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Additional notes PDF

Read the message before deciding what it means

A library notice says that books are due on Friday unless your receipt gives a later date. A student returns a book on Friday without checking the receipt. The student may have met the deadline, but has not used all the information. Reading means joining details and conditions, not recognising a familiar word.

This supplement adds original worked practice to the preserved Reading notes. It covers Complete the Words, Read in Daily Life and Read an Academic Passage. All passages, questions and answers below are newly written teaching examples. They are not official ETS items, rated test forms or a complete adaptive test. Their lengths and practice clocks are classroom choices.

Try each set before reading its answers. Keep the text visible while you work. The official Reading description says the needed information is in the text. You do not need specialist knowledge of the topic to answer these questions. An answer must fit the particular text, even if another answer sounds possible in real life.

Complete words using letters, grammar and meaning together

In Complete the Words, parts of words are missing from a short text. Use the supplied letters and the surrounding sentence together. Grammar suggests possible forms; meaning and spelling narrow the choice further. In this practice, each underscore represents one missing letter. Write the whole completed word in your notebook. In a live task, follow its own entry instructions; our notation does not copy its interface.

Original text A: comparing paths

Students mea_____ (1) the temperature of two campus paths at the same ti__ (2). One path lay under trees; the other was expo___ (3) to direct sunlight. Their results sho___ (4) that the shaded path was coo___ (5) at every reading. However, they cou__ (6) not con_____ (7) that shade was the only cause. The study did not con____ (8) wind speed or surface material. They pla____ (9) to rep___ (10) the measurements with these differences checked.

Explained completions

1. Measured. The students took temperature readings. “Measured” fits the past events and begins with mea.
2. Time. “At the same time” makes the comparison meaningful. “Times” needs an extra letter and changes the form.
3. Exposed. “Was exposed to” describes the path receiving sunlight. Exposing does not fit the three missing letters or this passive structure.
4. Showed. The results showed a pattern in the completed study. “Shown” does not form a complete verb after “results” here.
5. Cooler. The sentence compares the two paths, so the comparative form fits. “Coolest” needs more letters and suggests a different comparison.
6. Could. The phrase “could not conclude” gives a limit on the students' claim. The supplied cou and two missing letters fit could.
7. Conclude. After could not, use the base form. The students cannot reach this stronger claim from their evidence.
8. Control. Wind and surface material were not kept comparable. The base form follows did not; controlled would add an incorrect ending.
9. Planned. The students made a future plan after their first study. Planned has double n; planed is a different word and does not fit this meaning.
10. Repeat. They intend to take the measurements again. Repeat fits the supplied letters, length and meaning after to.

Read the completed text once more. The pattern and its limit should both make sense. A correctly spelled word can still be wrong if it changes the sentence's meaning.

Original text B: a study collection

The college library created a dig____ (11) collection of local photographs. Students can sea___ (12) it by street name or year. Each image has a short des________ (13), but some dates remain unc______ (14). The library asks users to provide evi_____ (15) before suggesting a new date. This helps staff rev___ (16) the information without treating every guess as a fact.

11. Digital. A searchable electronic collection is digital; dig plus four letters fits.

12. Search. “Search it by street name or year” explains how users find images.

13. Description. A short written description accompanies an image. Des plus eight letters fits description.

14. Uncertain. Some dates are not established. Unc plus six letters fits uncertain.

15. Evidence. Users must support a proposed change. Evi plus five letters fits evidence.

16. Revise. Staff can change the information after checking it. Rev plus three letters fits revise.

The second text connects the words: uncertain dates need evidence before revision. Do not select each word as if it appeared alone on a vocabulary card.

Check a grammar shortcut against the actual sentence

The original notes offer quick word-class hints. Use them as starting points, not fixed laws. An article 冠词 such as the can come before an adjective as well as directly before a noun. “The quiet room” contains an adjective between the and room. “The carefully prepared report” adds an adverb before the adjective.

To can mark an infinitive 不定式: “They plan to repeat the study.” It can also be a preposition 介词: “They walked to the library.” In “They look forward to reading the report,” reading fits the whole expression. Do not turn every word after to into a base verb.

A word family 词族 contains related forms, such as describe, description and descriptive. “Each image has a short ___” needs a thing that the image has: description. “A ___ note accompanies each image” could use descriptive. The supplied letters, word length and sentence must all fit.

Prefixes can suggest meaning: uncertain means not certain, and repeat involves doing something again. But a word part alone does not prove the answer. A familiar ending can occur in words with different jobs. Verify the whole sentence and preserve the spelling of the actual word.

Read a daily-life email for purpose and conditions

Original email

Subject: Wednesday workshop

Hello everyone,

The workshop still starts at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. We have moved from Room 18 to Room 21 because the projector in Room 18 is being repaired. Please bring a printed draft unless you uploaded your final draft before noon on Tuesday. If you uploaded it after noon, bring a printed copy too. You may wish to bring a notebook for your own notes, but this is optional.

Mina, workshop organiser

Questions 17–19

17. What is the main purpose of this email? A Announce a new workshop day. B Explain a room change and what participants should bring. C Cancel the workshop. D Ask participants to repair a projector.

18. Jia uploaded a final draft at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. What should Jia bring? A Only a notebook. B Nothing because any upload removes the requirement. C A printed draft. D A replacement projector.

19. What does the email say about a notebook? A Everyone must bring one. B It is optional for personal notes. C It replaces the printed draft. D It must be uploaded before noon.

Explained answers

17. B. The email announces the move to Room 21 and explains the draft requirement. A changes Wednesday without evidence; C invents a cancellation; D confuses a repair reason with a participant's job.

18. C. One p.m. is after noon, so Jia must bring a printed copy. The exception applies only to a final draft uploaded before noon. A and B ignore the condition; D adds a job the email never gives Jia.

19. B. The email explicitly says optional. It offers a useful choice rather than a requirement. A changes the strength of the message. C and D wrongly transfer the draft instructions to the notebook.

Polite wording can introduce a request, a suggestion or an option. “You may wish to” does not always mean “you must.” Read the whole message, including words that state whether an action is required.

Read a notice and a timetable together

Original notice

Study-support desk: from 6 October, afternoon appointments take place in the library annex. Morning appointments stay in Room 4. Bring your appointment confirmation. Walk-in questions are welcome from 12:15 to 12:45; booked meetings do not run during that period.

Period	Service	Location
09:00–12:00	Booked meetings	Room 4
12:15–12:45	Walk-in questions	Library annex
14:00–16:00	Booked meetings	Library annex

An annex 附楼 is an extra building or part of a building connected with the main one. Here, use the stated location; do not invent a map or travel time.

Questions 20–22

20. Where should a student attend a 10 a.m. booked meeting on 7 October? A Room 4. B Library annex. C Either place. D The notice does not state a location.

21. Which student can use the service at 12:30 without a booking? A A student attending a booked meeting. B A student with a walk-in question. C Only a student with an afternoon booking. D Nobody, because the desk is closed.

22. What remains unchanged from the previous arrangement? A All afternoon appointments. B The location of morning appointments. C All meetings are now walk-in. D Nobody needs confirmation.

Explained answers

20. A. Ten a.m. belongs to the morning booked period, which stays in Room 4. B wrongly applies the afternoon change to every meeting. C invents choice; D ignores both notice and timetable.

21. B. The notice and timetable identify a walk-in period at 12:30. A contradicts the statement about booked meetings; C invents an eligibility rule; D ignores the stated opening.

22. B. “Stay” signals that the morning location has not changed. A misses the afternoon move; C and D contradict the service type and confirmation instruction.

The prose explains a change; the table helps locate a period quickly. Join them. A true phrase in one cell is not enough if it belongs to the wrong time.

Read an academic passage as a connected explanation

Original passage: collecting seeds in a city

A town planting group compared two ways of collecting seeds from a local wildflower. In the first method, volunteers picked seeds from the earliest plants to flower. In the second, they returned several times and collected from plants flowering at different dates. The group wanted a collection representing the variation already present in the local population.

The first method was convenient because volunteers could finish in one visit. However, it risked leaving out plants that flowered later. The second required more visits, but sampled a wider range of flowering dates. Researchers explained that neither method creates new variation; collection determines which existing plants are represented.

The trial recorded dates and the plants visited, rather than testing later survival. Its results therefore support a claim about the breadth of collection, not a claim that one batch grows better. The group planned a separate growing trial before making that stronger claim. Convenience remained important, but the group decided to compare it with its sampling aim.

Questions 23–28

23. Which title best expresses the main idea? A Creating variation by collecting seeds. B How collection choices affect which plants are represented. C Proving that early flowers always survive longer. D Replacing volunteers with researchers.

24. Why was the first method convenient? A It created new plant types. B It needed only one visit. C It sampled all flowering dates. D It tested survival immediately.

25. What does “it” refer to in “However, it risked leaving out plants that flowered later”? A The first collection method. B The growing trial. C New variation. D A late-flowering plant.

26. What does “breadth” mean in this passage? A Physical width of the town. B Depth of a planting hole. C Range of plants included in the collection. D Number of researchers employed.

27. What can reasonably be inferred about using only the first method? A It may represent flowering dates less widely than repeated visits do. B It proves the seeds will never grow. C It changes every plant's flowering date. D It requires more collection visits than the second method.

28. Why does the writer mention the separate growing trial? A To prove that collecting is unnecessary. B To show how researchers created new variation. C To explain why volunteers stopped helping. D To distinguish a future survival test from the completed collection comparison.

Explain the academic answers from evidence

23. B. All three paragraphs connect collection decisions with representation and the limits of the trial. A contradicts “neither method creates new variation.” C claims survival evidence that was not collected. D invents a change of workers. A title should cover the explanation, not one familiar word.

24. B. The first method let volunteers finish in one visit. A wrongly attributes creation of variation to collection. C ignores omitted later plants. D confuses the completed comparison with the planned growing trial.

25. A. The previous sentence describes the first method as convenient; “however” introduces its drawback. Follow the connected idea. The other options are not the method that can leave later plants out of collection. A referent 指代对象 is the person or thing a word such as it refers to.

26. C. Breadth concerns how widely the collection represents flowering dates. The paragraph contrasts this with survival. A and B choose physical measurements from another context; D adds staffing information that the passage does not discuss.

27. A. Picking from only the earliest flowers risks omitting later-flowering plants. That supports a narrower range of dates, even though the sentence does not repeat the option's wording. B and C are much stronger unsupported claims; D reverses the stated visit pattern. An inference must connect evidence. It cannot add a result the trial never measured.

28. D. The separate trial would investigate the stronger claim about how seeds grow later. This marks the boundary of the existing evidence. A, B and C invent purposes or events. A limitation 局限 states what evidence cannot establish as well as what it can.

Notice the passage structure: aim and methods, comparison, then evidence limits and next step. A paragraph's job matters even when its first sentence is not a complete summary. “However” marks a drawback; “therefore” connects the measured evidence to a restricted conclusion.

Improve accuracy before making the same task faster

The original notes give fixed reading speeds and broad claims about Chinese learners. Use your own error record instead. Different learners need different support. A dictionary check or a brief translation during review can explain a word you missed. It does not itself prove that you cannot read under test conditions.

For a first practice round, allow four minutes for text A and three for text B. Allow four minutes for the email and notice together, then five for the academic passage. These are classroom clocks, not official task limits or a score prediction. If you finish quickly but choose answers without evidence, review accuracy before reducing the clock. If you run out of time, identify where time went: decoding words, rereading conditions or comparing options.

During review, write a short evidence phrase beside each answer. For a missing word, write the complete word and the grammar or meaning that supports it. Then attempt a fresh text. Faster recall of this worksheet is not proof of transfer to a new passage.

Scored Reading items have a maximum of one raw point in the blueprint. That does not make a classroom total an exact reported-band conversion. Unscored items, adaptive routing and scale conversion remain separate issues. Do not calculate the number of later questions you will lose from one minute spent here. Follow the real test's navigation and timing instructions when taking it.

Check six decisions on a fresh attempt

1. Does “the” always require the next word to be a noun?
2. Does “to” always require the next word to be a base verb?
3. Why must the collection passage not be used to claim better seed survival?
4. A notebook is optional in the email. Can polite wording make it compulsory?
5. Does knowing what a flower usually does replace the passage's evidence?
6. What should you change after successfully remembering all these answers?

Explained answers

1. No. An adjective or adverb-plus-adjective can appear before the noun: “the carefully prepared report.”
2. No. To can be an infinitive marker or a preposition. Check the whole phrase and sentence.
3. The trial measured collection dates and representation, not later survival. A separate growing trial is planned.
4. No. Read the explicit optional condition; do not override it with a politeness shortcut.
5. No. Answer from this passage. Outside knowledge may suggest possibilities the text never establishes.
6. Attempt new texts and explain their evidence. Change the task to practise the skill beyond this worksheet.