In Reading Exercises 1-13, you looked at reading a passage from the point of organisation and meaning.
We have pointed out that this may have slowed your reading down, as learning any new skill does. With practice, however, the mechanisms can help to increase your speed as well as efficiency in reading and examining a text.
You also need, however, to have a range of strategies to help you read quickly. Increasing one’s reading speed in one’s native language is difficult enough; in a second, or possibly third or fourth, it is even more difficult.
Below is a list of mini-exercises to help you focus on increasing your speed.
1. One way to increase your speed is by learning to pick out the most important words in a sentence which will give you a summary of the meaning. Look at the following sentences:
A recent study of top executives shows that com panies are wasting valuable tim e and resources, because managers are being subjected to unacceptable levels of stress by office politics and increased pressure. This situation is further com pounded by long hours, infrequent breaks and sleeplessness.
What is the difference between the words that are highlighted and the ones which are not?
Reading Exercises 1 to 22
2. Read the text in 1 above again and then read the following text:
A recent study of top executives shows that companies are wasting valuable time and resources, because managers are being subjected to unacceptable levels of stress by office politics and increased pressure. This situation is further compounded by long hours, infrequent breaks and sleeplessness.
What is the difference between the highlighted words this time and the original?
3. Read the texts below as quickly as you can and mark the words which act as stepping stones and summarise the text for you.
(A) Participation in the Euro, the new European currency, hinged on whether the criteria set out in the Maastricht Treaty were adhered to strictly. Several countries would like to have seen some of the qualifying conditions relaxed, but that did not happen, as the banks were against any slackening of monetary control. What remains to be seen is whether the governments concerned can stick to the stringent monetary goals they have set themselves.
(B) The swingeing cuts introduced by the government have created quite a fracas, but many people believe that they are necessary for the future health of the country. The main target areas appear to be spending on welfare, defence and the road network.
(C) One member of the public, a Gladys C Roach, who took part in the survey, stated that she felt it was dangerous to shop in the department store as it was so full of tempting food. She added that she always had to make sure that she went there to shop only on a full stomach.
Otherwise, she would spend a fortune.
4. Understanding the relationship between the parts of sentences will also help you. What is the relationship between the parts within the sentences below?
a The underlying rate of inflation has remained the same as last month, under-mining the government’s attempts to curb interest rate rises.
b Progress in the talks to settle the dispute has been slow: agreement has only been reached on one item in the list of differences between the two sides.
c The frost wreaked such havoc among the early blossoms at Farkleberry, that there was much consternation at the big house.
d Although he had created a very innovative and effective programme, it was in danger of being destroyed through ignorance and jealousy.
e He had created such an innovative and effective programme, that it was in danger of being destroyed through ignorance and jealousy.
5. Another way to help you read quickly is to learn to recognise the relationship in meaning between sentences. What is the relationship between the pairs of sentences below?
a This shows, say many teachers, that standards of English for many secondary school pupils and university students have declined over recent years. The answer is, obviously, that the teaching of grammar should be made compulsory in secondary school and on relevant teacher training courses.
b This shows, say many teachers, that standards of English for many secondary school pupils and university students have declined over recent years. The answer is, perhaps, to make the teaching of grammar compulsory in secondary school and on relevant teacher training courses.
c This shows, say many teachers, that standards of English for many secondary school pupils and university students have declined over recent years. The danger is, obviously, that the teaching of grammar is made compulsory in secondary school and on relevant teacher training courses.
d The number of ships being repaired in the dockyard has declined steadily since the end of the 60s. Only five ships were repaired or refitted last year as against 30 in 1968.
Exercises 1 to 22 Reading
6. In the text in 5a above, isolate the two main pieces of information. For the first you may use only five words; for the second you may use only eight.
Exercise 15: More about speed
Exercise 15 contains some more strategies to help you increase your speed.
1. What is the main information in each of the texts below? Read and decide as quickly as you can.
a In a paper to be published in the next issue of the Journal, Farilla Bartlett, the eminent anthropologist, of the University of London, argues that the launch of the anti-smoking campaign will fail miserably.
b In detailed studies of the sleep patterns of males, the researchers recorded that the amount of deep sleep declines with age, thus leading to a reduction in the body’s rejuvenation process.
c Scumbling, the use of dry brush to create a hazy effect on paper surfaces not previously covered with a colour wash, is a simple, but subtle technique.
2. Understanding the basic layout of a sentence can also help you find your way round a text and hence read more efficiently and quickly. Sentences in English are basically divided between old and new information. Look at the following example:
A woman entered a building. Suddenly, she saw a large cat. The ani
mal was eating a mouse. The cat looked at the woman. The woman lifted a stick and walked away from the cat
You can look at the information as follows:
New New
A woman entered a building.
Old New
[Suddenly], she saw a large cat.
Old New
The animal was eating a mouse.
Old Old
The cat looked at the woman.
Old New
The woman lifted a stick
Old New
and [The woman] walked away from
Notice how the information generally jumps back and forward from Old to New, except in the first and last part of the text! An economical way of reading text is to train yourself to read only the New information as you already know the Old.
Reading Exercises 1 to 22
In the texts below, find the Old and New information.
(a) A car was driving slowly along a road. It turned into the drive of a large white house. The car stopped just short of the front door, but the driver did not get out.
(b) Her first acting break in a major film was doing a voice-over in a spy film. This led to a string of similar jobs doing work on adverts.
(c) Mr Maguire made a number o f predictions for the future of further edu
cation in the UK. His forecasts are seriously flawed. They are much too optimistic to be credible.
(d) A woman with a manic grin entered a building. Suddenly, the building collapsed. When the dust settled, she walked into another building. Her grin was now even more hideous.
(e) The government’s version of events was not believed by anyone. It was seen by most people as a cover-up. The whole affair serves to illus
trate the fears people have of politicians’ inclination to abuse power.
3. As you have seen in the reading exercises you have done so far, it is helpful to know how a text is organised. If you are able to see how text is organised in general it will help you to move through the reading passages in IELTS quickly and effectively.
Look at the organisation of the text below. What is the essential information in the sentence?
Can you divide the information into three main blocks? Paraphrase the sentence and begin:
Statistics sh o w ...
According to the statistics available on homelessness, what drives young people away from home is the threat of violence from those within the household.
4. It is difficult for all of us to hold several pieces of information in our heads at the same time about a text and extract detail. You can, however, practise doing this. Look at the texts below and answer the questions which follow:
(a) Lacking the natural resilience of her mother, Muriel, Mavis, recently devastatingly rebuffed by her aunt Maureen, fell into a long and agonising period of depression.
Who became depressed?
(b) Unlike Mr Richardson and Mrs Frome, the previous directors, the new directors, Mrs Allinson, Mr Frome (no relation to Mrs Frome) and Miss Vin
cent, decided to terminate the contract that had been signed by the • above-mentioned Mr Richardson’s father prior to his son and one o f his daughters taking over as directors of the company.
What is the relationship between Mr Richardson and Mrs Frome?
Exercises 1 to 22 Reading
5. Look at the following text and complete the sentence which follows:
In a tense hour-long Whitehall meeting the day before yesterday, Mrs Cartiebury, sitting with Sir Charles Drew and Charles Drewmore, the chairman and chief executive of Silver, Finch & Finch, respectively, the main auditors employed by the Ombudsman, and Samantha AM, Head of the Personal Investment Authority, which is overseeing the multi-billion mis-selling review, laid down the rules.
The rules__________________ by Mrs Cartiebury.