Previewing in IELTS Reading Test

Previewing mean quickly scanning a passage to get general idea before reading full. It like flipping book chapters to know main points without reading every word. Sometimes people also call it surveying because you survey the passage to get basic idea of structure and topics. Doing this help you find important parts for answering questions.

Example of Previewing: Grocery Shopping When You in Hurry

Imagine you enter big supermarket but you got little time. You dont walk all aisles, just stop at entrance and look around:

• You read signs above aisles: Snacks, Dairy, Spices, Produce.
• You quickly choose where go first based on what need.
• You plan route through store so dont waste time.

This is previewing; you not look for specific thing yet. You just try understand layout so shopping is faster and better.

The main benefit of previewing is it save time. You look quick at title, headings, subheadings, maybe bold words and highlighted text, and you get idea of main topics without reading every little detail. This give you roadmap of passage and help you focus on important parts when answer questions. Previewing also help you know structure of text and guess what info you need, make it easier to do questions fast.

To preview a passage, first look at the title it tells what the text is about. Then check the headings and subheadings they show main ideas and how the text is organized. Look at any pictures, charts, or diagrams they give quick ideas about the passage. Notice bold or underlined words because they show important words or keywords. Also read the first sentence of each paragraph it mostly tells the main idea. Doing this helps you understand the passage fast without reading every word and it helps in IELTS Reading.

Start with short articles or blog posts. Set a timer for two minutes and survey the text.
Task: Practice previewing the following short passage and answer the questions

The Concept of Role Theory

Role Set
A Any individual in any situation occupies a role in relation to other people. The particular individual with whom one is concerned in the analysis of any situation is usually given the name of focal person. He has the focal role and can be regarded as sitting in the middle of a group of people, with whom he interacts in some way in that situation. This group of people is called his role set. For instance, in the family situation, an individual’s role set might be shown as in Figure 6.

Figure 6

The role set should include all those with whom the individual has more than trivial interactions.

Role definition

B The definition of any individual’s role in any situation will be a combination of the role expectations that the members of the role set have of the focal role. These expectations are often occupationally denned, sometimes even legally so. The role definitions of lawyers and doctors are fairly clearly defined both in legal and in cultural terms. The role definitions of, say, a film star or bank manager, are also fairly clearly defined in cultural terms, too clearly perhaps.

C Individuals often find it hard to escape from the role that cultural traditions have defined for them. Not only with doctors or lawyers is the required role behaviour so constrained that if you are in that role for long it eventually becomes part of you, part of your personality. Hence, there is some likelihood that all accountants will be alike or that all blondes are similar - they are forced that way by the expectations of their role. 

D It is often important that you make it clear what your particular role is at a given time. The means of doing this are called, rather obviously, role signs. The simplest of role signs is a uniform. The number of stripes on your arm or pips on your shoulder is a very precise role definition which allows you to do certain very prescribed things in certain situations. Imagine yourself questioning a stranger on a dark street at midnight without wearing the role signs of a policeman!

In social circumstances, dress has often been used as a role sign to indicate the nature and degree of formality of any gathering and occasionally the social status of people present. The current trend towards blurring these role signs in dress is probably democratic, but it also makes some people very insecure. Without role signs, who is to know who has what role?

E Place is another role sign. Managers often behave very differently outside the office and in it, even to the same person. They use a change of location to indicate a change in role from, say, boss to friend. Indeed, if you wish to change your roles you must find some outward sign that you are doing so or you won’t be permitted to change - the subordinate will continue to hear you as his boss no matter how hard you try to be his friend. In very significant cases of role change, e.g. from a soldier in the ranks to officer, from bachelor to married man, the change of role has to have a very obvious sign, hence rituals. It is interesting to observe, for instance, some decline in the emphasis given to marriage rituals. This could be taken as an indication that there is no longer such a big change in role from single to married person, and therefore no need for a public change in sign.

In organisations, office signs and furniture are often used as role signs. These and other perquisites of status are often frowned upon, but they may serve a purpose as a kind of uniform in a democratic society; roles without signs often lead to confused or differing expectations of the role of the focal person. 

Role ambiguity

F Role ambiguity results when there is some uncertainty in the minds, either of the focal person or of the members of his role set, as to precisely what his role is at any given time. One of the crucial expectations that shape the role definition is that of the individual, the focal person himself. If his occupation of the role is unclear, or if it differs from that of the others in the role set, there will be a degree of role ambiguity. Is this bad? Not necessarily, for the ability to shape one’s own role is one of the freedoms that many people desire, but the ambiguity may lead to role stress which will be discussed later on. The virtue of j ob descriptions is that they lessen this role ambiguity. Unfortunately, job descriptions are seldom complete role definitions, except at the lower end of the scale. At middle and higher management levels, they are often a list of formal jobs and duties that say little about the more subtle and informal expectations of the role. The result is therefore to give the individual an uncomfortable feeling that there are things left unsaid, i. e. to heighten the sense of role ambiguity.

G Looking at role ambiguity from the other side, from the point of view of the members of the role set, lack of clarity in the role of the focal person can cause insecurity, lack of confidence, irritation and even anger among members of his role set. One list of the roles of a manager identified the following: executive, planner, policy maker, expert, controller of rewards and punishments, counsellor, friend, teacher. If it is not clear, through role signs of one sort or another, which role is currently the operational one, the other party may not react in the appropriate way — we may, in fact, hear quite another message if the focal person speaks to us, for example, as a teacher and we hear her as an executive. 

Instruction: Read the passage title and the subheadings, then answer the following multiple-choice questions.

Questions 1-6

1. How is the passage structured?
(A) It is a single continuous discussion without headings.
(B) It is divided into several sections with subheadings.
(C) It presents only definitions without explanations.
(D) It contains only bullet points and lists.

2. What additional element is included in the passage besides text?
(A) A photograph of people in different roles
(B) A table comparing role definitions
(C) A diagram labeled "Figure 6"
(D) A timeline of role theory development

3. What does the title The Concept of Role Theory suggest about the passage?
(A) It will explain how roles function in society and workplaces.
(B) It will describe the history of role-playing games.
(C) It will focus only on the psychological effects of different roles.
(D) It will analyze the roles of actors in the film industry.

4. Which of the following words appears in a special format in the passage?
(A) "Ambiguity" (bolded)
(B) "Focal person" (italicized)
(C) "Hierarchy" (underlined)
(D) "Manager" (capitalized in all letters)

5. Based on the subheadings (e.g., Role Set, Role Definition, Role Ambiguity), what can you predict about the passage?
(A) It will focus on legal definitions of roles in business.
(B) It will explain different aspects of how roles are defined and understood.
(C) It will criticize the idea of role theory in psychology.
(D) It will compare role theory to other learning methods.

6. Which section is most likely to discuss difficulties or confusion related to roles?
(A) Role Set
(B) Role Definition
(C) Role Ambiguity
(D) Role Success

7. Based on the first two sentences of the passage, what can you predict about its focus?

"Any individual in any situation occupies a role in relation to other people. The particular individual with whom one is concerned in the analysis of any situation is usually given the name of focal person."

(A) The passage will explain different types of social roles and how they interact.
(B) The passage will discuss leadership styles in organizations.
(C) The passage will focus on the history of human behavior studies.
(D) The passage will compare cultural differences in social roles.

Skimming is reading fast to catch main idea of passage. You look first and last sentence of paragraph and move quick to get flow. Scanning is bit different. You look for small details like date, name, fact without reading all. This is good for IELTS Reading questions like True/False/Not Given or Multiple Choice, where you need info fast. Previewing is more about seeing structure. It help you know how passage is put and what each part probably talk about. It is about framework not small details yet.

Common mistake is skipping title and headings because they give first clue. Ignore chart, graph, picture is also bad, they show key points fast. Getting stuck on small detail is mistake, remember preview is for big picture. Also don’t skip first sentence of paragraph because it mostly show main point of that section.