Common mistakes in IELTS reading Multiple Choice Questions - TRAP #1
Find out what steps you should take when dealing with this type of IELTS reading tasks and what traps you may get into.
Step 1: Read the question and identify the keyword (or keywords) !!! Don't read the answer choices. For example: What is the writer's main point in the first paragraph?
Step 2: Read the first paragraph and identify all key points of this paragraph.
For example: Is photography art? This may seem a pointless question today. Surrounded as we are by thousands of photos, most of us take for granted that in addition to supplying information and seducing customers, camera images also serve as decoration, afford spiritual enrichment, and provide significant insights into the passing scene. But the decades following the discovery of photography, this question reflected the search for ways to fit the mechanical medium into the traditional scemes of artistic expression.
Now let's split this paragraph into meaningful parts.
Part 1 Is photography art? This may seem a pointless question today. Surrounded as we are by thousands of photos, most of us take for granted that in addition to supplying information and seducing customers, camera images also serve as decoration, afford spiritual enrichment, and provide significant insights into the passing scene. (this part says that photos serve different purposes. We use them in our everyday life. Also, they are considered art)
Part 2 But the decades following the discovery of photography, this question reflected the search for ways to fit the mechanical medium into the traditional scemes of artistic expression. (this part says that in the past the situation was different. After photography was discovered, people didn't know how to fit photography into art.)
Step 3: Analyze answer choices one by one and choose most suitable. Each time read theanswer choice, identify keyword or keywords and compare with the key ideas in the paragraph.
a) Photography is used for many different purposes
Explanation: the first part of the paragraph is about different uses of photography. And many IELTS students fall for that and choose this answer choice.
COMMON MISTAKE: students think that they have identified the correct answer and don't analyze the other options carefully.
TRAP: sometimes there are 2 suitable answer choices, but one of them is related to only one part or it describes just 50% of some situation, and the other one fully answers the question.
b) Photographers and artists have the same aims
Explanation: There was nothing about photographers and artists and their aims. So this one is definitely incorrect.
c) Photography has not always been a readily acceptable art form
Explanation: What does this sentence mean? It means that now photography is an acceptable art form. So now it's considered art by many people. However, it has not always been like this. In the past it wasn't considered art. Statement C is much better than A as it conveys the sense of the whole paragraph, not just half of it. But you should analyze answer choice D to make sure it isn't correct.
d) Photographers today are more creative than those of the past
Explanation: The paragraph didn't contain any information about photographers.
So, our answer is C.
Find out what steps you should take when dealing with this type of IELTS reading tasks and what traps you may get into.
Step 1: Read the question and identify the keyword (or keywords) !!! Don't read the answer choices. For example: What is the writer's main point in the first paragraph?
Step 2: Read the first paragraph and identify all key points of this paragraph.
For example: Is photography art? This may seem a pointless question today. Surrounded as we are by thousands of photos, most of us take for granted that in addition to supplying information and seducing customers, camera images also serve as decoration, afford spiritual enrichment, and provide significant insights into the passing scene. But the decades following the discovery of photography, this question reflected the search for ways to fit the mechanical medium into the traditional scemes of artistic expression.
Now let's split this paragraph into meaningful parts.
Part 1 Is photography art? This may seem a pointless question today. Surrounded as we are by thousands of photos, most of us take for granted that in addition to supplying information and seducing customers, camera images also serve as decoration, afford spiritual enrichment, and provide significant insights into the passing scene. (this part says that photos serve different purposes. We use them in our everyday life. Also, they are considered art)
Part 2 But the decades following the discovery of photography, this question reflected the search for ways to fit the mechanical medium into the traditional scemes of artistic expression. (this part says that in the past the situation was different. After photography was discovered, people didn't know how to fit photography into art.)
Step 3: Analyze answer choices one by one and choose most suitable. Each time read theanswer choice, identify keyword or keywords and compare with the key ideas in the paragraph.
a) Photography is used for many different purposes
Explanation: the first part of the paragraph is about different uses of photography. And many IELTS students fall for that and choose this answer choice.
COMMON MISTAKE: students think that they have identified the correct answer and don't analyze the other options carefully.
TRAP: sometimes there are 2 suitable answer choices, but one of them is related to only one part or it describes just 50% of some situation, and the other one fully answers the question.
b) Photographers and artists have the same aims
Explanation: There was nothing about photographers and artists and their aims. So this one is definitely incorrect.
c) Photography has not always been a readily acceptable art form
Explanation: What does this sentence mean? It means that now photography is an acceptable art form. So now it's considered art by many people. However, it has not always been like this. In the past it wasn't considered art. Statement C is much better than A as it conveys the sense of the whole paragraph, not just half of it. But you should analyze answer choice D to make sure it isn't correct.
d) Photographers today are more creative than those of the past
Explanation: The paragraph didn't contain any information about photographers.
So, our answer is C.
