Reading 1 — an evening-course brochure
Section 1 of the General Training paper often puts a table in front of you — a timetable, a price list, a programme of classes — and then hides the real answers in the small print below it. This material is one such document: the autumn brochure of an adult education centre, with six courses set out in a table (day and time, first class, length, full fee, concession fee) followed by notes on courses, discounts, enrolment, refunds and parking. Twelve questions and ten vocabulary flashcards go with it.
The table is the easy part. What costs marks is the sentence underneath that changes what the table seems to say. A concession column that reads "not available", explained two paragraphs later. A two-course discount that "applies to full fees only". A refund "in full, less a £10 administration charge". A fee that "includes clay and glazes" — and then a separate charge per piece. Several questions turn on exactly that move from the table to the note: what a 64-year-old really pays for one course, the least a student can pay for two, what comes back when the learner withdraws and what comes back when the centre cancels.
The other questions practise the judgements the paper sets on this kind of text. One asks which course matches a condition (matching information). Three use the inverted True/False/Not Given layout of this category — four statements, and the stem tells you whether to find the one never stated, the one contradicted or the one actually stated. The Not Given statement is the plausible one: a café that is "closed on Saturdays" tells you nothing about weekday evenings. One question asks what a phrase means where it stands, and one asks for two answers from a longer list of five.
On test day the completion tasks — filling a table or a set of notes with words from the text — are also common in Section 1. A quiz cannot set those, because the answer has to be written, spelt and counted against a word limit; practise them on published sample material. What this material trains is the reading underneath them: finding the right cell, and then checking whether a condition elsewhere changes it.
The centre, its courses, dates and prices are invented, so nothing here can go out of date. The flashcards carry the vocabulary of brochures and terms and conditions — concession, eligibility, means-tested, to withdraw, less, part-funded — which is also the language of many General Training Task 1 letters.
IELTS® is a registered trade mark of the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge University Press & Assessment. This material is written by Zestly and is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.
- Scan a table for the one cell a question needs, by column and by row
- Check the notes under a table for a condition that changes the figure in it
- Apply a discount or refund rule with all its conditions: full fees only, at least seven days, less a charge
- Tell a statement the brochure never makes from one it contradicts
- Build the vocabulary of course brochures and terms: concession, eligibility, means-tested, withdraw, part-funded
Practice material written by Zestly, based on the ielts.org description of General Training Reading Section 1 (everyday texts such as notices, advertisements and timetables).
Sample question
Reading Section 1 — from the autumn brochure of an adult education centre KELMSCOTT ADULT EDUCATION CENTRE — EVENING AND WEEKEND COURSES, AUTUMN TERM Term runs from Monday 21 September to Friday 4 December. There are no classes in half-term week (26–30 October). | Course | Day and time | First class | Length | Full fee | Concession fee | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Spanish for Beginners | Mondays 6.30–8.30pm | 21 September | 10 weeks | £95 | £60 | | Digital Photography | Tuesdays 7.00–9.00pm | 6 October | 8 weeks | £120 | £85 | | Bookkeeping for Small Businesses | Wednesdays 6.00–8.00pm | 23 September | 10 weeks | £140 | not available | | Pottery | Thursdays 6.30–9.00pm | 24 September | 10 weeks | £150 | £110 | | Gentle Yoga | Fridays 6.00–7.00pm | 23 October | 6 weeks | £48 | £30 | | Emergency First Aid | Saturday 9.30am–4.30pm | 10 October | 1 day | £75 | £75 | NOTES ON COURSES Digital Photography: you will need your own camera. A mobile phone camera is not suitable for this course. Pottery: the fee includes clay and glazes. Firing in the kiln is charged separately at £2 per piece. Bookkeeping for Small Businesses: this course is part-funded by the Kelmscott Business Forum, so its fee has already been reduced and no further discounts apply. Emergency First Aid: learners who pass the assessment at the end of the day receive a certificate valid for three years. Please bring a packed lunch, as the café is closed on Saturdays. FEES AND DISCOUNTS Concession fees are open to learners aged 60 or over, to full-time students and to anyone receiving a means-tested benefit. Proof of eligibility must be shown when you enrol; it cannot be sent in afterwards. If you enrol on two courses at the same time, you will receive 10% off the second course. This discount applies to full fees only. ENROLMENT AND REFUNDS You can enrol online or at reception from 1 September. We are unable to accept enrolments by telephone. If you withdraw at least seven days before your first class, your fee will be refunded in full, less a £10 administration charge. After that, fees cannot be refunded unless the centre cancels the course. A course with fewer than eight learners one week before its first class may be cancelled. In that case every learner's fee is returned in full. PARKING The car park is free after 5.30pm on weekdays. A charge of £3 applies on Saturdays. — Someone who finishes work at 6.45pm on weekdays wants a weekday course whose classes begin after that time. Which is the only one that fits?
- Spanish for Beginners
- Gentle Yoga
- Digital Photography
- Pottery
See the answer
Digital Photography
Digital Photography is the only weekday course starting after 6.45pm: its classes run 7.00–9.00pm on Tuesdays. Spanish and Pottery both begin at 6.30pm, and Gentle Yoga at 6.00pm, so all three have started before this person is free. (Bookkeeping, at 6.00pm, would not fit either.)