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IELTS® Academic Reading Practice 83

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This reading practice simulates the question type of the IELTS General Reading test. Read the passage and answer questions 18-21.

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June 2004 saw the first passage, known as a 'transit', of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun in 122 years. Transits have helped shape our view of the whole Universe, as Heather Cooper and Nigel Henbest explain.On 8 June 2004, more than half the population of the world were treated to a rare...
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Questions 18-21
Look at the following DescriptionS (Questions 18-21) and A list of people below.

Match each description with the correct people.

Write the correct number A-D in boxes Questions 18-21 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.
A list of people
  1. Edmond Halley
  2. Johannes Kepler
  3. Guillaume Le Gentil
  4. Johann Franz Encke

18. He calculated the distance of the Sun from the Earth based on observations of Venus with a fair degree of accuracy.

19. He understood that the distance of the Sun from the Earth could be worked out by comparing observations of a transit.

20. He realised that the time taken by a planet to go round the Sun depends on its distance from the Sun.

21. He witnessed a Venus transit but was unable to make any calculations.

The answer is D. In paragraph F, the passage mentions Johann Franz Encke: "Johann Franz Encke, Director of the Berlin Observatory, finally determined a value for the AU based on all these parallax measurements: 153,340,000 km. Reasonably accurate for the time, that is quite close to today's value of 149,597,870 km, determined by radar, which has now superseded transits and all other methods in accuracy." This shows that (D) Johann Franz Encke calculated the distance of the Sun from the Earth using observations of Venus with a fair degree of accuracy.

Associated Text:
Johann Franz Encke, Director of the Berlin Observatory, finally determined a value for the AU based on all these parallax measurements: 153,340,000 km. Reasonably accurate for the time, that is quite close to today's value of 149,597,870 km, determined by radar, which has now superseded transits and all other methods in accuracy.

The answer is A. Paragraph C explains that Edmond Halley "realised that, from different latitudes, the passage of the planet across the Sun's disc would appear to differ... By timing the transit from two widely-separated locations, teams of astronomers could calculate the parallax angle... Calculating this angle would allow astronomers to measure what was then the ultimate goal: the distance of the Earth from the Sun." This makes it clear that (A) Edmond Halley understood the distance could be worked out by comparing transit observations.

Associated Text:
Halley realised that, from different latitudes, the passage of the planet across the Sun's disc would appear to differ. By timing the transit from two widely-separated locations, teams of astronomers could calculate the parallax angle... Calculating this angle would allow astronomers to measure what was then the ultimate goal: the distance of the Earth from the Sun.

The answer is B. In paragraph D, it is noted that "Johannes Kepler, in the early 17th century, had shown that the distances of the planets from the Sun governed their orbital speeds, which were easily measurable." This shows that (B) Johannes Kepler realised that the time taken by a planet to go round the Sun depends on its distance from the Sun.

Associated Text:
Johannes Kepler, in the early 17th century, had shown that the distances of the planets from the Sun governed their orbital speeds, which were easily measurable.

The answer is C. According to paragraph E, "Le Gentil saw a wonderful transit – but the ship's pitching and rolling ruled out any attempt at making accurate observations." This confirms that (C) Guillaume Le Gentil witnessed a Venus transit but was unable to make any calculations.

Associated Text:
Le Gentil saw a wonderful transit – but the ship's pitching and rolling ruled out any attempt at making accurate observations.

Answer Sheet
1
N/A
2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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8
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9
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10
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11
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12
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13
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14
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15
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16
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17
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18
19
20
21
22
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23
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24
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25
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26
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27
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28
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29
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30
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31
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32
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33
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34
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35
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36
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37
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38
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39
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40
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Score Summary
0 / 1
Multiple Choice
Matching Sentence Endings
Note Completion
Table Completion
Flow Chart Completion
Summary Completion
Multiple Selection
Short Answer
Matching Headings
Matching Features
Matching Information
Identifying Information
Identifying Viewer Claims
Sentence Completion
Diagram Labelling
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Tips to improve your reading speed
To get a high score on the IELTS reading section, you need to have a fast reading speed. To have a fast reading speed, you need to improve your vocabulary and practice dissecting sentences. One strategy to dissect a sentence is to look for the subject and verb of the sentence. Finding the subject and verb will help you better understand the main idea of said sentence. Keep in mind, a common feature of a IELTS reading passage is to join strings of ideas to form long compound sentences. This produces large chunks that students have a hard time absorbing. Do not get overwhelmed by its length, just look for the subject and verb, the rest of the ideas will flow.

Keep in mind, having a slow reading speed makes skimming or scanning a reading passage more difficult. The process of quickly skimming through a reading passage for specific keywords or main ideas is a requirement for you to employ successful reading strategies to improve your IELTS reading score. In other words, skimming and scanning are critical skills to ensure you complete all questions in the allotted time frame.
IELTS Reading Strategies
Once you can read and comprehend a passage with a rate of, at least, 220 words per minute, you'll be ready to start implementing our strategies. All too often, students spend too much time reading the passages and not enough time answering the questions. Here is a step by step guide for tackling the reading section.

  1. Step 1: Read questions first

    One of the most common mistakes that candidates make when approaching the reading exam is reading every single word of the passages. Although you can practice for the exam by reading for pleasure, "reading blindly" (reading without any sense of what the questions will ask) will not do you any favors in the exam. Instead, it will hurt your chances for effectively managing your time and getting the best score.

    The main reason to read the questions first is because the type of question may determine what you read in the passage or how you read it. For example, some question types will call for the "skimming" technique, while others may call for the "scanning" technique.

    It is important to answer a set of questions that are of the same question type. You'll need to determine which question type you want to tackle first. A good strategy would be to start with the easier question type and move on to more difficult question types later. The Easiest question types are the ones where you spend less time reading. For example, the Matching Heading question type is an easier one because you only need to find the heading that best describes the main idea of a paragraph. An example of a difficult question type would be Identifying Information. For this question type, you'll need to read each paragraph to find out if each statement is TRUE, FALSE, or NOT GIVEN according to the passage.

    Here is a table that lists the difficulty levels for each question type. Use this table as a reference when choosing which question type you want to tackle first.

    Difficulty level Question Type
    Easy Sentence Completion
    Short answer
    Medium Matching Features
    Multiple choice
    Matching Headings
    Summary, Table, Flow-Chart Completion
    Difficult Matching Sentence Endings
    Matching Information
    Identifying Information (TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN)
    Identifying Viewer's claims (YES/NO/NOT GIVEN)

  2. Step 2: Read for an objective

    After you've read the questions for the passage, you will be able to read for an objective. What does this mean? For example, if you come across a question that includes the year "1896", you can make a note of when this year comes up in the text, using it to answer the question later on. There are two reading techniques that will help you stay on track with reading for an objective. The first one, skimming, is best defined as reading fast in order to get the "gist", or general idea, or a passage. With this technique, you are not stopping for any unfamiliar words or looking for specific details. The second technique, scanning, is best defined as reading for specific information. With this technique, you are not reading for the overall gist, but rather, specific information. Notice how each of these techniques has a specific objective in mind. This will help you find information more quickly.

  3. Step 3: Take notes

    As you're reading for an objective, you should also be making notes on the margins of the passage, placing stars next to key information, or underlining things that you believe will help you answer the various questions. This will make it easier for you to check back when you are asked certain things in the questions. Choose whichever note-taking system is right for you - just make sure you do it!

  4. Step 4: Answer wisely

    After you've read the questions, read the passage, and have taken any appropriate notes, you you should have located the part of the text where you where you need to read carefully. Then just read carefully and think critically to determine the correct answer.

IELTS Reading Question Types

The IELTS reading test contains many different question types:

Matching HeadingsIELTS Reading Lesson: Matching Headings
Matching InformationIELTS Reading Lesson: Matching Information
Matching FeaturesIELTS Reading Lesson: Matching Features
Summary CompletionIELTS Reading Lesson: Summary Completion
Identifying InformationIELTS Reading Lesson: Identifying Information
Identifying Writer's claimsIELTS Reading Lesson: Identifying Writer's claims
Multiple ChoiceIELTS Reading Lesson: Multiple Choice
Short AnswerIELTS Reading Lesson: Short Answer
Match Sentence EndingIELTS Reading Lesson: Match Sentence Ending
Sentence CompletionIELTS Reading Lesson: Sentence Completion
Table CompletionIELTS Reading Lesson: Table Completion
 
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