In multiple choice reading tasks in IELTS, you will answer questions about a reading passage. The questions will provide 3-4 possible options and you need to choose the correct answer. This involves using your scanning skills to locate the relevant information to answer the question, your comprehension skills to understand the text and your ability to paraphrase information.
To help support you with the multiple choice tasks in IELTS, here are some of our top tips.
- Read the question carefully. Be sure that you understand the question so that you don’t get caught out.
- Locate the correct information in the passage and use this to select the best answer.
- Do not spend too long on this task – each question is worth one mark only.
- Remember, answers will usually be in order.
- Make sure you know how to show your answer – do you need to provide a letter or number to show the option you are choosing?
- Take the time to ensure you are answering the question – just because a number in one of the answers is also in the text doesn’t mean it is the CORRECT answer!
As with any part of the IELTS test, practice makes perfect. So be sure to use our other Multiple Choice Practice Tasks to help develop your ability and skill.
Passage:
Climate change: Met Office says warming trend will continue in 2020
Next year will continue the global warming trend with temperatures again likely to rise more than one degree above pre-industrial levels. According to the Met Office, 2020 will likely be 1.11C warmer than the average between 1850-1900. The year ahead is set to extend the series of the warmest years on record to six in a row.
Scientists say the strongest factor causing the rise is greenhouse gas emissions. The world first broke through one degree above pre-industrial temperatures back in 2015. Each year since then has seen temperatures close to or above this mark. The warmest year on record is 2016 when a strong El Niño made a significant difference.
This weather phenomenon sees sea surface temperatures increase in the central and eastern Pacific and it’s associated with a range of impacts around the world, including the overall global level of warming. According to the Met Office, the chances of a strong El Niño in 2020 are low. They forecast that the global average temperature next year will be in the range of 0.99C to 1.23C with a central estimate of 1.11C. The researchers say that the key factor will be emissions of CO2 and other warming gases. “Natural events – such as El Niño-induced warming in the Pacific – influence the climate system, but in the absence of El Niño, this forecast gives a clear picture of the strongest factor causing temperatures to rise – greenhouse gas emissions,” said Professor Adam Scaife, the Met Office head of long-range prediction.
According to researchers, carbon dioxide emissions this year have risen slightly, despite a drop in the use of coal. The Global Carbon Project’s annual analysis of emission trends suggests that CO2 will go up by 0.6% in 2019. The rise is due to continuing strong growth in the utilisation of oil and gas. The scale of emissions has a direct bearing on temperatures, scientists say. Provisional figures released earlier this month by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) suggest 2019 is on course to be the second or third warmest year ever. If those numbers hold, 2015-2019 would end up being the warmest five-year period on record.
The Met Office say they have confidence in their prediction for 2020 based on what’s happened in previous years. This time last year they estimated that 2019 would be 1.10C above the 1850-1900 mark. The actual temperature recorded this year from January to October shows a global mean 1.11C.
Text adapted from: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50839974
Questions:
Choose the correct letter A-C.
- Next year, meteorologists predict that temperatures will:
- increase
- decrease
- stay the same
- If the temperature next year rises, it will be the ____ time this has happened continuously.
- 1st
- 6th
- 2016
- What is the likelihood of another El Niño happening next year?
- likely
- unlikely
- probable
- Carbon dioxide, produced by the burning of coal, has _____ this year.
- Increased significantly
- dropped
- increased
- These scientists are confident in their predictions because:
- Their predictions for 2019 were correct
- Their predictions for 2019 were very close
- Their predictions have been correct for the past five years
Answers:
- a
- b
- b
- c
- b
New Vocabulary to Learn!
meteorologists = scientists who study the weather
predict = to say or estimate that something will happen
factor = something that contributes to a result
emissions = the act of sending out gas, heat or light into the air
phenomenon = something that exists or happens
probable = something that is likely to happen