READING Practice Activity
Answering Multiple Choice Questions
Task Description
The multiple choice questions will give you either an unfinished sentence or a question. This will be followed by four options (a,b,c,d), but only one will be correct. You should decide which one. The other three possibilities may seem likely; they may even be deliberately confusing, so make sure you read the sentence or question carefully.
Skills Tested
- Understanding the main points of the text (skimming).
- Understanding particular points (scanning).
- Understanding the paraphrasing or summarising used in the questions.
- Identifying facts or opinions in the text.
What you should do
- Read the 'stem' sentence or question carefully, and instructions. Make sure you understand what it is asking for.
- Skim read all the questions before you read the text, to get an idea of the topics.
- Read the first question again more carefully. Decide what you will need to read to answer the question. Are you being asked for a particular detail? Or for an answer which requires an overall comprehension?
- Read the text in the most suitable way to get the information (skimming or scanning).
- If you are not sure of the answer, make your best guess at the end. Even a random guess is better than no answer as you are not penalised for an incorrect answer.
Practice Tasks
Multiple choice questions task 1 (Space Travel)