How Do I Answer True/False Questions?

Aim: This section will help you to answer true/false questions better in the reading test by giving you some useful strategies.

Problems: Many candidates look for a matching sentence in the reading passage for the true / false questions.

This section will show you how to look for sentences that mean the same, but are written differently from the questions.

DOs:

Underline keywords in the question.

Keywords are words that provide information, for example: names / times & dates numbers / negatives / adjectives / verbs / words that modify nouns such as some, a few, all, most.

Example:

Some students can enrol after the 18 September by registering at the main administration office on Peterson Street.

Think of words with the same, similar or opposite meanings.

When you have underlined the keywords, try to think of synonyms and antonyms for them.

DON’Ts:

Expect to find an exact match in the reading passage.

The reading test is to check your level of understanding of written English. It is not a test of your ability to “find the answer” in the passage.

Think that because a section or phrase has the same words as the question it means that it is true.

This is often a trick to confuse you. In such cases, look for modifiers or negatives. For example, most doesn’t mean the same as all and it would mean that the example question above would be false.

Tip: If you answer the other questions before the true/false, then you can answer them very quickly if you don’t have much time left because you can just write all ‘Ts’ or ‘Fs’ without reading the question or the passage. This way you get the answers written down in time and you will probably get between 20% and 50% of the answers correct.

Practice:

Follow the suggestions above and try to answer the following questions about the passage on climate change in Thailand.

The Earth will be between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees Fahrenheit hotter by 2100.

    It is very likely that there will be less beaches and coastal areas in the future.
    South East Asia is the most important ecological area in the world.
    In 1995 cement manufacturing in Thailand caused about 175,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
    Thailand’s geography has begun to alter due to climate changes.
    Rice production has been the major area affected within the agricultural sphere.
    Rainfall is less all year around.
    Over half of the damaged coral reefs will have grown again within five years.      

Impacts of Climate Change in Thailand

According to the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2001, the air temperature of the Earth will warm up about 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius by 2100 from prediction models. As for the sea level, it is projected to rise between 9 and 88 centimetres in the next century. This will affect most countries on the American and European Continents and most of the countries in South East Asia. A group of countries in South East Asia are defined as highly vulnerable by the assessment of the IPCC due to being one of the important natural ecological systems in the world. Thailand is a developing country and it is the country in South East Asia that lies between Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. It has many significant natural resources such as coastal areas, forests, minerals, fisheries, mangroves etc. Moreover, it is also one of the significant agricultural suppliers to the world especially rice productivity; hence, most of Thailand’s national income is from the agricultural sector. Tourism also plays a major role in Thailand’s earnings. In 1995, Thailand produced around 175 thousand tons of CO2 emissions from itss energy sector and from cement manufacturing. According to research on variations of surface air temperature by Dewan Abdul Quadir et al., it could be inferred that the air temperature of Thailand which was monitored from Bangkok (the capital of Thailand) showed warming approximately 0.02 degrees Celsius per year, and Bangkok is only about 2 metres above sea level. From this data, it suggests that Thailand has already started to suffer from changes in the climate. 

Impacts on the Agricultural Sector

Increasing temperatures and reduced precipitation has led to a reduction of crop productivity. The major exports from Thailand are agricultural products, therefore, the increasing air temperature and reducing rainfall is causing insufficient levels of moisture in the soil, less humidity in the atmosphere and reductions in the available water supply. This situation affects the growth of crop yields leading to the reduction of agricultural products, especially rice production. In addition, it causes economic losses as well. Not only does the reduction in precipitation effects the cultivated areas, but also intermittent periods of heavy rainfall causes flooding. In 1995, the rice yields were damaged by floods leading to a drop in rice productivity causing a loss of 2 million tons yield.

Impacts on the Tourism Sector
The tourism and recreation sectors in Thailand have also been effected by the influence of climate change. Low-lying beaches, islands, and coral reefs around islands have all been damaged by rising sea levels and heavier downpours than usual. As a case study, Phuket is currently one of the most popular islands located in the South West of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. Each year, a large number of tourists from abroad visit Phuket bringing with them much needed cash. Because Phuket is situated on the Andaman Sea, it is greatly affected by the Southwest monsoon and associated storms. The Southwest Monsoon season generally occurs in the May through October, it brings constant rain to this island especially in September. Therefore, the number of tourists in Phuket is low in this season because the popular sea activities such as snorkeling, diving, and sunbathing are not possible. In 1986, the shallow reef of Phuket was severely damaged from a harsh storm. Although the reefs can regenerate within five years, it can recover only up to around 50 percent. In the long term experts concur that the coastlines of places such as Phuket will be irredeemably damaged by the effects of climate change and will lead to a permanent reduction in tourism and the attendant revenue so important to the local communities. 

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