up the general meaning of each paragraph in one or two words that is the key okay try to sum up the general meaning of each paragraph in one or two words it might not be one word it might not be two words it might be three or four words but just try and add your own heading to each paragraph and I'm gonna do this for you so it'll make more sense when I show us to you look at the headings and identify keywords within each heading match any headings that are very obvious and you're sure about for the others write two or three headings beside the paragraph identify the difference between each of the headings establish if there are any synonyms if the paragraph if you still come pick one move on the answer will often reveal itself later repeat until finished so if I could summarize this in a very simple easy-to-understand way it would be create headings for each of the paragraphs so look at the paragraphs first create headings for them Mott's these to the list of headings is keeping a very very simple and what I'd like to do is like to give people a detailed strategy first if it's a if it's a little bit complicated just do this okay let's look at some real questions okay so here we have matching adding question so first thing is do not look at these okay don't look at the list of headings do not read them they'll confuse you do not read them read read cut this carefully questions 1 to 5 sample pages pass it 6 has 6 sections a to F okay choose the correct heading for sections a to D and F from the list of headings below so this is very important what does this tell you a b c d e f e is missing okay so not trying to trick you they're actually trying to help you so if you look down below here what they've done is they've given you the answer for e already okay so e is 6 so what you can do is you can just remove this one immediately you could stroke that one right because that's already been done for you okay so you need to get section a b c d and f and that means that e you can delete that okay cuz it's already been done for you so that's gonna save you time and it's also gonna save you thinking about it okay so let's read this again write the correct number one two nine and in the boxes we've got our options here so don't read these okay so now what we need to do is we need to read these okay so how are we going to read these and what are we doing so what we're doing is we're creating our own headings all right and there are a number of ways that we can do and some people say read the first two sentences some people say read the first sentence and the last sentence some people say quickly read everything and what I would say is give yourself flexibility what I would say is read enough to understand the main idea remember we're looking for the main idea that could mean the first sentence the second sentence allows it could mean you really have to read everything and give yourself that flexibility but what we're doing is we're trying to come up with our own heading okay so we're reading this and trying to create our own heading and then when we have like our own headings what we can do then is go up here and see if they match anything here but you do not want to read these list of headings because what they'll do is they will influence you and they will mean that you are really not creating your own headings it means that you're really just copying headings and that that's going to lead to disaster do not do that so why do we create our own headings we create our own headings because it's impossible to create your own heading without fully understanding the main idea of the the section of the paragraph so it means you need to read it enough and then once you've done that it's very easy to match them with this okay so one other thing that I would like to say is topic sentences what our topic sentences topic sentences are as you should know from the writing course a way of making it clear to the reader what the paragraph is about in other words what is the main idea so what are we looking for the main idea where should that be in the topic sentence so the most important sentence is normally normally not always normally the topic sentence which is the first sentence okay so what I would do is read the topic sentence okay the role of the role of governments in environmental management is difficult but inescapable okay so probably this it's about this okay but let's have a quick read through it sometimes you see a choice Amano okay so government so it's still about government quickly arranged policies growth or knocking on politicians politicians government have the courage to control the best okay so I'm going to say this is government policy government environmental policy that is my heading okay so I'm not going to go back up I'm not going to check it okay I'm just gonna keep going all right so let's read the topic sentence no activity affects more of the Earth's surface than farming okay so it's probably about forming it shapes a third of the planets land area not counting on tark touka on the proportion is rising higher yields have been achieved by increased arrogation yields doubling and the use of pesticides okay so it's I want to quickly read this so this is really about growth of farming food output looking at all this it's all kind of about that okay so that's going to be hey and you see that I'm not getting into too much detail I'm just moving on pretty quickly okay so this is a longer one so with the longer ones reading the first sentence in the last sentence is probably not going to be enough you're probably going to look have to look a little bit more okay all these activities have damaging environmental impacts okay so I'm going to bet that because this topic sentence is very clear this is going to be about environmental impacts okay these activities what are what activities food growing food growing and farm so I say farming activities agricultural activities the environmental impact of those so then you can see what they do here is they started off with for example so from the writing course you should understand that what what is an example they're supporting the remain idea so this should just be more examples of environmental impacts okay so let's see if it is land clearing chemical fertilizer intensive farming soil erosion okay so what this is is environmental impact of form why do i do my so quick to do that because they told you what it was in the topic sentence and then they just gave you lots and lots and lots of examples so by guy scanning you talking about land clearance fertilizers all of these different things soil erosion it's all just environmental impacts it's just talking about the same thing over and over and over and over again so let's move on government policies have frequently compounded the environmental damage that farming can cause so it's but government policies so this is a really long one in rich country subsidies for growing crops and price support for my put subsidies subsidies talking about subsidies subsidies subsidies so it's mentioning so subsidies if you don't know what that is a subsidy is when the government pays someone to do something and so for example paying a farmer to use if you use fertilizer will give you money or if you you grow corn will give you money but if you grow bananas we won't give you money so it's it's government support for farmers basically and so it's talking about government policies so subsidies are an example of a cover of a government policy so I'm going to say because it mentions subsidy so many times I'm gonna say this one is about subsidies so that's my one so I can donate II okay let's move on a result of the a result of the Uruguay Round of world trade negotiations is likely to be a reduction of 36 percent in the average levels of farm subsidies okay so a result so it's a consequence of these world trade organizations so what are they what is the topic sentence a the topic sentence is saying the writer of this is saying no I want to talk about the consequences the results of World Trade organization's and these what that this is what they are so did they continue to talk about them results yes talking about what they are going into detail going into explanation it will mean results it will mean this defeat farmers need every incentive to use and okay not really related but I'm gonna say result of world trade negotiations okay so just bear in mind that I could do this I can do this and you can do this much much much much quicker than I'm doing this right now it's because I'm really talking you through everything and but don't worry if it seems like it's seeking a longer time no just a word of warning this is a very very very effective technique it really does help however it does not work a hundred percent of the time for a hundred percent of the answers most of the time most of the answers you'll be able to match them pretty quickly but there will be times when something just doesn't match up and you need to come back and have a look okay so don't get frustrated if this doesn't work for you a hundred percent of the time there is no 100% foolproof way of doing leagues and this is giving you the best possible chance and but don't worry too much about it also do not create a heading and then look for the exact words in the heading in in the things it's it won't match exactly you have to think of synonyms you have to think of different slightly different meanings keep an open mind okay so first one government environmental policy so what you'll do is come up here no you need to read these and understand them okay so you need to take the time to read these and understand them the probable effects of the new international trade agreement okay I understand that the environmental impact of modern farming I understand that farming and soil erosion understand that the effects of government policy in rich countries okay governments and management of the environment okay farming and food output okay the effects of government policy on food I put the new prospects of world trade ok fine so government environmental policy no no no okay this one's quite specific it's about rich countries no governments and management of the environment may be so we'll put a camper to tick so that's part of why four or let's put em from Fe and farming and food I put know the effects of government policy on food I put let's have a look no the new prospects of world trade No so the only one that it really matches is this one so section a I'm gonna say is five so remember we're we're on the clock okay we need we need to get going and what I would do also is I would remove this one because it doesn't match my heading exactly government environmental policy government some management of environment management environment government policy it's kind of the same thing and none of that none of the the rest of the match up so what I'll do is just remove that and at all but in case we get it wrong and so let's put X here so we've removed these two and so I don't look silly all right so be growth of farm growth of farming and food I put so to make it easy so I don't have to go scrolling up and our and for the purposes of this lesson I'll move this up here okay growth of farming no maybe no no farming farming food I put nearly exactly the same maybe the effects of government policy growth on further put maybe the new prospects of world trade no so what we've done now is we've got two that are very very similar meaning okay very similar meaning farming and food I put the effects of government policy on food output so the differentiating the the difference between is this is the effect of government policy okay so what we need to do now is we need to go back to be and see if it says anything about this if it says anything about this then it is eight if it doesn't then it is seven okay so it says nothing about government policy nothing okay so if we go up here it is seven I think let's hold on so X okay so see environmental impacts of farming probable effects new trade agreement no environmental impact of forming environmental impact of farming probably why did that how did that happen oh you know okay maybe we can make this side here that's better okay farming and soil erosion no no no no this is what it is okay boom boom let's move on so you can see it becomes much easier oh sorry this is the first time I've used Adobe Acrobat where you can change a PDF and I'm obviously not very familiar with it but forgive me okay d what was d very long one subsidies so subsidies no no no no no okay so this is one that just doesn't match up okay so what we need to do is we need to go back and we need to have another look but another little bit of advice if you got one like that okay so you thought you were really sure that it was subsidies I was really sure that it was subsidies it's just not here what can happen is you can go in here and get lost and all of this information and panic you know oh it's not subsidies what is it what is it what is it okay don't panic what I would do is just mark that as you know put something to indicate that you haven't answered it yet so let's put a question mark and try and find F because F might be an easy one and that means that you've knocked out another another option making it much easier for yourself okay so let's skip that one let's go to F because I also noticed that there's ones that are talking about trade negotiations and so this might be an easy one to do result of so the war trade negotiations world trade agreement negotiations very similar no no no new prospects for world trade okay so we've got two that are very similar the probable effects of the new international trade agreement the new prospects for world trade so what we need to do is we need to look at each of these and look at the difference between them okay so this one is about effects okay no effect results consequences things like that this is about prospects all right future what's it going to be like in the future and guess is speculating international trade agreement world trade so two different things international trade agreement is an agreement it's a document it's a contract between countries while trade is just general trade between countries so let's have a look result world trade negotiations let's have a look at the topic sentence result world trade negotiations effects okay result effects synonyms boom it's this one okay so listen us whoa where did that go listen as one and then we go back so we delete this one so you obviously won't be able to delete this in the real test but you can you know some sort of mark - - you could you could delete it don't delete it completely because you might make a mistake and you need to read it later and so this means that we're left with four things farming and soil erosion effects of government policy in rich countries the effects of government policy on food I put the new prospects for world trade so let's have a look to see let's have a look at the topic sentence okay so why did we choose subsidies because it says subsidies subsidies subsidies subsidies subsidies all these different things okay so let's have a look at the topics in government policies are frequently compounded the environmental damage that farming can cause so government policies effect on the environment so it's nothing to do with soil erosion delete that one it's not talking about new prospects for world trade delete that one the effects of government policy in rich countries the effects of government policy on food output rich countries okay so what it's talking about government policies and then it's talking about rich countries okay so this is a topic sentence and then this is modifying the topic sentence and said okay we're talking about government policies this is what the whole the whole next three paragraphs are going to be a part but I'm only going to talk about rich countries so let's see rich countries Denmark a rich country New Zealand rich country European Union rich country okay so it's not subsidies it is hopefully for rich countries why is it not effects of government policy and food I put let's just double check that it's not really talking about food I poke okay so we're pretty certain it is what we say it is okay so now let's look at the so the answers to see if I'm correct and hopefully I don't have to make this video again because if I'm wrong hollien or you might be able to learn some lessons if I'm wrong and okay a5 let's see yay b7 yay C - yes or yeah three - yet for like d4 four and five one yes thing I know after I can go home early I don't have to make this video again okay so what did we learn from doing that and we learned that a this method of creating your own creating your own headings is very effective however it is not foolproof there will be times like my subsidies thing and that wasn't a mistake by the way that wasn't a evidence that this this doesn't work this is just evidence that sometimes you need to look a little bit harder also what we learned was sometimes you will get to things that are look very very similar but you just keep calm look at the difference between the two look at the paragraph and normally you'll be able to tell that we also looked at the importance of topic sentences but also sometimes it might modify things it might be a lot of fire after there I hope that helped unmade it and as simple as possible it's not easy but they are simple and if you just follow the simple procedures in this video and hope you enjoyed it and let me know if you have any so and what I'd like you to do is you know if you do have any questions let me know if there's anything that's still confusing and and I think the best thing to do is get some practice questions if your own try and do them start off slowly and build up your speed and things will come much much easier for you thanks very much bye bye

Channel: IELTS Advantage

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Keywords: IELTS, IELTS Advantage, Chris Pell, www.ieltsadvantage.com, IELTS Reading, IELTS Listening, IELTS Speaking, IELTS Writing, IELTS Reading Strategy, Matching Headings, IELTS Reading Strategy: Matching Headings, international english language testing system, subscribe, english, pronunciation, ielts preparation, live lesson, how to, in this lesson, ielts reading tips, english teacher, vocabulary, ielts test, band 7

Id: wS3w5f_pL_k

Length: 37min 20sec (2240 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 26 2018