BEC Higher Reading Part 3 - Teacher’s Notes

Description
This activity focuses on a key strategy for answering Reading Part 3. Students devise their own list of DOs
and DON’Ts for dealing with Part 3, and compare their ideas with the published list. Finally, they think about
the best sequence for the DOs, and apply these to an exam task.

Time required: 45-60 minutes

Materials  BEC Handbook section on Reading Part 3
required:
 Student’s Worksheet (one per student)
 Copies of the Answer Sheet (one per student)
Aims:  To raise students’ awareness of the best strategy for approaching
the questions in BEC Higher Reading Part 3
 To prepare a list of Do’s and to apply these to an exam task

Procedure
1. Elicit from your students that BEC Higher Reading Part 3 is a 4-option multiple-choice task. Ask
them what a multiple-choice question consists of [a question or an incomplete sentence, followed by
several possible answers], and what we call each part [elicit, or tell them that the question or
incomplete sentence is known as the ‘stem’ and the choices are the ‘options’]. Ask them now to list
what other information they know about Part 3, for example: There are six questions. They are
predicting here and will check their answers in the next step.
2. Ask students to look at the information on Reading Part 3 in the section on the Six Parts of the
Reading Paper in the BEC Handbook, and to see if their information is correct or not. Tell them NOT
to do the exam task, just to check their notes.
3. Put students into pairs and ask them to tell each other what sort of strategies they use when
answering the questions in this type of task. Tell them to think of things you should do, and things
you shouldn’t (Dos and Don’ts), for example, Scan the text first to get a general idea of what it is
about.
4. Ask each pair to design a strategy with 5-6 key Dos and Don’ts, then get some class feedback.
Remember that there are no right or wrong answers at this stage.
5. Distribute copies of the Student’s Worksheet and tell students to read the nine strategies. First,
they should check if any of the strategies are similar to their own Do’s and Don’ts.
6. Working on their own, they decide if each strategy given in Exercise 1 is ‘Do’ or ‘Don’t’, and why.
7. Students check their thoughts with a partner, then put the six Do’s into a logical order (Exercise 2).
Class feedback to check (see Key).
8. Finally, students apply the six Dos by doing the exam task in the handbook, and then practise filling
in the answer sheet. Check answers as a group (see Key).

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BEC Higher Reading Part 3 - Answer Key

Exercise 1

DO or DON’T?

A As you read the text for the second time, ask yourself how you might DO
summarise the central idea of each paragraph in a few words. Make notes
beside each paragraph.

B Give two answers when you think it could be A and C. DON’T

C Leave an answer blank if you are not sure. DON’T

D Look again at the question stems and underline the key words. Identify the DO
paragraph where you think the answer is and decide what you think the
answer is. Then find the multiple-choice option closest to your idea.

E Look out for what the writer's attitude is – e.g. are they being humorous or DO
ironic, are they for or against something?

F Read the multiple-choice options carefully before you read the text and then DON’T
try to search for a sentence in the text which means the same as one of
them.

G Read the question stems without paying attention to the multiple-choice DO

options.

H Read the text more carefully and underline the key ideas in each paragraph. DO

I Scan the text very quickly and think about what type of text it is, who it is for DO
and what the overall theme is.

B is wrong because if you give two answers, both answers will be marked wrong. Look at the text again to find which
is the one correct answer and eliminate the other one.

C is wrong because you are not penalised for being wrong – it is better to choose the answer that you think is most
likely.

F is wrong because the skill is to understand the text and then find the option that corresponds to the text.

Exercise 2
A logical order would be I – G – H – A – E – D

Sample Task (in BEC Handbook):

15 B 16 D 17 C 18 A 19 D 20 C

© UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further information see our
Terms and Conditions.
BEC Higher Reading Part 3 - Student’s Worksheet

Exercise 1
Look at the strategies for Reading Part 3. Which of them are ‘Dos’ and which are ‘Don’ts’? Why?
(There are six Dos and three Don’ts.)

DO or DON’T?

A As you read the text for the second time, ask yourself how you might
summarise the central idea of each paragraph in a few words. Make notes
beside each paragraph.

B Give two answers when you think it could be A and C.

C Leave an answer blank if you are not sure.

D Look again at the question stems and underline the key words. Identify the
paragraph where you think the answer is and decide what you think the
answer is. Then find the multiple-choice option closest to your idea.

E Look out for what the writer's attitude is – e.g. are they being humorous or
ironic, are they for or against something?

F Read the multiple-choice options carefully before you read the text and then
try to search for a sentence in the text which means the same as one of
them.

G Read the question stems without paying attention to the multiple-choice

options.

H Read the text more carefully and underline the key ideas in each paragraph.

I Scan the text very quickly and think about what type of text it is, who it is for
and what the overall theme is.

Exercise 2: Now put the six Dos into a logical chronological order.

© UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further information see our
Terms and Conditions.