eilts tips reading

8/7/2019 EILTS TIPS READING

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IELTS TIPS: READING

Following these IELTS tips will help ensure you finish theIELTS Reading test with the highest possible number ofcorrect answers.


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1. As with other modules, the first bit of advice

is to listen to the invigilator and read the

instructions on the question paper carefully.


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2. When you receive the your question paper

DO NOT OPEN IT until instructed but, in the

meantime, read the instructions and checkthat you have been given the correct paper

i.e. Academic or General Training.


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3. Unlike the listening module there is no time

allocated to transferring your answers to

the answer sheet after the test. It is easy toassume that, because the format of the

answer sheet is similar to the listening test,

you will be able to do this - don't be caught

out.


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4. Some candidates prefer to answer all thequestions on the question paper and not

transfer them until they have finished. Our

advice would be to transfer your answers as

you go, or, at the very least, at the end ofeach section. Time on the reading test is

tight. If you don't manage your time well you

could find that you don't have time to

transfer all your answers. This is a really badway to lose marks and we have seen it

happen.


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5. The IELTS Reading module gets more difficultas you progress, yet each answer has the

same mark. A good strategy would be to

work through the paper leaving questions

that you can't easily answer but transferringthose you can to the answer sheet. Once you

have gone through the paper, work through

your unanswered questions from the

beginning of the paper onwards so that youdo the easier questions first. If you can't find

an answer, guess.


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6. In any case, be sure to read all the questions

for a section before you read the text. If you

know what the questions are before readingthe text, it will be much easier and quicker to

answer them. Remember that sometimes

questions are before the text, sometimes

after and sometimes before andafter.


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7. When you transfer your answer to the answersheet make sure you put your answer in the

correct place. You also need to be carefulabout spelling and writing clearly. If your

answer is spelt incorrectly or isn't clear to the

examiner it will be marked wrong. There is

very little excuse for bad spelling on the

reading test as the correct spelling willalmost certainly be found in the text.


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8. At the end of the test be sure you stop

writing and put your pencil down when told

to do so.


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Qs?


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MORE TIPS...


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1. Just having a very basic gist of what a text is

about before you start reading will make it

easier to understand. Looking at graphs,tables and any illustrations will often give you

a good idea of the topic of the text.


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2. Remember - there is no transfer time for the

reading test. Make sure you put your answers

down on the answer sheet- not the questionpaper.


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3. The reading test is designed to be general

and designed for people with a variety of

educational backgrounds. This means youdon't need any specialist knowledge to

understand any of the texts. However, some

readings may be more familiar than others.


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4. If you are reading and answering texts out of

sequence, take special care to ensure you

don't write your answers in the wrong placeson the answer sheet.


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5. If you are not sure of the answer to aquestion, it is natural to read text carefully totry to find the answer. If you dwell on aquestion in this way, you may run out of time.Remember, the reading test is 60 minuteslong and there are 40 questions. If you spendone minute of each question that gives you20minutes to read a lot of text. If you reallycan not find the answer to a question easily,move on to the next question.


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7. As with the listening test, do not deduce the

answer. This is especially true in True / False

Not given questions. The answers are in thetext, you do not need to work them out.


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For example:

"The introduction of new government

policies gave people better lives: they had

jobs and more money to spend.

Now look at the answer:

The introduction of new government policieshad positive long-term benefits on peoples'

lives. True / False / Not given


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If people had jobs and more money, surely thisis better for them, and so it is natural toconsider this a 'true' statement. However, thekey here is 'long-term'. From the text, it isimpossible to say whether the new jobslasted 20 years or one day. If you don't makeassumptions it is impossible to answer

question. As a result the correct answershould be: NOT GIVEN.


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8. True / False / Not given questions are by far

the most difficult types of question to answer

as they are designed to trick people intothinking about the answer and giving their

deduction as an answer.


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9. As with the listening test, in the IELTS reading test the words in

the questions are often not the words you will find in theanswer. As a result you have to look for synonyms of key

words as well as the actual keywords. Consider a word like'correct' - among others, possible synonyms include:

Right, Accurate, Exact, Truthful, Spot on,Proper , Acceptable , Accepted

Depending on the context, only some of these synonyms

might apply. You need to be aware of for these words as well

as the keywords you are looking for. In addition, considerantonyms - words with the opposite meanings. A sentence

like 'It wouldn't be wrong' would mean 'correct' in certain

contexts. As you can see, you will need a fairly deepunderstanding of vocabulary.


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10. If aren't going to finish, guess some of the

answers. It is surprising how many examinees

leave multiple choice answers blank becausethey don't know the answer. If you have the

choice of A, B, C orD, you have a 20% chance

of getting the question right so just put one

of the answers in!


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11. If you really don't know the answer to a True

/ False / Not given question, and you want to

guess the answer, DON'T choose "Not given"- it's the least frequent answer.


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12. You might get a text with masses and

masses of long, complicated words. Veryoften these words are key to the meaning of asentence and therefore key to answering a

question. However, equally often these words

are unnecessary - they are adjectives oradverbs that provide greater descriptionrather than play a part in meaning. If you start

focusing on words you don't understand, youwill run out of time. If the some words are too

difficult, ignore them.


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13. If you get a text with a lot of dates, circle

them as you go along - chances are the datesare going to be important. If you circle them

you can find them again easily.

16. Likewise with names; even if there aren'ta lot of names, circle the ones you find so you

can find them again easily.

17.Don't worry about writing on the question

paper if you need to.


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14. The biggest tip of all: READ A LOT. Every

day read something. The more you read theeasier it will be. Study the sentence structure

and punctuation of what you read, but most

of all, try to grasp the ideas in what you read.Look at a piece of writing and write down

some predictions about what the reading will

be about. As you read check off these

predictions - which ones were right and whichones wrong?


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15. If you are really running out of time leave all

the True / False / Not given and Multiple

Choice questions until the end because youdon't have to read anything to answer them.


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Qs?

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