Unit 1: Exercise 1

Read the groups of words that begin with the same prefix. Match the meanings with the
prefixes.

1. over- (overweight, overpaid, overestimate) wrongly / incorrectly

2. mis- (misuse, misunderstand, mispronounce) from one thing / place to another
3. sub- (substandard, sub-zero, submarine) under / less than
4. fore- (foresee, forethought, forecast) too much
5. de- (deodorant, defrost, demystify) future
6. trans- (transfer, transform, transcribe) make the opposite of

Unit 1: Exercise 2
Read the comments made by different speakers. Match the descriptions of what the
speakers are doing with the comments.
A. complaining about inaccurate information
B. complaining that something isn’t good enough
C. criticising someone’s lifestyle and health
D. describing someone’s stage of life
E. explaining what someone approves and disapproves of
F. suggesting how to describe something’s history
G. talking about the advantages of being prepared for what is going to happen

1. _____ ‘He’s overweight because he overeats.’

2. _____ ‘The service I’ve received today has been substandard.’
3. _____ ‘I was misquoted and my views were misrepresented.’
4. _____ ‘She’s always been pro-trade and anti-capitalist at the same time.’
5. _____ ‘If you want to sell your old bike, don’t call it “used”. Call it “pre-owned and pre-loved”.’
6. _____ ‘My grandparents are enjoying their post-retirement years.’
7. _____ ‘Forewarned is forearmed. That’s always been a favourite idiom of mine.’

Unit 1: Exercise 3
Read the information about the matching headings task in the IELTS Reading test. Then
add the correct headings for the paragraphs. Use the headings in the box. There are two
extra headings.
How being able to match headings can help in real life
One of the biggest challenges in the IELTS test Skills you need to succeed at the task
What to watch out for What you have to do Why paraphrasing is important
1. _________________________________________
The task involves choosing the most suitable headings for the paragraphs in a text. There are usually
between five and seven paragraphs, and there are also two extra headings that you don’t need.
2. _________________________________________
Study the paragraphs before the headings. Don’t try to find a paragraph for each heading, as two of the
headings won’t be used. As you do the task, keep track of which headings you’ve used, as you can
only use a heading once. And as always, keep an eye on time, as you only have 20 minutes to answer
all 13 or 14 questions on the whole text. And 20 minutes can go by very quickly!
3. _________________________________________
Remember that just because you see the same word in the heading and one of the paragraphs, this
doesn’t mean you’ve found the answer. It’s more important to look for matching meanings in
headings and paragraphs, not just matching words. These reading tasks check that you can understand
ideas expressed in different words, which is one of the key skills you really need in this task.
4. _________________________________________
As well as identifying paraphrases, you need to be able to distinguish between headings, remembering
that some of them might sound quite similar, so try to express them differently in your own words.
When reading each paragraph, you also need to distinguish between the main idea of the paragraph
and the extra detail. Bear in mind that the heading will probably relate to the main idea, rather than
some minor detail. This central idea is often (but not always) referred to in the first and / or last
sentence of the paragraph, so it’s a good idea to check these.

Unit 1: Exercise 4
Read the information. Then read the topic sentences. Choose the correct descriptions of
what the paragraphs will be about.

The first sentence in a paragraph is called the topic sentence. This usually contains clues as to
what the rest of the paragraph will be about. In this exercise, you will see five topic sentences
(from a five-paragraph text, which you will read later) and predict what the rest of the paragraph
is likely to be about.

Topic sentence A
One of the key challenges facing the world is going to be coping with the hundreds of millions who
will flock to the growing number of overpopulated megacities, especially in developing countries.
The rest of paragraph A is likely to tell us about
1. another challenge that needs to be addressed
2. consequences of falling populations
3. examples of cities where this has happened
4. reasons why falling populations fall further
5. the lives of people living in the countryside

Topic sentence B
A drop in a city’s population usually leads to a few empty or boarded-up and unoccupied homes,
hardly enough to make the headlines or raise eyebrows.
The rest of paragraph B is likely to tell us about
1. another challenge that needs to be addressed
2. consequences of falling populations
3. examples of cities where this has happened
4. reasons why falling populations fall further
5. the lives of people living in the countryside

Topic sentence C
That’s just the thing: once a population starts going down, that decline tends to continue.
The rest of paragraph C is likely to tell us about
1. another challenge that needs to be addressed
2. consequences of falling populations
3. examples of cities where this has happened
4. reasons why falling populations fall further
5. the lives of people living in the countryside
Topic sentence D
Many cities that are now declining relied heavily on a specific industry for employment of a large
portion of the workforce.
The rest of paragraph D is likely to tell us about
1. another challenge that needs to be addressed
2. consequences of falling populations
3. examples of cities where this has happened
4. reasons why falling populations fall further
5. the lives of people living in the countryside

Topic sentence E
It’s this desire to enjoy many of the aspects of an imagined utopia that is prompting many urban
dwellers to pack up and move out to the country.
The rest of paragraph E is likely to tell us about
1. another challenge that needs to be addressed
2. consequences of falling populations
3. examples of cities where this has happened
4. reasons why falling populations fall further
5. the lives of people living in the countryside

Unit 1: Exercise 5
Later in the unit, you will complete an IELTS Reading matching headings task. First, read
the descriptions and choose the correct answers to complete the sentences.
1. One of the heading options is The perks of rural life. A paragraph with this heading is likely to be
about ...
o statistics concerning numbers of people living in the countryside.
o the benefits of living in the countryside .
2. the benefits of living in the countryside
o do a lot.
o know about.
3. Divided generations is another option. A paragraph with this heading is likely to focus on reasons
why ...
o people of different ages spend less time together.
o younger and older people behave differently from each other.
4. A paragraph with the heading More common than you might think would be about ...
o something that happens a lot.
o something that people think about a lot.
5. The heading The reasons why populations fall could be used with a paragraph looking at ...
o the causes of falling populations.
o the results of falling populations.
6. A paragraph headed The impact of migration on rural infrastructure will focus on ...
o the causes of migration.
o the effects of migration.
7. The heading The effects of economic downturn suggests that the accompanying paragraph will be
about ...
o what happens when a town gets poorer.
o why some towns are poor and others are rich.
Unit 1: Exercise 6
The article has five paragraphs, A–E. Read the article and match the paragraphs with the
headings. There are two extra headings.

A One of the key challenges facing the world is going to be coping with the hundreds of millions
who will flock to the growing number of overpopulated megacities, especially in developing
countries. This has received a great deal of media attention; books have been written,
conferences organised and committees established to debate the causes of urbanisation,
and more importantly, what can be done to improve the fate of those making the move into
these continually growing conurbations. But the same is not true of a second, and closely
related trend, which raises a serious dilemma: what to do about the cities that are losing people.
B A drop in a city’s population usually leads to a few empty or boarded-up and unoccupied homes,
hardly enough to make the headlines or raise eyebrows. But they’re hardly unusual. One in ten
US cities is actually shrinking. In Japan, larger cities are thriving – and growing – while many of
the smaller ones are in decline, both demographically and economically. In Latvia, many young
adults have turned remarkably anti-provincial and have headed for the capital, Riga, in large
numbers, leaving a number of ghost towns. Almost silently, this trend is being repeated right
across the globe, almost without anyone noticing. Several South Korean cities are also becoming
smaller, and this trend will continue unless birth rates there increase.
C That's just the thing: once a place starts getting smaller, the decline tends to continue. There are
several explanations for this. When young adults leave the town of their birth and don’t return,
the town loses not just those adults, but also the children that they would have had later had they
stayed. As populations drop, the average age of the inhabitants increases until most people are
post-childbearing age. This is what has happened to towns like Christchurch in the UK. It’s a
vicious cycle; it means, of course, fewer youngsters to bring down the average age,
and consequently, the trend gathers momentum and accelerates. Additionally, of course, higher
average age is closely linked with increased mortality, with each death further reducing the
population.
D Many cities that are now declining relied heavily on a specific industry for the employment of a
large portion of the workforce. A classic example is Detroit, once the centre of America’s
thriving car industry, but now a sparsely populated urban wasteland. Flint, another ex-industrial
powerhouse, can no longer provide the jobs its residents need and so many have left, driven away
by unemployment and the prospect of better opportunities elsewhere. For others, a rural life has a
greater appeal and this tempts them to leave the city; living in the countryside typically affords
lower property prices, healthier living and lower rates of crime.
E It’s this desire to enjoy many of the aspects of an imagined utopia that is prompting many urban
dwellers to pack up and move out to the country. Once there, they can grow their own potatoes,
have time to talk to their neighbours and not worry about what their kids are up to. Technological
changes mean that for many professionals, there’s not so much difference between being in the
city and living miles from anywhere, as long as they have a car and a decent internet connection.
Many city-to-country migrants, such as Helen Dobson, who recently moved out of Manchester,
find that they have to put up with substandard wi-fi anyway – but that’s a different story.

1. Paragraph A i. The reasons why populations fall

2. Paragraph B ii. The perks of rural life
3. Paragraph C iii. More common than you might think
4. Paragraph D iv. The impact of migration on rural infrastructure
5. Paragraph E v. Divided generations
vi. The effects of economic downturn
vii. A widely publicised phenomenon
Unit 1: Exercise 7
Read the sentences from the article. Choose the correct definitions of the words and phrases
in bold.
1. This has received a great deal of media attention; books have been written, conferences
organised and committees established to debate the causes of urbanisation …
o a good arrangement for
o a large amount of
2. Several South Korean cities are also becoming smaller, and this trend will continue unless the
birth rate increases.
o number of babies being born
o quality of healthcare
3. It means, of course, fewer youngsters to bring down the average age, and consequently, the trend
gathers momentum and accelerates.
o becomes more widely understood
o gets faster
4. A classic example is Detroit, once the centre of America’s thriving car industry, but now a
sparsely populated urban wasteland.
o busy and financially successful
o declining
5. Many cities that are now declining relied heavily on a specific industry for the employment of a
large portion of the workforce.
o payment
o percentage
6. Flint, another ex-industrial powerhouse, can no longer provide the jobs its residents need, and so
many have left …
o place that produces electricity
o place with lots of energy, activity and skill
7. … and so many have left, driven away by unemployment and the prospect of better
opportunities …
o forced to leave
o travelling by car

Unit 1: Exercise 8
Read the information. Then read the blog post and statements 1–4. Choose False or Not
Given.

In the IELTS Reading test, you might see a True / False / Not Given task.
Deciding whether a statement is true should be reasonably clear. But many students are unsure
about the differences between statements that are false (i.e. we know they are not true) and
statements that are not given (i.e. they could be true, or they could be false; we don’t have enough
information to know). In this exercise, the bold sections of the text are the bits you need to think
about.
Meet lifestyle blogger Helen Dobson, who swapped city life for a move out to the country.
A year ago, my husband and I made the move out of Manchester , wher e we’d spent vir tually our
entir e lives, and relocated to a tiny village in the hills, miles away from anywhere. It was a move
pr ompted by lots of differ ent things: the bir th of our baby son, changes to our jobs and the desire
to have more space.
Having lived in a nice part of Manchester for ages, I realised that for years I’d been taking the ready
availability of everything for granted. When the population is gr eatly r educed, inevitably so is
choice, fr om schools to types of cheese. Ther e isn’t a decent Indian r estaur ant for miles, and we
have to dr ive 30 minutes to get decent handmade or ganic br ead. But, of cour se, these ar e
outr ageously fir st-wor ld pr oblems.

1. Helen was born in Manchester. False/Not Given

2. Helen’s baby was born after she moved out to the countryside. False/Not Given
3. The schools near Helen’s new home aren’t very good. False/Not Given
4. Helen considers the limited shopping facilities a major problem. False/Not Given

Unit 1: Exercise 9
Read the information. Then read the article in Exercise 6 again. Do the statements agree
with the information in the article? Choose
True if the statement agrees with the information
False if the statement contradicts the information
Not Given if there is no information on this.
1. __________ Too many people are moving to large cities.
2. __________ Young Latvian adults would prefer to stay in their hometowns than move to the
capital
3. __________ The birth rate in Christchurch is dropping.
4. __________ Fewer people now work in factories in Flint.
5. __________ Helen Dobson's internet is poor.

Unit 1: Exercise 10
Read the advice. Considering what you have learnt in this unit, decide whether the advice is
good or bad. Tick if it is Good advice. Cross if it is Bad advice.

Matching headings tasks

1. It’s best to start with the headings and find a matching paragraph for each one.
2. If you find the same words in a heading and in a paragraph, they probably match.
True / False / Not Given tasks
3. If you can’t find information in the text that corresponds to one of the statements, then the
answer is probably Not Given.
4. If a statement means something similar to what you read in the text, then the statement is true.
5. If the text doesn’t show that a statement isn’t true, then it has to be false.
 IELTS READING PRACTICE
READING PASSAGE 2
The Lost City

An explorer’s encounter with the ruined city of Machu Picchu, the most famous
icon of the Inca civilisation

A When the US explorer and academic Hiram Bingham arrived in South America in 1911, he was
ready for what was to be the greatest achievement of his life: the exploration of the remote
hinterland to the west of Cusco, the old capital of the Inca empire in the Andes mountains of Peru.
His goal was to locate the remains of a city called Vitcos, the last capital of the Inca civilisation.
Cusco lies on a high plateau at an elevation of more than 3,000 metres, and Bingham’s plan was
to descend from this plateau along the valley of the Urubamba river, which takes a circuitous
route down to the Amazon and passes through an area of dramatic canyons and mountain ranges.
B When Bingham and his team set off down the Urubamba in late July, they had an advantage over
travellers who had preceded them: a track had recently been blasted down the valley canyon to
enable rubber to be brought up by mules from the jungle. Almost all previous travellers had left
the river at Ollantaytambo and taken a high pass across the mountains to rejoin the river lower
down, thereby cutting a substantial corner, but also therefore never passing through the area
around Machu Picchu.
C On 24 July they were a few days into their descent of the valley. The day began slowly, with
Bingham trying to arrange sufficient mules for the next stage of the trek. His companions showed
no interest in accompanying him up the nearby hill to see some ruins that a local farmer, Melchor
Arteaga, had told them about the night before. The morning was dull and damp, and Bingham
also seems to have been less than keen on the prospect of climbing the hill. In his book Lost City
of the Incas, he relates that he made the ascent without having the least expectation that he would
find anything at the top.
D Bingham writes about the approach in vivid style in his book. First, as he climbs up the hill, he
describes the ever-present possibility of deadly snakes, ‘capable of making considerable springs
when in pursuit of their prey’; not that he sees any. Then there’s a sense of mounting discovery as
he comes across great sweeps of terraces, then a mausoleum, followed by monumental staircases
and, finally, the grand ceremonial buildings of Machu Picchu. 'It seemed like an unbelievable
dream the sight held me spellbound ’, he wrote.
E We should remember, however, that Lost City of the Incas is a work of hindsight, not written
until 1948, many years after his journey. His journal entries of the time reveal a much more
gradual appreciation of his achievement. He spent the afternoon at the ruins noting down the
dimensions of some of the buildings, then descended and rejoined his companions, to whom he
seems to have said little about his discovery. At this stage, Bingham didn’t realise the extent or
the importance of the site, nor did he realise what use he could make of the discovery.
F However, soon after returning it occurred to him that he could make a name for himself from this
discovery. When he came to write the National Geographic magazine article that broke the story
to the world in April 1913, he knew he had to produce a big idea.
 He wondered whether it could have been the birthplace of the very first Inca, Manco the Great,
and whether it could also have been what chroniclers described as ‘the last city of the Incas’. This
term refers to Vilcabamba the settlement where the Incas had fled from Spanish invaders in the
1530s. Bingham made desperate attempts to prove this belief for nearly 40 years. Sadly, his
vision of the site as both the beginning and end of the Inca civilisation, while a magnificent one,
is inaccurate. We now know, that Vilcabamba actually lies 65 kilometres away in the depths of
the jungle.
G One question that has perplexed visitors, historians and archaeologists alike ever since Bingham,
is why the site seems to have been abandoned before the Spanish Conquest. There are no
references to it by any of the Spanish chroniclers - and if they had known of its existence so close
to Cusco they would certainly have come in search of gold.
An idea which has gained wide acceptance over the past few years is that Machu Picchu was a
moya, a country estate built by an Inca emperor to escape the cold winters of Cusco, where the
elite could enjoy monumental architecture and spectacular views. Furthermore, the particular
architecture of Machu Picchu suggests that it was constructed at the time of the greatest of all the
Incas, the emperor Pachacuti (1438-71). By custom, Pachacuti’s descendants built other similar
estates for their own use, and so Machu Picchu would have been abandoned after his death, some
50 years before the Spanish Conquest.

Questions 1-7
Reading Passage has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
1 Paragraph A i Different accounts of the same journey
2 Paragraph B ii Bingham gains support
3 Paragraph C iii A common belief
4 Paragraph D iv The aim of the trip
5 Paragraph E v A dramatic description
6 Paragraph F vi A new route
7 Paragraph G vii Bingham publishes his theory
viii Bingham’s lack of enthusiasm

Questions 8-11
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
Write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
_______________ 8 Bingham went to South America in search of an Inca city.
_______________ 9 Bingham chose a particular route down the Urubamba valley because it was the
most common route used by travellers.
_______________10 Bingham understood the significance of Machu Picchu as soon as he saw it.
_______________11 Bingham returned to Machu Picchu in order to find evidence to support his
theory.