Reading tips for IELTS Academic / IELTS General

Reading tips for IELTS Academic / IELTS General: If you want to study abroad or if you want to work at places like UK Canada New Zealand Australia then you have to appear IELTS test. Here in this article I'm going to share best reading tips for IELTS Academic / IELTS General.

But before we dive in, lets have a look at what is IELTS and why do you need to give it, what is the format ? IELTS is a test that most of us fear why because it is an English and communication test. If your communication skill is poor, you want to improve your communication skill, you can visit our article on how to improve communication skills faster.

What is IELTS ?

The International English Language Testing system or IELTS is an exam you give if you want to study or work at a place where English is the language of communication. If you fear to face IELTS due to poor English communication, please visit this page on how to improve English speaking skill in 2021.

IELTS test is accepted by over 9000 organizations worldwide including universities, employers, immigration authorities. The main purpose of this test is to find out whether you can survive in an environment where English is the primary language.

IELTS has two main modules, IELTS Academics and IELTS General. IELTS Academics is for people who want to enroll in a University and IELTS General training module if for people who want to work abroad or for immigration purposes. If you are a student, know how to study in foreign university for free.

Remember there's no pass or fail in IELTS, you will get a score from 1 to 9. 1 being the lowest and 9 meaning that you an expert user of the English language.

Why do one need to give IELTS ?

IELTS wants to test whether you can read write understand and speak in English which is why the test also has these four modules listening, reading, writing and speaking.

Hope you have got some ideas about the IELTS test. Now I want to share my tips and strategies on how to get a high score in IELTS Reading.

Okay, let's get started!

What's IELTS exam format ?

Well you get 40 questions and 60 minutes to complete them. In IELTS academic you get three longer passages and IELTS general training five shorter passages in an academic topic some more scientific.

You need to answer 30 questions in order to get a band seven and in general training topics a bit simpler but you'll be expected to answer 34 questions in order to get a 7 expect to be short of time in IELTS reading basically you have a lot to read.

And then looking for questions takes a lot of time so time management is important. Usually the first passage is the easiest and the last one is the most difficult.

So the instructions in arts academic for example tell you to spend 20 minutes on each section but you should finish the first one in about 15 minutes, 20 for the second and 25 for the third.

But ideally you need to go through the questions even more quickly. Basically when you find a question and you don't know what the answer is you can't find an answer don't spend too much time on this question. By visiting this page you can learn the best 5 tips on how to learn anything 10X faster.

Just mark it like to review and move on and once you finish all the questions if you have time then you go back and you'll be looking for answers to those questions.

But you get yourself the best chance to get the highest mark if you attempt to answer all the questions in a paper-based reading.

You'll be marking your answers on the question sheets first but then you're not going to get extra time to transfer your answers event you must finish everything in 60 minutes.

So what I would advice you, answer a certain section like a type of questions and then transfer answers then the next type of question just for your answers and so on and don't leave it until the end.

In a computer-based exam you just choose your answers on the screen you don't need to transfer them anywhere. I would say you save a bit of time comparing between the paper based on computer based exams.

I think it is easier and more convenient to do the reading questions on the computer, if you had a large screen. You could see almost all the text without scrolling questions on the same screen.

On the other side you could choose answers directly, you don't need to transfer answers anywhere. And you could see time left, so I would say it's more convenient.

IELTS Reading Tips and Tricks

What's the best strategy for IELTS reading ? well some people prefer to read the whole passage first and then they answer questions usually of those people read fast and memorize information well.

What I experience ?

I try this approach, it doesn't quite work for me because by the time I start answering questions I've already forgotten what I've read and they need to go and look for the sentence in order to locate my answer, so I just waste a lot of time.

So usually I read the first question and then I start quickly reading the text not paying attention to any detail. We have unknown words and when I feels it okay but they also somewhere here I slow down and I carefully read the sentence.

Then I read the second question and resume reading the text and so on, this strategy allows me to finish my reading section much more quickly.

Do all questions, follow the passage order or most do that's why it is possible to read the question find an answer read the second question find an answer and so on.

And it's much more quickly than to read the whole text and then look for all the answers but of course some question types are not in order.

for example matching paragraphs or matching headings otherwise it would be a first paragraph being second paragraph see third paragraph like no of course not.

Reading complex topics, most likely there will be things you won't understand there will be words you don't know. You need to navigate your way through this complexity in a way to do that is to pay attention to keywords.

Once you read the question really try to understand what they mean and what are the key words in this question. Highlight them or underline them and then look for those keywords for their synonyms in the passage.

You will never find exactly the same keywords in the question and in the sentence where you find an answer there will always be paraphrased.

So look for that paraphrase and when you find a sentence and you feel that the answer is somewhere here but you can't understand everything

Simply guess how different parts of the sentence are related to each other. What they're talking about in general because most likely the thing you can't understand is irrelevant.

And your answer doesn't handle it at all. It's just there to confuse you so try to ignore irrelevant information and choose the bits of information you really mean it.

And now the tables highlight any names / surnames, dates, names of theories, names of places most likely. There will be questions about them and you'll be able to locate them in the text very quickly.

How can you highlight them well in a paper based exam you use a pencil you simply underline words. In a computer - based exam there is a function to highlight words or phrases in yellow you press the right button on your mouse and you click highlight and that's it.

And let me repeat again don't waste too much time on any single question. Marked those questions for review, where you are quite certain about it. When you are finished with all the questions that you are done then you can move to the questions that you have marked for review.

So these were my tips on IELTS reading hopefully you found them helpful. If you like it please do share with your family and friends and If you have any suggestions or any doubts, please feel free to write in the comment section.