Exam focus

Hints an answering gapped text questions (part 2)

Part 1 of the Reading paper tests the ability to find particular information, looking quickly through a text or a number of texts. part 2 is completely different. It tests whether you can understand how texts are built up in short paragraphs and how one relates to another. If you look at , "The bigger they come, the better" you can see that your task is to decide which of the eight paragraphs fits into the space marked 1, and then to do the same thing for the other gaps.

Read the whole of the gapped text to get a general idea of what it is about. In the case of "The bigger they come, the better" you can see that it is about tennis players being taller than they used to be. A number of players and other people connected with the game are mentioned and some of these names appear among the extracts. These may be of help in deciding which extract fits into each space but do not assume that because a name or word appears among the choices it must fit into a particular space. The test is about seeing how words and structures are linked together, not about recognising that the same word occurs in two places.

Here are some ways in which you can identify the links between paragraphs:

• Answers to questions: In "The bigger they come, the better", the second paragraph begins with an answer: One the face of it, no. Do any of the choices end with questions, and could this be the answer to one of them?
  
  
• Statements that continue what has been said before: In the text, the second paragraph refers to players who are short. Is there a choice that also refers to players like that?
  
  
• Names that appear in paragraphs before and after choices. While it is not true that a choice must be correct if the same name appears in it, it is always worth checking whether the choice makes sense if it follows or comes before the paragraph where the same name occurs.
  
  
• Speeches in inverted commas. In some cases, the texts include interviews with people whose comments are printed in inverted commas. Choices in inverted commas probably relate to one or other of these speakers, whose names will be given.
  
  
• Phrases that may be explained, supported or contradicted by phrases among the choices. In "The bigger they come, the better" for example, one paragraph ends with the phrase Hingis recent reversal of fortune. Is there a choice that talks about Hingis and the time when she was winning?
  
  
• Phrases in the gapped text or in the choices employing words like This or That. The fourth paragraph in the text begins: That seems the safer bet nowadays. Which of the choices lead into this statement by referring to a choice made by someone which seems to him or her more sensible? Choice B begins: Davenport drove this point home.... Is there a paragraph in the gapped text that makes a point that this statement supports? If so, Choice B must come immediately after it.
  
  
• phrases in the gapped text or choices employing pronouns. Choice H in the text begins with the questions: How, then, does he account for Agassi's success? Is there a paragraph in the text where someone is talking about Agassi? Is it a man, and does this choice fit in immediately after it?
  
  
• phrases referring to time. Choice E in the text begins: Three years ago ..... . Is here a paragraph in the gapped text that end with a phrase comparing what is happening now to what happened then?

The examples here are all taken form the text "The bigger they come, the better" but they represent all of the ways in which you can check that you have made the right choice. Refer back to this advice before attempting the test "The bigger they come, the better" and any other tests until you have mastered the technique.