IELTS Reading Tips: How can I improve my score

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Below are some IELTS reading tips about how you can improve your score. The tips include developing both IELTS reading exam skills and also improving your English level. Even if your English language is at a native speaker level, you still need to get used to the test and be familiar with it in order to succeed.

IELTS Reading Tips: How to Increase your Score

Below are many ways you can boost your IELTS reading score. Take a look at the list and see which things you need to focus on for your IELTS reading preparation.

Develop skills for each type of question in IELTS reading

There are around 14 different types of IELTS reading questions and you need to find a strategy to tackle each one. Some question types have answers that come in order and others do not. This type of information will help you not only save time but also locate the right answers. Follow the link to learn about the IELTS reading question types. Most students struggle with True False Not Given questions, see this IELTS TFNG video to learn how to approach this type of question. You can find free practice reading lessons for different types of questions on this page: IELTS Reading Practice Lessons & Tips

Skimming and Scanning Reading Skills

You should be able to skim and scan passages to do well in IELTS. Skimming is reading a passage to get a general idea of the content. This is recommended to do before you tackle the questions. All types of questions, except one, are given after the passage because it is recommended to skim read the passage before the questions. This does not mean you try to understand the passage. It’s just a chance to get a sense of the topic and layout. You should skim read the full passage in 2 to 3 minutes – not longer. At the same time, you should underline any key words you see. The only types of questions which comes before the passage is matching headings, for those, you don’t need to read the passage first. Scanning is your ability to locate information quickly and has no relation to comprehension of the passage.

Develop your speed reading skills.

IELTS has a strict time limit which will really challenge your ability to complete the questions in time. You must develop speed reading skills to be able to find your answers quickly. This means you must be able to scan the passage quickly to locate information. Always keep your eye on the clock in the test. For the paper test, there’s be a clock on the wall, for the computer test it is given at the top of the screen.

Don’t try to understand the full passage

Your task is to locate answers only. Most questions test your ability to locate specific information given to you and then to comprehend the sentence or sentences which contain that information. There are only two types of questions which will require a more detailed understand of the whole passage – matching headings and choosing a title. All other questions are based on locating information. For more tips about reading techniques for IELTS, follow the link.

Developing vocabulary

This is one of the key reasons why students don’t get the score they need. Learning vocabulary is not just about learning the meaning of a word, it is about learning when you can and can’t use a word. It is also about what collocations can be used with words, for example verbs and match nouns.  You should write words lists that include common paraphrases and also any problems you had finding the answer. You can do this by learning vocabulary from practice reading passages. There is not set vocabulary list to learn for IELTS reading, unlike IELTS writing and speaking. For IELTS Reading, it is about broadening your vocabulary by reading on many different topics and learning to navigate through different language.

Keywords

Each IELTS reading question will have keywords to help you locate the information in the passage and to spot the right answer. You should learn to spot keywords and use them correctly. You should also check whether the keywords can be paraphrased. You will soon learn to use keywords correctly when you review your answers in practice reading lessons. Some keywords are obvious, for instance names, dates, numbers, places etc. Other keywords are more subtle.

Grammar

Question types such as summary completion and sentence completion require that the sentence is grammatically correct when you have put the answer in. This means that grammar can help you to spot the right answer. Many students post question on this blog asking me why one answer is correct and the other is not – the reason is often grammar related. You will see this when you do practice reading lessons.

More Tips to Improve your IELTS Reading

  1. Practice makes perfect. Unless you practice regularly, you won’t improve. Here’s a link to all my reading lessons for IELTS. The lesson are useful for students taking both the GT test and academic test because they are aimed at building skills, understanding of question types and also vocabulary.
  2. Getting used to difficult passages. If you have time before your test, you should be widening your reading skills and familiarity of complicated passages on a range of topics.  read the bbc news, the new scientist, the economist etc. Here’s a link to a page with useful websites for IELTS which includes links to websites useful for reading.
  3. IELTS Practice Reading Tests. You can find practice tests online for free (see my useful website page for links)or you can buy the IELTS Cambridge Test books (number 10 is the most recent). You should use IELTS practice reading tests for two purposes:
    1. To develop your skills, practice different types of questions and enhance your vocabulary
    2. To test yourself under exam conditions to check your score and check if you have developed or no
  4. GT Test. The first two passages in the GT test are different to the academic test but the third passage is similar. To practice the first two types of reading passages, you can practice reading materials such as instruction manuals, schedules and employment terms. You can find practice tests in the IELTS Cambridge books. The same skills and question types apply to both the GT test and academic test so all lessons on this blog will be useful to Gt students.
  5. Know your weaknesses. Unless you know your weaknesses, you won’t know how to improve. You must check the reasons why you are getting your answers wrong or right. If you are getting answers wrong due to your understanding of the passage, then you know you must improve your English language. If you are getting your answers wrong because your couldn’t find the information or you didn’t understand the question or you ran out of time, then the problem is your technique and strategies. Spend time reviewing your performance.
  6. Be realistic. If your level of English is not strong, don’t expect to get band score 7.
  7. Plan your training for IELTS reading. You should spend time
    1. developing vocabulary and paraphrasing awareness through broad reading practice
    2. practicing particular question types
    3. developing speed in locating information
    4. doing practice test not under exam conditions so you can work on skills
    5. doing practice tests under exam conditions to test your score and improvement
  8. You must prepare. Like all tests, you need to prepare. Even native speakers need to prepare by learning about the different types of questions and developing the right skills.

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Crime and Punishment: IELTS Reading Exercise

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This IELTS reading exercise is based on the question type of matching sentence endings and covers the topic of crime and punishment. This article is adapted from a UK newspaper discussing the aims of prisons and contains very useful  vocabulary for a common IELTS topic.

Matching Sentence Endings Questions Reading Practice

The aim of these question types is to complete the sentence given by choosing one of the endings in the list. This is called Matching Sentence Endings. You can find tips for this question type in the recommended links at the bottom of this page:

The Old Debate: Punish or Rehabilitate

Debates over how to treat prisoners have gone on since imprisonment began: should the prison system leave inmates to fester in cold cells, with punishment and deterrence as the goal of incarceration? Or should it let them wander from classroom to games room, preaching rehabilitation into society as its main aim?

With over 83,000 prisoners currently locked away, England and Wales have a staggering imprisonment rate of 150 per 100,000 of the population. Our prisons have been officially overcrowded since 1994; nearly 14,000 current inmates are serving indeterminate sentences. If lowering the number of criminals is the reason behind imprisonment, recent figures point to a failing system: almost three quarters of under-18s are reconvicted within a year of release. As James Bell, an American lawyer and prison reform activist, said: “As it stands now, justice systems are extremely expensive, do not rehabilitate, but in fact make the people that experience them worse.”

In response to worldwide alarm over the ineffectiveness of how we manage criminals, a growing number of prisons are embracing a new style of incarceration. By giving inmates more responsibility, comfort, and freedom within the prison walls, governors say they are offering prisoners the chance to change. As the Prison Radio Association spokespeople said: “Reducing re-offending is of benefit to everybody. Equipping prisoners with skills and confidence is crucial in bringing down re-offending rates.”

Questions 1-4: Complete the sentence by choosing the correct ending.

  1. Since prisons were established, it has been considered whether or not …
  2. Putting criminals behind bars to reduce the crime rate is clearly not working…
  3. The new approach to dealing with punishment is  ………
  4. One of the most effective ways to reduce crime figures is to …

Choose the letter (a-g)

  • a) because many under 18’s are criminals.
  • b) the aim of imprisonment should be to put people off committing crime or to rehabilitate them.
  • c) in answer to the lack of success with the way criminals are currently dealt with.
  • d) provide equipment to prisoners.
  • e) the goal should be to provide warmer cells.
  • f) help offenders develop useful skills.
  • g) according to the current crime numbers.

Answers

Click below to reveal the answers.

Answers

  1. b
  2. g
  3. c
  4. f

Adapted from Telegraph

All reading exercises on ieltsliz.com have been written by myself to help you prepare for your IELTS test for free.   

Liz

Vocab Builder

  • inmates = prisoners
  • deterrent = discouragement / preemption
  • deter = to put people off doing something / dissuade
  • incarceration = imprisonment
  • staggering = overwhelming
  • indeterminate = unknown / unstated
  • convict (noun) = criminal / convict (verb) = to sentence or to condemn
  • re-offending = commit a crime again 

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Education Vocabulary: Word Lists and Pronunciation

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This is the essential vocabulary for education about schools, subjects, studying and university. There is an audio to listen to the pronunciation of the words. These are the most common words and collocations which you will need to learn in order to talk or write about school or university successfully. After each section of vocabulary, there are exercises for you to practice using the words.

Click here to download the PDF version of this page: Education Vocabulary PDF. Please note that the PDF does not contain the answers – you must check your answers on this page.

Educational Institutions

  • kindergarten = pre-school education
  • primary school
  • secondary school
  • college = further education
  • higher education = university education = tertiary education
  • post-graduate school = university for students studying beyond degree level

School Subjects

  • maths
  • language
  • literature
  • science
    • physics
    • biology
    • chemistry
    • natural science
  • geography
  • religious studies
  • history
  • information technology (IT)
  • physical education (PE)
  • cookery = domestic / food science
  • handicrafts
  • art
  • music

 

Vocabulary Exercises: School Subjects

  1. One of the reasons that I didn’t like ……………… was because of the lab work which sometimes involved dissection.
  2. I’ve always enjoyed learning about how chemicals react with one another so I decided to choose …………. as one of my main subjects.
  3. When I was a child, we practiced ………………… three times a week which was fine in summer but was freezing during the winter when you have to football or hockey outside.
  4. My teacher encouraged us to take part in ……………………… in order to develop skills beyond what is taught in scheduled lessons.
  5. I used to find complicated calculations difficult as well as algebra but when we got a new ………… teacher, it all become much easier to understand.
  6. One of my favourite subjects was …………………… because you had a chance to get out of the classroom and learn more about the environment.
  7. Teachers were really strict on ……………… in exams. The exam invigilators won’t even let you have your bag in the exam room.
  8. Poetry should be taught more in ………………. lessons in order to help students develop a deeper understanding of their language and culture.
  9. I always loved studying maps. We spent a lot of time in our ……………. lessons tracing the borders of countries and learn the capital cities of different countries.
  10. My worst subject at school was …………… because I was completely tone deaf.

Answers

  1. biology
  2. chemistry
  3. physical education
  4. extra curricular activities
  5. math’s
  6. natural science
  7. cheating
  8. literature
  9. geography
  10. music

 

Useful Language & Collocations

  • lab work = laboratory experiments
  • dissection = cutting up animals for scientific research
  • scheduled lessons = lessons which are planned and written into a school curriculum
  • algebra = formulas and equations in mathematics
  • to give out or assign homework / to do or complete homework
  • to complete high school / to graduate high school
  • to do, to participate or to take part in school activities or sport
  • tracing = copying, outlining in pencil
  • tone deaf = without an ear for music = unable to appreciate or hear different music and notes

 

Types of Schools – Same-Sex & Co-Ed Schools

Watch this video to learn the advantages or single-sex schools and the plus points of mixed schools. This video contains ideas and vocabulary to help you express your ideas clearly.

[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/9cTf8r8u01Y”]

University Vocabulary

University Courses

  • BA / BSc = Bachelor of Arts Degree / Bachelor of Science Degree
  • MA / MSc = Masters of Arts / Masters of Science
  • PhD = Doctorate

Other Courses

  • Certificate = a lower level qualification often offered at colleges rather than universites. This is also the word used the for documentation received for completing any type of course or degree (she received her certificate for her BA degree).
  • Diploma
  • Online Course
  • Distance Learning Course
  • Vocational course = a course which teaches you skills for a specific job, for example engineering.
  • Non-vocational course = a course which is not related to a job but to a general subject instead, such as Biology.

 

Useful Verbs & Nouns for University

  • to graduate from a university = complete a degree course / to finish university
  • to enroll on a degree course = put your name down for a degree course
  • to major in physics = to choose physics as your main subject at university
  • to attend a lecture = to go to listen to a speaker at university often with a large audience in a lecture theatre
  • to attend a tutorial = to go to a meeting with a professor usually in small group held in his/her office
  • deliver a lecture = to give a talk or presentation
  • to lecture in media studies = to talk about media studies or to teach media studies at university
  • the faculty of business = a department specialising in business at university
  • to read history = to study history
  • to do or complete coursework = doing project work or assignments as part of your course
  • undergraduate (n) = someone currently doing their first degree
  • graduate (n)  = someone who has completed a degree course
  • note-taking = being able to take notes in a lecture while the lecturer is talking
  • keeping up with the work load = being able to maintain the level of studying required
  • fall behind with studies = fail to keep pace with the school / university work

 

University Work

  • presentations
  • lectures
  • tutorials
  • thesis
  • dissertation
  • hypothesis
  • assignment
  • project work
  • research

 

Vocabulary Exercises: Universities

Complete the following sentences are university education using no more than one word.

  1. People who have ……….. from university stand a better chance of finding a good job.
  2. I hope to enroll ………. a degree in law next year in the UK.
  3. There is a lot of competition to get a ……………….. but without it I won’t be able to afford the universities fees.
  4. One of the keys to successful  ……………. is knowing where to look for information and how to judge which information is most current and relevant. Knowing the best sources of materials is essential.

Answers

  1. graduated
  2. on / in
  3. scholarship
  4. research

 

Other Useful Vocabulary for Education

  • literate = to be able to read and write
  • illiterate = unable to read and write
  • the literacy rate = the percentage of people in a country or region able to read and write
  • comprehensive education = a well-rounded, broad education covering a variety of subjects
  • scholarship = an award of either free or supported education for high achievers
  • student loan = money taken by a student to pay for their education which they must pay back after graduating
  • pay off a student loan = to repay money borrowed for university education
  • intensive course = a course which runs over a short period of time but contains a lot of information and training
  • play truant / truancy = not attending school / being absent from school without permission
  • gap year = to take a year out between high school and university

 

Vocabulary Exercises: Useful Education Vocabulary

Complete the sentences using no more than two words.

  1. The rate of …………… is higher in developed countries than in under developed countries.
  2. Schools should offer a ………………… which includes subjects relating to all minority groups.
  3. The rise in university fees has led to a large proportion of students taking out ………………… which can often be difficult to pay back.
  4. Students who take a …………… often find it difficult to get back into their studies again.
  5. Rather than the government offering free university education for all people, they should, instead, ensure that a certain number of gifted individuals receive a ……………….

Answers

  1. literacy
  2. comprehensive education
  3. student loans
  4. gap year
  5. scholarship

 

Useful Pages for IELTS

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IELTS Essay Ideas: Is History a Waste of Time

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Below are ideas for the topic of history in IELTS writing task 2. This essay is about how important history is to learn. This can relate to the subject of history as a whole or children spending time learning history. You should use the ideas given below and adapt them to the specific essay question given by IELTS.

Sample IELTS Essay Question

Some people think that studying history is a waste of time while others think that it is essential to learn. Discuss both sides and give your opinion.

IELTS Essay Ideas

Below are ideas for both side of the argument. A useful definition of history is “it is the study of past events, particularly human affairs.”. It might be the study of a country or of a person in the past. It might involve a particular event or a general situation at a given time in the past.

History is a Waste of Time

  • Most people memorise dates, names and facts when they study history. This information is not useful in everyday life or for the future.
  • If we could actually learn from history, history wouldn’t be full of the same repeated mistakes. However, the same mistakes are made again and again which makes history irrelevant to learn for the future.
  • History is a subject that is rarely used in people’s lives so it would be better to focus on science or technology which is more relevant to the future and today’s society.
  • Each historical event has different perspectives. For this reason, it makes learning history a waste of time because events can also be interpreted in a different way which makes what we learn in history less valuable.
  • Many school curriculum have been set and are rarely changed. That curriculum includes little current history which is the only type of history that helps people understand the world they currently live in.

History is Important

  • History helps young people understand their own culture and how their culture and country have evolved.
  • History gives identity and helps unify people. It gives people a sense of roots and belonging.
  • History teaches people what their forefathers experienced and suffered in the past in order to make their country what it is today.
  • History teaches us about travesties which have occurred in the past, such as the Holocaust. It is essential for both people in the past, present and future to never  forget such events in order to honour the memory of those lost and to ensure it never happens again.
  • History helps us understand change. It records and helps people understand successes and failures. Through these studies people can learn about change and how others are affected by it.
  • It shows patterns of behaviour or events in the past and their outcome which can help us avoid similar outcomes in the future.
  • Learn about the past often gives a glimpse of the future. It shows a path of development that will continue past the present and into the future.
  • Valuable information can often be found in history, such as traditional medicines. Learning about past lifestyles and techniques used by people in the past can hold the secrets to remedies or cures no longer used.

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IELTS Writing Task 2: Essay Planning Tips

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IELTS essay planning tips. Learn how to plan your IELTS essay successfully. Learn how to use your time to plan ideas and paragraphs as well as other essential aspects of your IELTS essay.

Should I spend time planning my essay?

Yes, you should. 50% of your marks as based on your ability to answer the essay question directly, present relevant ideas, have clear supporting points to extend the main ideas, to organise your ideas and have logical paragraphing. So, spending time planning is essential for any student aiming for band score 6, 7, 8 or 9.

When you get to writing task 2, you will be tired. You will already have done the listening test, reading test and writing task 1. This means your concentration and energy levels will be low. It is easy to make a mistake with the essay question, lose focus in your writing and present disorganised ideas. This is another reason why planning is so important. It helps you focus and create a clear strategy with clear ideas. This will make writing your essay easier and help you write a strong essay.

How much time should I spend planning?

Some teachers will tell you to plan for at least 10 minutes. This is good advice but I know what most students are too nervous to spend so much time planning. Other teachers advise students to spend about 3 minutes. This is enough to plan main ideas but not to plan supporting points and to organise ideas.

I advise you to spend at least 5 minutes planning. You must practice planning your essay and calculate how long it really takes you to create a strong plan for your essay. Whatever you decide, know that planning is critical. Lack of planning is the common downfall of most students.

What should I plan before I start writing?

You should have a clear outline of the following before you start your essay:

  • identifying the issues in the essay question
  • brainstorming main ideas
  • choosing the best main ideas (select the best – more ideas does not mean a better score)
  • planning supporting points
  • organising paragraphs

Should I practice planning my essays at home before my test?

Yes, definitely. There is a skill to good logical essay planning which you need to practice. On this blog, I have over 100 essay questions for IELTS writing task 2. While it might be difficult to practice writing over 100, you should certainly spend time planning a lot of them even if you don’t have time to write the full essay. The better you are at planning, the better your essay will be. See the link below for essay questions.

Where can I write my plan?

You can write your plan on the question paper. There is plenty of room to write on the question paper and the examiner will not see it. The examiner only sees the answer sheet. So, use the question paper to plan your essay. For the computer test, you’ll have extra paper for planning and making notes.

Warning

I have seen many high level students with very good English fail to get band score 7, not because of their English, but because of their poor essay planning. Don’t let that happen to you! Plan your essay thoroughly before you start writing your essay.

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Spelling Practice for IELTS Listening: City Names

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Spelling practice for city names and other place names, such as towns. Improve your listening and spelling by listening to the spelling of particular places and writing down the letters you hear. This is important practice for IELTS listening section 1.

Writing down the letters you hear. The place names will be given and then spelled. Each place name will be spelled only once. There are 15 place names to write down.

Listen & Write: 15 Town & City Names

 

Answers

  1. Birmingham
  2. Carlisle
  3. Chichester
  4. Leicester
  5. Peterborough
  6. Truro
  7. Wolverhampton
  8. Amersham
  9. Framlingham
  10. Gillingham
  11. Goole
  12. Ormskirk
  13. Painswick
  14. Rochdale
  15. Sawbridgeworth

 

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Categorisation Practice & Tips for IELTS Reading

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You can get categorisation questions in IELTS reading and below is a useful categorisation practice exercise to help you develop your skills. These questions are also known as “IELTS Reading Classification” questions and also as “IELTS Reading Matching Features” questions.

IELTS Reading Categorisation / Classification TIPS

How to tackle a question that asks you to classify / categorise a statement into options given?

  1. You will be given a list of statements as questions.
  2. You will also be given a list of categories. There are usually two or three categories which are labelled A, B & C.
  3. You need to decide which category the question statement belongs to.
  4. Your answer will be a letter, not a word or words. If you write a word or words, your answer will be marked wrong.
  5. There will often be two statements that belong to the same category so you might have a number of answers with the same letter.
  6. You decide which category a statement belongs to because the passage will tell you.
  7. Skim read the passage first before you tackle the questions.
  8. Check which categories you have been given. Often, not always, those categories represent an area in the passage. But this is not always the case.
  9. Read through the statements in each question.
  10. Spend time spotting keywords in the statements and thinking about possible paraphrasing.
  11. After preparing the statements, try to locate the information in the passage by scanning the text.
  12. Decide your category – which means decide how you will classify that statement.

The key to this type of question is being good at paraphrasing and scanning for specific information.

IELTS Reading Categorisation Questions

Practice the reading lesson below to get used to these kinds of IELTS reading questions.

Reading Passage: Beds in the Ancient World

IELTS categorisation reading classification

Bed styles in ancient Egypt remained very much the same for over 2000 years. They are among the most intriguing of furniture items because of their structure. Many were slanted down at an incline from the headboard. A foot board ensured that the sleeper would not slip off in the middle of the night. Furniture makers also constructed side rails on many beds. Writes Sibal, “almost all beds featured legs in the form of animal legs, ranging from heavy bulls legs to gazelle-like forms with hooves, and the feline type with paw and claw, frequently identified as lions legs.” The mattress was usually made of wooden slats, plaited string, or reeds, which then held woollen cushions or some other soft material. Sheets were made of linen.

Roman bed-frames were pretty much the same. It would have had a mattress on top of it, stuffed with feathers or straw, and wool blankets. But most Etruscan and Roman beds would have been made of wood and strung with wool or linen string. In the bedrooms, the ceilings were vaulted and lower above the bed, often making the room appear a cramped and stuffy place. Simple beds. to which shortly after the Homeric age a pillow for the head was added, continued to be used by the poorer classes among the Greeks at all times. Thus the bed of the orator Lycurgus is said to have consisted of one sheep-skin and a pillow.

In Ancient Greece, the beds of persons of high rank was covered with skins upon which the pillows were placed, and over these linen sheets or carpets were spread. Lastly, there was thick woollen cover or blanket for the sleeper. Poor persons slept on skins or beds of dry herbs spread upon the ground. These simple beds,  had a cover or ticking of a mattress which was made of linen or woollen cloth and the usual material with which it was filled with was either wool or dried weeds. At the head part of the bed lay a round pillow to support the head; and in some ancient pictures two other square pillows are seen, which were intended to support the back. The covers of such pillows are striped in several pictures on ancient vases and were therefore probably of various colours. They were undoubtedly filled with the same materials as the beds and mattresses.

Questions 1-4

Classify the information below as belonging to one of the following categories. Please note that for this particular practice, answers will not come in order in the passage. Choose  the correct letter (A-C) for your answer. Letters may be used more than once.

  • A = Ancient Egyptian
  • B = Ancient Roman
  • C = Ancient Greek
  1. Bedrooms did not seem spacious.
  2. The beds were not flat and horizontal but rather angled downwards.
  3. Pillows could be decorative.
  4. Mattresses were stuffed with wool.

ANSWERS

Click below to reveal the answers.

VOCABULARY

  • intriguing = fascinating, interesting
  • slanted = inclined, leaning, sloped
  • featured = included, presented
  • gazelle = a type of deer
  • hooves = the feet of a deer or horse
  • paw = foot of a lion, cat or dog
  • claw = the nail on the foot of a lion, cat, dog or bird
  • vaulted = curved, domed
  • cramped = over crowded, small, confined
  • stuffy = airless, unventilated
  • orator = speaker
  ANSWERS
  1. B
    • (making the room appear a cramped)
  2. A
    • (Many were slanted down at an incline from the headboard)
  3. C
    • (pillows are striped in several pictures on ancient vases)
  4. C
    • (it was filled with was either wool …)

The passage is inspired by information from various sources, including touregypt and mlahanas

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Newspapers: IELTS Speaking Questions and Model Answer

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Below is a list of questions for newspaper that you can get in IELTS Speaking. There is a sample of questions for each part of the test. Two model answers are given at the bottom of the page.

Newspapers: Part 1 Questions

  • How do you usually get your news?
  • How often do you read the newspaper?
  • What type of news do you prefer to read?
  • Do most people in your country follow the news?
  • How do most people in your country access the news?
  • Do you pay much attention to headlines?
  • Do you think it is important to follow the news?

Newspapers: Part 2 Cue Card

Describe an article in a newspaper you have recent read.

You should say:

  • when you read it
  • where you read it
  • what it was about
  • and explain what you found interesting about it.

Newspapers: Part 3 Questions

  • What’s the difference between a newspaper and a magazine?
  • Why do you think some people only skim read a newspaper?
  • Do you think headlines are important?
  • Which is more important – domestic or international news?
  • How have newspapers changed over the last few decades in your country?
  • Do you think everything we read in newspapers is true?
  • Do you think the government has the right to censor the press?

Model Answers

  • How do you usually get the news?
  • Well, it depends on my day. If I have time I buy a newspaper and read through most of the pages and articles but if I’m short of time, I just go online and take a quick look at the main headlines.
  • What is the difference between a newspaper and a magazine?
  • Well, that’s an interesting question. I suppose one of the main differences is in the publication. What I mean is a newspaper is generally published daily whereas a magazine is published either weekly, monthly or quarterly. So, a newspaper is published more often than a magazine. Another big difference is in the content. A newspaper usually contains a range of subject matter from sports news to weather while a magazine is aimed at a specific target group such as readers who are interested in farming or something like that.

 

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