IELTS Reading Tips and Tricks

We are going to talk about the reading module of the IELTS. I am going to tell you some of my top IELTS reading tips. So let's get started. During the reading module of the IELTS, there will be three passages that you read and for each passage, there are a bunch of questions you have to answer.

 

Tip 1

Skimming Skill

The first tip I have for you is: do not spend too much time reading the passages. What happens to a lot of students is they read word for word and take a lot of time. They see a word they don't know, they keep trying to understand the meaning. You don't have to understand everything to understand the passage. If you don't know a word, that's fine. The better thing to do than to slowly read is to use skills such as skimming. You quickly read for the main idea or scanning, meaning you look for keywords.

Tip 2

Reading Question First

A lot of students, what they do for the IELTS is they will actually read the questions first, and then they will read the passage. I personally prefer this technique. You don't have to do this, it's one technique. Some students find this a lot easier, other students like to read the passage first and then answer the questions. I recommend trying both out. First do the reading, then the questions, then try to read the questions first and read the passage and see what you like better, what you are more comfortable doing. So the key thing here is, don't read slowly. It's a timed test, you have three parts. You have to get through 40 questions.

Tip 3

Time Management

Similar to tip 2, don't spend too long on each question. Some of the questions are difficult. Some
might be reading and you might think: "Oh, I don't know what the answer is," and you might look at it, and think, and try, and try, and try. Well, the problem is if you spend too much time on a question, there are 40 questions to answer and the one hour limit for the test. So what I recommend is to read a question and try to figure out the answer. If you don't know, you can mark it and come back after. Don't spend too long on any question.

You can also take a guess, move on, and come back later.

Tip 4

Spend less time on earlier questions. For the reading module, Like I said, there are three passages. The first passage is the easiest, then the second passage, and then the third one. If you spend all your time on the first passage, you're not going to have time to do the second and the third. The first one is easier. So a good idea is to spend less time on the first passage, maybe about 17 minutes, then the second passage maybe spend about 20 minutes, and the third passage maybe 23 minutes. You don't have to follow this exactly, but the main idea is spend less time on part one, more time on part three because part three is the hardest.

Tip 5

Make sure you have enough time to transfer your answers. They will have an answer sheet and you are supposed to write your answers on it. It's very important to leave yourself time to ransfer your answers from your test paper to the answer sheet.

A lot of students, they work through the booklet and then they realize there is no time to transfer
their answers, so make sure you leave time for this.

Tip 6

Correct spelling

A lot of students forget that the reading section also has a writing component and that is you have to write your answers. You also have to spell your answers correctly, and many students, unfortunately, make spelling mistakes. So it's very important to practice spelling before you do the IELTS.

Tip 7

Proper Grammar

A lot of students also make this mistake with grammar. You have to use the correct grammar when you are answering a question. So, for example, sometimes maybe the answer is: "castles" with an "s", but a student might write the singular version in their answer, maybe they just write: "castle" but the correct form would be with an "s".

So you always have to be aware of grammar. The best thing to do is after you write your answer, check it to see if the grammar makes sense. Were they looking for a singular answer? or Were they looking for a plural answer?

Conclusion

Lastly, a lot of students don't read the instructions properly. This is a very, very big mistake to make. A lot of students, they've done lots and lots of IELTS tests and they think they know it, so they don't bother reading the instructions. Always read the instructions. Even if you've done a hundred IELTS tests, read the instructions just to make sure.

For example, some common mistakes that happen is for multiple choice in the reading section, maybe the question will ask you to choose two answers and if you don't read the instructions properly, you might just pick one. Or maybe it asks you to pick three answers. So it's very important to read the instructions properly.

Another common issue with instructions is people confuse: "Not Given", "Yes", "No" questions
with: "Not Given", "True", or "False" questions. They're different. So by reading the instruction, hopefully you can see the differences. And then when you're supposed to write: "Yes", you don't write: "True", and when you're supposed to write: "No", you don't write: "False". So make sure you don't mix those questions up.