Reading for Viewpoints

This task is less about the topic and more about who thinks what. The text sets out more than one position on an issue. The positions may come from named people, groups, sources or the writer. The questions check whether you can keep them apart. You need to know whose view is whose, which side it takes, why the person holds it, how strongly they feel it, and what they suggest without saying it directly. Watch for answers that state a real opinion from the text but give it to the wrong person, or make it stronger or weaker than it is. Your job is to keep an accurate map of the voices and check every answer against that map.

Step by step

1. 1

   Name the issue as a question in your head

   As you start reading, turn the topic into a question with sides, such as whether something should change or stay the same. Every view in the text answers that question. With the question clear, you can quickly place each new voice as for, against or somewhere in between.

2. 2

   Label each voice as you meet it, including the writer

   Each time a new person, group or source appears, give it a quick label in your head: who it is, which side it takes, its main reason and how strongly it holds the view. Treat the writer as a separate voice, because reporting a view is not the same as agreeing with it. If the test allows notes, a very short tag for each voice is enough, but plan to work without them. A clear map at this stage makes every later question faster.

3. 3

   For each question, name the voice and go back only to its part

   Before you look at the answers, say to yourself whose view the question asks about. Then return only to the part of the text where that voice speaks or is described, not to the whole text. Expect the correct answer to use different words from the text. So compare meanings, not matching words.

4. 4

   Check person, direction and strength before you choose

   For the answer you favour, run three quick checks. Is it the right person, and not someone else who says something similar? Is it the right direction, for or against, with no condition dropped? Is it the right strength, not more certain or more absolute than the voice was? If the text gives no direct statement, look at what the voice criticizes, stresses or gives the last word to.

5. 5

   Answer everything, then recheck the uncertain ones

   Never leave a question blank while you move on. Choose your best answer and keep in mind which ones you felt unsure about. At the end, go back to those and check only the attribution: find the exact place where that person holds that view. Confirm nothing is blank before you leave the section, because you cannot return.

Using the time

At the start, read at a steady pace to find the issue, spot every voice and label each one with a side, a reason and a strength. Don't stop to solve anything yet, because a quick map makes the questions faster. Spend most of your time on the questions. For each one, name the voice and go back only to its part of the text. Save the end for answers you were unsure of, and check the attribution on those. Make sure nothing is blank before you leave the section. Questions that do not count are not marked, so give each question the same care.

What usually goes wrong

• Right opinion, wrong person

  An answer states a view that really is in the text, but it belongs to a different voice, or to a group the writer is only describing. To catch this, name the person the question asks about before you choose. Then point to the place where that person holds the view. If you can only find it under someone else's name, reject it.

  In your feedback: Wrong attribution

• Familiar words, changed meaning

  An answer repeats phrases from the text but flips the direction, joins parts of different views or drops a condition. Because the words look familiar, the answer feels safe. Ignore the echoed words for a moment and ask what the answer actually claims. Then compare that claim with what the voice said.

  In your feedback: Partial match

• A cautious view turned into an absolute one

  A voice that agrees only with conditions, or that admits a point to the other side, may appear in an answer as fully for or fully against. Look for limiting words in the text, such as those that show a concession, a condition or doubt. If the answer has dropped them and uses total or absolute language, it probably overstates the view.

  In your feedback: Extreme wording

• Missing the view that is only implied

  The writer, or a person being quoted, may never say directly which side they take. Their position can show in what they criticize, which argument gets the most space or the last word, or words that make a view sound weak or strong. If a question asks what someone thinks and you find no direct statement, look at these signals instead of deciding the text gives no answer.

  In your feedback: Literal reading

Drafted by an AI writer and passed by a separate AI editor after one rewrite, checked against our content rules: structure and approach only, no wording to reuse. How our content is made