Multiple Choice Single Answer:

• Remember this is a low-scoring task with only 2 or 3 marks.

Multiple Choice Single Answer accentuates the test-taker knowledge of a topic sentence and the ability to understand the prompt types. There will be 2 or 3 of this type of question on the exam and you receive 1 mark for a correct answer and zero marks for an incorrect answer. The reading texts are approximately up to 110 words long and you will have between 3 to 5 answer options.

Read the prompt first and try to understand what it is asking of you. There are 5 types of questions I have identified:

What is the main idea of the paragraph?

What is the purpose of the text?

According to the text…?

What can be inferred from the text?

According to the author…?

 

The topic sentence of a paragraph should include a topic and a controlling idea. For example:

(Elephants) + [use their trunks in many ways].

(Topic)     +        (Controlling idea)

It is the controlling idea that is supported in ‘support sentences’:

First, elephants can use their trunks to drink water. = support sentence

This is a support sentence as it suggests one-way elephants use their trunk, which supports the controlling idea.

Usually, an example is given that acts as an exemplar for the support sentence.

For example, elephants draw water up their truck at watering holes then place the end of their trunk in their mouth, and then release the water to drink.

An academic paragraph usually has a form like this:

• Topic sentence

1. Support sentence

Detail- (empirical evidence, quotes from experts in a particular field, or an example)

2. Support sentence

Detail- (empirical evidence, quotes from experts in a particular field, or an example)

3. Support sentence

Detail- (empirical evidence, quotes from experts in a particular field, or an example)

• Concluding sentence

Elephants use their trucks in many ways. First, elephants can use their trunks to drink water. For example, elephants draw water up their truck at watering holes, and place the end of their trunk in their mouth and then release the water to drink. Another way an elephant can use its trunk is to hold things. Elephants are capable of pulling branches off trees with their trunk in order to eat the tree’s leaves. Finally, elephants can use their trunk to smell. Many elephants extend their trunk high into the air above their heads to smell, which can help locate food or other animals. So, as you can see, an elephant’s trunk is an important tool for its survival.

 

For Multiple Choice Single Answer, test-takers will be asked to focus upon different parts of a paragraph.  When asked for the ‘main idea’ of a paragraph, the test-taker should look for the topic sentence of the paragraph and read it closely because the answer option will use synonymous language or language that uses different words to represent the same meaning found in the text. Thus, by locating the topic sentence, the controlling idea will be the main idea (when you are the writer, you write the controlling idea; when you are the reader, the controlling idea is the main idea!

When asked to find ‘the purpose of the text’, the test-taker should focus on the examples given because the text may not have a topic sentence. The text then will just list examples and the examples will then have to be put into a category that will be listed as one of the possible answers.

When the prompt says ‘According to the text’ the test-taker will have to read the text and then look to the answer options and eliminate one-by-one the options until you find one that is correct.

When the ‘what can be inferred’ from the text is asked, the test-taker has to make an inference or a logical/educated conclusion, based on what they have just read. The evidence in the text should lead to a fairly obvious conclusion that will be in one of the answer options.

• Remember, only make inferences when asked to on the PTE as many answers throughout the reading section will attempt to mislead you with a future leading conclusion.
• Always find ‘support’ in the text for the answer option you will choose.

Finally, when the prompt asks you ‘According to the author’, you are being asked what ‘the narrator’ of the text believes or the narrator’s point of view (we will assume that you will only receive non-fiction paragraphs which means the author and the narrator are the same). This can be a little tricky because the author’s opinion is sometimes veiled through other examples from different voices in the text. Also, at times, you may have to think about all the examples given and conclude what the author’s opinion is. Opinions, like the detail mentioned above, have to be supported. In this world we support our opinions through empirical evidence (statistics), quotes from experts in the field, or by explicit examples.

Read the text and answer the multiple-choice question by selecting the correct response. Only one response is correct.

Hudson’s Bay is famous for its seasonal scenery. It is located in northern Ontario and northwest of Quebec and is home to many small islands, hundreds of species of fish and mollusks, and communities of native fishermen and their families. In Iroquois, ‘Hudson’s Bay’ means ‘changeling’ and it references a legend in which animals changed into giants and protected the native Indian people of the Hudson Bay area. Arrowheads fell from the changeling’s mouths onto the land which allowed the natives to create arrows and defend themselves. The changelings eventually settled on the land taking on human form. The legend says the native people today are all descendants of the changelings.

The answer options are:

According to the author:

1. Changelings defended Hudson’s Bay area.
2. Native people descended from changelings.
3. Hudson’s Bay is an ideal destination for tourists.
4. Hudson’s Bay, in Iroquois, is named after a native legend.

 

In the example above, the deception in these types of questions lies in the narrator’s use of an unreal example (the legend) mixed with real-world truths. The answer options try and mislead you into finding what you are looking for in the text, but the narrator was citing ‘a legend’ not a real-world example. In other words, the ‘author’ never says ‘changelings defended Hudson’s Bay’; rather, it was a ‘myth’ the author was using – the myth is the native Indian’s; the author was quoting/summarizing a legend/myth – the myth was not ‘according to the author’. The last answer is correct: Hudson’s Bay, in Iroquois, is named after a native legend. The first two answers reference the legend – not the author’s point of view, and the third response is incorrect because the author never directly states Hudson’s Bay is an ideal destination for tourists though it has stunning beauty and serenity.

Remember, in Tasks that begin ‘According to the author,’ there may be deception being used to hide the authorial perception or view. You will probably get this type of prompt on the exam.

 

Read the text and answer the multiple-choice question by selecting the correct response. Only one response is correct.

Is English a tsunami, washing away other languages? Not likely. English is the world’s second language. Your native language is your life. But with English, you can become part of a wider conversation — a global conversation about global problems, like climate change or poverty, or hunger or disease. The world has other universal languages. Mathematics is the language of science. Music is the language of emotions. And now English is becoming the language of problem-solving. Not because America is pushing it, but because the world is pulling it.

According to the passage, English has become the language of: A. erasing other languages. B. mathematics. C. emotions. D. science. E. problem-solving.

Walker, J. (2009, February). The World’s English Mania. Retrieved January 26, 2020, from https://www.ted.com/talks/jay_walker_the_world_s_english_mania/transcript?language=en

 

In the example above the prompt is simply asking ‘according to the passage’, English has become the language of:’; and you are asked to complete the sentence. This example is straightforward and easy as this task gets on the exam.  You just eliminate each answer option by reading through the text and then find the only option, and there will only be one, that is correct. Answer A. is wrong because this is found in the text in the question from – a question the author/writer/narrator or text hopes to answer. Again, the meaning of the words does not add up to ‘English is a language that ‘erases other languages’. B. and D. are found in the text but the context is that math and science are different languages that ‘the world’ uses. C. is wrong because it is not even mentioned in the text. Finally, E is the correct answer because the text directly states: “English is becoming the language of problem-solving”. If you get the maximum number of 3 of these task on the exam, you will probably get one that begins: According to the passage.

Remember: ‘According to the passage’ means to look for a one-to-one correspondence from answer options to the text and eliminate – there will only be one correct answer.

However, these types of prompts can be slightly more difficult.

Read the text and answer the multiple-choice question by selecting the correct response. Only one response is correct.

A system of barter and trade is believed to have spread across the world in prehistoric times before the advent of money. To make this system work it was necessary for two parties to agree on goods and services to be traded. For example, animal skins may have been traded for axes or other tools. The exact quantity and quality of the goods were up for negotiation. These traded goods served as the medium of exchange even though the unit values were still negotiable. The system still survives today in some parts of the globe and has even become fashionable in some urban neighborhoods.

According to the text: A.      money is obsolete. animal skins are still traded for axes. some city dwellers today are part of a barter economy. issues related to quality and quantity have now been resolved.        fashionable clothes and other items are commonly traded in urban areas today

Beattie, A. (2019, May 13). The History of Money. Retrieved January 26, 2020, from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/roots_of_money.asp

A close reading of the text above produces C. as the correct answer because all other answers; though perhaps mentioned in the text, are NOT directly stated in the text. The other answers want you to make quick assumptions or inferences and then choose that answer. At A., the text never says ‘money is obsolete’ – and how can it be if it has never been invented? At B., the verb in the text is ‘may have been traded‘ is used to suggest this possibility, but in the answer options B, it states that animal skins ‘are still traded’ which suggests it is confirmed! AT D., it does not say in the text ‘issues related to quality and quantity have been resolved’; rather, it says values were negotiable. And in E, fashionable clothes do not have the same meaning as ‘fashionable’ in the text. All of the answer options but C. are incongruent between the text and the answer option.

 

Read the text and answer the multiple-choice question by selecting the correct response. Only one response is correct.

‘The purpose of the text’ with statistics

Drivers with experience using advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) like adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assist, were nearly twice as likely to engage in distracted driving while using the systems compared to when they were driving without the systems. Drivers conversing on mobile devices, either hands-free or hand-held are up to four times as likely to be involved in a crash. 80% of collisions and 65% of near-crashes have some form of driver inattention as contributing factors. Driver distraction is a factor in about 4 million motor vehicle crashes in North America each year. 10% of fatal crashes, 18% of injury crashes, and 16% of all police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes were distraction-affected crashes.

The purpose of this text is to illustrate: A. 4 million accidents occur every year in North America. B. drivers in North America excel at driving. C. driver inattention is responsible for 84 percent of all police-reported fatalities. D. distracted drivers are not the cause of many accidents on the road. E. statistics that support distracted driving is dangerous

Here are some additional surprising statistics on distracted driving and its consequences. (2020, January). Retrieved January 26, 2020, from https://www.caa.ca/distracted-driving/statistics/

In the example, above the correct answer option is E. since it is the statistics that help prove/illustrate that distracted driving is dangerous. All the other answer options attempt to demonstrate a single fact as with A. and C., or they attempt to make an inference that sums up the entire paragraph.

Remember: focus on answering the prompt; try not to get distracted:)

The main idea of a text is not always clearly stated. It is more difficult to identify the main idea when it is inferred or implied. It can be implied through other words in the paragraph.  By way of facts, statistics, quotes, and reasoning found in other words in a paragraph the main idea can be inferred.

Read the text and answer the multiple-choice question by selecting the correct response. Only one response is correct.

In France, doctors often give strong medicine to move blood to the brain. However, doctors in England do not think that is helpful. French doctors often worry about a patient’s liver and diet. But English doctors do not. And French doctors take stomach illnesses very seriously. They often give their patients magnesium, calcium, and vitamin D. But in England, doctors often say those stomach problems are not serious at all. They usually think the stomach problems are caused by worrying too much. French doctors are usually interested in trying out a variety of treatments. English doctors usually wait to see if the new treatments really work.

What can be inferred from the text?  A.      French and English doctors have different ideas about medical care. B.      French and English doctors have the same ideas about stomach problems. C.      French and English doctors have different ideas about specific treatments. D.      French and English doctors have the same ideas about treatments. E.      French and English doctors have different ideas about magnesium.

 

In the above example, answer option A. is correct by way of reasoning. The inference that French and English doctors have differing opinions about medical care can be derived from the comparisons being made in the text, whereas all other answer options deal with specific areas of difference. In this way, the inference is akin to a suitable topic sentence (topic + main idea) for the paragraph.