Below, there is an article from BBC News regarding a ... · Web viewThe study showed waist-to-hip ratio to be a better heart attack predictor than general obesity - 18% stronger

OET READING PART A LESSON: REVIEWDURING THIS LESSON

Understood the OET reading exam structure and the difference between the three sections; Part A, Part B and Part C.

Studied skimming, scanning and close reading techniques. Developed understanding of the importance of reading for context. Prepared for future lessons with homework assignments.

REVIEW

This lesson taught you how to improve your understanding of the OET reading test and helpful techniques such as skimming and scanning which can quickly improve your comprehension and reading speed.

In addition to this, we also attempted a number of activities which challenged your reading skills to further gain an understanding of what is required for a Grade B.

This workbook will further test the skills and techniques we have practised during the lesson. The best way to pass the OET reading exam is practice.

WWW.PASSMYIELTS.COM 1

ACTIVITY 1

The types of question in Part A of the Reading allow students such as yourself to demonstrate that they can skim and scan across short texts of a variety of types.

To pass this section of the test, you will need to be able to:

locate specific information in a range of short texts. understand the conventions of different text types. synthesise information from different sources. summarise information for a non-medical audience. recognise paraphrasing. use appropriate spelling

Now answer the following questions about this part of the test.

1. You should read the passages for Part A of the test very carefully before you start the questions.

A. TrueB. False

2. Scanning means to quickly look through the passage to try to find useful keywords from the question/answers.

A. TrueB. False

3. If a question read ‘What is the current incidence rate of diabetes?’ … What might be the key details that you would skim the passage for be?

A. A percentage B. A proportion C. Both of the above

4. Which technique will require for you read every word of the passage?

A. SkimmingB. ScanningC. Close reading

5. You should spend a few minutes at the end of Part A checking your work.

A. TrueB. False

Answers for this activity are at the end of this workbook.


ACTIVITY 2

Skimming Texts

Skimming is a reading technique that can help you:

read more quickly decide if the text is interesting and whether you should read it in more detail

You can use the skimming technique when you want to identify the main ideas in the text.

How is skimming different to scanning?

The term skimming is often confused with scanning.

You skim a text to obtain the gist - the overall sense - of a piece of writing. This can help you decide whether to read it more slowly and in more detail.

You scan a text to obtain specific information. For example, to find a particular number in a telephone directory.

Sometimes you can use both reading methods. After you’ve skimmed a piece of text to decide whether it’s of interest, you might then use scanning techniques to find specific information.

How do you skim read?

When you use the skimming technique you don’t read the whole text word for word. You should use as many clues as possible to give you some background information. There might be pictures or images related to the topic, or an eye-catching title. Let your eyes skim over the surface of the text and look out for key words while thinking about any clues you’ve found about the subject.

Read the title, subtitles and subheadings to find out what the text is about. Look at the illustrations to give you more information about the topic. Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph. Don’t read every word or every sentence. Let your eyes skim over the text and look out

for key words. Continue to think about the meaning of the text.

Scanning Texts

You can use the scanning technique to look up a phone number, read through the small ads in a newspaper, or for browsing television schedules, timetables, lists, catalogues or webpages for information. For these tasks you don’t need to read or understand every word.

Scanning is also useful when you don’t have time to read every word. This could be when you’re studying or looking for specific information from a book or article and need to find it quickly.


Tips: better scanning Don’t try to read every word. Instead let your eyes move quickly across the page until you

find what you’re looking for. Use clues on the page, such as headings and titles, to help you. In a dictionary or phone book, use the header words to help you scan. You can find these in

bold type at the top of each page. If you’re reading for study, start by thinking up or writing down some questions that you

want to answer. Doing this can focus your mind and help you find the facts or information that you need more easily.

Many texts list things in alphabetical order from A to Z. These include everyday materials, such as the phone book or indexes to books and catalogues.

There are many ways to practise scanning skills. Try looking up a favourite recipe in the index of a cookbook, search for a plumber in your local telephone book or scan webpages on the internet to find specific information.

We now have an activity to complete based on these skimming and scanning techniques. Take a look at the text below.

A local retirement home is looking for extra staff before Christmas. Remember, you don’t need to read every word.

Start by skimming the passage and then immediately move on to the questions just as you would during the OET exam.

Try to answer the questions as best as you can from memory. Then use scanning techniques to find the correct answers.

NOTE: You do not need to read and understand the entire passage.

HEALTHCARE ASSISTANT VACANCY

CHRISTMAS JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Are you aged between 18 and 50 years? Need extra cash for Christmas?Are you available to work at short notice?Can you work early, late, or night shifts?

We are looking for enthusiastic reliable people to work on an occasional basis, helping to care for elderly residents in the Norwich area from late November until the end of December.

Pay rates for weeks, including Saturdays will be: -Ages 18-25 - £6.10 per hourAges 26-50 - £7.25 per hour

So if you have good communication skills and are able to work as part of a team, we would love to hear from you.


To obtain an application form, please write to:

Elaine Grey, Personnel OfficerReading Retirement Home

Maple RoadReading,RG5 4BR

Tel 0118 932 814 (24 hr. answer phone)

Closing Date: 15 November

Now complete the questions below:

QUESTIONS

1. When do these jobs start?

2. The work will last for about a month. True or false?

3. What type of work is on offer?

4. What kind of people is the retirement home looking for?

5. What shift patterns are available?

6. Where is the job based?

7. The work involves travel around the UK. True or false?

8. How much will you earn per hour if you are aged 18?

9. True or false? You will be paid extra for working on Saturday.

10. Whom should you contact to get an application form?

11. You can leave a message on an answering machine. True or false?

12. You need to be able to work at short notice. True or false?

13. It is 1 November. Is there still time to apply for a job?

14. The minimum age for this job is 18. True or false?

15. Do you need a driving licence to apply for this job?



ACTIVITY 3

Now read through the reading tips below and fill in the missing information using the words offered in the box. Some words have been added to the selectionthat are not required.

grammatically abbreviations words examiner less time column guide copy gaps conditions language punctuations

Don’t Write more than 3 ______ for each answer OR no words at all! You will not be penalised for

leaving a space but you might be rewarded for a correct guess! Don’t leave any _______ answers at the end of the test. Go back and make an educated

guess. Waste valuable time using an eraser to correct a mistake if you make one. You may, for

example, accidentally include an extra word that goes over the allowable three words or write the wrong word for the wrong question. Simply cross out any words you don’t want the person marking your paper to accept; this takes a lot ________ and you will not be penalised.

Begin Part A by simply reading all texts from beginning to end as this will waste valuable time. Use the questions to _______ you to which text to read first.

Use _________. Use the correctly spelt full form of the words you select. In the writing exam you can not use but not during the OET reading exam.



ACTIVITY 4

Below, there is an article from BBC News regarding a research study into risk factors relating to heart attacks. Set yourself a timer to try and skim through the article in 90 seconds. Once you have skimmed the article, answer the questions below. If you are unsure of an answer, go back to the text and use scanning techniques to identify the correct information for the question.

Waist size bigger heart attack risk in women, report says

Women with bigger waists relative to their hips are at more risk of heart attacks than men of a similar "apple shape", research from the George Institute for Global Health says.

The study showed waist-to-hip ratio to be a better heart attack predictor than general obesity - 18% stronger than body mass index in women and 6% in men.

The report found a high BMI was linked to heart disease risk in both sexes.

The researchers interviewed nearly 500,000 UK adults aged 40 to 69. The research has been published in the Journal of the American Heart Association and used the UK Biobank resource.

Dr Sanne Peters, the report's lead author, from the institute, which is at the University of Oxford, said: "Our findings support the notion that having proportionally more fat around the abdomen (a characteristic of the apple shape) appears to be more hazardous than more visceral fat, which is generally stored around the hips (the pear shape)."

She said that "looking at how fat tissue is distributed in the body - especially in women - can give us more insight into the risk of heart attack than measures of general obesity".


Dr Peters added: "Understanding the role sex differences in body fat distribution play in future health problems could lead to sex-specific public health interventions that could address the global obesity epidemic more effectively."

The report said that body composition and fat distribution differed markedly between the sexes, with women having a predominance of fat mass and subcutaneous fat and men having lean mass and visceral fat.

It added: "Our study has several strengths, including the prospective design, large sample size, and direct measurement of general and central adiposity on all participants.

"However, the UK Biobank is a largely white population, and further analyses are needed to determine the generalisability to other populations."

Heart attack symptoms

chest pain - a sensation of pressure, tightness or squeezing in the centre of your chest

pain in other parts of the body - it can feel as if the pain is travelling from your chest to your arms (usually the left arm is affected, but it can affect both arms), jaw, neck, back and abdomen

feeling lightheaded or dizzy

sweating

shortness of breath

feeling or being sick

overwhelming sense of anxiety (similar to having a panic attack)

coughing or wheezing

Although the chest pain is often severe, some people may feel only minor pain, similar to indigestion. In some cases, there may not be any chest pain at all, especially in women, the elderly and people with diabetes.

Source: NHS Choices

Ashleigh Doggett, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Considering the large amount of UK participants, this is a very interesting study which highlights that obesity remains a risk factor for heart attacks in both men and women.


"Interestingly, it suggests that those of us who are 'apple' as opposed to 'pear' shape, especially women, may be at higher risk of a heart attack.

"We know from previous BHF research that women are often misdiagnosed initially when having a heart attack so how we store fat and our body shape may be an important factor for medical staff to consider when making a diagnosis.

"The study highlights the need for similar research amongst more diverse populations, and for further research into sex differences which could lead the way in treating patients on an individualised basis."

Questions

1. Summarise the 3 main points of the article.

2. Who is the article targeted towards? How do you know this?

3. How was the study conducted?

4. Are there any limitations of the study?

5. Are there any words you did not know the definition of? Look up their definition on Dictionary.com and give a definition below.



PRACTICE TEST

PART A

TIME LIMIT: 15 MINUTES

Look at the four texts, A – D, on the following pages. For each question, 1 – 20, look through the texts, A – D, to find the relevant information. Write your answers on the spaces provided below each question. Answer all the questions within the 15-minute time limit. Your answers should be correctly spelt.

Junior Sports Injuries: Texts

TEXT A

Title: Patterns of injury in US high school sports: A review.Authors: Field and O’Brien (2007)

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the risk of injury associated with 10 popular high school sports by comparing the relative frequency of injury and selected injury rates among sports, as well as the participation conditions of each sport.

DESIGN AND SETTING: A cohort observational study of high school athletes using a surveillance protocol whereby certified athletic trainers recorded data during the 2005-2007 academic years. SUBJECTS: Players listed on the school’s team rosters for football, wrestling, baseball, field hockey, softball, girls’ volleyball, boys’ or girls’ basketball, and boys’ or girls’ soccer.

MEASUREMENTS: Injuries and opportunities for injury (exposures) were recorded daily. The definition of reportable injury used in the study required that certified athletic trainers evaluate the injured players and subsequently restrict them from participation.

RESULTS: Football had the highest injury rate per 1000 athlete-exposures at 8.1, and girls’ volleyball had the lowest rate at 1.7. Only boys’ (59.3%) and girls’ (57.0%) soccer showed a larger proportion of reported injuries for games than practices, while volleyball was the only sport to demonstrate a higher injury rate per 1000 athlete-exposures for practices than for games. More than 73% of the injuries restricted players for fewer than 8 days. The proportion of knee injuries was highest for girls’ soccer (19.4%) and lowest for baseball (10.5%). Among the studied sports, sprains and strains accounted for more than 50% of the injuries. Of the injuries requiring surgery, 60.3% were to the knee.

CONCLUSIONS: An inherent risk of injury is associated with participation in high school sports based on the nature of the game and the activities of the players. Therefore, injury prevention programs should be in place for both practices and games. Preventing reinjury through daily injury management is a critical component of an injury prevention program. Although sports injuries cannot be entirely eliminated, consistent and professional evaluation of yearly injury patterns can provide focus for the development and evaluation of injury prevention strategies.


TEXT B

Literature review extract: Prevention of sports injuries.

Langran and Selvaraj conducted a study in Scotland to identify risk factors for snow sports injuries. They found that persons under 16 years of age most frequently sustained injury, which may be attributed to inexperience.

They conclude that protective wrist guards and safety release binding systems for skiboards help prevent injury to young or inexperienced skiers and snowboarders.

Ranalli and Rye provide an awareness of the oral health care needs of the female athlete. They report that a properly fitted, custom-fabricated or mouth-formed mouthguard is essential in preventing intraoral soft tissue lacerations, tooth and jaw fractures and dislocations, and indirect concussions in sports. Although custom-fabricated mouthguards are expensive, they have been shown to be the most effective and most comfortable for athletes to wear.

Pettersen conducted a study to determine the attitudes of Canadian rugby players and coaches regarding the use of protective headgear. Although he found that few actually wear headgear, the equipment is known to be effective.

TEXT C

Best practice guidelines for junior sports injury management and return to play

When coaches, officials, sports first aiders, other safety personnel, parents and participants follow the safety guidelines, the risk of serious injury is minimal.

If an injury does occur, the golden rule in managing it is “do no further damage”.

It is important that the injured participant is assessed and managed by an appropriately qualified person such as a sports first aider or sports trainer. Immediate management approaches include DRABCD (checking Danger, Response, Airway, Breathing, Compression and Defibrillation) and RICER NO HARM (when an injury is sustained apply Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation, Referral and NO Heat, Alcohol, Running or Massage).

Young participants returning to activity too early after an injury are more susceptible to further injury. Before returning to participation the participant should be able to answer yes to the following questions:

• Is the injured area pain free?• Can you move the injured part easily through a full range of movement?• Has the injured area fully regained its strength?

Whilst serious head injuries are uncommon in children and young peoples’ sport, participants who have lost consciousness or who are suspected of being concussed must be removed from the activity.

Prior to returning to sport or physical activity, any child who has sustained an injury should have medical clearance.


TEXT D

Research briefs on sports injuries in Canada

– Approximately 3 million children and adolescents aged 14 and under get hurt annually playing sports or participating in recreational activities.- Although death from a sports injury is rare, the leading cause of death from a sports-related injury is a brain injury.- Sports and recreational activities contribute to approximately 18 percent of all traumatic brain injuries among Canadian children and adolescents.- The majority of head injuries sustained in sports or recreational activities occur during cycling, skateboarding, or skating incidents.

Junior Sports Injuries: Questions

Questions 1 – 7

For each question, 1 – 7, decide which texts (A, B, C or D) the information comes from. You may use any letter more than once. In which text can you find information about

1. the percentage of traumatic brain injuries caused by sports and recreation among Canadian children?

………………………………………………

2. compares the rate of injuries which occur across different sports?

………………………………………………

3. discusses injuries to under 14 year olds?

………………………………………………

4. injuries which can occur to children and young people’s mouths and means of preventing this?

……………………………………………….

5. the questions that must be asked before a child returns to sport following an injury?

……………………………………………….

6. the role of a first aider?

……………………………………………….


7. the types of injuries that are most likely to require surgery?

………………………………………………

Questions 8 – 15

Answer each of the questions, 8 – 15, with a word or short phrase from one of the texts. Each answer may include words, numbers or both.

8. What should children who ski or snowboard wear for protection?

9. In the US study, which sport had the highest injury rate per 1000 players?

10. What is a drawback of custom-fitted mouthguards?

11. What type of injury is most likely to lead to death?

12. When was the research for the US study undertaken?

13. Why are children and young people under 16 years old more susceptible to injuries when undertaking snow sports?

14. How can injury during ruby matches be avoided?

15. Which sport in the US study reported more injuries during practice than games?


Questions 16 – 20

Complete each of the sentences, 16 – 20, with a word or short phrase from one of the texts. Each answer may include words, numbers or both.

The scope of the US study was limited with ....(16).... being the only non-ball game studied.

Two management plans which should be followed are RICER NO HARM and ....(17).... ; a key feature of the former is that the child should be prevented from doing any further ....(18).... .

… (19)… returning to play, a participant should confirm that the injured part is pain free.

The risk of sports injuries can be minimised if coaches undertake an … (20)… of yearly injury patterns.



Answers

ACTIVITY 1

1. False. You do NOT have to read every word of the Part A passage. You should quickly skim the passage to get the general meaning and then move straight on to the questions.

2. True. Scanning involves looking for a specific piece of information in the text. What you are looking for will often be determined by key words that you pick out from the questions. For example, if the question said, ‘Side effects of this procedure include…’, you would scan the various passages for a mention of ‘side effects’ or ‘complications.’

3. Both of the above. In this example, an incidence rate can be determined in a couple of different ways, e.g. as a percentage – 8% - or a proportion – 2/20. It is important that you are aware of a couple of different ways that an answer can be expressed based on your key words so that you can scan the passages as effectively as possible.

4. Close reading. Remember, skimming is quickly looking through the passage to find the general meaning, scanning is looking for specific words and close reading is a detailed read and analysis of the text.

5. True. While you won’t have a lot of time to do this in Part A of the text, you should do your best to read through your answers to spot any simple mistakes. It is useful to make a note next to any questions that you do not know the answer to and come back to them at the end. You should not leave any answers blank; if you do not know the answer then you should guess as you may just gain an extra mark.

ACTIVITY 2

1. Late November.2. True.3. Healthcare Assistant.4. Enthusiastic and reliable. 5. Early, late and night shifts. 6. Norwich.7. False.8. £6.10.9. False.10. Elaine Grey, Personnel Officer.11. True.12. True.13. Yes.14. True. 15. Not stated/No.

ACTIVITY 3

1. words2. gaps


3. less time4. guide5. abbreviations

ACTIVITY 4 (Indicative answers)

1.

Women with bigger waists relative to their hips are at more risk of heart attacks than men. The way that fat tissue is distributed in the body is a better indicator of the risk of heart

attack than general obesity. There are a number of different symptoms of a heart attack which people should be aware

of.

2. General-interest readers/normal population. We know this because the language is quite simple; no complex medical terminology is used. It is of interest to the general population because they could be at risk of a heart attack based on the study.

3. Researchers interviewed 500,000 UK adults aged 40 to 69 based on resources from the UK Biobank.

4. Yes. The participants in the research came from a largely white population. Further analysis is needed to look at other population groups.

Practice Exam

1. D2. A3. D4. B5. C6. C7. A8. Wrist guards and safety binding systems for skiboards 9. Football10. Expensive11. Brain injury12. 2005 – 200713. Inexperience 14. Wearing protective headgear15. Volleyball 16. Wrestling17. DRABCD 18. Running19. Before 20. Evaluation


Documents

Below, there is an article from BBC News regarding a ... · Web viewThe study showed waist-to-hip ratio to be a better heart attack predictor than general obesity - 18% stronger