IELTS Reading Sample (Academic) #25

SKIMMING AND SCANNING

Skimming and scanning are important reading techniques which are very useful in IELTS. As time is limited in the exam, skimming and scanning help you to find the answers you need quickly.

You skim a text quickly to understand the general idea.
You scan a text quickly in order to find specific information.

Reading paper for this section

Questions 1-3

Which THREE of the following statements are true of free settlers in the Australian prison colonies, according to the text?

Choose THREE letters A-H.

AThey were mainly skilled workers and single women.

BThey all welcomed Governor Macquarie's policies.

C25 percent of them were born in the colonies.

D160,000 of them went to Australia between 1787 and 1868.

E8,000 of them arrived in Australia in the 1820s.

FThey established families, businesses and farms.

GConvicts who were assigned to them provided them with labour.

HThey campaigned in favour of emancipist rights.

Questions 4-9

The Reading Passage has seven paragraphs A-G.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

Write your answers in boxes 4-9 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i Free settlers

ii Transportation of convicts

iii The end of transportation

iv Convict life

v The colonial population

vi The treatment of convicts

vii Opponents of transportation

viii The first settlements

ExampleParagraph A ii

4Paragraph B

5Paragraph C

6Paragraph D

7Paragraph E

8Paragraph F

9Paragraph G

Questions 10-13

Complete the notes below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.

Australia's Convict Colonies

Events preceding first settlement

•1615 - convicts first transported to controlled by Britain

•1770 - Cook claims SE Australian coast for Britain, calling it

•1775 - 1783 - Revolutionary War in America halts transportation there

•1787 - Botany Bay chosen as site for new ; first convict fleet sets sail

•1788 - fleet reaches Botany Bay but chosen instead

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