Table of Contents
BEST IELTS General Reading Test 497
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 497 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 497
READING PASSAGE – 2
How to Deliver a Good Professional Presentation
1. Your passion is contagious. Be passionate about your topic. Show it in your body language. Bring out the energy through your voice and modulations. Even when you have the best of the slides it’s your energy and enthusiasm which will mark up a good presentation.”
2. As a presenter what you perform in the first 3 minutes lays the foundation for your entire presentation. You should get a strong start. The best way to engage the audience is with a strong problem statement which they can relate to. This will get their attention from the beginning. One should avoid boring monologues, particularly the ones which are long self-introductions.
IELTS General Reading Test
3. Remember that the best of the audience do not exceed an attention span of more than 30 minutes. So a short and sharp presentation is more effective than one which is long and cramped. The audience attention is best at the beginning and at the conclusion of your presentation. It is always better to finish the presentation a little ahead of time which leaves the audience needing more of you.
4. Move away from being stuck to the podium. Get away from the podium if that is stopping you from interacting closely with your audience. The goal of the presenter is to connect with the audience and the podium should not be a barrier. 1 reason for presenters to stay at the podium is to move the slides. Use technology. Get yourselves a remote presenter. This frees you from the need to stay at the laptop to move the slides.
IELTS General Reading Test
5. Note that as a presenter you are competing for attention with your own visual slides. Audiences are most prone to read the slide when you are presenting. So learn to mute or blank the slides when you are making an important argument. This brings full attention back to your speech. If you are using Microsoft PowerPoint pressing the ‘B’ key will blank the slide. You can also rely on the AV mute button on the projector remote to achieve this as well.
Questions 15-19
The paragraphs are numbered 1-5. Choose the correct Heading from A-G and write in boxes 15-19 of the sample reading answer sheet. There are more headings than paragraphs.
A. Cover the stage
B. Begin with a bang
C. Using anecdotes
D. Using blank screen effectively
E. Less is More
F. Be Passionate
G. Eye contact
IELTS General Reading Test
Read the text below and answer questions 20-24.
Interpersonal skills
No man is an island. We are highly dependent on fellow human beings to lead our lives. Having said so, the success in our lives depends on our skills to build cordial and mutually beneficial relationships with fellow human beings. It takes effort to build such relationships. Differences exist in all spheres and we need to negotiate from time to time with various members we interact with. Starting from our own family members to others in our social circle, our skills help us build a harmonious and fruitful relationship.
This set of skills is largely labelled as ‘interpersonal skills. These are an array of skills. Before we dive deep into the various aspects of this skill set, let us understand the critical need for them.
IELTS General Reading Test
Benefits of good interpersonal skills
• Positive environment which leads to happiness and harmony among people
• Increased trust leading to lesser frictions
• Achievement of both individual and collective goals without compromise
• Higher productivity among team members
• Better growth prospects professionally
• Increased customers in case of businesspersons
• A very large and healthy network of friends and professionals to connect with
• Less stress in life leading to better health
IELTS General Reading Test
The building blocks of your interpersonal skills
Rapport: Rapport is about making yourselves being liked by others; this in turn helps in furthering your interactions with them. A typical person with excellent rapport skills will be able to start a casual conversation with a stranger in a party and even make a friend out of them during the same party. An excellent sales person will make the customer feel at ease before the start of the actual product presentation, thus winning the customer’s confidence at the outset.
A pre-existing rapport between colleagues helps them discuss and negotiate; and arrive at beneficial solutions with less friction.
IELTS General Reading Test
Negotiation: It is the ability of the person to go through challenges of resource sharing and-arrive at a win-win solution with less time and effort. We all negotiate. A teenager negotiates with parents for more hobby time by agreeing on minimum study hours and grades. The workers negotiate with the management for a better pay package and promise to deliver more productivity. The government negotiates with other governments for trade pacts. A good negotiator is one who makes a mutually agreeable solution with benefits to both parties involved in the negotiation.
Decision-Making: A non-emotional, non-judgemental mindset is the key to effective decision making. A wrong decision involving people may hamper the relationships and may lead to loss of trust. A person with good interpersonal skills will arrive at decisions more effectively, avoiding pitfalls, like emotional filters and personal bias.
IELTS General Reading Test
Assertiveness: Being able to negotiate and make the right decisions, also calls for one to be very assertive. By assertive, we mean the ability to communicate clearly without being hassled during hard negotiations. It is the ability to communicate hard decisions. It is the ability to say “No”
On the other end, if a person becomes either submissive or aggressive, it will deteriorate the relationship and lead to more resistance to ideas.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 20-24
Choose the correct letter.
20. Benefits of good interpersonal skills
A. Producing higher number of team members
B. Lessening conflicts by increasing trust
C. Stress less life leading to better health
21. Building blocks of interpersonal skills
A. First is to interact with people and then build a rapport
B. Colleagues will create a lot of friction if there is a preexisting rapport
C. Winning the customer’s trust and then selling the product is ideal
IELTS General Reading Test
22. Negotiation
A. Negotiation is challenging a situation and arriving at a win-win solution
B. A successful negotiation benefits both the parties
C. Teenagers negotiate with their parents for minimum study and grades
23. Decision-making
A. While making decisions, emotions and judgements should not play a role
B. Emotional filters and personal bias aid decision making
C. Being assertive during decision making is not a good trait
IELTS General Reading Test
24. Assertiveness
A. Being aggressive is very important for making decisions
B. Hard negotiation skills can be made through good communication skills
C. People will accept one’s ideas if one is submissive.
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS
15. F
16. B
17. E
18. A
19. D
20. B
21. C
22. B
23. A
24. B
IELTS General Reading Test