Essential strategies and practice techniques for this IELTS Reading question type. Learn how to manage time and improve accuracy.
Originally published April 2023. Last reviewed 3 July 2026.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14, which are based on the Reading Passage below.
Tourism Reading Answers
A Tourism, holidaymaking and travel are, these days, more significant social phenomena than most commentators have considered. On the face of it, there could not be a more trivial subject for a book. And indeed, since social scientists have had considerable difficulty explaining weightier topics, such as work or politics, it might be thought that they would have great difficulties in accounting for more trivial phenomena such as holidaymaking. However, there are interesting parallels with the study of deviance.
This involves the investigation of bizarre and idiosyncratic social practices which happen to be defined as deviant in some societies but not necessarily in others. The assumption is that the investigation of deviance can reveal interesting and significant aspects of normal societies. It could be said that a similar analysis can be applied to tourism.
B Tourism is a leisure activity which presupposes its opposite, namely regulated and organised work. It is one manifestation of how work and leisure are organised as separate and regulated spheres of social practice in modern societies. Indeed acting as a tourist is one of the defining characteristics of being ‘modern’ and the popular concept of tourism is that it is organised within particular places and occurs for regularised periods of time.
Tourist relationships arise from a movement of people to, and their stay in, various destinations. This necessarily involves some movement, that is the journey, and a period of stay in a new place or places. ‘The journey and the stay’ are by definition outside the normal places of residence and work and are of a short term and temporary nature and there is a clear intention to return ‘home’ within a relatively short period of time.
C A substantial proportion of the population of modern societies engages in such tourist practices and new socialised forms of provision have developed in order to cope with the mass character of the gazes of tourists as opposed to the individual character of travel. Places are chosen to be visited and be gazed upon because there is an anticipation especially through daydreaming and fantasy of intense pleasures, either on a different scale or involving different senses from those customarily encountered. Such anticipation is constructed and sustained through a variety of non-tourist practices such as films, TV literature, magazines records and videos which construct and reinforce this daydreaming.
D Tourists tend to visit features of landscape and townscape which separate them off from everyday experience. Such aspects are viewed because they are taken to be in some sense out of the ordinary. The viewing of these tourist sights often involves different forms of social patterning with a much greater sensitivity to visual elements of landscape or townscape than is normally found in everyday life.
People linger over these sights in a way that they would not normally do in their home environment and the vision is objectified or captured through photographs, postcards, films and so on which enable the memory to be endlessly reproduced and recaptured.
E One of the earliest dissertations on the subject of tourism is Boorstin’s analysis of the pseudo event (1964) where he argues that contemporary Americans cannot experience reality directly but thrive on pseudo events. Isolated from the host environment and the local people the mass tourist travels in guided groups and finds pleasure in inauthentic contrived attractions gullibly enjoying the pseudo events and disregarding the real world outside.
Over time the images generated of different tourist sights come to constitute a closed self-perpetuating system of illusions which provide the tourist with the basis for selecting and evaluating potential places to visit. Such visits are made, says Boorstin, within the environmental bubble of the familiar American style hotel which insulates the tourist from the strangeness of the host environment.
F To service the burgeoning tourist industry, an array of professionals has developed who attempt to reproduce ever-new objects for the tourist to look at. These objects or places are located in a complex and changing hierarchy. This depends upon the interplay between, on the one hand, competition between interests involved in the provision of such objects and, on the other hand changing class, gender, and generational distinctions of taste within the potential population of visitors.
It has been said that to be a tourist is one of the characteristics of the modern experience. Not to go away is like not possessing a car or a nice house. Travel is a marker of status in modern societies and is also thought to be necessary for good health.
Questions 28-32
The Reading Passage has 6 paragraphs (A-F).
Choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the appropriate numbers (i-ix) in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet.
Paragraph D has been done for you as an example.
Note: There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use all of them. You may use any heading more than once.
List of Headings
i The politics of tourism
ii The cost of tourism
iii Justifying the study of tourism
iv Tourism contrasted with travel
v The essence of modern tourism
vi Tourism versus leisure
vii The artificiality of modern tourism
viii The role of modern tour guides
ix Creating an alternative to the everyday experience
28 Paragraph A
29 Paragraph B
30 Paragraph C
Example Answer
Paragraph D ix
31 Paragraph E
32 Paragraph F
Questions 33-37
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 35? In boxes 33-37 write :
YES if the statement agrees with the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
33 Tourism is a trivial subject.
34 An analysis of deviance can act as a model for the analysis of tourism.
35 Tourists usually choose to travel overseas.
36 Tourists focus more on places they visit than those at home.
37 Tour operators try to cheat tourists.
Questions 38-41
Choose one phrase (A-H) from the list of phrases to complete each key point below.
Write the appropriate letters (A-H) in boxes 38-41 on your answer sheet.
The information in the completed sentences should be an accurate summary of points made by the writer.
NB There are more phrases A-H than sentences so you will not use them all. You may use any phrase more than once.
38 Our concept of tourism arises from …….
39 The media can be used to enhance …….
40 People view tourist landscapes in a different way from …….
41 Group tours encourage participants to look at …….
List of Phrases
A local people and their environment.
B the expectations of tourists.
C the phenomena of holidaymaking.
D the distinction we make between holidays, work and leisure.
Essential strategies and practice techniques for this IELTS Reading question type. Learn how to manage time and improve accuracy.
Originally published April 2023. Last reviewed 3 July 2026.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the Reading Passage below.
Why Are Finland’s Schools Successful?
A At Kirkkojarvi Comprehensive School in Espoo, a suburb west of Helsinki, Kari Louhivuori, the school’s principal, decided to try something extreme by Finnish standards. One of his sixth-grade students, a recent immigrant, was falling behind, resisting his teacher’s best efforts. So he decided to hold the boy back a year. Standards in the country have vastly improved in reading, math and science literacy over the past decade, in large part because its teachers are trusted to do whatever it takes to turn young lives around. ‘I took Besart on that year as my private student’, explains Louhivuori. When he was not studying science, geography and math, Besart was seated next to Louhivuori’s desk, taking books from a tall stack, slowly reading one, then another, then devouring them by the dozens. By the end of the year, he had conquered his adopted country’s vowel-rich language and arrived at the realization that he could, in fact, learn.
B This tale of a single rescued child hints at some of the reasons for Finland’s amazing record of education success. The transformation of its education system began some 40 years ago but teachers had little idea it had been so successful until 2000. In this year, the first results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a standardized test given to 15-year-olds in more than 40 global venues, revealed Finnish youth to be the best at reading in the world. Three years later, they led in math. By 2006, Finland was first out of the 57 nations that participate in science. In the latest PISA scores, the nation came second in science, third in reading and sixth in math among nearly half a million students worldwide.
C In the United States, government officials have attempted to improve standards by introducing marketplace competition into public schools. In recent years, a group of Wall Street financiers and philanthropists such as Bill Gates have put money behind private-sector ideas, such as charter schools, which have doubled in number in the past decade. President Obama, too, apparently thought competition was the answer. One policy invited states to compete for federal dollars using tests and other methods to measure teachers, a philosophy that would not be welcome in Finland. ‘I think, in fact, teachers would tear off their shirts ‘, said Timo Heikkinen, a Helsinki principal with 24 years of teaching experience. If you only measure the statistics, you miss the human aspect.’
D There are no compulsory standardized tests in Finland, apart from one exam at the end of students’ senior year in high school. There is no competition between students, schools or regions. Finland’s schools are publicly funded. The people in the government agencies running them, from national officials to local authorities, are educators rather than business people or politicians. Every school has the same national goals and draws from the same pool of university-trained educators. The result is that a Finnish child has a good chance of getting the same quality education no matter whether he or she lives in a rural village or a university town.
E It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry to school. Finland provides three years of maternity leave and subsidized day care to parents, and preschool for all five-year-olds, where the emphasis is on socializing. In addition, the state subsidizes parents, paying them around 150 euros per month for every child until he or she turns 17. Schools provide food, counseling and taxi service if needed. Health care is even free for students taking degree courses.
F Finland’s schools were not always a wonder. For the first half of the twentieth century, only the privileged got a quality education. But In 1963, the Finnish Parliament made the bold decision to choose public education as the best means of driving the economy forward and out of recession. Public schools were organized into one system of comprehensive schools for ages 7 through 16. Teachers from all over the nation contributed to a national curriculum that provided guidelines, not prescriptions, for them to refer to. Besides Finnish and Swedish (the country’s second official language), children started learning a third language (English is a favorite) usually beginning at age nine.
The equal distribution of equipment was next, meaning that all teachers had their fair share of teaching resources to aid learning. As the comprehensive schools improved, so did the upper secondary schools (grades 10 through 12). The second critical decision came in 1979, when it was required that every teacher gain a fifth-year Master’s degree in theory and practice, paid for by the state. From then on, teachers were effectively granted equal status with doctors and lawyers. Applicants began flooding teaching programs, not because the salaries were so high but because autonomous decision making and respect made the job desirable. And as Louhivuori explains, ‘We have our own motivation to succeed because we love the work.
Questions 1-6
Reading Passage has six paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i A business-model approach to education
ii The reforms that improved education in Finland
iii Educational challenges of the future
iv Ways in which equality is maintained in the Finnish education system
v The benefits of the introduction of testing
vi An approach that helped a young learner
vii Statistical proof of education success
viii Support for families working and living in Finland
ix The impact of the education system on Finland’s economy
1 Paragraph A
2 Paragraph B
3 Paragraph C
4 Paragraph D
5 Paragraph E
6 Paragraph F
Questions 7-13
Complete the notes below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
The school system in Finland
PISA tests
+ In the most recent tests, Finland’s top subject was 7………………………….
History
1963:
+ A new school system was needed to improve Finland’s 8 ………………………….
+ Schools followed 9 ………………………….that were created partly by teachers.
+ Young pupils had to study an additional 10………………………….
+ All teachers were given the same 11 …………………………. to use.
1979:
+ Teachers had to get a 12 …………………………. but they did not have to pay for this.
+ Applicants were attracted to the 13 ………………………….that teaching received.
Essential strategies and practice techniques for this IELTS Reading question type. Learn how to manage time and improve accuracy.
Originally published April 2023. Last reviewed 3 July 2026.
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on the Reading Passage below.
A Brief History of Tea
A The story of tea began in ancient China over 5,000 years ago. According to legend, the Emperor Shen Nung was a skilled ruler, creative scientist and patron of the arts. His far sighted edicts required, among other things, that all drinking water be boiled as a hygienic precaution. One summer day while visiting a distant region of his realm, he and the court stopped to rest. In accordance with his ruling, the servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from a nearby bush fell into the boiling water, and as the leaves infused, the water turned brown. As a scientist, the Emperor was intrigued by the new liquid, drank some, and found it very refreshing. And so, according to legend, tea was created.
B Tea consumption spread throughout Chinese culture, reaching into every aspect of the society. The first definitive book was written on tea – a book clearly reflecting Zen Buddhist philosophy – 1,200 years ago. The first tea seeds were brought to Japan by a returning Buddhist priest, who had seen the value of tea in enhancing meditation in China. As a result, he is known as the ‘Father of Tea’ in Japan. Because of this early association, tea in Japan has always been linked with Zen Buddhism. Tea received the Japanese Emperor’s support almost instantly and spread rapidly from the royal court and monasteries to other sections of society.
C Tea was elevated to an art form in the Japanese tea ceremony, in which supreme importance is given to making tea in the most perfect, most polite, most graceful, most charming manner possible. Such a purity of expression prompted the creation of a particular form of architecture for tea house: duplicating the simplicity of a forest cottage. The cultural/artistic hostesses of Japan, the geishas, began to specialize in the presentation of the tea ceremony. However, as more and more people became involved in the excitement surrounding tea, the purity of the original concept was lost, and for a period the tea ceremony became corrupted, boisterous and highly embellished. Efforts were then made to return to the earlier simplicity, with the result that, in the 15th and 16th centuries, tea was viewed as the ultimate gift. Even warlords paused for tea before battles.
D While tea was at this high level of development in parts of Asia, information concerning the then unknown beverage began to filter back to Europe. Earlier traders had mentioned it, but it were unclear as to whether tea should be eaten or drunk. The first European to personally encounter tea and write about it was Portuguese – Portugal, with her technologically advanced navy, had been successful in gaining the first right of trade with China.
E Tea finally arrived in Europe in the 16tr’ century, brought to Holland by the country’s navy, and becoming very fashionable in the Dutch capital, the Hague. This was due in part to tea being very expensive (over $100 per pound), which immediately made it the domain of the wealthy. Slowly, as the amount of tea imported increased, the price fell, and by 1675, it was available in common food shops throughout Holland.
F As the consumption of tea increased dramatically in Dutch society, doctors and university authorities in Holland argued as to its benefits or drawbacks. The public largely ignored the scholarly debate and continued to enjoy their new beverage, though the controversy lasted from 1635 to roughly 1657. Throughout this period, France and Holland led Europe in the use of tea.
G As the craze for all things oriental swept through Europe, tea became part of the way of life. Adding milk to the drink was first mentioned in 1680. Around that time, Dutch inns provided the first restaurant service of tea. Innkeepers would furnish guests with a portable tea set complete with a heating unit. The Dutchman would then prepare tea for himself and his friends outside in the inn garden. Tea remained popular in France for only about fifty years, being replaced by a preference for wine, chocolate, and exotic coffees.
Tea was introduced into England in 1660 by King Charles II and his Portuguese queen, who were both confirmed tea drinkers. Tea mania swept across England as it had earlier spread throughout France and Holland. By 1708 tea importation had risen to thirteen times the 1699 level. Tea was drunk by all levels of society.
H The Russian interest in tea began as early as 1618, when the Chinese embassy in Moscow presented several chests of tea to the Emperor, Czar Alexis. Later in the century, a trade treaty between Russia and China allowed caravans to cross back and forth freely between the two countries. Still, the journey was not easy. The average caravan consisted of 200 to 300 camels, and the 18,000-kilometre trip took over 16 months to complete. Eventually, however, tea became – as it still is – one of the most popular drinks in the country.
Question 1- 8
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-xi, in boxes 1-8. On your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i. Not enough tea to meet demand
ii. Religious objections
iii. In – and sometimes out of- fashion
iv. A connection between tea and religion
v. A luxury item
vi. News of tea reaches another continent
vii. Is tea a good or bad thing?
viii. A chance discovery
ix. Tea-making as a ritual
x. Difficulties in importing tea
1 Paragraph A
2 Paragraph B
3 Paragraph C
4 Paragraph D
5 Paragraph E
6 Paragraph F
7 Paragraph G
8 Paragraph H
Question 9-13
Look at the following statements (Question 9-13) and the list of countries below.
Match each statement with the correct country, A-G.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 9-13 On your answer sheet.
List of Countries
A China
B Japan
C Portugal
D Holland
E France
F England
G Russia
9 Claims that tea might be harmful failed to affect its popularity.
10 Tea lost favour to other drinks.
11 Special buildings were constructed in which to drink tea.
12 Animals were involved in importing tea.
13 A ruler’s specialist knowledge led to an interest in tea.
Essential strategies and practice techniques for this IELTS Reading question type. Learn how to manage time and improve accuracy.
Originally published April 2023. Last reviewed 3 July 2026.
A Radioactivity occurs naturally. The main source comes from natural sources in space, rocks, soil, water and even the human body itself. This is called background radiation and levels vary from place to place, though the average dose is fairly constant. The radiation which is of most concern is artificial radiation which results from human activities. Sources of this include the medical use of radioactive materials, fallout, and contamination from nuclear bomb tests. discharges from the nuclear industry, and the storage and dumping of radioactive waste.
B While artificial radiation accounts for a small proportion of the total, its effects can be disproportionate. Some of the radioactive materials discharged by human activity are not found in nature, such as plutonium, while others which are found naturally may be discharged in different physical and chemical forms, allowing them to spread more readily into the environment, or perhaps accumulate in the food-chain.
For all these reasons simple comparisons of background and artificial radioactivity may not reflect the relative hazards. Equally important, it has never been shown that there is such a thing as a safe dose of radiation and so the fact that we are progressively raising global levels should be of as much concern to us as the possibility of another major nuclear disaster like Chernobyl. Every nuclear test, nuclear reactor or shipment of plutonium means an additional and unnecessary health risk.
C In general, the effects of radiation can be divided into those which affect the individuals exposed and those which affect their descendants. Somatic effects are those which appear in the irradiated or exposed individual. These include cancer and leukemia. Hereditary or genetic effects are those which arise in subsequent generations.
Many of the elements which our bodies need are produced by the nuclear industry as radioactive isotopes or variants. Some of these are released into the environment, for example, iodine and carbon, two common elements used by our bodies. Our bodies do not know the difference between an element that is radioactive and one which is not. So, radioactive elements can be absorbed into living tissues, bones or the blood, where they continue to give off radiation. Radioactive strontium behaves like the calcium-an essential ingredient in our bones — in our bodies. Strontium deposits in the bones send radioactivity into the bone marrow, where the blood cells are formed, causing leukemia.
D There are three principal effects which radiation can have on cells: firstly the cell may be killed; secondly the way the cell multiply may be affected, resulting in cancer; and thirdly damage may occur in the cells of the ovaries or testes, leading to the development of a child with an inherited abnormality.
In most cases, cell death only becomes significant when large numbers of cells are killed, and the effects of cell death therefore only become apparent at comparatively high dose levels. If a damaged cell is able to survive a radiation dose, the situation is different. In many cases, the effect of cell damage may never become apparent. A few malfunctioning cells will not significantly affect an organ where the large majority are still behaving normally.
However, if the affected cell is a germ cell within the ovaries or testes, the situation is different. Ionizing radiation can damage DNA, the molecule which acts as the cell’s ‘instruction book’. If that germ cell later forms a child, all of the child’s cells will carry the same defect. The localized chemical alteration of DNA in a single cell may be expressed as an inherited abnormality in one or many future generations.
In the same way that a somatic cell in body tissue is changed in such a way that it or its descendants escape the control processes which normally control cell replication, the group of cells formed may continue to have a selective advantage in growth over surrounding tissue. It may ultimately increase sufficiently in size to form detectable cancer and in some cases cause death by spreading locally or to other parts of the body.
E While there is now broad agreement about the effects of high-level radiation, there is controversy over the long-term effect of low-level doses. This is complicated by the length of time it takes for effects to show up, the fact that the populations being studied (bomb survivors, people exposed to nuclear tests or workers in the nuclear industry ) are small and exact doses are hard to calculate.
All that can be said is that predictions made about the effects of a given dose vary. A growing number of scientists point to evidence that there is a disproportionately high risk from low doses of radiation. Others assume a directly proportionate link between the received dose and the risk of cancer for all levels of dose, while there are some who claim that at low doses there is a disproportionately low level of risk.
Questions 1-4
Reading Passage has 5 sections A-E.
From the list of headings below choose the most suitable heading for sections B to E.
Write the appropriate numbers (i-viii) in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
Note: There are more headings than sections, so you will not use all of them. You may use any of the headings more than once.
HEADINGS
i. Cells affected by radiation
ii. Effects of low-dose radiation
iii. Effects on cell multiplication
iv. Effects of radiation on cells
v. Sources of radiation
vi. Radiation in the food chain
vii. Dissemination of radiation
viii. Health effects of radiation
Example Section A Answer v
1 Section B
2 Section C
3 Section D
4 Section E
Questions 5-10
Classify the following as linked in the passage to:
BR Background Radiation
AR Artificial Radiation
N Neither
B Both
Write the appropriate letters in boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet.
5 produced by the human body
6 involves only safe amounts of radiation
7 is used for medical purposes
8 includes plutonium
9 produces a constant level of radiation
10 can enter the food chain
Questions 11-16
Complete the summary of Section D of Reading Passage below.
Choose your answers from the box below the summary and write them in boxes 11—16 on your answer sheet.
Note: There are more words/phrases that you will need to fill the gaps. You may use a word or phrase more than once if you wish.
SUMMARY
Radiation can affect an organism by damaging 11……… which may then die or malfunction. If the 12……. affected in this way is small, the effect will not be too drastic and may not be noticeable. Alternatively, the 13……. may grow uncontrollably and form cancers, in which case the organism is likely to die.
If the DNA in a germ cell in the ovaries or testes is affected, and 14…….. originating from that 15….. may display 16…., which can, in turn, be passed on to further offspring.
Essential strategies and practice techniques for this IELTS Reading question type. Learn how to manage time and improve accuracy.
Originally published June 2017. Last reviewed 3 July 2026.
In this post, we will be looking at matching headings.
The matching heading questions normally ask you to match a list of headings to paragraphs. The texts given can consist of six to nine paragraphs.
When you see this type of task, you should;
Quickly read the headings and underline/highlight any keywords.
Skim read the text – so you understand the overall meaning
Read the first paragraph and see if any headings match up
Choose the best heading for the paragraph (read again if needed)
Repeat this strategy for every paragraph
This strategy above allows you to choose the heading appropriate for each paragraph by going through a process of elimination.
What is a heading?
A paragraph heading sums up the paragraph as a whole, not just parts of it. Try not to match up words in the heading with words you see in the paragraph, that could lead you to make an incorrect choice. The heading should apply to all information written about in the paragraph, not just parts of it.
When you look at the heading choices you may think that more than one could match up with different paragraphs, but you need to look closer to see which option is the best fit. You should take the time to practice matching headings to paragraphs, summing up the main idea, not just trying to match the words.
Test Question
In the IELTS test, the matching headings questions will look similar to the those below and it will appear before a text, not after it >>
The paragraphs for the practice exercises are from a text called “Adolescents: health risks and solutions” from The World Health Organisation (WHO) website.
All answers are at the bottom of the page.
Exercise 1
Read the following headings and then skim read the text, choose the heading that supports the main idea of each paragraph >>
What topic do all of the headings have in common? Underline/highlight and keywords.
i. The future of mental health
ii. Violence has a wide scope in urban areas
iii. Support is on offer for youths surviving violent backgrounds
iv. The cause of female and male violence
v. The future of mental health in the school system and beyond
vi. Conflict prevention methods should be used to promote harmony
vii. Knowledge of assaults on women and men
A
Depression is the third leading cause of illness and disability among adolescents, and suicide is the third leading cause of death in older adolescents (15–19 years). Violence, poverty, humiliation and feeling devalued can increase the risk of developing mental health problems.
B
Building life skills in children and adolescents and providing them with psychosocial support in schools and other community settings can help promote good mental health. Programmes to help strengthen the ties between adolescents and their families are also important. If problems arise, they should be detected and managed by competent and caring health workers.
C
Violence is a leading cause of death in older adolescent males. Interpersonal violence represents 43% of all adolescent male deaths in LMICs in the WHO Americas Region. Globally, 1 in 10 girls under the age of 20 years reports experiencing sexual violence.
D
Promoting nurturing relationships between parents and children early in life, providing training in life skills, and reducing access to alcohol and firearms can help to prevent injuries and deaths due to violence. Effective and empathetic care for adolescent survivors of violence and ongoing support can help deal with the physical and psychological consequences.
TIP >> Don’t try to match the words in the headings to the words in the text. You need to focus on the whole idea in each paragraph.
TIP >> Try and narrow the choices down when you are completing the task – through an elimination process. Look at paragraph A and decide which headings do connect with it, which ones do not?
Exercise 2
Read the following headings and then skim read the text, choose the heading that supports the main idea of the paragraph >>
i. The detrimental effects of alcohol abuse
ii. How young people are affected by bad drinking habits
iii. Drinking alcohol can create many health problems
A
Harmful drinking among adolescents is a major concern in many countries. It reduces self-control and increases risky behaviours, such as unsafe sex or dangerous driving. It is a primary cause of injuries (including those due to road traffic accidents), violence (especially by a partner) and premature deaths. It can also lead to health problems in later life and affect life expectancy. Setting a minimum age for buying and consuming alcohol and regulating how alcoholic drinks are targeted at the younger market are among the strategies for reducing harmful drinking.
Exercise 3
Read the following headings and then skim read the text, choose the heading that supports the main idea of the paragraph >>
i. How to have a healthy diet
ii. The key to being healthy at a young age
iii. An insight to the eating habits and daily activities of young people
B
Developing healthy eating and exercise habits in adolescence are foundations for good health in adulthood. Reducing the marketing of foods high in saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, free sugars, or salt and providing access to healthy foods and opportunities to engage in physical activity are important for all but especially children and adolescents. Yet available survey data indicate that fewer than 1 in every 4 adolescents meets the recommended guidelines for physical activity: 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily.
Exercise 4
Read the following headings and then skim read the text, choose the heading that supports the main idea of the paragraph >>
i. Observations of cigarette use amongst young people in modern society
ii. The problems associated with smoking
iii. How to stop people from smoking
C
The vast majority of people using tobacco today began doing so when they were adolescents. Prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors and increasing the price of tobacco products through higher taxes, banning tobacco advertising and ensuring smoke-free environments are crucial. Globally, at least 1 in 10 adolescents aged 13 to 15 years uses tobacco, although there are areas where this figure is much higher. Cigarette smoking seems to be decreasing among younger adolescents in some high-income countries.
Exercise 5
Read the following headings and then skim read the text, choose the heading that supports the main idea of the paragraph >>
i. The history of HIV
ii. An understanding of the current status of HIV in minors
iii. Problems associated with HIV
D
More than 2 million adolescents are living with HIV. Although the overall number of HIV-related deaths is down 30% since the peak in 2006 estimates suggest that HIV deaths among adolescents are rising. This increase, which has been predominantly in the WHO African Region, may reflect the fact that although more children with HIV survive into adolescence, they do not all then get the care and support they need to remain in good health and prevent transmission. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 10% of young men and 15% of young women aged 15 to 24 are aware of their HIV status.
Exercise 6
Read the following headings and then skim read the text, choose the heading that supports the main idea of the paragraph >>
i. The health issues relating to the youth of today
ii. Problems affecting adolescents in modern society
iii. The most common health issues that stop young people from reaching their full potential
E
Around 1.2 billion people, or 1 in 6 of the world’s population, are adolescents aged 10 to 19. Most are healthy, but there is still substantial premature death, illness, and injury among adolescents. Illnesses can hinder their ability to grow and develop to their full potential. Alcohol or tobacco use, lack of physical activity, unprotected sex and/or exposure to violence can jeopardise not only their current health, but also their health as adults, and even the health of their future children.
REVIEW AND STRATEGY
The matching headings questions are common in the IELTS Reading Test, therefore you should practice and develop a strategy for answering.
TIP >> Read the instructions before you start reading the text. Make sure you understand the question.
TIP >> Skim read each paragraph and get the main idea of each one.
TIP >> Look at the headings and highlight any keywords you can see, then match them up if you see anything clear.
TIP >> Choose your answers through an elimination process. Which ones do not fit? Which ones can you dismiss? Be attentive to synonyms and paraphrasing.
Answers >>
Exercise 1 – Answers >>
A = iv
B = v
C = vii
D = vi
Exercise 2 – Answers >>
A = ii
Exercise 3 – Answers >>
B = iii
Exercise 4 – Answers >>
C = i
Exercise 5 – Answers >>
D = ii
Exercise 6 – Answers >>
E = i
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