IELTS Reading: How to start investing – Đề mẫu kèm đáp án

Mở bài

“How To Start Investing” (cách bắt đầu đầu tư) là một chủ đề thường xuyên xuất hiện trong các bài đọc học thuật vì tính thực tiễn, khả năng khái quát cao và chứa nhiều thuật ngữ tài chính cơ bản đến nâng cao. Trong IELTS Reading, các passage về đầu tư thường kiểm tra kỹ năng đọc lướt ý chính, nhận diện paraphrase và suy luận. Bài viết này cung cấp cho bạn một đề thi IELTS Reading practice đầy đủ 3 passages (Easy → Medium → Hard) xoay quanh chủ đề How to start investing, mô phỏng sát đề thật: đa dạng dạng câu hỏi, tăng dần độ khó, kèm đáp án và giải thích chi tiết. Bạn cũng sẽ nhận được bộ từ vựng trọng tâm, kỹ thuật làm bài theo từng dạng câu hỏi, và chiến lược lên band điểm IELTS Reading thực chiến. Nội dung phù hợp cho học viên từ band 5.0 trở lên muốn luyện tập có hệ thống với đề thi IELTS Reading test theo chủ đề tài chính hiện đại.

Hình minh họa các bước How to start investing và tips IELTS Reading

1. Hướng dẫn làm bài IELTS Reading

Tổng Quan Về IELTS Reading Test

• Thời gian: 60 phút cho 3 passages
• Tổng số câu hỏi: 40 câu
• Phân bổ thời gian khuyến nghị:
  • Passage 1: 15-17 phút
  • Passage 2: 18-20 phút
  • Passage 3: 23-25 phút

Chiến Lược Làm Bài Hiệu Quả

• Đọc câu hỏi trước, sau đó đọc passage (skimming & scanning)
• Chú ý từ khóa và paraphrase (ví dụ: “begin” ~ “start”, “volatility” ~ “price swings”)
• Quản lý thời gian chặt chẽ, phân bổ hợp lý theo độ khó
• Không bỏ trống câu nào; đoán có cơ sở khi cần

Các Dạng Câu Hỏi Trong Đề Này

• Multiple Choice
• True/False/Not Given
• Sentence Completion
• Yes/No/Not Given
• Matching Headings
• Summary/Note Completion
• Matching Features/Sentence Endings
• Short-answer Questions

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2. IELTS Reading Practice Test

PASSAGE 1 – Starting with Small Steps: Basic Investing for Beginners

Độ khó: Easy (Band 5.0-6.5)

Thời gian đề xuất: 15-17 phút

When people ask “How to start investing,” they often imagine a secret formula that only experts can understand. In reality, the first steps are simple and practical. Before you buy any financial product, build an emergency fund worth three to six months of living expenses. This safety net means that if you lose your job or face a big bill, you do not need to sell investments at the worst time. Only after creating this buffer should you begin to invest.

Next, set your goals and time horizon. Are you saving for a home in five years, or for retirement in thirty? Short-term goals require lower risk, because markets can move sharply in a few months. Long-term goals can handle more volatility, as temporary drops are more likely to recover. Your time horizon guides your asset allocation—the mix of stocks, bonds, and cash.

You will also need the right kind of account. In many countries, a brokerage account lets you buy investments freely. Some places offer tax-advantaged accounts for retirement; while rules vary, they often give tax deferrals or tax deductions. If these exist where you live, use them for long-term goals and a regular brokerage account for flexible plans. Always read the fee schedule, because high costs quietly reduce your returns.

Beginner investors often wonder what to buy first. A simple answer is to start with index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track broad markets. These products offer instant diversification across many companies at low cost. Buying one broad stock market index fund and one broad bond market index fund gives you a basic, balanced portfolio. Picking individual stocks can be exciting, but it demands extra research, patience, and the ability to accept larger swings in value.

A key habit is to invest regularly. Many people set up automatic contributions every month and use dollar-cost averaging, which means buying a fixed amount no matter what the price is. Over time, this reduces the pressure to “time the market,” a strategy that even professionals struggle to do. While it can be tempting to wait for the “perfect moment,” prices move unpredictably. A steady plan keeps you in the market.

Be aware of fees. Even a small annual expense ratio—say 1%—can significantly cut your results over decades due to compound interest. If two funds track the same index, the cheaper one usually wins. Also, watch trading costs and avoid overtrading. The more you buy and sell, the more you may pay and the higher the chance of making emotional decisions.

Speaking of emotions, try not to check your account every day. Markets rise and fall; that is normal. If you see every dip, you may panic and sell low. Instead, schedule a regular portfolio review, perhaps once or twice a year. During this review, rebalance to your target mix. If stocks have grown to 70% of your portfolio but your plan is 60%, sell some stocks and buy bonds to return to your chosen balance. Rebalancing enforces discipline.

Consider a simple example. Maria begins investing at age 25, putting $100 per month into a low-cost index fund. Assuming an average return of 7% per year, her money could grow substantially by age 65 thanks to compounding, where earnings generate more earnings. If she waits until 35 to start, she must contribute much more each month to reach a similar amount. The less obvious lesson is that time in the market matters more than trying to pick the “right day.”

To summarize, the process is not mysterious: build an emergency fund, decide on your goals and time horizon, choose low-cost diversified funds, invest regularly, keep fees low, and rebalance periodically. While the plan is simple, sticking to it requires patience. But if you follow these steps, you may discover that investing is less about predicting the future and more about practicing good habits consistently.

Note that none of this is a promise of profits. Markets can be unpredictable. However, a steady approach with broad diversification and low costs has helped many beginners reach their goals. The path to confidence begins with small, repeatable steps.

Important terms include “diversification,” “index fund,” “expense ratio,” and “dollar-cost averaging.” Understanding these does not make you a genius; it simply gives you tools. When your tools are simple and your plan is clear, you are more likely to stay the course when the market tests your emotions.

Finally, remember that investment is personal. Your goals, your risk tolerance, and your timeline shape your choices. If you keep asking practical questions—What am I investing for? When will I need the money? How much cost am I paying?—you are already thinking like a sensible investor.

Questions 1-13

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

1. What is the main reason to build an emergency fund before investing?
   A. To increase tax advantages
   B. To avoid selling investments during a crisis
   C. To earn a higher rate than stocks
   D. To pay fewer brokerage fees

2. Which factor most directly guides asset allocation?
   A. Market news
   B. Time horizon
   C. Account type
   D. Trading costs

3. Index funds are recommended mainly because they
   A. eliminate all risk
   B. guarantee short-term profits
   C. provide diversification at low cost
   D. outperform every individual stock

4. Rebalancing a portfolio involves
   A. buying more of the asset that has fallen
   B. selling all holdings during a downturn
   C. changing goals each quarter
   D. returning to a target asset mix

Do the following statements agree with the information in the text?
Write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
Write FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
Write NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

5. Tax-advantaged accounts are available in all countries.
6. Dollar-cost averaging requires investing a fixed amount regularly.
7. Checking your portfolio daily helps you avoid emotional decisions.
8. Higher expense ratios tend to improve long-term returns.
9. Maria would need to invest less per month if she starts later.

Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

10. A brokerage account typically discloses a detailed __.
11. Investors should schedule a periodic __ to stay disciplined.
12. Compounding allows __ to generate more earnings.
13. A steady plan reduces the urge to try to __ the market.

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PASSAGE 2 – Platforms, Products, and Pitfalls: Navigating Your First Portfolio

Độ khó: Medium (Band 6.0-7.5)

Thời gian đề xuất: 18-20 phút

Paragraph A
Starting is less about brilliance and more about structure. New investors usually face three decisions at once: where to hold assets, what to buy, and how to behave. The first involves choosing a platform—a broker or app. Cheap trading and a sleek interface can be appealing, but the true cost structure hides in spreads, custody fees, and the expense ratios of funds on offer. A platform that promotes speculative features, such as rapid-fire notifications or built-in leaderboards, can nudge users toward overtrading, which erodes returns.

Paragraph B
What to buy appears simple until details matter. An investor selecting an all-in-one global index fund gets diversification across regions and industries for a single fee. By contrast, building a portfolio from scratch demands careful weighting across equities, bonds, and perhaps real assets. Some markets offer target-date funds that automatically shift the mix as the investor ages, embodying a glide path from higher to lower risk. While these products simplify decisions, they are not identical: fees, rebalancing rules, and regional coverage vary.

Paragraph C
Behavior is the quiet driver of outcomes. When markets rise, overconfidence convinces investors that skill, not luck, produced gains; when markets fall, loss aversion pushes them to sell at the bottom. A checklist can help: confirm time horizon, revisit risk capacity, and compare actions against a written plan. If the plan says to rebalance at a 5% drift, then sell the winners and buy the laggards, even if headlines scream otherwise. The best time to design rules is before stress arrives.

Paragraph D
Fees, though small in percentage terms, compound relentlessly. A difference of 0.70% per year in fund costs may sound trivial; over 25 years, it can translate into thousands of dollars. In a world of low-cost indexing, paying premium prices requires premium justification. Likewise, some “zero-commission” brokers monetize order flow, so the cost reappears as poorer execution. The lesson is not paranoia but measurement: read disclosures, sample trade size, and compare outcomes.

Paragraph E
Risk management is not about predicting the next crash; it is about preparing. Even a long-term investor benefits from a modest cash buffer to meet near-term needs. For the investable portion, diversify across uncorrelated assets. Bonds do not always offset equity declines, but they often soften volatility. Rebalancing on a schedule or threshold keeps the portfolio aligned with its stated risk budget. Risk cannot be eliminated; it can be priced, sized, and monitored.

Paragraph F
For first-time investors, the paradox is that the simplest plan—low-cost diversified funds, automatic contributions, and periodic rebalancing—often outperforms complex strategies that fail to be implemented. The challenge lies not in knowing what to do, but in doing it consistently. Start small, document the process, and iterate. The difference between intention and execution is the essence of “How to start investing.”

Questions 14-26

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer?
Write YES if the statement agrees with the writer
Write NO if the statement contradicts the writer
Write NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

14. Some trading platforms encourage unhelpful behavior.
15. All target-date funds rebalance in exactly the same way.
16. A written checklist can reduce the impact of emotions.
17. Zero-commission trading always results in better execution.
18. Bonds consistently rise when stocks fall.

Matching Headings
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A–F from the list of headings below.
i. The case for simplicity over complexity
ii. Why platform design affects outcomes
iii. How behavior can sabotage returns
iv. Understanding risk is about sizing, not predicting
v. Different paths to diversification
vi. The hidden bite of costs
vii. The role of taxes in short-term trading

19. Paragraph A
20. Paragraph B
21. Paragraph C
22. Paragraph D
23. Paragraph E
24. Paragraph F

Summary Completion
Complete the summary using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.

25-26. New investors often perform better by adopting a plan that uses low-cost diversification, automatic contributions, and periodic __. The main obstacle is not knowledge, but executing the plan __.

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PASSAGE 3 – Behavioral Biases and Long-Horizon Investing: Evidence and Practice

Độ khó: Hard (Band 7.0-9.0)

Thời gian đề xuất: 23-25 phút

In introductory discussions of “How to start investing,” investors are urged to diversify, minimize fees, and stay the course. Yet, the sustainability of these prescriptions hinges on human psychology. Markets are not merely collections of prices; they are theaters in which fear and euphoria take turns on stage. Research in behavioral finance suggests that three forces—loss aversion, overconfidence, and present bias—interact with market volatility to undermine long-horizon plans. The puzzle is not what works in theory, but what survives contact with the investor’s mind.

Consider loss aversion. People experience the pain of losses more intensely than the pleasure of equivalent gains. This asymmetry can cause path-dependent decisions: a portfolio trajectory including an early drawdown may induce de-risking precisely when expected returns have improved. In contrast, a sequence with strong early returns can entrench undue risk. The same final wealth can mask different emotional journeys; hence, rules that are “ex-ante optimal” may be abandoned ex post. The practical remedy is pre-commitment: schedule-based or threshold-based rebalancing and pre-defined drawdown responses. These protocols function as guardrails, translating long-run intentions into short-run actions.

Overconfidence operates differently. Investors overestimate the accuracy of their forecasts and the precision of narratives built after the fact. This bias interacts with noise—random price movements that feel like information—to generate needless turnover. High turnover, in turn, invites higher transaction costs and tax frictions. While the equity risk premium may accrue to patient capital, overconfident traders often convert it into a fee stream for intermediaries. The antidote is both structural and behavioral: automate contributions, constrain discretionary trades, and, if possible, implement a policy portfolio that requires explicit justification to deviate.

A third force is present bias, the tendency to overweight immediate outcomes relative to future ones. Present bias can sabotage savings rates, making investors prefer consumption today over compounding tomorrow. The literature on commitment devices—from automatic enrollment to default contribution escalators—shows sizable effects on participation and persistence. Notably, these devices do not rely on forecasting skill; they exploit inertia in favor of the investor. In this sense, good design is a behavioral “alpha,” not by predicting markets but by improving adherence.

Time diversification is frequently misunderstood. While the probability of a negative equity return shrinks as the horizon lengthens, the magnitude of adverse outcomes, conditional on bad luck, can still be severe. A long horizon is not a hedge against valuation extremes or regime shifts. Monte Carlo simulations and stress testing reveal that sequence risk remains consequential, particularly for portfolios with large, fixed withdrawals. In accumulation phases, volatility can be a friend—new contributions buy more shares when prices are low—but in decumulation, the same volatility can lock in losses. The context—saving versus spending—alters the meaning of risk.

Glide paths, popularized by target-date funds, embody an attempt to reconcile behavior and mathematics. By de-risking as retirement approaches, they lower the chance that a late-stage shock derails plans. However, a glide path is not inherently optimal; its efficacy depends on labor income risk, savings rates, and liability structure. Alternative designs—such as risk parity, dynamic hedging, or valuation-aware tilts—seek to smooth outcomes across regimes, but they introduce model risk and demand stronger governance. For individual investors, the better choice is the one they can implement reliably, not the one that is theoretically unbeatable.

Finally, governance and feedback loops determine whether a plan survives. A clear investment policy statement (IPS) articulates objectives, constraints, and rebalancing rules. Combined with a quarterly or semiannual monitoring cadence, the IPS discourages impulsive responses to headlines. Importantly, the review should separate process metrics (adherence to contribution schedule, tracking error vs. policy portfolio) from outcome metrics (short-term returns). By weighting process over noise, investors protect the compounding engine from their own worst tendencies.

The synthesis is mundane yet profound: long-run returns are earned by systems that remain intact. The arithmetic of compounding is indifferent to our feelings, but our feelings can interrupt the arithmetic. The decisive edge, then, is not clairvoyance but operational discipline—choosing structures that pre-commit us to actions we would endorse in calm, and that we can execute under stress. That is how behavioral finance graduates from diagnosis to design.

Questions 27-40

Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

27. The author argues that the main challenge in long-horizon investing is
    A. finding the highest-return asset
    B. forecasting short-term market cycles
    C. keeping a workable plan in place despite human biases
    D. eliminating all forms of market volatility

28. Loss aversion can lead investors to
    A. increase risk after a drawdown
    B. abandon optimal rules after experiencing losses
    C. ignore path dependency
    D. overemphasize long-term outcomes

29. Overconfidence primarily increases
    A. savings rates
    B. turnover and costs
    C. diversification
    D. glide path stability

30. Present bias is best countered by
    A. discretionary trading
    B. complex forecasting
    C. commitment devices that automate behavior
    D. eliminating default options

31. The author suggests that glide paths are
    A. always superior to other designs
    B. context-dependent and not universally optimal
    C. ineffective at reducing late-stage risk
    D. only suitable for high-income investors

Matching Sentence Endings
Complete each sentence by choosing the correct ending, A–F.

32. Time diversification is often misunderstood because it ignores
33. In decumulation, volatility can
34. Alternative designs to glide paths may improve outcomes but
35. A well-crafted IPS helps investors by

Endings:
A. separating process metrics from outcome noise.
B. still produce severe outcomes conditional on bad luck.
C. carrying model risk and requiring stronger governance.
D. improving savings rates through enrollment defaults.
E. locking in losses when withdrawals are large.
F. focusing exclusively on equity risk premium.

Short-answer Questions
Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS.

36. What document states objectives, constraints, and rebalancing rules?
37. What simulation method highlights sequence risk?
38. What kind of bias makes investors prefer consumption today?
39. What type of portfolio constrains discretionary deviations?
40. Which metric should be emphasized over short-term returns during reviews?

Học viên luyện IELTS Reading chủ đề How to start investing với tips chiến lược

3. Answer Keys – Đáp Án

PASSAGE 1: Questions 1-13

1. B
2. B
3. C
4. D
5. NOT GIVEN
6. TRUE
7. FALSE
8. FALSE
9. FALSE
10. fee schedule
11. portfolio review
12. earnings
13. time

PASSAGE 2: Questions 14-26

14. YES
15. NO
16. YES
17. NO
18. NO
19. ii
20. v
21. iii
22. vi
23. iv
24. i
25. rebalancing
26. consistently

PASSAGE 3: Questions 27-40

27. C
28. B
29. B
30. C
31. B
32. B
33. E
34. C
35. A
36. investment policy statement (IPS)
37. Monte Carlo
38. present bias
39. policy portfolio
40. process metrics

4. Giải Thích Đáp Án Chi Tiết

Passage 1 – Giải Thích

• Câu 1: B
  Dạng: Multiple Choice. Từ khóa: “emergency fund”, “sell investments at the worst time”. Vị trí: đoạn 1. Giải thích: Quỹ khẩn cấp giúp tránh phải bán khi thị trường xấu; không liên quan tăng thuế hay phí.
• Câu 3: C
  Từ khóa: “index funds”, “diversification”, “low cost”. Đoạn 4 khẳng định ưu điểm chính là đa dạng hóa và chi phí thấp.
• Câu 6: TRUE
  Từ khóa: “dollar-cost averaging… buying a fixed amount every month”. Đoạn 5 xác nhận đầu tư định kỳ số tiền cố định.
• Câu 7: FALSE
  Đoạn 7 khuyên không nên kiểm tra tài khoản hàng ngày vì dễ hoảng loạn; do đó khẳng định “giúp tránh cảm xúc” là sai.
• Câu 10: fee schedule
  Đoạn 3: “Always read the fee schedule”.

Passage 2 – Giải Thích

• Câu 14: YES
  Đoạn A: các nền tảng với leaderboard, notifications thúc đẩy overtrading → hành vi không tốt.
• Câu 20: v
  Đoạn B: so sánh all-in-one global index fund, target-date, weighting → các con đường đa dạng hóa.
• Câu 22: vi
  Đoạn D: chi phí nhỏ nhưng tích lũy lớn, poorer execution → “hidden bite of costs”.
• Câu 25-26: rebalancing; consistently
  Đoạn F nhấn mạnh “automatic contributions” và “periodic rebalancing”; rào cản là thực thi “consistently”.

Passage 3 – Giải Thích

• Câu 27: C
  Ý chính: thách thức là duy trì kế hoạch trước thiên kiến con người, không phải dự báo chính xác ngắn hạn.
• Câu 28: B
  Loss aversion dẫn tới bỏ quy tắc tối ưu sau thua lỗ (“abandoned ex post”).
• Câu 31: B
  Glide path “not inherently optimal… depends on context”.
• Câu 33: E
  Trong giai đoạn rút tiền (decumulation), biến động có thể “lock in losses”.
• Câu 36: investment policy statement (IPS)
  Đoạn cuối: IPS quy định mục tiêu, ràng buộc, quy tắc rebalancing.

5. Từ Vựng Quan Trọng Theo Passage

Passage 1 – Essential Vocabulary

Từ vựng	Loại từ	Phiên âm	Nghĩa tiếng Việt	Ví dụ từ bài	Collocation
emergency fund	n	/ɪˈmɜːrdʒənsi fʌnd/	quỹ khẩn cấp	build an emergency fund	build/maintain emergency fund
time horizon	n	/taɪm həˈraɪzn/	khung thời gian đầu tư	set your time horizon	short/long time horizon
asset allocation	n	/ˈæset ˌæləˈkeɪʃn/	phân bổ tài sản	guides your asset allocation	target asset allocation
brokerage account	n	/ˈbroʊkərɪdʒ əˈkaʊnt/	tài khoản môi giới	a brokerage account lets you buy	open a brokerage account
tax-advantaged	adj	/tæks ədˈvæntɪdʒd/	ưu đãi thuế	tax-advantaged accounts	tax-advantaged plan
index fund	n	/ˈɪndeks fʌnd/	quỹ chỉ số	start with index funds	low-cost index fund
diversification	n	/daɪˌvɜːrsɪfɪˈkeɪʃn/	đa dạng hóa	offer instant diversification	broad diversification
dollar-cost averaging	n	/ˈdɑːlər kɔːst ˈævərɪdʒɪŋ/	bình quân giá	use dollar-cost averaging	set up dollar-cost averaging
expense ratio	n	/ɪkˈspens ˈreɪʃioʊ/	tỷ lệ chi phí	small expense ratio	lower expense ratio
rebalance	v	/ˌriːˈbæləns/	tái cân bằng	rebalance to your target mix	periodic rebalancing
compound interest	n	/ˈkɑːmpaʊnd ˈɪntrəst/	lãi kép	due to compound interest	power of compound interest

Passage 2 – Essential Vocabulary

Từ vựng	Loại từ	Phiên âm	Nghĩa	Ví dụ	Collocation
platform	n	/ˈplætˌfɔːrm/	nền tảng giao dịch	choosing a platform	trading platform
custody fees	n	/ˈkʌstədi fiːz/	phí lưu ký	hidden in custody fees	pay custody fees
speculative	adj	/ˈspekjəleɪtɪv/	đầu cơ	speculative features	speculative trading
overtrading	n	/ˌoʊvərˈtreɪdɪŋ/	giao dịch quá mức	nudge users toward overtrading	reduce overtrading
glide path	n	/ˈɡlaɪd pæθ/	lộ trình giảm rủi ro	embodying a glide path	design glide paths
rebalancing rules	n	/riːˈbælənsɪŋ ruːlz/	quy tắc tái cân bằng	fees and rebalancing rules vary	threshold rebalancing
loss aversion	n	/lɔːs əˈvɜːrʒn/	ác cảm thua lỗ	driven by loss aversion	mitigate loss aversion
poorer execution	n	/ˈpʊrər ˌeksɪˈkjuːʃn/	khớp lệnh kém	cost reappears as poorer execution	trade execution quality
uncorrelated	adj	/ʌnˈkɔːrəleɪtɪd/	ít tương quan	diversify across uncorrelated assets	uncorrelated returns
risk budget	n	/rɪsk ˈbʌdʒɪt/	ngân sách rủi ro	aligned with its risk budget	manage risk budget
iterate	v	/ˈɪtəreɪt/	lặp lại để cải tiến	document the process and iterate	iterative process

Passage 3 – Essential Vocabulary

Từ vựng	Loại từ	Phiên âm	Nghĩa	Ví dụ	Collocation
behavioral finance	n	/bɪˈheɪvjərəl fəˈnæns/	tài chính hành vi	research in behavioral finance	behavioral finance literature
present bias	n	/ˈpreznt ˈbaɪəs/	thiên vị hiện tại	present bias sabotages savings	mitigate present bias
path-dependent	adj	/pæθ dɪˈpendənt/	phụ thuộc quỹ đạo	path-dependent decisions	path dependency
pre-commitment	n	/priː kəˈmɪtmənt/	cam kết trước	the remedy is pre-commitment	pre-commitment rules
turnover	n	/ˈtɜːrnoʊvər/	vòng quay giao dịch	generate needless turnover	high/low turnover
equity risk premium	n	/ˈekwɪti rɪsk ˈpriːmiəm/	phần bù rủi ro cổ phiếu	accrue to patient capital	capture equity risk premium
commitment devices	n	/kəˈmɪtmənt dɪˈvaɪsɪz/	công cụ cam kết	use commitment devices	automatic enrollment devices
Monte Carlo simulations	n	/ˈmɒnti ˈkɑːrloʊ/	mô phỏng Monte Carlo	Monte Carlo reveals sequence risk	run Monte Carlo
sequence risk	n	/ˈsiːkwəns rɪsk/	rủi ro trình tự	sequence risk remains	mitigate sequence risk
decumulation	n	/diːˌkjuːmjəˈleɪʃn/	giai đoạn rút tiền	in decumulation, volatility…	decumulation phase
liability	n	/ˌlaɪəˈbɪləti/	nghĩa vụ chi trả	depends on liability structure	liability-driven
risk parity	n	/rɪsk ˈpærɪti/	cân bằng rủi ro	risk parity seeks to	risk parity approach
model risk	n	/ˈmɑːdl rɪsk/	rủi ro mô hình	introduce model risk	manage model risk
investment policy statement (IPS)	n	/ɪnˈvestmənt ˈpɒləsi ˈsteɪtmənt/	tuyên bố chính sách đầu tư	a clear IPS articulates	draft an IPS
operational discipline	n	/ˌɑːpəˈreɪʃənl ˈdɪsəplɪn/	kỷ luật vận hành	decisive edge is operational discipline	enforce operational discipline

6. Kỹ Thuật Làm Bài Theo Từng Dạng Câu Hỏi

Multiple Choice

• Cách làm:
  • Đọc kỹ câu hỏi, gạch chân keywords (ngày tháng, số liệu, thuật ngữ)
  • Loại trừ đáp án mâu thuẫn rõ ràng
  • Tìm paraphrase trong passage
  • Chọn đáp án khớp nghĩa nhất, không suy diễn quá mức
• Lỗi thường gặp:
  • Bị “bẫy từ giống” nhưng khác nghĩa
  • Không đọc hết options trước khi chọn
• Ví dụ: P1 Q3 – “diversification at low cost” paraphrase của ưu điểm index funds.

True/False/Not Given

• Phân biệt:
  • True: khớp hoàn toàn (có thể paraphrase)
  • False: mâu thuẫn
  • Not Given: passage không nêu thông tin xác nhận hoặc phủ định
• Lỗi thường gặp:
  • Nhầm False với Not Given do suy luận ngoài bài
• Ví dụ: P1 Q5 – “available in all countries” không có, nên NOT GIVEN.

Yes/No/Not Given

• Dựa trên quan điểm tác giả (attitude/claim), không phải sự kiện chung.
• Tương tự T/F/NG nhưng chú ý động từ chỉ quan điểm.
• Ví dụ: P2 Q14 – tác giả nhận định “some platforms encourage unhelpful behavior” → YES.

Matching Headings

• Cách làm:
  • Đọc nhanh từng đoạn, xác định main idea
  • Đối chiếu heading theo ý chính, không theo ví dụ
  • Gạch bỏ heading đã dùng
• Tips:
  • Chú ý câu mở và kết đoạn
• Ví dụ: P2 Paragraph D → “The hidden bite of costs”.

Summary/Note Completion

• Giới hạn từ: NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
• Dò theo thứ tự thông tin, tìm paraphrase
• Kiểm tra ngữ pháp sau khi điền
• Ví dụ: P2 Q25-26 “rebalancing”, “consistently”.

Matching Features/Sentence Endings

• Đọc nửa câu đầu, dự đoán logic
• Tìm cặp từ/cụm paraphrase trong passage
• Loại trừ đáp án không tương thích ngữ nghĩa
• Ví dụ: P3 Q34 → “model risk… stronger governance” khớp với C.

Short-answer Questions

• Giữ đúng giới hạn từ
• Trả lời bằng chính từ trong bài hoặc paraphrase sát
• Kiểm tra số ít/số nhiều
• Ví dụ: P3 Q37 → “Monte Carlo”.

7. Chiến Lược Đạt Band Cao

Band 6.0-6.5: Nền Tảng

• Skimming ý chính từng đoạn
• Scanning số liệu, thuật ngữ
• Ưu tiên làm chắc Passage 1 & 2
• Mục tiêu đúng 23-26/40

Band 7.0-7.5: Trung Cấp Cao

• Nhận diện paraphrase phức tạp
• Làm tốt Passage 3 với câu suy luận
• Quản lý thời gian linh hoạt
• Mục tiêu 30-32/40

Band 8.0-9.0: Nâng Cao

• Hiểu ngụ ý, quan điểm tác giả
• Khả năng phản biện, kiểm tra bẫy logic
• Không mắc lỗi bất cẩn, tối ưu tốc độ
• Mục tiêu 35-40/40

Kết bài

Tóm Tắt

“How to start investing” là chủ đề giàu tính học thuật và ứng dụng đời sống, thường gặp trong IELTS Reading test. Bộ đề này cung cấp 3 passages tăng dần độ khó, mô phỏng đề thật, kèm đáp án và giải thích rõ ràng. Bạn đã luyện tập đầy đủ các dạng câu hỏi, mở rộng vốn từ tài chính như diversification, rebalancing, expense ratio, và rèn kỹ thuật skimming, scanning, phân biệt T/F/NG và Y/N/NG. Hãy bookmark bộ đề này để ôn tập thường xuyên, kết hợp thêm các bài tập IELTS Reading và tips chiến lược. Khi đã nắm vững quy trình đọc và kiểm soát thời gian, bạn sẽ tự tin hơn không chỉ trong kỳ thi mà còn trong kiến thức nền tảng về How to start investing.