Hello my name is Shawna.
Today I'm going to talk about how to answer true false questions in a reading
test.
Some students like true false questions in a test because they have a 50,
50 chance of being correct without fully understanding the question.
The truth is that true false questions can be tricky to understand.
By acting like a detective and examining the language used in the questions,
you'll be more successful at answering these questions.
I'm going to show you eight strategies you can use to be a good detective
when you're answering true false questions on the reading test.
Think of these as your tools, they're going to help you.
I'm going to go through them one by one. Before you begin reading,
you should read your questions, underline keywords, stats and dates.
Strategy one,
think of each question as though it were true and look out for anything that's
false. Also,
a question may seem to be true because it contains facts and statements that are
true but this is designed to trick you.
Even if one part of a sentence is false,
then the entire sentence is false. Strategy two:
put on your detective cap and look out for qualifiers and absolute qualifiers.
As these can provide clues to the correct answers,
more modest qualifiers such as sometimes, often,
generally are more likely to equal a true statement while stricter
qualifiers such as always rarely or never often mean a
false statement. Strategy three:
don't be confused by negatives.
Negatives such as no, not,
cannot can be confusing within the context of a true false
sentence or statement. If a true false sentence has a negative,
try taking out the negative word and then read the statement again.
Without the negative, determine whether the sentence is true or false.
If the sentence without the negative is true,
then the correct answer would be false. Strategy four:
look out for double negatives.
A double negative is when a statement has two negative words but
it's actually a positive statement. For example,
it is unlikely that she will not come to the party is the same
as it is likely that she will come to the party.
Double negatives can be difficult for English language learners.
To find negative words, remember they include words like not, and
along with words beginning with prefixes that I have listed here.
Strategy five, look out for long statements.
The longer the statement, the higher the chances that one part will be false.
Remember it only takes one part of the statement being false for the entire
statement to be false.
Strategy six: punctuation is your friend
when examining long statements.
When it comes to long statements,
they often contain groups of words and phrases separated or organised by
punctuation.
Read each word sets and phrase individually and carefully.
If one word set or phrase in the statement is false,
then the entire statement is false strategy. Strategy seven:
questions that state of reason tend to be false.
Words like because, reason and since often indicate a reason statement.
Finally, strategy eight. Use
your current knowledge and make an educated guess.
If you've been a good detective and you've tried some of the strategies to
answer the questions, but you're still unsure,
it's all right to guess provided it does not negatively
impact your score. You have a 50, 50 chance of being right. However,
a clue is that often true false tests contain more true answers and false.
So if you're completely unsure, you might want to guess true.
Are you ready to use your eight strategies?
Let's look at a short passage about cherry blossom season in Japan and answer
some true false questions.
Cherry blossoms in Kyoto,
Japan have bloomed at their earliest dates in 600 years.
Researchers from Osaka university say blossoms in the city of Kyoto peaked
on March 26.
Data on cherry blossoms blooming in Kyoto go back 1,200 years as
far back as the year 812.
Officials at Japan's Imperial courts in Kyoto wrote details on the blooms in
documents and diaries.
Japan experienced much warmer weather in the first few months of this year.
Meteorologists say this is because of climate change.
Alright, now let's look at some true false questions together.
Cherry blossoms in Tokyo, Japan bloomed at their earliest in 500 years.
We know that this is not a true statement if we look at statement one because
not all parts of the statements are true.
Question two:
analysts say the blossoms finished on March
26. This is almost completely true,
except for one word. In the text, the word peaked is used.
But in the question,
the word finished is used which makes this a false question.
Let's take a look at question three.
People at Japan's Imperial court rarely recorded details on cherry blossom
season. If we look at strategy two,
we've noticed that we've used an absolute qualifier, rarely,
which would indicate this is false. Question four:
data on cherry blossoms in Kyoto,
Japan has been recorded by officials since the year 1,200.
So this is a long statement, which is strategy number five. And in this case,
it was a true statement because all parts of the question are true.
Finally, question five.
It is unlikely this is not a result of global warming.
This is strategy four: double negatives.
We have the word unlikely. We have the word not.
So this is like saying that it is likely this is a result of global
warming, which would make it a true statement.
Remember to read your questions first, and underline key information.
Manage
your time so you can answer as many questions as you can.
If you're running out of time,
then make educated guesses on your remaining questions.
Be a good detective.
You ready to practice your eight strategies?
I'm sure you'll be great detectives and do really well. Good luck.