IELTS Reading test, best tips and strategies

IELTS reading test is more critical and complicated to get high score easily. We are here to share some tips and strategies on how to get a high score in IELTS Reading test. We have also focused on this post about how to choose between a paper-based or a computer-based IELTS exam. What’s exam format well you get 40 questions and 60 minutes to complete them in Academic IELTS reading test. You get three longer passages and IELTS general training and five shorter passages in an academic topic. Some are more scientific and you need to answer 30 questions in order to get a band 7.

Different strategies with IELTS Academic and IELTS General

IELTS 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 test, basically you have a lot to read and then looking for questions takes a lot of time. So time management is important usually in the first passage, which is the easiest and the last one is the most difficult. So the instructions in academic IELTS Reading test, to spend 20 minutes on each passage. But you should finish the first one in about 15 minutes, 20 minutes for the second and 25 minutes for the third passage. Ideally you need to go through the question seven more quickly. Basically when you find a question and you don’t know what the answer is and you can’t find an answer. Don’t spend too much time on this question, just marked like to review and move on. 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.

Tips on Paper based IELTS Reading test

In a paper-based reading, you’ll be marking your answers on the question sheets first. Then you’re not going to get extra time to transfer your answers even you must finish everything in 60 minutes. So what you should do is, answer a certain section like a type of questions and then transfer answers. Then the next type of question, just for the answers and so on and don’t leave it until the end.

Tips on Computer based IELTS Reading test

What if you run out of time before you do that? Don’t leave it until the last moment in a computer-based exam. You just choose your answers on the screen and you don’t need to transfer them anywhere. We would recommend you to save a bit of time comparing between the paper based and computer based exams. It will be easier and more convenient to do the reading questions on the computer. You will have a large screen and you could see almost all the text without scrolling questions were on the same screen on the other side. You could choose answers directly you do not need to transfer answers anywhere and you could see time left. So we would say it’s more convenient.

Key strategies to get a good score in IELTS reading test

Some people prefer to read the whole passage first and then they answer questions in IELTS Reading test. Usually of those people read fast and memorize information. If you try this approach it doesn’t quite work sometimes. Because by the time you start answering questions, you might have already forgotten what you have read and need to go and look for the sentence in order to locate your answer. So you will waste a lot of time, so you should read the first question and then start quickly reading the text not paying attention to any detail. You will have unknown words and when you feel it is okay but they also somewhere here. Slow down and carefully read the whole sentence and try to figure out the meaning of the unknown word. Then click the answer and go and read the second question and resume reading the text and so on. This strategy allows you to finish your reading section much more quickly. Do all questions follow the passage order, 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 in IELTS Reading test.

The best strategies to solve the Critical passage in the end

Let’s move on to the next point its reading complex topics in IELTS Reading test. And 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 the key words are. 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 will 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 try to 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 should use a pencil and simply underline words in IELTS Reading test. In a computer-based exam, there is a function to highlight words or phrases in yellow. You can press the right button on your mouse and click highlight and that’s it.

Conclusion

And let us repeat again don’t waste too much time on any single question. Some questions particularly tricky for example true false, not given, yes, no, not given and matching headings in IELTS Reading test. As soon as you see a certain type of question you know exactly what you are going to do. You need to figure out your way of solving each type of question before you take your reasoning them. Thank you for reading all through this article and good luck with your preparation and your IELTS exam.

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