--- title: "Reading, Listening, and Building Vocabulary" category: metodo --- # Reading, Listening, and Building Vocabulary > **Source:** Adapted from publicly available articles on (Christopher Pell). This is an original, condensed summary — not a copy of their site. For full courses and personalised feedback, see the original site. --- ## True / False / Not Given: The Question Type Everyone Gets Wrong This is widely considered the hardest question type on the Reading test, mostly because "Not Given" is misunderstood. **What each answer actually means** (for factual statements against the passage): - **TRUE** — the text confirms the statement's meaning **exactly**. Not "roughly the same," not "kind of implies it" — exactly the same meaning. - **FALSE** — the text states the **opposite** of the statement. - **NOT GIVEN** — the text doesn't contain enough information to say either way, even if some of the same words appear in that part of the passage. The trap most people fall into: assuming that if some words from the statement *do* appear in the passage, the answer must be True or False. It doesn't work that way — a Not Given answer can absolutely have matching vocabulary nearby. The passage simply doesn't confirm or contradict the *specific claim* being made. **What to actually watch for:** - **Qualifying words** in the statement — *some, all, mainly, always, often, occasionally* — because they change meaning entirely. "The company has *always* sourced its cocoa from West Africa" is a different claim from "The company has *mainly* sourced its cocoa from West Africa," and only one of them might match the passage. - **Qualifying verbs** — *claim, suggest, believe* vs. a flat statement of fact. "Researchers *believe* the species migrated north" and "The species *migrated* north" are different statements. - **Synonyms, not exact word matches** — the passage will usually paraphrase the statement's wording rather than repeat it. Match meaning, not vocabulary. **A working strategy:** 1. Confirm which variant you're doing — True/False/Not Given (facts) or Yes/No/Not Given (the writer's opinions) are graded on the same logic but are conceptually different. 2. Read the whole statement for meaning first — don't just extract keywords. 3. Predict likely synonyms before scanning the passage for the matching section. 4. Read that section of the passage carefully (this is not a skimming task) and check whether it matches the statement's *exact* meaning. 5. If you can't find the information after a genuine search, mark it Not Given and move on — don't burn minutes hunting for something that isn't there. 6. Answers appear in the same order as the passage — don't waste time jumping backward. 7. There will be at least one of each answer type (True, False, and Not Given) in any given set — if you have zero of one type, double-check your work. --- ## Listening: The Six Underlying Skills The Listening test rewards a specific set of skills more than raw "good ears." Training these directly is more efficient than just listening to more English passively. 1. **Prediction.** Before the audio starts, read the questions and predict what kind of answer you're listening for (a number, a name, an amount of money). You already do this constantly in your first language — the news headline "Volcano in the South Pacific" primes your brain for volcano-related content before a single further word is spoken. Predicting the general topic *and* the specific answer type both help. 2. **Synonyms and paraphrasing.** The recording will rarely use the exact words from the question — it'll paraphrase them. ("How did the education system improve?" in the question vs. "schools got better" in the recording.) This makes Listening partly a vocabulary test. 3. **Connected speech.** Native speech links sounds together in ways that don't match how words look written down — "I have to go to the doctor" can sound closer to "Ivtegothe doctor." Training your ear specifically for this linking (not just "more listening in general") closes a lot of the comprehension gap. 4. **Sign-posting language.** In monologue sections (a talk or lecture), speakers use structural phrases — "This is divided into three parts," "First of all... Secondly... Finally..." — to mark where they are in the talk. Recognising these tells you what's coming next and helps you stay oriented. 5. **Following two speakers at once.** Two full sections of the test involve two people talking — different accents, different speaking styles, possibly disagreeing with each other. This is a distinct skill from following one speaker and is worth deliberately practicing with dialogue recordings, not monologues. 6. **Note-taking.** You need to write fast, abbreviated notes during a lecture-style section (the recording won't slow down for you), then be able to reconstruct full, correctly-spelled notes afterward. E.g., "Mix with 20 milliliters of hydrochloric acid" becomes "Mx w 20ml of HCl" in the moment. **Active vs. passive listening:** simply having English audio playing in the background does very little. Active listening means setting yourself a specific task before you listen — predict an answer, listen for a particular signpost word, transcribe one sentence — and checking afterward whether you got it right. Twenty minutes of active listening produces more improvement than hours of passive exposure. **Where to practice specific skills:** - **Prediction:** TED-Ed's video library (each video has built-in questions) or the British Council's "Listen and Watch" series. - **Connected speech / linking:** pick a short native-speaker clip, pause the moment you don't understand a phrase, and replay that one phrase repeatedly until you can transcribe it exactly and identify where the sounds ran together — the "micro-listening" technique described in [Speaking — The Complete Guide](speaking-master-guide.html). --- ## Building Vocabulary Without Word Lists Downloaded "Band 7 Vocabulary" lists are a common trap: students memorise the words, then use them incorrectly in the real test, because a word learned in isolation (with no context, no collocations, no sense of register) is very easy to misuse. Examiners notice a misused "impressive" word and mark it down — it signals a shakier vocabulary, not a stronger one. **A more durable method, in six steps:** 1. **Pick a source you actually enjoy** — a show, podcast, book, or magazine on a topic you care about. Motivation compounds; boredom kills the habit within a week. 2. **Get a notebook** dedicated to this. 3. **Consume the source** and pull out roughly 15 words you don't know, trying to guess their meaning from context first — that guessing step is what makes the word stick later. 4. **Write the 15 words down.** 5. **Look each one up** in a proper dictionary and record: meaning, an example sentence, a synonym, an antonym, pronunciation, and (if it helps) a small sketch. 6. **Review on a schedule** — after one week, two weeks, and one month. Spaced review, not one-time memorisation, is what moves words into long-term recall. Do this five days a week and the vocabulary accumulates fast — and because every word came from real context, you're far less likely to misuse it in the exam than with a memorised list. **A reminder for Reading and Listening specifically:** both tests are quietly vocabulary tests too — the answer is almost always a synonym or paraphrase of the question's wording, not an exact match. A wide vocabulary built from real reading pays off across all four skills, not just Writing and Speaking. **Good sources for topic-relevant reading** (all connect to the common Task 2 topic areas — technology, education, environment, health, and so on): National Geographic, New Scientist, The Economist, BBC News, and Time. Fifteen to twenty minutes a day is enough.