IELTS Reading
Reading test in IELTS can be difficult. Here, we have given some tips for you to score band 8 or 9 in it.
You shall love reading
It is crucial that you love and enjoy your reading experience.
If you are reading for pleasure, then it will make you want to read more. This way, you will find reading boring for you.
If you read well then you will enhance your comprehension skills. You will develop an awareness of synonyms. You will increase and improve your vocabulary. You will be able to understand or follow the author's main ideas.
Read whenever it is possible for you / make use of every opportunity to read.
You can make a habit of reading newspapers, journals, books, magazines, novels. You can also read while travelling by train, bus or you can read while you are waiting for a doctor's appointment.
The important thing is to develop reading skills or gain good experience of reading by reading the stuff you enjoy in a variety of formats.
Re-phrasing the story / restructuring the story
You shall be able to retell what you have read. It is always good to restructure what you have understood. You shall try to write down the gist or the summary or the main ideas presented in the reading passage or an article.
Retelling or restructuring what you have read by making use of own words will help build your vocabulary, that is very crucial for IELTS test.
Answer to practice all different types of questions
There will be various types of questions such as multiple choice, sentence completion, true/false/not given, matching the headings etc. Learn to answer all types of questions.
No dependence on keywords to find the answers
You shall not be depended on keywords to find the right answers. Nine times out of ten exact keywords which your question is made up of are not found in the passages. Instead, synonyms or words closer in meaning are used.
Time management skills for IELTS
The IELTS Reading test will be of one hour. There will be 40 questions. You shall take not more than 60 seconds or 70 seconds for a question to answer. Learning to manage the time shall be your top priority. The first passage of the test (if you are taking Academic IELTS) will be easy but when you go to second and third passages, you will find questions to be more difficult. that is why it is suggested that you shall spend as little time as you can on first passage because the other two passages may take more of your time.
If you can manage to answer all the questions of the first passage of the Academic IELTS within 10-15 minutes, then you can focus more on next two passages.
Skip the questions you find difficult to answer
That is the wisest thing. you shall not waste time on finding the answer for a question which is difficult. you can guess out.