Language Test Mastery

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Muhammad Afzal

I’m Muhammad Afzal, founder of Language Test Mastery. I share clear strategies and resources to help students succeed in IELTS, PTE, and other English exams with confidence.

  • IELTS Reading Practice .highlight { background-color:yellow; } body { font-family: ‘Lato’,’Calibri’,’Gill Sans’,’Trebuchet MS’,sans-serif; margin: 3px; line-height: 1.35; font-size: 17px; } table, th,td { text-align: left; vertical-align: middle; padding: 3px; font-size: 16px; } .wide-cell { width: 200px; /* make it wider */ height: 30px; /* make it taller */ } .tab { margin-left: 40px; /* shifts everything inside */ } .small-image { width: 450px; height: auto; } h2 { background-color:greenyellow; padding:3px; text-align:center; border-radius:20px; } h3 { background-color:none; padding:2px; text-align:center; border-radius:none; color: red; font-weight: bolder;font-size: 22px;} h4 { background-color:aquamarine; padding:2px; text-align:center; border-radius:20px; } .container { display:flex; height:80vh; } .left,.right { flex:1; overflow-y:auto; padding:10px; box-sizing:border-box; text-align:justify; } .left { border-right:2px solid #ccc; } select,input[type=”text”] { font-size:16px; border:none; border-bottom: 2px solid red; outline:none; margin-left:5px; color: blue; font-weight:bolder; border-radius:6px; text-align: center; /* centers text */ text-align-last: center; } ul { list-style-type: square; /* bullet style */ padding-left: 20px; /* space from the left */ border: solid black; } input[type=”text”] { width:175px; text-transform:uppercase; } .yellow-box { background-color:yellow; padding:5px; margin-top:20px; font-weight:bold; text-align:center; border-radius:20px; } .tab-buttons { text-align:left; margin:10px 0; } .tab-buttons button { background:green; color:white; border:none; padding:10px 20px; margin:2px; border-radius:8px; cursor:pointer; font-weight:bold; } .tab-buttons button.active { background:darkred; } .tab-content { display:none; } .tab-content.active { display:block; } .circle-number { width: 25px; height: 25px; background: green; color: white; border-radius: 50%; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; }
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    Student Information

    Student Name: Father’s Name:
    Passage 1 <!—- Passage 2 Passage 3 –>

    Reading Passage 1

    You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 – 13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

    Palladio – Italian Architect

    A new exhibition celebrates Palladio’s architecture 500 years on

    A: Vicenza is a pleasant, prosperous city in the Veneto, 60km west of Venice. Its grand families settled and farmed the area from the 16th century. But its principal claim to fame is Andrea Palladio, who is such an influential architect that a neoclassical style is known as Palladian. The city is a permanent exhibition of some of his finest buildings, and as he was born – in Padua, to be precise – 500 years ago, the International Centre for the Study of Palladio’s Architecture has an excellent excuse for mounting la grande Mostra, the big show

    B: The exhibition has the special advantage of being held in one of Palladio’s buildings, Palazzo Barbaran da Porto. Its bold façade is a mixture of rustication and decoration set between two rows of elegant columns. On the second floor, the pediments are alternately curved or pointed, a Palladian trademark. The harmonious proportions of the atrium at the entrance lead through to a dramatic interior of fine fireplaces and painted ceilings. Palladio’s design is simple, clear and not over-crowded. The show has been organised on the same principles, according to Howard Burns, the architectural historian who co-curated it.

    C: Palladio’s father was a miller who settled in Vicenza, where the young Andrea was apprenticed to a skilled stonemason. How did a humble miller’s son become a world-renowned architect? The answer in the exhibition is that, as a young man, Palladio excelled at carving decorative stonework on columns, doorways and fireplaces. He was plainly intelligent, and lucky enough to come across a rich patron, Gian Giorgio Trissino, a landowner and scholar, who organised his education, taking him to Rome in the 1540s, where he studied the masterpieces of classical Roman and Greek architecture and the work of other influential architects of the time, such as Donato Bramante and Raphael.

    D: Burns argues that social mobility was also important. Entrepreneurs, prosperous from agriculture in the Veneto, commissioned the promising local architect to design their country villas and their urban mansions. In Venice, the aristocracy was anxious to co-opt talented artists, and Palladio has given the chance to design the buildings that have made him famous – the churches of San Giorgio Maggiore and the Redentore, both easy to admire because they can be seen from the city’s historical centre across a stretch of water.

    E: He tried his hand at bridges – his unbuilt version of the Rialto Bridge was decorated with the large pediment and columns of a temple – and, after a fire at the Ducal Palace, he offered an alternative design which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Banqueting House in Whitehall in London. Since it was designed by Inigo Jones, Palladio’s first foreign disciple, this is not as surprising as it sounds.

    F: Jones, who visited Italy in 1614, bought a trunk full of the master’s architectural drawings; they passed through the hands of Dukes of Burlington and Devonshire before settling at the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1894. Many are now on display at Palazzo Barbaran. What they show is how Palladio drew on the buildings of ancient Rome as models. The major theme of both his rural and urban building was temple architecture, with a strong pointed pediment supported by columns and approached by wide steps.

    G: Palladio’s work for rich landowners alienates unreconstructed critics on the Italian left, but among the papers in the show are designed for cheap housing in Venice. In the wider world, Palladio’s reputation has been nurtured by a text he wrote and illustrated, “Quattro Libri dell’ Architettura”. His influence spread to St Petersburg and to Charlottesville in Virginia, where Thomas Jefferson commissioned a Palladian villa he called Monticello.

    H: Vicenza’s show contains detailed models of the major buildings and is leavened by portraits of Palladio’s teachers and clients by Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto; the paintings of his Venetian buildings are all by Canaletto, no less. This is an uncompromising exhibition; many of the drawings are small and faint, and there are no sideshows for children, but the impact of harmonious lines and satisfying proportions is to impart in a viewer a feeling of benevolent calm. Palladio is history’s most therapeutic architect.

    I: “Palladio, 500 Anni: La Grande Mostra” is at Palazzo Barbaran da Porto, Vicenza, until January 6th 2009. The exhibition continues at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, from January 31st to April 13th, and travels afterwards to Barcelona and Madrid.

    Reading Passage 1 Ends Here

    Questions (Passage 1)

    Questions 1-7

    Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
    In boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet write

    TRUE: If the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
    FALSE: If the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
    NOT GIVEN: If it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

    1- The building where the exhibition is staged has been newly renovated —Select— TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

    2- Palazzo Barbaran da Porto typically represent the Palladio’s design —Select— TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

    3- Palladio’s father worked as an architect. —Select— TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

    4- Palladio’s family refused to pay for his architectural studies —Select— TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

    5- Palladio’s alternative design for the Ducal Palace in Venice was based on an English building. —Select— TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

    6- Palladio designed both wealthy and poor people. —Select— TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

    7- The exhibition includes paintings of people by famous artists —Select— TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

    Questions 8-13

    Answer the questions below
    Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
    Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet

    8- What job was Palladio training for before he became an architect?

    9- Who arranged Palladio’s architectural studies?

    10- Who was the first non-Italian architect influenced by Palladio?

    11- What type of Ancient Roman buildings most heavily influenced Palladio’s work?

    12- What did Palladio write that strengthened his reputation?

    13- In the writer’s opinion, what feeling will visitors to the exhibition experience?

    Questions for Passage 1 End Here

    Reading Passage 2

    You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14 – 26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

    Reading Passage 2 Ends Here

    Questions (Passage 2)

    Questions for Passage 2 End Here

    Reading Passage 3

    Reading Passage 3 Ends Here

    Questions (Passage 3)

    Questions for Passage 3 End Here
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  • Academic IELTS writing task 1 is also called as report writing.

    Types:

    During academic IELTS writing task 1 students are asked to write a report of minimum 150 words in 20 minutes of allowable time.

    There are seven different types of diagrams provided to write a report in writing task 1.

    • Bar graph
      • Can show comparisons across categories or time.
      • Useful for describing highest/lowest figures and contrasts.
      • Example: Percentage of smokers in different countries.
    • Line Graph
      • Show changes/trends over time.
      • Use time expressions (e.g., in 2000, over the next decade, peaked at, declined steadily).
      • Example: Internet users from 2000–2020.
    • Pie Chart
      • Show proportions/percentages of a whole.
      • Use vocabulary: “accounted for,” “comprised,” “made up.”
      • Example: Energy sources in 2020.
    • Table Chart
      • Contain numerical data in rows/columns.
      • Similar to bar/line graphs but require clear comparisons and grouping.
      • Example: Population growth in 5 cities from 1990 to 2010.
    • Map / Layout
      • Show changes in locations, layouts, or land use.
      • Use location prepositions (north of, adjacent to, replaced by, expanded).
      • Example: A town in 1990 vs. 2010.
    • Process Diagram / Flow Chart
      • Show steps in a natural or man-made process.
      • Use passive voice (e.g., “The mixture is heated,” “Water is filtered”).
      • Example: How coffee is produced / Life cycle of a butterfly.
    • Mix Diagram
      • Combination of 2 or more visuals (e.g., bar + line graph, table + pie chart).
      • You must connect and compare both sources of data.
      • Example: Line graph of population + pie chart of age groups.

    Summary:

    TypeWhat to DoKey Language
    Line GraphShow trends over timerose, fell, peaked, remained steady
    Bar ChartCompare categorieshigher than, the lowest, in contrast
    TableCompare numbersaccounted for, a small increase
    Pie ChartShow proportionsmade up, represented, majority/minority
    MapDescribe changes in layoutreplaced by, expanded, to the north of
    ProcessExplain steps/stagesfirst, then, subsequently, finally
    Mixed GraphCombine two sourcesoverall, whereas, in comparison

  • IELTS Task 1 is called report writing for Academic IELTS. There are some important points to keep in mind if you are going to write a report.

    Important Points:

    To write a good report you must keep following things in mind;

    1. Allowable number of words
    2. Allowable time to complete the report
    3. Recommended structure and layout of the report.
    1. Allowable Number of words:

    For the IELTS Academic Writing Task 1, there is no specific “allowable length of words” for individual words. The focus is on the overall word count of the report. The instruction is to write at least 150 words.

    There is no penalty for writing more than 150 words, as long as the content is relevant and well-organized. However, it’s not a good idea to write excessively long reports (e.g., over 200 words) as it may take up too much time, which is better spent on other tasks. The ideal word count is usually between 160 and 190 words.

    The key is to use appropriate vocabulary and sentence structures to describe the given chart, graph, table, or diagram accurately and effectively. Don’t worry about the length of individual words; focus on the overall quality and clarity of your writing.

    Allowable time to complete the report:

    For the IELTS Writing test, you are given a total of 60 minutes to complete two tasks.

    • Writing Task 1: You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on this task.
    • Writing Task 2: You are advised to spend about 40 minutes on this task.

    Task 2 is worth twice as many points as Task 1, so it’s important to allocate your time effectively. While these are recommended times, you are in control of your own timing within the 60-minute window. It’s a good strategy to stick to the recommended times to ensure you have enough time to complete both tasks adequately.

    Recommended structure and layout of the report.

    The recommended structure for an IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 report is a clear, four-paragraph layout.

    A. Introduction

    The introduction should be one to two sentences long. It’s simply a paraphrase of the question. You should rephrase the information given in the prompt, stating what the graph, chart, or diagram shows. .

    For Example, “The given line graph elucidate the …………………………………………..”

    B. Overview

    This is the most important paragraph of your report. It should also be two to three sentences long. The overview provides a general summary of the main trends or key features of the data without going into specific details. Look for the most significant changes, the highest or lowest points, and any overall trends. Do not include any numbers or data here; just describe the overall picture.

    C. Detailed Paragraph 1

    In this paragraph, you’ll provide specific data to support one or two of the key features you mentioned in the overview. Group related information together. For example, if you are describing a line graph, you might focus on the data for the first half of the period here, including specific years and figures.

    D. Detailed Paragraph 2

    This final paragraph will cover the remaining key features and supporting data. Continue to use specific numbers, percentages, and dates to back up your points. This is where you would describe the data for the second half of the period or compare different categories.


    Key Points for the Layout:

    • Four paragraphs: Introduction, Overview, Detailed Paragraph 1, Detailed Paragraph 2.
    • No conclusion: Unlike a Task 2 essay, you do not need a concluding paragraph. Your overview serves as the conclusion.
    • Clear paragraphs: Each paragraph should have a clear purpose and be separated by a line space.
    • Word Count: Aim for 150-190 words to ensure you’ve covered everything without writing too much.
  • IELTS READING:

    For professionals, a high score on the IELTS Reading section is more than just a requirement; it’s a testament to their ability to navigate the demands of a global workplace. Here’s why these skills are so crucial:

    Important Skills for IELTS Reading

    To achieve a high score in the IELTS Reading test, it’s not enough to simply be a good reader. You need to develop specific skills and strategies tailored to the test’s unique format and demands.

    Skimming:

    This is the ability to read a text quickly to get a general idea of its content and structure. You should be able to skim a passage to understand the main topic of each paragraph, often by reading the title, headings, and the first and last sentences of each paragraph. This skill is crucial for questions like “Matching Headings.”

    Scanning:

    This involves reading a text quickly to locate specific pieces of information. This could be a name, a date, a number, a specific phrase, or a keyword mentioned in a question. Scanning helps you find the section of the text that contains the answer without having to read the entire passage word-for-word.

    Reading for Detail:

    Once you’ve used skimming and scanning to locate the relevant section of the text, you need to read that part carefully to understand the details and find the precise answer. This is where you focus on the nuances of the language, the author’s opinion, and the specific facts presented.

    Understanding Paraphrasing and Synonyms:

    A key challenge in the IELTS Reading test is that the questions rarely use the exact words from the passage. You must be able to recognize when a question is paraphrasing a sentence or using synonyms to express the same idea. A strong vocabulary is essential for this skill.

    Essential Strategies

    For IELTS reading some important strategies are very important like;

    Time Management:

    The IELTS Reading test has a strict 60-minute time limit for 40 questions across three passages. This works out to approximately 20 minutes per passage. You need to be able to work quickly and efficiently. Don’t spend too long on a single question; if you get stuck, move on and come back to it later.

    Reading the Questions First:

    A highly effective strategy is to read the questions for a passage before you read the passage itself. This helps you know what information to look for as you skim and scan the text, making your search more targeted and efficient.

    Analyzing Question Types:

    There are a variety of question types in the IELTS Reading test, including:

    1. True/False/Not Given
    2. Yes/No/Not Given
    3. Matching Headings
    4. Matching Information to Paragraphs
    5. Sentence Completion
    6. Summary Completion
    7. Multiple Choice

    Each question type requires a slightly different approach. Practicing each type and understanding its specific requirements is vital for success. For example, True/False/Not Given questions require you to distinguish between information that is explicitly stated, contradicted, or not mentioned at all.

    Identifying Keywords:

    Learn to identify the keywords in the questions—the nouns, verbs, dates, and names—that will help you locate the corresponding information in the passage. This is a crucial part of the scanning process.

    Don’t Try to Understand Everything:

    A common mistake is to try to understand every single word in the passage. This is not necessary and will waste valuable time. Your goal is to find the answers to the questions, not to become an expert on the topic. Focus on the words and sentences that are relevant to the questions you need to answer.