IELTS academic reading note completion

The IELTS academic reading note completion question type is more complicated than other question types. So, you have to read the tips and suggestions thoroughly to avoid basic mistakes. If you are focused and motivated, you will have no trouble in answering the note completion question type. In the note completion question, the passage will be given followed by some incomplete notes. You need to understand the notes to pick the right keyword. Then, you have to compare the keyword with the passage to locate the exact text and identify the correct answer. 

Note completion is one of the regular question types in the IELTS academic reading test. In the note completion question, you will be provided with one or more paragraphs followed by a few notes with blanks. You are asked to complete the notes with the suitable word from the given passage. 

IELTS academic reading note completion question type is one of the most significant IELTS academic reading question types. If you wish to clear the note completion question easily, read the entire post as we covered everything about the note completion question type. We can say that this will be more useful for you to get a good score in the IELTS academic reading module.

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Table of contents

1. IELTS academic reading note completion - Strategies & tips to solve
2. Skills required to solve note completion question
3. Common challenges faced while answering note completion question
4. Note completion Practice exercise 1
5. Note completion Practice exercise 2
6. Note completion Practice exercise 3
7. Note completion Practice exercise 4
8. Note completion Practice exercise 5
9. Note completion Practice exercise 6
10. Note completion Practice exercise 7
11. Answers for Practice exercises
12. Conclusion

IELTS academic reading note completion - Strategies & tips to solve 

To complete the note completion question flawless, check out the master tips and strategies listed below. Our IELTS academic reading note completion tips and strategies can help you mentally prepare and boost your confidence.

1. In the note completion question, some important points or information from the given passage are presented in the form of notes.
2. You are asked to complete the notes with missing information from the part of the passage.
3. Note completion question type is quite similar to the table and flowchart completion question type. So, the approach to finding the answers is similar.
4. The incomplete notes you see at the bottom of the paragraph are usually in order. But, sometimes, it may not be in sequence with the intention of making the task more difficult.
5. Read the instructions carefully so that you can avoid basic mistakes. 
6. Remember you do not exceed the word limit.
7. Notice the headings and subheadings as it helps you to get the correct text in the passage.
8. Read the passage and question precisely to understand the in-depth meaning which helps you to fill in the answers quickly.
9. Identify the keyword to spot the correct portion in the passage. 
10. Note that you should not change the word form. Your chosen word must be the same as in the passage. 
11. Check that your answer is grammatically correct and relevant to the particular incomplete note.
12. Do not repeat the word which is already in question. Also, be aware of synonyms, compare the keyword and pick the perfect word from the passage
13. Predict the correct word that completes the note before looking in the passage. 
14. You will find the instruction like NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS/OR NUMBERS at the top of the question. Remember that and start answering the questions.

The above-mentioned IELTS academic reading note completion tips and strategies, will honestly help you in answering the note completion question more effectively than before.

If you are interested to read more about the IELTS academic reading tips, click here.

Skills required to solve note completion question

IELTS academic reading note completion test is to check whether you have good grasping quality and ability. These are some skills that you should have to solve the note completion question. They are,

• You must read the instructions properly and note them down for your reference
• Read the passage and question clearly before you look for answers
• The important thing is time management. Don’t waste your time by reading the entire passage. 
• Look for the relevant text that matches the question note.

Common challenges faced while answering note completion question 

When you answer the note completion question, these are some common problems that you may encounter. If you avoid the same, you can do the test even better. They are,

• Skipping the instructions given.
• Looking for the answers without complete knowledge about the passage
• Not finding keywords and searching the answers using the word prior to the blanks
• Changing the word form
• Not looking for synonyms

Note completion Practice exercise 1 

Answer Questions 1-7 which are based on the reading passage below.

Economic Apartheid Reading Passage

A new report from the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University shows that wealth creation is remarkable, one might say, criminally, unequal. Follow this hierarchy at the top of the wealth pyramid: the richest 1 percent of adults alone owned 40 percent of global assets in the year 2000; the richest 2 percent owned more than half of global household wealth, and the richest 10 percent of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. That leaves very little for the remaining 90 percent of the global population. Could it be any worse? Yes, the rich are still getting richer, more millionaires are becoming billionaires.

As to the world's lower class: the bottom half of the world's adult population owned barely 1 percent of global wealth, defined as net worth: the value of physical and financial assets fewer debts. Over a billion poor people subsist on less than one dollar a day. Every day, according to UNICEF, 30,000 children die due to poverty - that's over 10 million children killed by poverty every year! Global economic apartheid is killing people.

Here are data showing some of the variations among nations. Average wealth amounted to $144,000 per person in the U.S. in 2000, not as good as the $181,000 in Japan, but better than most others: $127,000 for the U.K., $70,000 for Denmark, $37,000 for New Zealand, $1,400 in Indonesia and $1,100 in India. Averages, of course, are very deceiving.

The statistical measure of inequality is the Gini value, which measures inequality on a scale from zero (total equality) to one (complete inequality). For income, it ranges from .35 to .45 in most countries. Wealth inequality is usually much higher, typically between .65 and .75. This reflects the greater difficulty in accumulating wealth (capital) than increasing income. Two high wealth economies, Japan and the United States show very different patterns of wealth inequality, with Japan having a low wealth Gini of .55 and the U.S. having around .80. The incomes of the top fifth of the Japanese population are only three times that of the bottom fifth, compared to nine times in the U.S. Japan has little economic apartheid compared to the U.S., yet both countries have a huge number of wealthy people. Of the wealthiest 10 percent in the world, 25 percent are American, and 20 percent are Japanese. These two countries are even stronger among the richest 1 percent of individuals in the world, with 37 percent residing in the U.S. and 27 percent in Japan. The point is that despite high numbers of very wealthy people, economic apartheid is absent in Japan and abysmal in the U.S.

We can explain the difference between Japan and the U.S. People can save and accumulate wealth for future economic security or can borrow and spend like mad to accumulate possessions. According to a 2006 report, only 41 percent of American families save regularly, making wealth creation difficult. America's national savings rate - which includes corporate savings and government budget deficits - is only about 13.6% of gross domestic product, compared to 25 percent in Japan.

U.S. economic apartheid shows that a self-proclaimed great democracy with considerable personal freedom can risk deep social instability from class warfare as it approaches a two-class system. We need to see economic apartheid as lethal and repulsive as racial apartheid.

Questions 1- 7 

Complete the notes below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Global Wealth Distribution

• According to a UN report, the world’s wealth distribution is drastically 1 ________
• In 2000, the wealthiest 1% had 40% of global wealth, while 10% owned 2 _________
• In contrast, just 1% of riches was shared by the 3 ___________.
• More than a billion people survive on less than a dollar daily.
• Poverty causes the death of more than 4 _______ children annually.

Wealth imbalance among nations:

• In 2000, per capita wealth in Japan and America were $181,000 and $ 144,000 respectively, but a mere $1100 in India.
• Inequality is measured in terms of 5 ______, which ranges from 0 to 1.
• Japan has less 6 _______ than the U.S. though both have a large number of very rich people.
• Americans tend to save less, leading to less wealth accumulation.
• The U.S. example indicates that more 7 ______ can result in serious social imbalance.

Note completion Practice exercise 2 

Answer questions 1-7 which are based on the reading passage below.

Weather Predictions Reading Passage

Predicting the weather is a complex process. Forecasts can lack accuracy due to the chaotic character of the atmosphere and our inability to comprehend the processes. However, over the years, weather forecasts have become more detailed with improved accuracy. A technological advantage is the development of apps that offer information regarding the weather immediately, thus giving opportune warnings in times of a crisis.

Before the forecast with icons of the sun or the rain is posted on a website or texted via the mobile phone, a rather complicated procedure takes place. In order to understand the weather patterns and present an accurate forecast, massive data is collected and processed. There are several variations to be considered, and it is also important to correctly measure them. 

Data from observations of atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind speed, wind direction, humidity, and precipitation are collected regularly through trained observers, automatic weather stations, or anchored floats or buoys.

With the advancement in technology, radars and weather satellites are also now widely used. Before making a forecast, meteorologists must ‘get in touch with the weather.’ This means that at the start of the shift, forecasters glance at the weather patterns of the previous day. Then the current weather is given a closer look. Says Bernie Rayno, AccuWeather meteorologist, ‘If you don’t know what happened yesterday, and why, then the chances of you being able to forecast the future are less.’ 

Just like removing layers from the outside towards the core, the weather forecasters begin with the larger movements in the atmosphere and then gradually move inwards to the smaller details. A surface map is frequently used by meteorologists as it gives them an idea as to why a particular weather phenomenon is happening. They can see the location of the key factors in the phenomenon such as cloud cover, precipitation, low pressure, and high pressure as they study the map. A storm system and its movement can be tracked by identifying the low-pressure areas, while high-pressure areas show good weather.

In the next step of weather investigation, observations gathered from surveillance are recorded into the computer models. These models imitate the atmosphere using various weather parameters such as temperature, humidity, and pressure. Supercomputers are needed to solve complex equations which decide how the condition of fluid changes with time. The input is processed by the models using data assimilation, and the generated output is then used to give the basis of a weather forecast.

While it’s true that more often than we would like, we are caught in a downpour without an umbrella because the forecast predicted a sunny day; when it comes to tornadoes , the predictions are eerily exact, saving thousands of lives and property. 

Questions 1-7 

Complete the notes below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Steps of Daily Weather Forecast

• Data collection by:
• trained observers
• 1 _________
• radars 
• weather stations and satellites
• Next, weather conditions of the 2 ________ day are referred
• To make a forecast, current weather parameters are observed 
• first, bigger atmospheric 3 _________ are identified, then small details are noted
• a 4 __________ is often used to: 

- understand the cause of a weather phenomenon and get the 5______ of the responsible parameters such as cloud cover, precipitation 
- track the progression of a 6 _________ by identifying low-pressure areas

• the collected information is fed into the 7 ________ which simulate the atmosphere
• the data is processed and the output forms the weather forecast

Note completion Practice exercise 3

Answer questions 1-7 which are based on the reading passage below.

A brief history of chocolate Reading Passage

Different chocolate manufacturing processes were also invented along the way. One of the three biggest processes to change the way in which chocolate was made and consumed was the addition of milk, instead of water, to chocolate. This idea, credited to Sir Hans Sloane, further reduced cacao bitterness and improved taste. Sir Sloane kept his discovery a trade secret for some time before selling the recipe to a London apothecary (which later on became the property of the Cadbury brothers). Condensed and powdered milk eventually replaced whole milk, allowing for a smoother and far sweeter product than before; milk chocolate is by far the most popular chocolate item in America today.

Another improvement in manufacturing came with the making of liquid chocolate into semisolid edible bars, allowing the item to become much more portable and not as perishable (solid chocolate has a shelf-life of about a year). The secret to bar-making comes from cacao butter, the fatty part of the cacao bean. When the bean is ground up, about 55% of the resulting paste is cacao butter. This fat percentage, though seemingly high, is still too low to make soft (and edible) bar chocolate, yet way too high for powdered chocolate (such 15 is used to make hot chocolate). Heavy-duty presses are used to remove about half of the cacao butter from the paste, after which the purified butter is added into "untouched" raw paste, making bar chocolate that is about 75% cacao butter, and semi-solid at room temperature. The stripped paste, devoid of about half of its fat content, solidifies into a hard cake that is pulverised into cacao powder.

The third, and major, improvement in chocolate manufacturing came with the discovery of the conching method - the mixing of chocolate over a period of several days in order to allow volatiles and moisture to evaporate, resulting in a more pleasing, smoother taste to the final product. Conching is credited to Rudolph Lindt (of Lindt & Sprungli fame), who found out that a batch of chocolate left mixing for several days became much smoother in texture and taste than one allowed to solidify immediately.

Despite modern improvements to the processing of chocolate, the actual harvesting of the cacao bean has remained virtually unchanged since the days of the Mayans and Aztecs and are still cultivated in tropical climates, within 10 to 20 degrees of the Equator.

Questions 1-7

Complete the notes below.

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

Developments in the Chocolate Manufacturing Methods

Three major changes took place in the manufacturing process of chocolate:

First:- water replaced by 1 ___________

• tasted better with 2 ______________diluted 
• texture and taste further improved by adding condensed and powdered milk instead of 3 ______________

Second:- producing 4 ______________ pieces of chocolate that can be eaten instead of the drinking chocolate

• increased 5 ____________ and convenient to carry

Third:- introduction of 6

• extended 7 ___________ leading to evaporation of volatiles and water
• more satisfying taste and mellowed texture

Note completion Practice exercise 4

Answer Questions 1-2 which are based on the reading passage below.

Pterosaurs Reading Answers

Remains of the pterosaur, a cousin of the dinosaur, are found on every continent.
Richard Monastersky reports.

A. Pterosaurs stand out as one of nature's great success stories. They first appeared during the Triassic period, 215 million years ago, and thrived for 150 million years before becoming extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period. Uncontested in the air, pterosaurs colonized all continents and evolved into a vast array of shapes and sizes.

B. Until recently, most scientists would not have put pterosaurs in the same class as birds in terms of flying ability. Because pterosaurs were reptiles, generations of researchers imagined that these creatures must have been cold-blooded, like modern snakes and lizards. This would have made flying awkward, as they would have lacked the endurance to power their muscles for long periods of time.

C. In the past three decades, however, a number of fossil* discoveries have prompted researchers to re-examine their views. The new picture of pterosaurs reveals that they were unlike any modern reptile. From a fossil discovered in Kazakhstan, scientists suspect that pterosaurs had a covering resembling fur. If so, this detail provides evidence of a warm-blooded body that could maintain the kind of effort needed to stay in the air. Indeed, scientists now believe that many pterosaurs were gifted airborne predators, built to feed while in flight. And, in fact, such controversy has surrounded pterosaurs since the first discovery of one in the early 1700s.

D. Cosimo Alessandro Collini, the first natural historian to study the fossil and describe it, was unable to classify it. It was not until 1791 that the great French anatomist Georges Cuvier deduced that the animal was, in fact, a flying reptile, whose fourth finger supported a wing. He named the fossil Pterodactylus, combining the Greek words for wing and finger. A few decades later, the name pterosaur, or winged reptile, was adopted to describe the growing list of similar fossils.

E. In 1873, a remarkable pterosaur specimen came to light that confirmed Cuvier's deduction. Unlike earlier fossils, this new find near the Bavarian town of Solnhofen contained delicate wing impressions, establishing definitely that the extinct reptile was capable of flight. Even though over a thousand pterosaur specimens are known today, such wing impressions remain rare. Normally only bones survive the fossilization process.

F. But how pterosaurs learnt to fly remains a matter for disagreement. Most researchers conclude that pterosaurs are descended from a small tree-dwelling reptile that spent its life jumping between branches. This creature would have spread its limbs, and used flaps of skin attached to its limbs and body to help it to land gently on the ground. Over many generations the fourth finger on each of its front 'arms' would have grown longer, making the skin surface larger and enabling the animal to glide farther. Meanwhile, the competing argument holds that pterosaurs developed from two-legged reptiles that ran along the ground, perhaps spreading their arms for balance. Through gradual growth, the front arms would then have evolved into wings. This difficult issue will only be resolved with the discovery of earlier forms of pterosaurs.

G. 'It's very difficult to say how pterosaurs changed over time because the earliest fossils we have are of pterosaurs whose fourth finger has already transformed into a wing,' says Fabio Dalla Vecchia, an Italian researcher. In fact, the earliest known pterosaurs came from the mountains of northern Italy, where he has spent years searching for flying reptiles. These species have shorter wings than later forms, but there is evidence that they were skilful fliers, capable of catching fish over open water. Proof of this has been found in the fossil of a Eudimorphodon, a 215-million-year-old pterosaur found near Bergamo, Italy. Under a microscope, several fish scales can be seen in the abdomen of the specimen -the remains of the pterosaur's last meal.

H. A different but equally impressive sight is the life-size model of Quetzalcoatlus northropi, which stares down at visitors in the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, California. It has a beak the size of a man and wings wider than those of many of the planes exhibited nearby. This pterosaur had wings over 11 meters wide, making it the largest flying animal ever known.

I. Quetzalcoatlus represents the height of pterosaur evolution. 'Unlike smaller pterosaurs, it could use natural currents to stay in the air without having to move its wings continuously,' said Paul MacCready, an aeronautical engineer. 'As pterosaurs got larger, they discovered the benefits of gliding on air currents, making use of a free energy source. With their hollow bones, these pterosaurs had a very light construction, ideal for such activity.'

J. As we walked beneath the Quetzalcoatlus model in Santa Monica, MacCready pointed out its similarity to sailplanes, the most efficient kind of aeroplanes. Both have long slender wings designed to fly with minimum power. During the flight, sailplane pilots routinely search for places where heat rises from the sun-baked earth, creating hot air currents called thermals. Undoubtedly, Quetzalcoatlus would have used thermals as well, lazily circling over the river deltas that once covered parts of Texas.

K. The triumphant reign of pterosaurs ended with this giant flyer. At the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago, a meteorite or comet slammed into the Earth. That calamity - and other events-wiped out roughly three-quarters of all species, including all pterosaurs and dinosaurs. But before their disappearance, pterosaurs enjoyed unequalled success. They flew into sunny skies before any other vertebrate. For 150 million years they sailed the winds on the strength of a fragile finger. What a glorious ride they had.

Questions 1-2

Answer the questions below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the Reading Passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 1 and 2 on your answer sheet.

1.  So far, evidence of a total of ...................... pterosaurs has been discovered.  
2.  The wings of Quetzalcoatlus measured more than ...................... across. 

Note completion Practice exercise 5

Answer Questions 1-7 which are based on the reading passage below.

There has always been a Sense Reading Answers

1. There has always been a sense in which America and Europe owned film. They invented it at the end of the nineteenth century in unfashionable places like New Jersey, Leeds and the suburbs of Lyons. At first, they saw their clumsy new camera-projectors merely as more profitable versions of Victorian lantern shows, mechanical curiosities which might have a use as a sideshow at a funfair. Then the best of the pioneers looked beyond the fairground properties of their invention. A few directors, now mostly forgotten, saw that the flickering new medium was more than just a diversion. This crass commercial invention gradually began to evolve as an art. D W Griffith in California glimpsed its grace, German directors used it as an analogue to the human mind and the modernising city, Soviets emphasised its agitational and intellectual properties, and the Italians reconfigured it on an operatic scale.
   
   
2. So heady were these first decades of cinema that America and Europe can be forgiven for assuming that they were the only game in town. In less than twenty years western cinema had grown out of all recognition; its unknowns became the most famous people in the world; it made millions. It never occurred to its financial backers that another continent might borrow their magic box and make it its own. But film industries were emerging in Shanghai, Bombay and Tokyo, some of which would outgrow those in the west.
   
   
3. Between 1930 and 1935, China produced more than 500 films, mostly conventionally made in studios in Shanghai, without soundtracks. China’s best directors – Bu Wancang and Yuan Muzhi – introduced elements of realism to their stories. The Peach Girl (1931) and Street Angel (1937) are regularly voted among the best ever made in the country.
   
   
4. India followed a different course. In the west, the arrival of talkies gave birth to a new genre – the musical – but in India, every one of the 5000 films made between 1931 and the mid-1950s had musical interludes. The films were stylistically more wide ranging than the western musical, encompassing realism and escapist dance within individual sequences, and they were often three hours long rather than Hollywood’s 90 minutes. The cost of such productions resulted in a distinctive national style of cinema. They were often made in Bombay, the centre of what is now known as ‘Bollywood’. Performed in Hindi (rather than any of the numerous regional languages), they addressed social and peasant themes in an optimistic and romantic way and found markets in the Middle East, Africa and the Soviet Union.
   
   
5. In Japan, the film industry did not rival India’s in size but was unusual in other ways. Whereas in Hollywood the producer was the central figure, in Tokyo the director chose the stories and hired the producer and actors. The model was that of an artist and his studio of apprentices. Employed by a studio as an assistant, a future director worked with senior figures, learned his craft, gained authority, until promoted to director with the power to select screenplays and performers. In the 1930s and 40s, this freedom of the director led to the production of some of Asia’s finest films.
   
   
6. The films of Kenji Mizoguchi were among the greatest of these. Mizoguchi’s films were usually set in the nineteenth century and analysed the way in which the lives of the female characters whom he chose as his focus were constrained by the society of the time. From Osaka Elegy (1936) to Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) and beyond, he evolved a sinuous way of moving his camera in and around a scene, advancing towards significant details but often retreating at moments of confrontation or strong feeling. No one had used the camera with such finesse before.
   
   
7. Even more important for film history, however, is the work of the great Ozu. Where Hollywood cranked up drama, Ozu avoided it. His camera seldom moved. It nestled at seated height, framing people square on, listening quietly to their words. Ozu rejected the conventions of editing, cutting not on action, as is usually done in the west, but for visual balance. Even more strikingly, Ozu regularly cut away from his action to a shot of a tree or a kettle or clouds, not to establish a new location but as a moment of repose. Many historians now compare such ‘pillow shots’ to the Buddhist idea that mu – empty space or nothing – is itself an element of composition.
   
   
8. As the art form most swayed by money and market, cinema would appear to be too busy to bother with questions of philosophy. The Asian nations proved and are still proving that this is not the case. Just as deep ideas about individual freedom have led to the aspirational cinema of Hollywood, so it is the beliefs which underlie cultures such as those of China and Japan that explain the distinctiveness of Asian cinema at its best. Yes, these films are visually striking, but it is their different sense of what a person is, and what space and action are, which makes them new to western eye.

Questions 6-12

Complete the notes below using the list of words (A-K) from the box below.
Write the correct letters in boxes 6-12 on your answer sheet.

Chinese cinema
large number of 6. …………………… films produced in 1930s
some early films are still generally regarded as 7. ……………………

Indian cinema
films included musical interludes
films avoided 8. …………………… 

Japanese cinema
unusual because the film director was very 9. …………………… 
two important directors:
Mizoguchi – focused on the 10. …………………… restrictions faced by women
– camera movement related to 11. …………………… content of film
Ozu – 12. …………………… camera movement

A. emotional	B. negative	C. expensive	D. silent	E. social
F. outstanding	G. Little	H. powerful	I. realistic	J. stylistic
K. economic

Note completion Practice exercise 6

Answer Questions 1-6 which are based on the reading passage below.

The rise and fall of British textile industry Reading Answers

1. Textile production in Britain can be said to have its roots as an industry at the beginning of the 18th century, when Thomas Crotchet and George Sorocold established what is thought to be the first factory built in Britain. It was a textile mill with a water wheel as its source of power, the latest machinery, and even accommodation for the workers. As well as possibly being the first sweatshop in the modern sense, it was the beginning of the end for traditional textile production.
2. For hundreds of years the spinning and weaving of cloth had been done manually by men, women and children in their own homes.The yarn would be combed and spun using a spindle, then woven on a hand loom, and what they produced would be mainly for local consumption.Technology far more sophisticated than the spindle and hand-loom would change all that.
3. The demand for cotton textiles had been growing since the Middle Ages, fostered by the importation of high quality cotton fabrics from the Middle East and India. So how were local producers to fight off the competition? The imported fabrics were of course expensive, so textile makers (not just in Britain but throughout Europe) produced mixed fabrics and cotton substitutes.They also had foreign textiles banned. But the key to the increased productivity needed to meet the demand, was machine production. It would be faster, cheaper and the finished products would be consistent in quality. Not least of the advantages was that it would allow manufacturers to market their goods on a large, if not yet global, scale.
4. The story of the growth of the British textile industry from about 1733 and for the next two hundred years is one of constant technological innovation and expansion. In 1733 John Kay invented the fly-shuttle, which made the hand-loom more efficient, and in 1764 James Hargreaves came up with the spinning jenny, which among other things had the effect of raising productivity eightfold. The next great innovator was Richard Arkwright, who in 1768 employed John Kay (of the fly-shuttle) to help him build more efficient machinery. He was a man with a vision – to mechanise textile production – and by 1782 he had a network of mills across Britain. As the water-powered machinery, though not yet fully mechanised, became more complex, Kay began to use steam engines for power. The first power-loom, however, which was invented in 1785 by Dr Edmund Cartwright, really did mechanise the weaving stage of textile manufacture.
5. The pace of growth quickened with the expansion of Britain’s influence in the world and the acquisition of colonies from which cheap raw materials could be imported. For example, in a single decade, from 1781 to 1791, imports of cotton into Britain quadrupled, going on to reach 100 million pounds in weight in 1815 and 263 million in 1830.The increase in exports is equally impressive; in 1751 £46,000 worth of cloth was exported and by the end of the century this had risen to £5.4 million. By the end of the 19th century the figure had soared to close on £50 million. Britain was now supplying cheaper and better quality clothing to a global market. Yet during the course of the 20th century Britain lost its position as a major textile manufacturer.
6. So what happened? There are a number of views on this question, not all of them conflicting, and where there is disagreement it is usually about when the decline began. Whether it began before the First World War (1914-18), or during the inter-war years (1919—1939), or after 1945, most economists would give roughly the same reasons. To start with, there was competition from abroad, especially from developing countries in the Far East, notably Japan. It was thought by manufacturers that the best way to combat this increased competition was to modernise. However, management and the labour unions were unable to agree on how to handle this situation.
7. Modernisation would mean people losing their jobs and possibly a change in labour practices. Such changes as were made served only to slow down the industry’s decline rather than help regain its predominant position. Economically less developed countries, on the other hand, had the advantage of being able to provide low wage competition, without the problem of powerful labour unions.
8. There are, of course, many other reasons for the textile industry’s decline, two of which became particularly noticeable in the late twentieth century and are related. The first is out­sourcing, when manufacturers establish factories in countries where there is cheap labour. This obviously leads to less demand for locally-produced goods. Related to this, the textile and clothing industries have acquired a bad reputation for exploiting workers, often illegal immigrants, in sweatshops where they are forced to work long hours and are paid far less than the minimum wage.
9. We seem to be back with Crotchet and Sorocold and their first live-in factory. The globalising trend of out-sourcing, however, was a rational response to the growing competition from overseas, which, it goes without saying, does not excuse the exploitation of workers. The British industry itself, while no longer holding a key place in the global textile market has adapted itself and now concentrates more on the world of fashion and design, where it seems to be doing quite well.

Questions 1-6

• Complete the notes below.
• Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Textile Manufacture
Early history
Begins as a cottage industry
Products hand-woven and made for 1._____________
Local producers face 2.____________  from overseas
Ways found to deal with situation
Imported fabrics 3.____________ , mixed cottons produced
Early technology
Machine production needed to 4.____________ for cotton fabrics
Improved technology (such as the fly-shuttle) more 5.__________  and productive
Machinery begins to be powered by 6.____________ 

Note completion Practice exercise 7

Answer Questions 1-7 which are based on the reading passage below.

Absenteeism in Nursing : A longitudinal study

Absence from work is a costly and disruptive problem for any organisation.

The cost of absenteeism in Australia has been put at 1.8 million hours per day or $1400 million annually. The study reported here was conducted in the Prince William Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, where,Ans for Q1 prior to this time, few active steps had been taken to measure, understand or manage the occurrence of absenteeism.

Nursing Absenteeism

A prevalent attitude amongst many nurses in the group selected for study was that Ans for Q2 there was no reward or recognition for not utilising the paid sick leave entitlement allowed them in their employment conditions. Therefore, they believed they may as well take the days off sick or otherwise. Similar attitudes have been noted by James Ans for Q5(1989), who noted that sick leave is seen by many workers as a right, like annual holiday leave.

Miller and Norton (1986), in their survey of 865 nursing personnel, found that 73 percent felt they should be rewarded for not taking sick leave because some employees always used their sick leave. Further, Ans for Q3 67 percent of nurses felt that the administration was not sympathetic to the problems shift work causes to employees' personal and social lives. Only 53 percent of the respondents felt that every effort was made to schedule staff fairly.

In another longitudinal study of nurses working in two Canadian hospitals, Hacket Bycio and Guion Ans for Q5(1989) examined the reasons why nurses were absent from work. The most frequent reason stated for absence was minor illness to self. Other causes, in decreasing order of frequency, were Ans for Q4 illness in the family, family social function, work to do at home, and bereavement.

Method

In an attempt to Ans for Q6 reduce the level of absenteeism amongst the 250 Registered and Enrolled Nurses in the present study, the Prince William Ans for Q7 management introduced three different, yet potentially complementary, strategies over 18 months.

Strategy 1: Non-financial (material) incentives

Within the established wage and salary system it was not possible to use hospital funds to support this strategy. However, it was possible to secure incentives from Ans for Q8 local businesses, including free passes to entertainment parks, theatres, restaurants, etc. At the end of each roster period, the ward with the lowest absence rate would win the prize.

Strategy 2 Flexible fair rostering

Where possible, staff were given the opportunity to determine their working Ans for Q9 schedule within the limits of clinical needs.

Strategy 3: Individual absenteeism and counselling

Each month, managers would analyse the pattern of absence of staff with Ans for Q10 excessive sick leave (greater than ten days per year for full-time employees). Characteristic patterns of potential Ans for Q11 'voluntary absenteeism' such as absence before and after days off, excessive weekend and night duty absence, and multiple single days off were communicated to all ward nurses and then, as necessary, followed up by action.

Results

Absence rates for the six months prior to the Incentive scheme ranged from 3.69 percent to 4.32 percent. In the following six months they ranged between 2.87 percent and 3.96 percent. This represents a Ans for Q12 20 percent improvement. However, analysing the absence rates on a year-to-year basis, the overall absence rate was 3.60 percent in the first year and 3.43 percent in the following year. This represents a 5 percent decrease from the first to the second year of the study. A significant decrease in absence over the two-year period could not be demonstrated.

Discussion

The non-financial incentive scheme did appear to assist in controlling absenteeism in the short term. As the scheme progressed it became harder to secure prizes and this contributed to the program's losing momentum and finally ceasing. There were mixed results across wards as well. For example, inwards with staff members who had a long-term genuine illness, there was little chance of winning, and to some extent, the staff on those wards were disempowered. Our experience would suggest that the long-term effects of incentive awards on absenteeism are questionable.

Over the time of the study, staff were given a larger degree of control over their rosters. This led to significant improvements in Ans for Q13 communication between managers and staff. A similar effect was found in the implementation of the third strategy. Many of the nurses had not realised the impact their behaviour was having on the organisation and their colleagues but there were also staff members who felt that talking to them about their absenteeism was 'picking' on them and this usually had a negative effect on management-employee relationships.

Conclusion

Although there has been some decrease in absence rates, no single strategy or combination of strategies has had a significant impact on absenteeism per se. Notwithstanding the disappointing results, it is our contention that the strategies were not in vain. Shared ownership of absenteeism and a collaborative approach to problem-solving has facilitated improved cooperation and communication between management and staff. It is our belief that this improvement alone, while not tangibly measurable, has increased the ability of management to manage the effects of absenteeism more effectively since this study.

Questions 1-6

• Complete the notes below.
• Choose ONE OR TWO WORDS from the passage, for each answer.
• Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

 In the first strategy, wards with the lowest absenteeism in different periods would win prizes donated by 1._______________.
In the second strategy, staff were given more control over their 2.__________.
In the third strategy, nurses who appeared to be taking 3.______________.
 sick leave or 4. ___________ were identified and counselled. Initially, there was a 5. _______ per cent decrease in absenteeism. The first strategy was considered ineffective and stopped. The second and third strategies generally resulted in better 6.___________ among staff.

Answers for Practice exercises

Here you will find the answers for practice exercise 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7.

Economic Apartheid Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. Unequal 

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - A new report from the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University shows that wealth creation is remarkable, one might say, criminally, unequal.

2. 85%

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - … and the richest 10 percent of adults accounted for 85% of the world total …

3. bottom half 

Explanation: Paragraph 2 - As to the world's lower class: the bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1 percent of global wealth, …

4.  10 million

Explanation: Paragraph 2 - ... that's over 10 million children killed by poverty every year! 

5. Gini value

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - The statistical measure of inequality is the Gini value, which measures inequality on a scale from zero (total equality) to one (complete inequality).

6. economic apartheid/ wealth inequality

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - Two high wealth economies, Japan and the United States, show very different patterns of wealth inequality,...
Japan has little economic apartheid compared to the U.S., yet both countries have a huge number of wealthy people.

7. personal freedom 

Explanation: Paragraph 6 -U.S. economic apartheid shows that a self-proclaimed great democracy with considerable personal freedom can risk deep social instability …

Weather Predictions Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. anchored floats/ buoys

Explanation: Paragraph 3 - Data from observations of atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind speed, wind direction, humidity, and precipitation are collected regularly through trained observers, automatic weather stations, or anchored floats or buoys.

2. Previous

Explanation: Paragraph 3 - Before making a forecast, meteorologists ... This means that at the start of the shift, forecasters glance at the weather patterns of the previous day.

3. movements

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - ... the weather forecasters begin with the larger movements in the atmosphere and then gradually move inwards to the smaller details.

4. space map

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - A surface map is a tool frequently used by meteorologists as it gives them an idea as to why a particular weather phenomenon is happening.

5. location

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - They can see the location of the key factors in the phenomenon such as cloud cover, precipitation, low pressure and high pressure as they study the map.

6. storm (system)

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - A storm system and its movement can be tracked by identifying the low-pressure areas, ...

7. computer models

Explanation: Paragraph 5 - In the next step of weather investigation, observations gathered from surveillance are recorded into the computer models.

A brief history of chocolate Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. milk

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - One of the three biggest processes to change the way in which chocolate was made and consumed was the addition of milk, instead of water, to chocolate.

2. bitterness

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - This idea, credited to Sir Hans Sloane, further reduced cacao bitterness and improved taste.

3. whole milk

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - Condensed and powdered milk eventually replaced whole milk, allowing for a smoother and far sweeter product than before;...

4. semi-solid

Explanation: Paragraph 2 - Another improvement in manufacturing came with the making of liquid chocolate into semi-solid edible bars,...

5. shelf-life

Explanation: Paragraph 2 - Another improvement in manufacturing came with the of liquid chocolate into semi-solid edible bars, allowing the item to become much more portable and not as perishable (solid chocolate has a shelf-life of about a year).

6. conching (method)

Explanation: Paragraph 3 - A third, and major, improvement in chocolate manufacturing of the conching method...

7. mixing (period)

Explanation: Paragraph 3 - A third, and major, improvement in chocolate manufacturing came with the discovery of the conching method - the mixing of chocolate over a period of several days ...who found out that a batch of chocolate left mixing for several days became smoother in texture and taste than one allowed to solidify immediately.

Pterosaurs Reading Answers

12. Answer: (over) a thousand

Explanation: Even though over a thousand pterosaur specimens are known today, such wing impressions remain rare. The given answer is located in the last 2 lines of paragraph E.

13. Answer: 11 meters/ meters/ eleven meters/ meters

Explanation: This pterosaur had wings over 11 meters wide, making it the largest flying animal ever known. The given answer is located in the last 2 lines of paragraph H.

There has always been a Sense Reading Answers