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How to get a high IELTS reading score

Guida al Test IELTS Reading: Test di Pratica IELTS Reading Gratuito per IELTS General Reading e IELTS Academic Reading

In questa guida, puoi iniziare la tua pratica IELTS reading sostenendo un test IELTS reading gratuito. Tuttavia, esistono due versioni del test: IELTS general reading e IELTS academic reading. Imparerai quale versione è giusta per te e come affrontare ogni tipo di domanda di lettura utilizzando il nostro materiale IELTS reading.

Ottieni analisi gratuite del punteggio IELTS reading e un piano di studio personalizzato dopo aver completato un test di pratica IELTS reading gratuito.

Test IELTS General Reading Test IELTS Academic Reading

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Guida al Test di Pratica IELTS Reading

Il resto di questa guida ti insegnerà tutto sul test IELTS reading sia per il general training che per l'academic reading test. Imparerai come viene calcolato il punteggio di reading, imparerai a rispondere con successo a ogni tipo di domanda di reading, migliorerai il tuo reading con materiale di testo IELTS e padroneggerai le nostre 3 strategie per il successo della tua pratica IELTS reading.

Indice

Informazioni sul Test IELTS Reading

Il Test IELTS Reading è composto da 3 sezioni e un totale di 40 domande. In generale, risponderai a 12-14 domande per ogni sezione e ti vengono dati esattamente 60 minuti per completare il tuo esame di reading. Ogni sezione contiene 1-3 brani a seconda del test che stai sostenendo. Se conosci il test che stai sostenendo, puoi saltare le prossime due sezioni. In caso contrario, è importante imparare di ciascun test e come prepararsi per essi.

Quale Test IELTS Reading è Giusto per Me?

Il test IELTS reading ha due versioni: IELTS General Reading e IELTS Academic Reading. Sosterrai il General Reading se desideri migrare o iscriverti alla scuola superiore. Sosterrai l'Academic Reading se desideri proseguire con un'istruzione superiore. La differenza più grande tra general reading e academic reading è la difficoltà nei brani IELTS reading. Come suggerisce il nome, il test academic utilizza materiale IELTS reading da risorse accademiche, mentre il test general utilizza materiale tratto dalla vita quotidiana.

Entrambi i test contengono 3 sezioni, 40 domande e 11 tipi di domande. Puoi leggere su ogni sezione in dettaglio per entrambi i test nella tabella sottostante.

Sezione Test IELTS Academic Reading Test IELTS General Reading
1 Un lungo testo accademico che spazia da quello descrittivo e fattuale a quello discorsivo e analitico. Il testo sarà tratto da libri, riviste accademiche, periodici e giornali.

12-14 domande
Due o tre brevi testi fattuali. Gli argomenti sono pertinenti alla vita quotidiana in un paese di lingua inglese.

12-14 domande
2 Un lungo testo accademico che spazia da quello descrittivo e fattuale a quello discorsivo e analitico. Il testo sarà tratto da libri, riviste accademiche, periodici e giornali.

10-14 domande
Due brevi testi fattuali incentrati su questioni relative al lavoro (es. candidarsi per un lavoro, politiche aziendali, retribuzione e condizioni).

12-14 domande
3 Un lungo testo accademico che spazia da quello descrittivo e fattuale a quello discorsivo e analitico. Il testo sarà tratto da libri, riviste accademiche, periodici e giornali.

12-14 domande
Un testo più lungo e complesso su un argomento di interesse generale. I testi sono autentici e sono tratti da avvisi, pubblicità, manuali aziendali, libri, riviste e giornali.

12-14 domande

Ora che hai familiarità con la struttura del test IELTS reading e con entrambi i test IELTS general reading e IELTS academic reading, è ora di scoprire se è meglio sostenere il test su carta o quello al computer.

Test IELTS su Carta (PBT) VS Test IELTS al Computer (CBT)

Nel PBT, ti verranno forniti un Libretto delle Domande e un Foglio delle Risposte. Il Libretto delle Domande è dove vedrai tutte le domande a cui devi rispondere. Il Foglio delle Risposte è dove scriverai le tue risposte finali per la valutazione. Puoi consultare il PDF ufficiale del foglio delle risposte IELTS qui

Nota: A differenza del test IELTS listening, non ti verrà dato tempo extra per trasferire le tue risposte dal libretto al foglio delle risposte, quindi assicurati di aggiungere ogni domanda del test IELTS reading nel foglio delle risposte mentre rispondi.

Nel CBT, risponderai alle domande sul computer. I tuoi brani saranno sul lato sinistro e le tue domande saranno sul lato destro. Sarai anche in grado di evidenziare il testo e utilizzare le funzioni di controllo per copiare e incollare le risposte. Per maggiori informazioni sul PBT e sul CBT, consulta La Guida al Test IELTS al Computer.

Puoi esercitarti con qualsiasi versione in qualsiasi momento con il nostro test di pratica gratuito IELTS reading. Puoi trovare i link a tutto il nostro materiale IELTS reading in cima alla pagina.

Test IELTS General Reading

Nel test general, i brani IELTS reading sono tratti da libri, riviste, giornali, avvisi, pubblicità, manuali aziendali e linee guida trovate dal materiale che incontreresti quotidianamente in un ambiente di lingua inglese. Proprio come nell'academic reading test, ci sono 3 sezioni, tuttavia in un test IELTS general reading, ogni sezione è un po' diversa l'una dall'altra.

Video di Introduzione a IELTS General Reading
  1. Sezione 1: Contiene due o tre testi brevi o diversi testi più brevi

    Questa sezione si chiama Social Survival e contiene testi rilevanti per la sopravvivenza linguistica di base in inglese con compiti principalmente sul recupero e fornitura di informazioni fattuali generali, ad esempio, avvisi, pubblicità e orari.
  2. Sezione 2: Comprende due testi

    Questa sezione si chiama Workplace Survival e si concentra sul contesto lavorativo, ad esempio, descrizioni di lavoro, contratti e materiali di sviluppo e formazione del personale.
  3. Sezione 3: È un testo lungo

    Questa sezione si chiama General Reading e prevede la lettura di prosa più estesa con una struttura più complessa. L'attenzione è su testi descrittivi e istruttivi anziché argomentativi.

Speriamo che tu non ti senta troppo sopraffatto. Il test di reading non è così difficile come sembra. Finché segui i nostri suggerimenti IELTS reading e utilizzi le nostre domande gratuite di pratica IELTS reading, sarai pronto ad affrontare qualsiasi brano di reading e raggiungere il tuo punteggio target IELTS reading. A proposito, l'academic reading test viene valutato leggermente in modo diverso dal general reading test. Successivamente, esamineremo il punteggio di banda di reading e come viene calcolato.

Test IELTS Academic Reading

Nel test academic, i brani IELTS reading sono tratti da libri, riviste accademiche, periodici e giornali da fonti accademiche che sarebbero appropriate per gli studenti universitari. Ogni brano è lungo, forse 6 - 10 paragrafi, può essere scritto in una varietà di stili come narrativo o descrittivo, e copre una vasta gamma di argomenti accademici come antropologia, storia, scienza, biologia, arte, educazione, linguistica,..ecc. I brani includeranno talvolta termini tecnici o anche materiale visivo come grafici e diagrammi. Puoi esercitarti con questi argomenti e altro con le nostre domande del test di pratica IELTS reading.

Video di Introduzione a IELTS Academic Reading

Quindi quali argomenti accademici appaiono di più nel Test IELTS Academic Reading ufficiale?

Bene, nel 2018 e 2019, gli argomenti academic reading più comuni sono stati storia e scienze sociali, che includono cultura, educazione, linguistica e sociologia. È interessante notare che gli argomenti di storia riguardavano principalmente animali/piante della Nuova Zelanda, Australia, Regno Unito e Canada. Gli argomenti IELTS reading più popolari successivi erano psicologia, scienze naturali, arte, antropologia, business e biologia.

Il grafico sottostante mostra le diverse materie testate nei test academic IELTS reading nel 2018 e 2019.

IELTS Academic Reading Test Subjects in 2018 and 2019

A causa di queste tendenze, ci siamo assicurati che i nostri test di pratica IELTS reading coprissero questi argomenti. Abbiamo anche aggiunto campioni di reading da argomenti meno utilizzati, per ogni evenienza. È importante prepararsi per tutte le situazioni, perché non sai mai quale argomento di IELTS reading ti capiterà.

Come Viene Calcolato il tuo Punteggio IELTS Reading

Ogni domanda di IELTS reading vale 1 punto, quindi puoi ottenere un punteggio "grezzo" fino a 40 punti. Quindi, il tuo punteggio grezzo verrà convertito nel tuo punteggio di banda. Le tabelle sottostanti possono darti un'idea generale su come i punteggi grezzi IELTS reading vengono convertiti in punteggi di banda per ciascun test.

Punteggio IELTS General Reading VS Punteggio IELTS Academic Reading
Punteggi Grezzi: Academic Punteggi di Banda: Academic Punteggi Grezzi: General Punteggi di Banda: General
39-40 9 40 9
37-38 8.5 39 8.5
35-36 8 37-38 8
33-34 7.5 36 7.5
30-32 7 34-35 7
27-29 6.5 32-33 6.5
23-26 6 30-31 6
19-22 5.5 27-29 5.5
15-18 5 23-26 5
13-14 4.5 19-22 4.5
10-12 4 15-18 4
8-9 3.5 12-14 3.5
6-7 3 9-11 3
4-5 2.5 6-8 2.5
1-3 2 1-5 2

Tuttavia, tieni presente che ogni versione del test IELTS reading è leggermente diversa e il punteggio richiesto per raggiungere una determinata banda cambia a seconda di come chiunque abbia sostenuto quel test ha fatto in quel particolare giorno. Pertanto, il numero di risposte corrette necessarie per ottenere un punteggio di banda differirà leggermente da test a test, ma in generale dovresti puntare a ottenere circa 30 su 40 se vuoi ottenere un punteggio di banda 7.

Un'altra cosa che vogliamo ricordarti è che le domande più difficili e le domande più facili contano allo stesso modo per il tuo punteggio finale di reading, quindi assicurati di non perdere punti più facili rimanendo bloccato su domande più difficili. Successivamente esamineremo alcuni suggerimenti e strategie per IELTS reading su come rispondere a ciascuna domanda del test di reading.

Suggerimenti per IELTS Reading - Come Rispondere agli 11 Tipi di Domande di Reading

Ci sono 11 diversi tipi di domande nel test di reading e tutti richiedono una strategia diversa. Pertanto, è importante esercitarti con ciascun tipo di domanda per imparare il modo migliore per affrontarlo per un alto punteggio IELTS reading. Nelle seguenti sezioni, esaminerai un campione IELTS reading con risposta per ogni tipo di domanda di reading e imparerai suggerimenti su come rispondere con successo.

Tipo di Domanda 1 – Matching Information

In questo tipo di domanda, ti viene chiesto di abbinare le affermazioni ai paragrafi nel testo di reading. Le affermazioni potrebbero essere ragioni, descrizioni, riassunti, definizioni, fatti o spiegazioni. Devi trovare le informazioni specifiche nel paragrafo e abbinarle a una delle affermazioni. La risposta sarà normalmente contenuta in un'intera frase o proposizione, piuttosto che in una singola parola. Di seguito un esempio di domanda Matching Information sul Test IELTS Academic Reading.

Consulta la nostra lezione completa di pratica IELTS reading su Come Rispondere alle Domande Matching Information. In essa puoi guardare lezioni video per entrambi i tipi di test e spiegazioni dettagliate con domande di esempio

Domanda Matching Information
Questions 27 – 32

Reading Passage 7 has eight paragraphs labelled A-F.

Which paragraphs contains the following information?

Write the correct letter A-F in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

  1. an explanation of the factors affecting the transmission of information
  2. an example of how unnecessary information can be omitted
  3. a reference to attitude to fame
  4. details of a machine capable of interpreting incomplete information
  5. a detailed account of an incident involving information theory
  6. a reference to what Shannon initially intended to achieve in his research

Foglio delle risposte
27
28
29
30
31
32

  • spellcheck Risposte
    27 D
    28 F
    29 B
    30 E
    31 A
    32 C
Reading Passage 7

Information theory lies at the heart of everything - from DVD players and the genetic code of DNA to the physics of the universe at its most fundamental. It has been central to the development of the science of communication, which enables data to be sent electronically and has therefore had a major impact on our lives

A In April 2002 an event took place which demonstrated one of the many applications of information theory. The space probe, Voyager I, launched in 1977, had sent back spectacular images of Jupiter and Saturn and then soared out of the Solar System on a one-way mission to the stars. After 25 years of exposure to the freezing temperatures of deep space, the probe was beginning to show its age. Sensors and circuits were on the brink of failing and NASA experts realised that they had to do something or lose contact with their probe forever. The solution was to get a message to Voyager I to instruct it to use spares to change the failing parts. With the probe 12 billion kilometres from Earth, this was not an easy task. By means of a radio dish belonging to NASA's Deep Space Network, the message was sent out into the depths of space. Even travelling at the speed of light, it took over 11 hours to reach its target, far beyond the orbit of Pluto. Yet, incredibly, the little probe managed to hear the faint call from its home planet, and successfully made the switchover.

B It was the longest-distance repair job in history, and a triumph for the NASA engineers. But it also highlighted the astonishing power of the techniques developed by American communications engineer Claude Shannon, who had died just a year earlier. Born in 1916 in Petoskey, Michigan, Shannon showed an early talent for maths and for building gadgets, and made breakthroughs in the foundations of computer technology when still a student. While at Bell Laboratories, Shannon developed information theory, but shunned the resulting acclaim In the 1940s, he single-handedly created an entire science of communication which has since inveigled its way into a host of applications, from DVDs to satellite communications to bar codes - any area, in short, where data has to be conveyed rapidly yet accurately.

C This all seems light years away from the down-to-earth uses Shannon originally had for his work, which began when he was a 22-year-old graduate engineering student at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1939. He set out with an apparently simple aim: to pin down the precise meaning of the concept of 'information'. The most basic form of information, Shannon argued, is whether something is true or false - which can be captured in the binary unit, or 'bit', of the form 1 or 0. Having identified this fundamental unit, Shannon set about defining otherwise vague ideas about information and how to transmit it from place to place. In the process he discovered something surprising: it is always possible to guarantee information will get through random interference - 'noise' - intact.

D Noise usually means unwanted sounds which interfere with genuine information. Information theory generalises this idea via theorems that capture the effects of noise with mathematical precision. In particular, Shannon showed that noise sets a limit on the rate at which information can pass along communication channels while remaining error-free. This rate depends on the relative strengths of the signal and noise travelling down the communication channel, and on its capacity (its 'bandwidth'). The resulting limit, given in units of bits per second, is the absolute maximum rate of error-free communication given signal strength and noise level. The trick, Shannon showed, is to find ways of packaging up - 'coding' - information to cope with the ravages of noise, while staying within the information-carrying capacity - 'bandwidth' - of the communication system being used.

E Over the years scientists have devised many such coding methods, and they have proved crucial in many technological feats. The Voyager spacecraft transmitted data using codes which added one extra bit for every single bit of information; the result was an error rate of just one bit in 10,000 - and stunningly clear pictures of the planets. Other codes have become part of everyday life - such as the Universal Product Code, or bar code, which uses a simple error-detecting system that ensures supermarket check-out lasers can read the price even on, say, a crumpled bag of crisps. As recently as 1993, engineers made a major breakthrough by discovering so-called turbo codes - which come very close to Shannon's ultimate limit for the maximum rate that data can be transmitted reliably, and now play a key role in the mobile videophone revolution.

F Shannon also laid the foundations of more efficient ways of storing information, by stripping out superfluous ('redundant') bits from data which contributed little real information. As mobile phone text messages like 'I CN C U' show, it is often possible to leave out a lot of data without losing much meaning. As with error correction, however, there's a limit beyond which messages become too ambiguous. Shannon showed how to calculate this limit, opening the way to the design of compression methods that cram maximum information into the minimum space.

Tipo di Domanda 2 – Matching Headings

Questo tipo di domanda testa la tua capacità di comprendere l'idea principale di ogni paragrafo. Ti verranno fornite tra 5 e 7 intestazioni e dovrai abbinare ogni paragrafo nel testo di reading a una intestazione. Un'intestazione è una breve frase che riassume le informazioni in un paragrafo. Ci sono sempre più intestazioni che paragrafi.

Consulta la nostra lezione completa di pratica IELTS reading su Come Rispondere alle Domande Matching Headings. In essa puoi guardare lezioni video per entrambi i tipi di test e spiegazioni dettagliate con domande di esempio

Domanda Matching Headings
Questions 1 – 5

Reading Passage 6 has six sections, A-E.

Choose the correct heading for sections A-D and E from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number i-vii in boxes 2-5 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
  1. Commercial pressures on people in charge
  2. Mixed views on current changes to museums
  3. Interpreting the facts to meet visitor expectations
  4. The international dimension
  5. Collections of factual evidence
  6. Fewer differences between public attractions
  7. Current reviews and suggestions
ExampleAnswer
1. Section Av
  1. Section B
  2. Section C
  3. Section D
  4. Section E

Foglio delle risposte
2
3
4
5
  • spellcheck Risposte
    2. ii
    3. vi
    4. i
    5. iii
Reading Passage 6

Section A The conviction that historical relics provide infallible testimony about the past is rooted in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when science was regarded as objective and value free. As one writer observes: 'Although it is now evident that artefacts are as easily altered as chronicles, public faith in their veracity endures: a tangible relic seems ipso facto real/ Such conviction was, until recently, reflected in museum displays. Museums used to look - and some still do - much like storage rooms of objects packed together in showcases: good for scholars who wanted to study the subtle differences in design, but not for the ordinary visitor, to whom it all looked alike. Similarly, the information accompanying the objects often made little sense to the lay visitor. The content and format of explanations dated back to a time when the museum was the exclusive domain of the scientific researcher.

Section B Recently, however, attitudes towards history and the way it should be presented have altered. The key word in heritage display is now 'experience', the more exciting the better and, if possible, involving all the senses. Good examples of this approach in the UK are the Jorvik Centre in York; the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford; and the Imperial War Museum in London. In the US the trend emerged much earlier: Williamsburg has been a prototype for many heritage developments in other parts of the world. No one can predict where the process will end. On so-called heritage sites the re-enactment of historical events is increasingly popular, and computers will soon provide virtual reality experiences, which will present visitors with a vivid image of the period of their choice, in which they themselves can act as if part of the historical environment. Such developments have been criticised as an intolerable vulgarisation, but the success of many historical theme parks and similar locations suggests that the majority of the public does not share this opinion.

Section C In a related development, the sharp distinction between museum and heritage sites on the one hand, and theme parks on the other, is gradually evaporating. They already borrow ideas and concepts from one another. For example, museums have adopted story lines for exhibitions, sites have accepted 'theming' as a relevant tool, and theme parks are moving towards more authenticity and research-based presentations. In zoos, animals are no longer kept in cages, but in great spaces, either in the open air or in enormous greenhouses, such as the jungle and desert environments in Burgers' Zoo in Holland. This particular trend is regarded as one of the major developments in the presentation of natural history in the twentieth century.

Section D Theme parks are undergoing other changes,too, as they try to present more serious social and cultural issues, and move away from fantasy. This development is a response to market forces and, although museums and heritage sites have a special, rather distinct role to fulfil, they are also operating in a very competitive environment, where visitors make choices on how and where to spend their free time. Heritage and museum experts do not have to invent stories and recreate historical environments to attract their visitors: their assets are already in place. However, exhibits must be both based on artifacts and facts as we know them, and attractively presented. Those who are professionally engaged in the art of interpreting history are thus in a difficult position, as they must steer a narrow course between the demands of 'evidence' and 'attractiveness' especially given the increasing need in the heritage industry for income-generating activities.

Section E It could be claimed that in order to make everything in heritage more 'real', historical accuracy must be increasingly altered. For example, Pithecanthropus erectus is depicted in an Indonesian museum with Malay facial features, because this corresponds to public perceptions. Similarly, in the Museum of Natural History in Washington, Neanderthal man is shown making a dominant gesture to his wife. Such presentations tell us more about contemporary perceptions of the world than about our ancestors. There is one compensation, however, for the professionals who make these interpretations: if they did not provide the interpretation, visitors would do it for themselves, based on their own ideas, misconceptions and prejudices. And no matter how exciting the result it would contain a lot more bias than the presentations provided by experts.

Section F Human bias is inevitable, but another source of bias in the representation of history has to do with the transitory nature of the materials themselves. The simple fact is that not everything from history survives the historical process. Castles, palaces and cathedrals have a longer lifespan than the dwellings of ordinary people. The same applies to the furnishings and other contents of the premises. In a town like Leyden in Holland, which in the seventeenth century was occupied by approximately the same number of inhabitants as today, people lived within the walled town, an area more than five times smaller than modern Leyden. In most of the houses several families lived together in circumstances beyond our imagination. Yet in museums, fine period rooms give only an image of the lifestyle of the upper class of that era. No wonder that people who stroll around exhibitions are filled with nostalgia; the evidence in museums indicates that life was so much better in the past. This notion is induced by the bias in its representation in museums and heritage centres.

Tipo di Domanda 3 – Matching Features

In questo tipo di test, ti viene richiesto di abbinare un elenco di opzioni a una serie di affermazioni. Le opzioni sono un gruppo di caratteristiche dal testo IELTS e sono identificate da lettere.

Ad esempio, potresti abbinare diversi risultati di ricerca a un elenco di ricercatori, o caratteristiche a fasce di età, eventi a periodi storici, ecc. Nota che è possibile che alcune opzioni non vengano utilizzate e che altre possano essere utilizzate più di una volta. Le istruzioni ti informeranno se le opzioni possono essere utilizzate più di una volta.

Consulta la nostra lezione completa di pratica IELTS reading su Come Rispondere alle Domande Matching Features. In essa puoi guardare lezioni video per entrambi i tipi di test e spiegazioni dettagliate con domande di esempio

Domanda Matching Features
Questions 7 – 10

Look at the following items (Questions 7-10) and the list of groups below.

Match each item with the group which first invented or used them.

Write the correct letter A-E in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

  1. black powder
  2. rocket-propelled arrows for fighting
  3. rockets as war weapons
  4. the rocket
First invented or used by

A  the Chinese
B  the Indians
C  the British
D  the Arabs
E  the Americans

Foglio delle risposte
7
8
9
10

  • spellcheck Risposte
    7 A
    8 A
    9 B
    10 E
Reading Passage

The invention of rockets is linked inextricably with the invention of 'black powder'. Most historians of technology credit the Chinese with its discovery. They base their belief on studies of Chinese writings or on the notebooks of early Europeans who settled in or made long visits to China to study its history and civilisation. It is probable that, some time in the tenth century, black powder was first compounded from its basic ingredients of saltpetre, charcoal and sulphur. But this does not mean that it was immediately used to propel rockets. By the thirteenth century, powder- propelled fire arrows had become rather common. The Chinese relied on this type of technological development to produce incendiary projectiles of many sorts, explosive grenades and possibly cannons to repel their enemies. One such weapon was the 'basket of fire' or, as directly translated from Chinese, the 'arrows like flying leopards'. The 0.7 metre-long arrows, each with a long tube of gunpowder attached near the point of each arrow, could be fired from a long, octagonal-shaped basket at the same time and had a range of 400 paces. Another weapon was the 'arrow as a flying sabre', which could be fired from crossbows. The rocket, placed in a similar position to other rocket-propelled arrows, was designed to increase the range. A small iron weight was attached to the 1.5m bamboo shaft, just below the feathers, to increase the arrow's stability by moving the centre of gravity to a position below the rocket. At a similar time, the Arabs had developed the 'egg which moves and burns'. This 'egg' was apparently full of gunpowder and stabilised by a 1.5m tail. It was fired using two rockets attached to either side of this tail.

It was not until the eighteenth century that Europe became seriously interested in the possibilities of using the rocket itself as a weapon of war and not just to propel other weapons. Prior to this, rockets were used only in pyrotechnic displays. The incentive for the more aggressive use of rockets came not from within the European continent but from far-away India, whose leaders had built up a corps of rocketeers and used rockets successfully against the British in the late eighteenth century. The Indian rockets used against the British were described by a British Captain serving in India as 'an iron envelope about 200 millimetres long and 40 millimetres in diameter with sharp points at the top and a 3m-long bamboo guiding stick'. In the early nineteenth century the British began to experiment with incendiary barrage rockets. The British rocket differed from the Indian version in that it was completely encased in a stout, iron cylinder, terminating in a conical head, measuring one metre in diameter and having a stick almost five metres long and constructed in such a way that it could be firmly attached to the body of the rocket. The Americans developed a rocket, complete with its own launcher, to use against the Mexicans in the mid-nineteenth century. A long cylindrical tube was propped up by two sticks and fastened to the top of the launcher, thereby allowing the rockets to be inserted and lit from the other end. However, the results were sometimes not that impressive as the behaviour of the rockets in flight was less than predictable.

Tipo di Domanda 4 – Identifying Information (TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN)

In questo tipo di domanda, ti verranno date affermazioni relative al brano di reading e il tuo compito sarà quello di rispondere se l'affermazione è vera, falsa o non data. Questo tipo di domanda è uno dei tipi di domanda più difficili nel test IELTS reading perché devi avere una logica solida per rispondere correttamente. È imperativo che i candidati comprendano la differenza tra le risposte "FALSE" e "NOT GIVEN".

Se una risposta è "FALSE", significa che ci sono informazioni nel brano che dimostrano che l'affermazione in questione non è corretta.
Se la risposta è "NOT GIVEN", significa che il brano non contiene le informazioni presentate nell'affermazione, né il brano conferma o contraddice tali informazioni.

Consulta la nostra lezione completa di pratica IELTS reading su Come Rispondere alle Domande Identifying Information (TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN). In essa puoi guardare lezioni video per entrambi i tipi di test e spiegazioni dettagliate con domande di esempio

Domanda Identifying Information
Questions 1 – 7

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 1–7 on your answer sheet, 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

  1. Chronobiology is the study of how living things have evolved over time.
  2. The rise and fall of sea levels affects how sea creatures behave.
  3. Most animals are active during the daytime.
  4. Circadian rhythms identify how we do different things on different days.
  5. A 'night person' can still have a healthy circadian rhythm.
  6. New therapies can permanently change circadian rhythms without causing harm.
  7. Naturally-produced vegetables have more nutritional value
Foglio delle risposte

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

  • spellcheck Risposte
    1. FALSE
    2. TRUE
    3. NOT GIVEN
    4. FALSE
    5. TRUE
    6. FALSE
    7. TRUE
Reading Passage 1

Chronobiology might sound a little futuristic – like something from a science fiction novel, perhaps – but it's actually a field of study that concerns one of the oldest processes life on this planet has ever known: short-term rhythms of time and their effect on flora and fauna.

This can take many forms. Marine life, for example, is influenced by tidal patterns. Animals tend to be active or inactive depending on the position of the sun or moon. Numerous creatures, humans included, are largely diurnal – that is, they like to come out during the hours of sunlight. Nocturnal animals, such as bats and possums, prefer to forage by night. A third group are known as crepuscular: they thrive in the lowlight of dawn and dusk and remain inactive at other hours.

When it comes to humans, chronobiologists are interested in what is known as the circadian rhythm. This is the complete cycle our bodies are naturally geared to undergo within the passage of a twenty-four hour day. Aside from sleeping at night and waking during the day, each cycle involves many other factors such as changes in blood pressure and body temperature. Not everyone has an identical circadian rhythm. 'Night people', for example, often describe how they find it very hard to operate during the morning, but become alert and focused by evening. This is a benign variation within circadian rhythms known as a chronotype.

Scientists have limited abilities to create durable modifications of chronobiological demands. Recent therapeutic developments for humans such as artificial light machines and melatonin administration can reset our circadian rhythms, for example, but our bodies can tell the difference and health suffers when we breach these natural rhythms for extended periods of time. Plants appear no more malleable in this respect; studies demonstrate that vegetables grown in season and ripened on the tree are far higher in essential nutrients than those grown in greenhouses and ripened by laser.

Knowledge of chronobiological patterns can have many pragmatic implications for our day-to-day lives. While contemporary living can sometimes appear to subjugate biology – after all, who needs circadian rhythms when we have caffeine pills, energy drinks, shift work and cities that never sleep? – keeping in synch with our body clock is important.

The average urban resident, for example, rouses at the eye-blearing time of 6.04 a.m., which researchers believe to be far too early. One study found that even rising at 7.00 a.m. has deleterious effects on health unless exercise is performed for 30 minutes afterward. The optimum moment has been whittled down to 7.22 a.m.; muscle aches, headaches and moodiness were reported to be lowest by participants in the study who awoke then.

Once you're up and ready to go, what then? If you're trying to shed some extra pounds, dietitians are adamant: never skip breakfast. This disorients your circadian rhythm and puts your body in starvation mode. The recommended course of action is to follow an intense workout with a carbohydrate-rich breakfast; the other way round and weight loss results are not as pronounced.

Morning is also great for breaking out the vitamins. Supplement absorption by the body is not temporal-dependent, but naturopath Pam Stone notes that the extra boost at breakfast helps us get energised for the day ahead. For improved absorption, Stone suggests pairing supplements with a food in which they are soluble and steering clear of caffeinated beverages. Finally, Stone warns to take care with storage; high potency is best for absorption, and warmth and humidity are known to deplete the potency of a supplement.

After-dinner espressos are becoming more of a tradition – we have the Italians to thank for that – but to prepare for a good night's sleep we are better off putting the brakes on caffeine consumption as early as 3 p.m. With a seven hour half-life, a cup of coffee containing 90 mg of caffeine taken at this hour could still leave 45 mg of caffeine in your nervous system at ten o'clock that evening. It is essential that, by the time you are ready to sleep, your body is rid of all traces.

Evenings are important for winding down before sleep; however, dietitian Geraldine Georgeou warns that an after-five carbohydrate-fast is more cultural myth than chronobiological demand. This will deprive your body of vital energy needs. Overloading your gut could lead to indigestion, though. Our digestive tracts do not shut down for the night entirely, but their work slows to a crawl as our bodies prepare for sleep. Consuming a modest snack should be entirely sufficient.

Tipo di Domanda 5 – Identifying Writer's Views/claims

In questo tipo di domanda, ti verranno date un certo numero di affermazioni e ti verrà chiesto: Le seguenti affermazioni concordano con le opinioni/affermazioni dell'autore? Devi scrivere YES, NO o NOT GIVEN nelle caselle del foglio delle risposte.

NO significa che le opinioni o affermazioni dell'autore esplicitamente non concordano con l'affermazione.
NOT GIVEN significa che la visione o l'affermazione non è né confermata né contraddetta.

Consulta la nostra lezione completa di pratica IELTS reading su Come Rispondere alle Domande Identifying Writer's Views/Claims. In essa puoi guardare lezioni video per entrambi i tipi di test e spiegazioni dettagliate con domande di esempio

Domanda Identifying Writer's Views/claims
Questions 4 – 7

Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in the reading passage?

In boxes 4-7 on your answer sheet write

YES   if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO   if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN   if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
  1. Thirty per cent of deaths in the United States are caused by smoking-relateddiseases.
  2. If one partner in a marriage smokes, the other is likely to take up smoking
  3. Teenagers whose parents smoke are at risk of getting lung cancer at some time during their lives.
  4. Opponents of smoking financed the UCSF study.

Foglio delle risposte
4
5
6
7

  • spellcheck Risposte
    4. NO
    5. NOT GIVEN
    6. YES
    7. NOT GIVEN
Reading Passage

Discovered in the early 1800s and named 'nicotianine', the oily essence now called nicotine is the main active ingredient of tobacco. Nicotine, however, is only a small component of cigarette smoke, which contains more than 4,700 chemical compounds, including 43 cancer-causing substances. In recent times, scientific research has been providing evidence that years of cigarette smoking vastly increases the risk of developing fatal medical conditions.

In addition to being responsible for more than 85 per cent of lung cancers, smoking is associated with cancers of, amongst others, the mouth, stomach and kidneys, and is thought to cause about 14 per cent of leukemia and cervical cancers. In 1990, smoking caused more than 84,000 deaths, mainly resulting from such problems as pneumonia, bronchitis and influenza. Smoking, it is believed, is responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths from cancer and clearly represents the most important preventable cause of cancer in countries like the United States today.

Passive smoking, the breathing in of the side-stream smoke from the burning of tobacco between puffs or of the smoke exhaled by a smoker, also causes a serious health risk. A report published in 1992 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emphasized the health dangers, especially from side-stream smoke. This type of smoke contains more smaller particles and is therefore more likely to be deposited deep in the lungs. On the basis of this report, the EPA has classified environmental tobacco smoke in the highest risk category for causing cancer.

As an illustration of the health risks, in the case of a married couple where one partner is a smoker and one a non-smoker, the latter is believed to have a 30 per cent higher risk of death from heart disease because of passive smoking. The risk of lung cancer also increases over the years of exposure and the figure jumps to 80 per cent if the spouse has been smoking four packs a day for 20 years. It has been calculated that 17 per cent of cases of lung cancer can be attributed to high levels of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke during childhood and adolescence.

A more recent study by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) has shown that second-hand cigarette smoke does more harm to non-smokers than to smokers. Leaving aside the philosophical question of whether anyone should have to breathe someone else's cigarette smoke, the report suggests that the smoke experienced by many people in their daily lives is enough to produce substantial adverse effects on a person's heart and lungs.

The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA), was based on the researchers' own earlier research but also includes a review of studies over the past few years. The American Medical Association represents about half of all US doctors and is a strong opponent of smoking. The study suggests that people who smoke cigarettes are continually damaging their cardiovascular system, which adapts in order to compensate for the effects of smoking. It further states that people who do not smoke do not have the benefit of their system adapting to the smoke inhalation. Consequently, the effects of passive smoking are far greater on non-smokers than on smokers.

This report emphasizes that cancer is not caused by a single element in cigarette smoke; harmful effects to health are caused by many components. Carbon monoxide, for example, competes with oxygen in red blood cells and interferes with the blood's ability to deliver life-giving oxygen to the heart. Nicotine and other toxins in cigarette smoke activate small blood cells called platelets, which increases the likelihood of blood clots, thereby affecting blood circulation throughout the body.

The researchers criticize the practice of some scientific consultants who work with the tobacco industry for assuming that cigarette smoke has the same impact on smokers as it does on non-smokers. They argue that those scientists are underestimating the damage done by passive smoking and, in support of their recent findings, cite some previous research which points to passive smoking as the cause for between 30,000 and 60,000 deaths from heart attacks each year in the United States. This means that passive smoking is the third most preventable cause of death after active smoking and alcohol-related diseases

The study argues that the type of action needed against passive smoking should be similar to that being taken against illegal drugs and AIDS (SIDA). The UCSF researchers maintain that the simplest and most cost-effective action is to establish smoke-free work places, schools and public places.

Tipo di Domanda 6 – Multiple Choice

Nel test IELTS academic reading e nel test IELTS general reading, dovrai rispondere a domande a scelta multipla. Ogni domanda a scelta multipla varierà in termini di quante scelte di risposta dovrai selezionare e di quale tipo di domanda ti verrà posta.

Il diverso numero di scelte di risposta

  1. Scegliere una risposta tra quattro opzioni (Il più comune)
  2. Scegliere due risposte tra cinque opzioni
  3. Scegliere tre risposte tra sei opzioni

Il tipo di domanda

  1. Completare una frase
  2. Rispondere a una domanda

Consulta la nostra lezione completa di pratica IELTS reading su Come Rispondere alle Domande Multiple Choice. In essa puoi guardare lezioni video per entrambi i tipi di test e spiegazioni dettagliate con domande di esempio

Domanda Multiple Choice
Questions 10 – 12

Choose the appropriate letters A, B, C or D.

Write your answers in boxes 10-12 on your answer sheet.

10. Research completed in 1982 found that in the United States soil erosion
  1. reduced the productivity of farmland by 20 per cent.
  2. was almost as severe as in India and China.
  3. was causing significant damage to 20 per cent of farmland.
  4. could be reduced by converting cultivated land to meadow or forest.
11. By the mid-1980s, farmers in Denmark
  1. used 50 per cent less fertiliser than Dutch farmers.
  2. used twice as much fertiliser as they had in 1960.
  3. applied fertiliser much more frequently than in 1960.
  4. more than doubled the amount of pesticide they used in just 3 years.
12.Which one of the following increased in New Zealand after 1984?
  1. farm incomes
  2. use of fertiliser
  3. over-stocking
  4. farm diversification

Foglio delle risposte
10
11
12

  • spellcheck Risposte
    10. C
    11. B
    12. D
IELTS Reading Passage

All these activities may have damaging environmental impacts. For example, land clearing for agriculture is the largest single cause of deforestation; chemical fertilisers and pesticides may contaminate water supplies; more intensive farming and the abandonment of fallow periods tend to exacerbate soil erosion; and the spread of monoculture and use of high- yielding varieties of crops have been accompanied by the disappearance of old varieties of food plants which might have provided some insurance against pests or diseases in future. Soil erosion threatens the productivity of land in both rich and poor countries. The United States, where the most careful measurements have been done, discovered in 1982 that about one-fifth of its farmland was losing topsoil at a rate likely to diminish the soil's productivity. The country subsequently embarked upon a program to convert 11 per cent of its cropped land to meadow or forest. Topsoil in India and China is vanishing much faster than in America.

Government policies have frequently compounded the environmental damage that farming can cause. In the rich countries, subsidies for growing crops and price supports for farm output drive up the price of land. The annual value of these subsidies is immense: about $250 billion, or more than all World Bank lending in the 1980s. To increase the output of crops per acre, a farmer's easiest option is to use more of the most readily available inputs: fertilisers and pesticides. Fertiliser use doubled in Denmark in the period 1960-1985 and increased in The Netherlands by 150 per cent. The quantity of pesticides applied has risen too: by 69 per cent in 1975-1984 in Denmark, for example, with a rise of 115 per cent in the frequency of application in the three years from 1981.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s some efforts were made to reduce farm subsidies. The most dramatic example was that of New Zealand, which scrapped most farm support in 1984. A study of the environmental effects, conducted in 1993, found that the end of fertiliser subsidies had been followed by a fall in fertiliser use (a fall compounded by the decline in world commodity prices, which cut farm incomes). The removal of subsidies also stopped land-clearing and over-stocking, which in the past had been the principal causes of erosion. Farms began to diversify. The one kind of subsidy whose removal appeared to have been bad for the environment was the subsidy to manage soil erosion.

In less enlightened countries, and in the European Union, the trend has been to reduce rather than eliminate subsidies, and to introduce new payments to encourage farmers to treat their land in environmentally friendlier ways, or to leave it fallow. It may sound strange but such payments need to be higher than the existing incentives for farmers to grow food crops. Farmers, however, dislike being paid to do nothing. In several countries they have become interested in the possibility of using fuel produced from crop residues either as a replacement for petrol (as ethanol) or as fuel for power stations (as biomass). Such fuels produce far less carbon dioxide than coal or oil, and absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. They are therefore less likely to contribute to the greenhouse effect. But they are rarely competitive with fossil fuels unless subsidised - and growing them does no less environmental harm than other crops.

Tipo di Domanda 7 – Matching Sentence Endings

In questo tipo di test, ti verrà data una lista di frasi incomplete senza finali e un'altra lista con possibili finali. Il tuo compito è abbinare le frasi incomplete con il finale corretto basato sul testo di reading.

Consulta la nostra lezione completa di pratica IELTS reading su Come Rispondere alle Domande Matching Sentence Endings. In essa puoi guardare lezioni video per entrambi i tipi di test e spiegazioni dettagliate con domande di esempio

Domanda Matching Sentence
Questions 8 – 10

Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-J from the box below.

Write the correct letter A-J in boxes 8-10 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

  1. Passive smoking
  2. Compared with a non-smoker, a smoker
  3. The American Medical Association
  1. includes reviews of studies in its reports.
  2. argues for stronger action against smoking in public places.
  3. is one of the two most preventable causes of death.
  4. is more likely to be at risk from passive smoking diseases.
  5. is more harmful to non-smokers than to smokers.
  6. is less likely to be at risk of contracting lung cancer.
  7. is more likely to be at risk of contracting various cancers.
  8. opposes smoking and publishes research on the subject.
  9. is just as harmful to smokers as it is to non-smokers.
  10. reduces the quantity of blood flowing around the body.

Foglio delle risposte

8
9
10

  • spellcheck Risposte
    8. E
    9. G
    10. H
Reading Passage

Discovered in the early 1800s and named 'nicotianine', the oily essence now called nicotine is the main active ingredient of tobacco. Nicotine, however, is only a small component of cigarette smoke, which contains more than 4,700 chemical compounds, including 43 cancer-causing substances. In recent times, scientific research has been providing evidence that years of cigarette smoking vastly increases the risk of developing fatal medical conditions.

In addition to being responsible for more than 85 per cent of lung cancers, smoking is associated with cancers of, amongst others, the mouth, stomach and kidneys, and is thought to cause about 14 per cent of leukaemia and cervical cancers. In 1990, smoking caused more than 84,000 deaths, mainly resulting from such problems as pneumonia, bronchitis and influenza. Smoking, it is believed, is responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths from cancer and clearly represents the most important preventable cause of cancer in countries like the United States today.

Passive smoking, the breathing in of the side-stream smoke from the burning of tobacco between puffs or of the smoke exhaled by a smoker, also causes a serious health risk. A report published in 1992 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emphasized the health dangers, especially from sidestream smoke. This type of smoke contains more smaller particles and is therefore more likely to be deposited deep in the lungs. On the basis of this report, the EPA has classified environmental tobacco smoke in the highest risk category for causing cancer.

As an illustration of the health risks, in the case of a married couple where one partner is a smoker and one a non-smoker, the latter is believed to have a 30 per cent higher risk of death from heart disease because of passive smoking. The risk of lung cancer also increases over the years of exposure and the figure jumps to 80 per cent if the spouse has been smoking four packs a day for 20 years. It has been calculated that 17 per cent of cases of lung cancer can be attributed to high levels of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke during childhood and adolescence.

A more recent study by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) has shown that second-hand cigarette smoke does more harm to non-smokers than to smokers. Leaving aside the philosophical question of whether anyone should have to breathe someone else's cigarette smoke, the report suggests that the smoke experienced by many people in their daily lives is enough to produce substantial adverse effects on a person's heart and lungs.

The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA), was based on the researchers' own earlier research but also includes a review of studies over the past few years. The American Medical Association represents about half of all US doctors and is a strong opponent of smoking. The study suggests that people who smoke cigarettes are continually damaging their cardiovascular system, which adapts in order to compensate for the effects of smoking. It further states that people who do not smoke do not have the benefit of their system adapting to the smoke inhalation. Consequently, the effects of passive smoking are far greater on non-smokers than on smokers.

This report emphasizes that cancer is not caused by a single element in cigarette smoke; harmful effects to health are caused by many components. Carbon monoxide, for example, competes with oxygen in red blood cells and interferes with the blood's ability to deliver life-giving oxygen to the heart. Nicotine and other toxins in cigarette smoke activate small blood cells called platelets, which increases the likelihood of blood clots, thereby affecting blood circulation throughout the body.

The researchers criticize the practice of some scientific consultants who work with the tobacco industry for assuming that cigarette smoke has the same impact on smokers as it does on non-smokers. They argue that those scientists are underestimating the damage done by passive smoking and, in support of their recent findings, cite some previous research which points to passive smoking as the cause for between 30,000 and 60,000 deaths from heart attacks each year in the United States. This means that passive smoking is the third most preventable cause of death after active smoking and alcohol-related diseases.

The study argues that the type of action needed against passive smoking should be similar to that being taken against illegal drugs and AIDS (SIDA). The UCSF researchers maintain that the simplest and most cost-effective action is to establish smoke-free work places, schools and public places.

Tipo di Domanda 8 – Sentence Completion

In questo tipo di domanda, ti verranno date un certo numero di frasi con spazi vuoti e ti verrà chiesto di completare le frasi con parole tratte dal testo di reading.

Queste domande sono tanto test di vocabolario quanto test di reading perché richiedono la consapevolezza della parafrasi (utilizzo di parole diverse per ripetere una frase in modo che abbia lo stesso significato) e dei sinonimi (parole con significati uguali o molto simili)

Consulta la nostra lezione completa di pratica IELTS reading su Come Rispondere alle Domande Sentence/Table Completion. In essa puoi guardare lezioni video per entrambi i tipi di test e spiegazioni dettagliate con domande di esempio

Domanda Sentence Completion
Questions 10 - 13

Complete the sentences below.

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

  1. ______would be a more effective target for government investment than micro-turbines.
  2. An indirect benefit of subsidising micro-turbines is the support it provides for ______
  3. Most spending has a _____effect on the environment
  4. If people buy a micro-turbine, they have less money to spend on things like foreign holidays and ____.

Foglio delle risposte

10
11
12
13

  • spellcheck Risposte
    10 offshore wind farms.
    11. developing technology
    12. negatived
    13. cars
Reading Passage

A In terms of micro-renewable energy sources suitable for private use, a 15-kilowatt (kW) turbine is at the biggest end of the spectrum. With a nine metre diameter and a pole as high as a four-storey house, this is the most efficient form of wind micro­turbine, and the sort of thing you could install only if you had plenty of space and money. According to one estimate, a 15-kW micro-turbine (that's one with the maximum output), costing £41,000 to purchase and a further £9,000 to install, is capable of delivering 25,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh)' of electricity each year if placed on a suitably windy site.

B I don't know of any credible studies of the greenhouse gas emissions involved in producing and installing turbines, so my estimates here are going to be even more broad than usual. However, it is worth trying. If turbine manufacture is about as carbon intensive per pound sterling of product as other generators and electrical motors, which seems a reasonable assumption, the carbon intensity of manufacture will be around 640 kilograms (kg) per £1,000 of value. Installation is probably about as carbon intensive as typical construction, at around 380 kg per £1,000. That makes the carbon footprint (the total amount of greenhouse gases that installing a turbine creates) 30 tonnes.

C The carbon savings from wind-powered electricity generation depend on the carbon intensity of the electricity that you're replacing. Let's assume that your generation replaces the coal-fuelled part of the country's energy mix. In other words, if you live in the UK, let's say that rather than replacing typical grid electricity, which comes from a mix of coal, gas, oil and renewable energy sources, the effect of your turbine is to reduce the use of coal-fired power stations. That's reasonable, because coal is the least preferable source in the electricity mix. In this case the carbon saving is roughly one kilogram per kWh, so you save 25 tonnes per year and pay back the embodied carbon in just 14 months - a great start.

D The UK government has recently introduced a subsidy for renewable energy that pays individual producers 24p per energy unit on top of all the money they save on their own fuel bill, and on selling surplus electricity back to the grid at approximately 5p per unit. With all this taken into account, individuals would get back £7,250 per year on their investment. That pays back the costs in about six years. It makes good financial sense and, for people who care about the carbon savings for their own sake, it looks like a fantastic move. The carbon investment pays back in just over a year, and every year after that is a 25-tonne carbon saving. (It's important to remember that all these sums rely on a wind turbine having a favourable location)

E So, at face value, the turbine looks like a great idea environmentally, and a fairly good long-term investment economically for the person installing it. However, there is a crucial perspective missing from the analysis so far. Has the government spent its money wisely? It has invested 24p per unit into each micro-turbine. That works out at a massive £250 per tonne of carbon saved. My calculations tell me that had the government invested its money in offshore wind farms, instead of subsidising smaller domestic turbines, they would have broken even after eight years. In other words, the micro-turbine works out as a good investment for individuals, but only because the government spends, and arguably wastes, so much money subsidising it. Carbon savings are far lower too.

F Nevertheless, although the micro-wind turbine subsidy doesn't look like the very best way of spending government resources on climate change mitigation, we are talking about investing only about 0.075 percent per year of the nation's GDP to get a one percent reduction in carbon emissions, which is a worthwhile benefit. In other words, it could be much better, but it could be worse. In addition, such investment helps to promote and sustain developing technology.

G There is one extra favourable way of looking at the micro-wind turbine, even if it is not the single best way of investing money in cutting carbon. Input- output modelling has told us that it is actually quite difficult to spend money without having a negative carbon impact. So if the subsidy encourages people to spend their money on a carbon-reducing technology such as a wind turbine, rather than on carbon-producing goods like cars, and services such as overseas holidays, then the reductions in emissions will be greater than my simple sums above have suggested.

Tipo di Domanda 9 – Summary, Note, Table, Flow-chart Completion

In questo tipo di domanda, ti viene dato un riassunto dal testo IELTS e devi completarlo utilizzando informazioni dal testo. Il riassunto sarà solo da una parte del brano IELTS reading, quindi non riassumerà l'intero brano di reading. Ci sono due variazioni di questo tipo di domanda. Ti potrebbe essere chiesto di selezionare parole dal testo o di selezionare da un elenco di risposte.

Le informazioni date possono essere sotto forma di:

  • diverse frasi collegate di testo (denominate riassunto)
  • diverse note (denominate note)
  • una tabella con alcune delle sue celle vuote o parzialmente vuote (denominata tabella)
  • una serie di caselle o passaggi collegati da frecce per mostrare una sequenza di eventi
  • con alcune delle caselle o passaggi vuoti o parzialmente vuoti (denominato flow-chart).

Consulta la nostra lezione completa di pratica IELTS reading su Come Rispondere alle Domande Summary Completion. In essa puoi guardare lezioni video per entrambi i tipi di test e spiegazioni dettagliate con domande di esempio

Domanda Table
Question 9 – 13

Complete the table below.

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

Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.
Species French Spanish South African ball
Preferred climate cool 9 _____ 12 _____
Complementary species Spanish 13 _____
Start of active period late spring 10 _____
Number of generations per year 1-2 11 _____

Foglio delle risposte

9
10
11
12
13

  • spellcheck Risposte
    9 temperate
    10 early spring
    11 two to five / 2-5
    12 sub-tropical
    13 South African tunneling/tunnelling
Reading Passage

Introducing dung1 beetles into a pasture is a simple process: approximately 1,500 beetles are released, a handful at a time, into fresh cow pats2 in the cow pasture. The beetles immediately disappear beneath the pats digging and tunnelling and, if they successfully adapt to their new environment, soon become a permanent, self-sustaining part of the local ecology. In time they multiply and within three or four years the benefits to the pasture are obvious.

Dung beetles work from the inside of the pat so they are sheltered from predators such as birds and foxes. Most species burrow into the soil and bury dung in tunnels directly underneath the pats, which are hollowed out from within. Some large species originating from France excavate tunnels to a depth of approximately 30 cm below the dung pat. These beetles make sausage-shaped brood chambers along the tunnels. The shallowest tunnels belong to a much smaller Spanish species that buries dung in chambers that hang like fruit from the branches of a pear tree. South African beetles dig narrow tunnels of approximately 20 cm below the surface of the pat. Some surface-dwelling beetles, including a South African species, cut perfectly-shaped balls from the pat, which are rolled away and attached to the bases of plants.

For maximum dung burial in spring, summer and autumn, farmers require a variety of species with overlapping periods of activity. In the cooler environments of the state of Victoria, the large French species (2.5 cms long), is matched with smaller (half this size), temperate-climate Spanish species. The former are slow to recover from the winter cold and produce only one or two generations of offspring from late spring until autumn. The latter, which multiply rapidly in early spring, produce two to five generations annually. The South African ball-rolling species, being a sub-tropical beetle, prefers the climate of northern and coastal New South Wales where it commonly works with the South African tunneling species. In warmer climates, many species are active for longer periods of the year.
Glossary
1. dung: the droppings or excreta of animals
2. cow pats: droppings of cows

Tipo di Domanda 10 – Diagram Label Completion

Questo tipo di domanda richiede di completare le etichette su un diagramma, che si riferisce a una descrizione contenuta nel testo IELTS. Ci sono tre tipi di diagrammi che potresti incontrare: un disegno tecnico di una macchina o invenzione, qualcosa dal mondo naturale, o un design o piano.

Consulta la nostra lezione completa di pratica IELTS reading su Come Rispondere alle Domande Diagram Label Completion. In essa puoi guardare lezioni video per entrambi i tipi di test e spiegazioni dettagliate con domande di esempio

Domanda Diagram Label Completion
Questions 6 – 8

Label the tunnels on the diagram below using words from the box.

Write your answers in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.

reading sample question diagram


Foglio delle risposte

6
7
8

  • spellcheck Risposte
    6 South African
    7 French
    8 Spanish
Reading Passage

Introducing dung1 beetles into a pasture is a simple process: approximately 1,500 beetles are released, a handful at a time, into fresh cow pats2 in the cow pasture. The beetles immediately disappear beneath the pats digging and tunnelling and, if they successfully adapt to their new environment, soon become a permanent, self-sustaining part of the local ecology. In time they multiply and within three or four years the benefits to the pasture are obvious.

Dung beetles work from the inside of the pat so they are sheltered from predators such as birds and foxes. Most species burrow into the soil and bury dung in tunnels directly underneath the pats, which are hollowed out from within. Some large species originating from France excavate tunnels to a depth of approximately 30 cm below the dung pat. These beetles make sausage-shaped brood chambers along the tunnels. The shallowest tunnels belong to a much smaller Spanish species that buries dung in chambers that hang like fruit from the branches of a pear tree. South African beetles dig narrow tunnels of approximately 20 cm below the surface of the pat. Some surface-dwelling beetles, including a South African species, cut perfectly-shaped balls from the pat, which are rolled away and attached to the bases of plants.

For maximum dung burial in spring, summer and autumn, farmers require a variety of species with overlapping periods of activity. In the cooler environments of the state of Victoria, the large French species (2.5 cms long), is matched with smaller (half this size), temperate-climate Spanish species. The former are slow to recover from the winter cold and produce only one or two generations of offspring from late spring until autumn. The latter, which multiply rapidly in early spring, produce two to five generations annually. The South African ball-rolling species, being a sub-tropical beetle, prefers the climate of northern and coastal New South Wales where it commonly works with the South African tunneling species. In warmer climates, many species are active for longer periods of the year.

Glossary
1. dung: the droppings or excreta of animals
2. cow pats: droppings of cows

Tipo di Domanda 11 – Short Answer Questions

In questo tipo di domanda, devi scrivere una, due o tre parole o un numero come risposta. Le domande di solito si riferiscono a informazioni fattuali sui dettagli nel testo.

Le istruzioni renderanno chiaro quante parole/numeri i candidati devono usare nelle loro risposte, ad esempio NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER dal brano, ONE WORD ONLY o NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS. Se i candidati scrivono più del numero di parole richiesto, perderanno punti.
I numeri possono essere scritti utilizzando cifre o parole.

Consulta la nostra lezione completa di pratica IELTS reading su Come Rispondere alle Domande Short Answer. In essa puoi guardare lezioni video per entrambi i tipi di test e spiegazioni dettagliate con domande di esempio

Domanda Short Answer
Questions 1 - 3

Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.

  1. In which year did the World Health Organisation define health in terms of mental, physical and social well-being
  2. Name the three broad areas which relate to people's health, according to the socio-ecological view of health.
  3. During which decade were lifestyle risks seen as the major contributors to poor health?

Foglio delle risposte

1
2
3

  • spellcheck Risposte
    1. 1946
    2. social, economic, environmental
    3. 1970's
Reading Passage

The concept of health holds different meanings for different people and groups. These meanings of health have also changed over time. This change is no more evident than in Western society today, when notions of health and health promotion are being challenged and expanded in new ways.

For much of recent Western history, health has been viewed in the physical sense only. That is, good health has been connected to the smooth mechanical operation of the body, while ill health has been attributed to a breakdown in this machine. Health in this sense has been defined as the absence of disease or illness and is seen in medical terms. According to this view, creating health for people means providing medical care to treat or prevent disease and illness. During this period, there was an emphasis on providing clean water, improved sanitation and housing.

In the late 1940s the World Health Organisation challenged this physically and medically oriented view of health. They stated that "health is a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being and is not merely the absence of disease" (WHO, 1946). Health and the person were seen more holistically (mind/body/spirit) and not just in physical terms.

The 1970s was a time of focusing on the prevention of disease and illness by emphasising the importance of the lifestyle and behaviour of the individual. Specific behaviours which were seen to increase risk of disease, such as smoking, lack of fitness and unhealthy eating habits, were targeted. Creating health meant providing not only medical health care, but health promotion programs and policies which would help people maintain healthy behaviours and lifestyles. While this individualistic healthy lifestyles approach to health worked for some (the wealthy members of society), people experiencing poverty, unemployment, underemployment or little control over the conditions of their daily lives benefited little from this approach. This was largely because both the healthy lifestyles approach and the medical approach to health largely ignored the social and environmental conditions affecting the health of people.

During the 1980s and 1990s there has been a growing swing away from seeing lifestyle risks as the root cause of poor health. While lifestyle factors still remain important, health is being viewed also in terms of the social, economic and environmental contexts in which people live. This broad approach to health is called the socio-ecological view of health. The broad socio-ecological view of health was endorsed at the first International Conference of Health Promotion held in 1986, Ottawa, Canada, where people from 38 countries agreed and declared that: "The fundamental conditions and resources for health are peace, shelter, education, food, a viable income, a stable eco-system, sustainable resources, social justice and equity. Improvement in health requires a secure foundation in these basic requirements." (WHO, 1986)

It is clear from this statement that the creation of health is about much more than encouraging healthy individual behaviours and lifestyles and providing appropriate medical care. Therefore, the creation of health must include addressing issues such as poverty, pollution, urbanisation, natural resource depletion, social alienation and poor working conditions. The social, economic and environmental contexts which contribute to the creation of heath do not operate separately or independently of each other. Rather, they are interacting and interdependent, and it is the complex interrelationships between them which determine the conditions that promote health. A broad socio-ecological view of health suggests that the promotion of health must include a strong social, economic and environmental focus.

At the Ottawa Conference in 1986, a charter was developed which outlined new directions for health promotion based on the socio-ecological view of health. This charter, known as the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, remains as the backbone of health action today. In exploring the scope of health promotion it states that:

Good health is a major resource for social, economic and personal development and an important dimension of quality of life. Political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, behavioural and biological factors can all favour health or be harmful to it. (WHO, 1986) The Ottawa Charter brings practical meaning and action to this broad notion of health promotion. It presents fundamental strategies and approaches in achieving health for all. The overall philosophy of health promotion which guides these fundamental strategies and approaches is one of "enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health" (WHO, 1986).

Come le Tendenze ti Aiutano a Prepararti per il Test IELTS Reading

Abbiamo parlato dei suggerimenti IELTS reading per rispondere a ciascun tipo di domanda, ora diamo un'occhiata a una tendenza interessante che può aiutare con la tua preparazione del test di reading. Il grafico a torta sottostante illustra la proporzione di ciascun tipo di domanda di reading apparsa nei test ufficiali IELTS reading nel 2017.

IELTS Reading Question Types in 2017

Come puoi vedere, i tipi di domande "Sentence/Summary/Note/Table/Flow-chart/Diagram completion & Short answer" erano i più comuni al 29%, con i tipi di domande "Identifying information/viewer claims" al secondo posto con il 23%. Infine, il tipo di domanda "Matching features" rappresentava il 16%, "Matching information/Multiple choice" 11% e "Matching headings" 10%.

Con queste informazioni, puoi vedere quali tipi di domande sono più probabili che appaiano nel tuo esame IELTS reading. Sebbene tu DEBBA prepararti per tutti i tipi di domande, conoscere queste informazioni può aiutarti a gestire il tuo tempo tra esse. Naturalmente, se stai ottenendo punteggi alti con determinati tipi di domande, probabilmente dovresti concentrare più tempo sui tipi di domande con cui stai lottando. Se vuoi sapere esattamente con quali tipi di domande di reading hai difficoltà, inizia un Test di Esempio IELTS Reading GRATUITO e alla fine dell'esame, basta cliccare Visualizza Risultati per vedere il tuo rapporto diagnostico completo di reading, che include anche come hai fatto per ciascun tipo di domanda.

Successivamente esamineremo i suggerimenti e le strategie IELTS reading necessarie per un alto punteggio di reading.

Suggerimenti IELTS Reading - Come Migliorare il tuo Punteggio di Banda di Reading

La maggior parte degli studenti fallisce la sezione di reading per i seguenti tre motivi

  1. Velocità di lettura lenta
  2. Scarso vocabolario
  3. Poca o nessuna preparazione
Migliorare la tua velocità di lettura

Per prima cosa, mettiamo in chiaro l'ovvio. Per migliorare la tua velocità di lettura, devi effettivamente esercitarti a leggere e farlo in modo costante.

Ora diamo un'occhiata a una strategia meno ovvia che ti aiuterà a comprendere il significato di grandi blocchi di frasi. Inizia analizzando la frase. Fallo cercando il soggetto e il verbo della frase. Trovare il soggetto e il verbo ti aiuterà a comprendere il significato della frase. Una ragione per cui i brani di academic reading possono essere difficili da comprendere è perché uniscono catene di idee per formare lunghe frasi composte. Questo produce grandi blocchi di frasi più difficili da assimilare, quindi usare il soggetto e il verbo come tua guida per comprendere l'intero blocco è uno strumento eccellente che puoi usare durante il tuo esame IELTS reading.

Migliorare il tuo vocabolario

Molte persone pensano che rispondere alle domande di reading sia semplice come scansionare il paragrafo per parole chiave e informazioni... Bene, sfortunatamente, non è così semplice. Le domande di reading sono solitamente parafrasate, ovvero, le parole sono state cambiate per usare sinonimi delle parole dal brano IELTS reading. Questo viene fatto per aumentare la difficoltà, altrimenti il test sarebbe troppo facile. Per questo motivo, devi migliorare il tuo vocabolario per conoscere i molti diversi sinonimi di una parola.

Mentre ti prepari per il test di reading e incontri una parola che non conosci, prendi l'abitudine di fermarti e cercarla o almeno annotarla e cercarla più tardi. È un po' tedioso, ma è estremamente efficace. Il tuo obiettivo dovrebbe essere, ma non è limitato a, studiare 15-20 nuove parole accademiche ogni giorno.

Sapere in quali tipi di domande le risposte sono/non sono in ordine

È importante sapere che per alcuni tipi di domande, le risposte sono solitamente (quasi sempre) nello stesso ordine del brano IELTS reading. Per altri tipi di domande, le risposte sono raramente nello stesso ordine del brano di reading. Abbiamo completato una tabella per i tipi di domande che lo seguono e per quelli che non lo fanno. Tienilo presente.

Le risposte sono solitamente (quasi sempre) nello stesso ordine del brano Le risposte sono raramente nello stesso ordine del brano.
  • Summary, Note, Table, Flow-Chart Completion
  • Diagram Label Completion
  • Identifying Information (TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN)
  • Identifying Viewer's claims (YES/NO/NOT GIVEN)
  • Multiple Choice
  • Matching Sentence Endings
  • Short Answer
  • Match Headings
  • Matching Information
  • Matching Features

Trovare la migliore strategia di reading per te

La sfida più grande che la maggior parte delle persone affronta nell'esame IELTS reading è completare tutte le domande di reading prima che il tempo scada. Nella prossima sezione, imparerai tre strategie e starà a te capire quale ti si addice meglio. Lo farai utilizzando le nostre pratiche di reading gratuite.

3 Strategie per IELTS Reading

Strategia 1: Leggere l'intero brano e poi rispondere alle domande.

Prima di tutto, questa non è molto una strategia. È qualcosa che le persone fanno quando non si preparano adeguatamente per l'esame di reading. Tuttavia, l'abbiamo inclusa come strategia perché, tecnicamente parlando, se riesci a trattenere le informazioni dal brano alla tua prima lettura e sei in grado di rispondere alle domande, allora non avrai bisogno della strategia 2.

Questa strategia, se non hai una memoria migliore della media, è inefficiente. Finirai per esaurire il tempo prima di poter rispondere a tutte le domande. Molte persone commettono questo errore. Tuttavia, ci sono alcune domande che non richiedono molto sforzo e beneficeranno di questa strategia come Se la domanda è una risposta "Sì" o "No", allora sarai in grado di scorrere rapidamente e trovare velocemente la risposta, ma non ci sono abbastanza di questi tipi di domande, quindi non è consigliabile utilizzare questa strategia a meno che tu non possa gestirla.

Strategia 2: Leggere prima le domande, leggere per un obiettivo e prendere appunti, e poi rispondere saggiamente alle domande

Questa è la nostra strategia consigliata. Ti aiuterà ad ottenere un punteggio IELTS reading più alto. Pensa a questo come a una mappa chiara di come affrontare in generale l'esame:

Passo 1: Leggi prima le domande

Uno degli errori più comuni che i candidati commettono quando affrontano l'esame di reading è leggere ogni singola parola dei brani IELTS reading. Sebbene tu possa esercitarti per l'esame leggendo per piacere, "leggere alla cieca" (leggere senza alcun senso di ciò che le domande chiederanno) non ti farà nessun favore nell'esame. Invece, danneggerà le tue possibilità di gestire efficacemente il tuo tempo e ottenere il miglior punteggio.

Il motivo principale per leggere prima le domande è perché il tipo di domanda potrebbe determinare cosa leggi nel brano o come lo leggi. Ad esempio, alcuni tipi di domande richiederanno la tecnica di "skimming", mentre altri possono richiedere la tecnica di "scanning".

È importante affrontare un set di domande dello stesso tipo. Dovrai determinare quale tipo di domanda vuoi affrontare per primo. Una buona strategia sarebbe iniziare con il tipo di domanda più facile e passare ai tipi di domande più difficili in seguito. I tipi di domande più facili sono quelli in cui spendi meno tempo a leggere. Ad esempio, il tipo di domanda Matching Heading è uno più facile perché devi solo trovare l'intestazione che descrive meglio l'idea principale di un paragrafo. Un esempio di un tipo di domanda difficile sarebbe Identifying Information. Per questo tipo di domanda, dovrai leggere ogni paragrafo per scoprire se ogni affermazione è TRUE, FALSE o NOT GIVEN secondo il brano.

Ecco una tabella che elenca i livelli di difficoltà per ciascun tipo di domanda. Usa questa tabella come riferimento quando scegli quale tipo di domanda vuoi affrontare per primo.

Livello di difficoltà Tipo di Domanda
Facile Match Headings
Short answer
Medio Matching Sentence Endings
Matching Features
Multiple choice
Sentence Completion
Diagram Label, Summary, Note, Table, Flow-Chart Completion
Difficile Match Information
Identifying Information (TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN)
Identifying Viewer's claims (YES/NO/NOT GIVEN)

Passo 2: Leggi per un obiettivo

Dopo aver letto le domande dal testo IELTS, sarai in grado di leggere per un obiettivo. Cosa significa? Ad esempio, se incontri una domanda che include l'anno "1896", puoi prendere nota di quando questo anno appare nel testo, usandolo per rispondere alla domanda in seguito.

Ci sono due tecniche di lettura che ti aiuteranno a rimanere in pista con la lettura per un obiettivo. La prima, skimming, è meglio definita come leggere velocemente per ottenere il "succo", o l'idea generale, di un brano. Con questa tecnica, non ti fermi per nessuna parola sconosciuta o per cercare dettagli specifici. La seconda tecnica, scanning, è meglio definita come leggere per informazioni specifiche. Con questa tecnica, non stai leggendo per il senso generale, ma piuttosto, informazioni specifiche. Nota come ognuna di queste tecniche ha un obiettivo specifico in mente. Questo ti aiuterà a trovare le informazioni più rapidamente.

Passo 3: Prendi appunti

Mentre leggi per un obiettivo, dovresti anche prendere appunti sui margini del brano, mettendo stelle accanto alle informazioni chiave o sottolineando cose che ritieni ti aiuteranno a rispondere alle varie domande. Questo renderà più facile per te ricontrollare quando ti vengono chieste alcune cose nelle domande. Scegli qualunque sistema di presa di appunti sia giusto per te—assicurati solo di farlo!

Passo 4: Rispondi saggiamente

Dopo aver letto le domande, letto il brano e preso eventuali appunti appropriati, dovresti aver localizzato la parte del testo dove devi leggere attentamente. Quindi, semplicemente leggi attentamente e pensa criticamente per determinare la risposta corretta.

Strategia 3: Skimming, presa di appunti e tipi di domande.

Questa è un'altra strategia utilizzata da molti candidati IELTS. Ti aiuterà ad ottenere un punteggio di reading più alto. La strategia consiste in 4 passi:

  1. Scorri ogni paragrafo per ottenere l'idea generale di ciascun paragrafo. L'idea principale di un paragrafo si trova solitamente nelle prime frasi quindi concentrati un po' di più su quelle frasi. Le frasi successive possono essere scorse rapidamente, sottolineando nomi/parole/frasi che si distinguono.
  2. Dopo aver scorso ogni paragrafo, scrivi brevi appunti (2-5 parole) accanto a ciascun paragrafo con la tua migliore ipotesi sull'idea principale di quel paragrafo.
  3. Successivamente, rispondi a un set di domande dello stesso tipo.
  4. Infine, Rispondi a un set di domande in modo efficiente e corretto.

È importante non spendere più di 3-5 minuti sui Passi 1 e 2. Spendere troppo tempo su questi passi sprecherà troppo tempo e finirai per esaurirlo.

Passi 1 e 2

L'obiettivo qui è impostare un metodo efficiente per trovare risposte nel brano. Annotando l'idea generale di ciascun paragrafo, saprai quale paragrafo contiene la risposta a ciascuna domanda. Questo ti farà risparmiare molto tempo perché se non l'avessi annotato, probabilmente avresti bisogno di scorrere ogni paragrafo per l'idea generale della domanda, quindi avresti bisogno di scansionare attentamente il paragrafo per la risposta. Annotando l'idea principale di ciascun paragrafo, puoi saltare il primo passo dello scorrimento di ciascun paragrafo e iniziare a scansionare per la risposta.

Passo 3

Dopo aver scorso a fondo il testo e annotato alcuni appunti, sei pronto per il Passo 3. In questo passo, dovrai determinare quale tipo di domanda vuoi affrontare per primo. Una buona strategia sarebbe iniziare con il tipo di domanda più facile e passare ai tipi di domande più difficili in seguito. I tipi di domande più facili sono quelli in cui spendi meno tempo a leggere. Ad esempio, il tipo di domanda Matching Heading è uno più facile perché devi solo trovare l'intestazione che descrive meglio l'idea principale di un paragrafo, quindi tecnicamente hai solo bisogno dei Passi 1 e 2 per rispondere a questo tipo di domanda. Un esempio di un tipo di domanda difficile sarebbe Identifying Information. Per questo tipo di domanda, dovrai leggere ogni paragrafo per scoprire se ogni affermazione è TRUE, FALSE o NOT GIVEN secondo il brano.

Ecco una tabella che elenca i livelli di difficoltà per ciascun tipo di domanda. Usa questa tabella come riferimento quando scegli quale tipo di domanda vuoi affrontare per primo.

Livello di difficoltà Tipo di Domanda
Facile Match Headings
Short answer
Medio Matching Sentence Endings
Matching Features
Multiple choice
Sentence Completion
Diagram Label, Summary, Note, Table, Flow-Chart Completion
Difficile Match Information
Identifying Information (TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN)
Identifying Viewer's claims (YES/NO/NOT GIVEN)

Passo 4

Ora che hai capito quale set di domande risponderai per primo, è ora di rispondere effettivamente :( Non preoccuparti! Sebbene ogni tipo di domanda sia diverso, la strategia per rispondere correttamente si applica a tutti. Il principio di base è semplice, basta seguire i passi seguenti:

  1. Leggi attentamente la domanda e identifica le parole chiave importanti.
  2. Trova il paragrafo che contiene le informazioni necessarie per rispondere alla domanda. (Si spera che tu abbia già le idee generali annotate per ogni paragrafo, quindi puoi facilmente capire questo.)
  3. Scansiona il paragrafo per le parole chiave importanti (Sono molto probabilmente sinonimi!) finché non localizzi la parte del testo dove devi leggere attentamente.
  4. Infine, leggi attentamente e pensa criticamente per determinare la risposta corretta.

Download Gratuiti del PDF di Esempio IELTS Reading con Risposte

Di seguito alcuni esempi di reading gratuiti dal British Council (i creatori dell'esame IELTS). Prova a rispondere alle domande e vedi come fai!