I. REVIEW

Hi guys, for the Short Answer Questions type of exercise, what do we need to do, what is the strategy to do the test? Let’s review this exercise with IELTS-Fighter and try it out with a Mini Passage

When doing the Short Answer question type exercise, we need to pay attention to the following points:

– Limit the number of words for each answer

– The answer will appear in the correct order of the reading

– Determine what type of word the answer is (Noun/Verb/Adjective/Adverb)

– Note that the answer does not have to be grammatically correct, just correct

– Get key word in question, find synonyms or paraphrase key words key

II. MINI PASSAGE

The scope of the problem facing the world’s cities is immense. In 1992, the United Nations Environmental Program and the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that all of a sample of twenty megacities – places likely to have more than ten million inhabitants in the year 2000 – already exceeded the level the WHO deems healthy in at least one major pollutant. Two-thirds of them exceeded the guidelines for two, seven for three or more.

Of the six pollutants monitored by the WHO – carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, lead and particulate matter – it is this last category that is attracting the most attention from health researchers. PM10, a sub-category of particulate matter measuring ten-millionths of a meter across, has been implicated in thousands of deaths a year in Britain alone. Research being conducted in two counties of Southern California is reaching similarly concerning conclusions regarding this little-understood pollutant.

A world-wide rise in allergies, particularly asthma, over the past four decades is now said to be linked with increased air pollution. The lungs and brains of children who grow up in tarnished air offer further evidence of its destructive power. The old and ill; however, are the vulnerable to the acute effects of heavily tarnished air. It can actually hasten death, so it did in December 1991 when a cloud of exhaust fumes lingered over the city of London for over a week.

The United Nations has estimated that in the year 2000 there will be twenty-four mega-cities and a further eighty-five cities of more than three million people. The pressure on public officials, corporations and urban citizens to reverse established trends in air pollution is likely to grow in proportion with the growth of cities themselves. Progress is being made. The question, though, remains the same: ‘Will change happen quickly enough?’

III. DISCUSSIONS

Now let’s think together and choose the correct answer.

(1) The answer we need is a number. In numbers or in words. The answer to look for must go with the keyword “exceed“, “WHO “,”all“, “megacities” or their synonyms

–>> all of a sample of twenty megacities……………..already exceeded the level the WHO deems healthy in at least one major pollutant.

–>> Answer: One

(2) The answer should be a noun, a type of “pollutant“. That answer needs to go with the keyword “urgent” or the synonym/paraphrases of this keyword.

–>> Of the six pollutants monitored by the WHO – carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, lead and particulate matter – it is this last category that is attracting the most attention from health researchers.

–>> Answer: Particulate matter

(3) The answer to look for is a noun phrase- a group of people. The answer should go with the superlative form.The most severely affected” or its synonyms

–>> The old and ill; however, are the vulnerable to the acute effects of heavily tarnished air.

–>> Answer: The old and ill

Short Answer Questions is not the hard part. The most important for this type of exercise is the ability to catch the keyword in question and find the synonym/paraphrase of that keyword. So when learning words, pay attention to practice paraphrases or find synonyms of the words you just learned. Besides, we should also pay attention to the number of words allowed in an answer.

Good luck with your studies <3