IELTS – Reading

In this post, we will talk about the second part of the IELTS Exam, which is reading. You have one hour to answer all the 40 questions and transfer your answers. There will be no extra time for this.
The Reading part is different for General and Academic IELTS. Check out the differences:

IELTS Academic
Number of texts – 3
Sources – Authentic texts taken from books, journals, magazines and newspapers
Target audience – Non-specialist audience, but are appropriate for candidates entering university courses or looking for professional registration.

IELTS General
Number of texts – 3
Sources – Authentic texts taken from books, magazines, newspapers, notices, advertisements, company handbooks and guidelines.
Target audience – These are materials you are likely to read on a daily basis in an English speaking environment.

KINDS OF QUESTIONS

1. INFORMATION TASKS
True
False
Not Given – choose ‘not given’ when the information is not explicitly given in the text.

2. MATCHING
– For these tasks you may need to read for specific information or read in detail.
– Always look for key words in the questions and scan the passage to find them.

3. FLOW CHART
– The answer does not always occur in the same order as in the passage.
– Scan the passage to find the words you need to complete the chart.
– Always proofread the charge to be sure it makes sense.

4. MULTIPLE CHOICE
– Read before choosing the option. Don’t choose one option just because it has the same key words as the question.

5. MATCHING HEADINGS
– When you do these tasks, always read each paragraph for the main idea, not for detail.
– You will lose precious time if you read the whole text for detail, so don’t!
– There are always more headings than paragraphs
– Be careful about word spots. Sometimes these indicate that this is the right paragraph, but not always.
– Make sure the heading matches the meaning of the whole paragraph, not just part of it.

GENERAL TIPS:
– Use the text’s title, any photos and the questions to predict the topic and key words.
– TIME: You have less than 90 seconds for each question, so you DON’T have time to read all the texts carefully.
– A lot of students fail to answer all the questions because of lack of time. When practicing, be sure to time yourself.
– Never answer more than the stated number of words.
– Only pay attention to difficult words if they are key words.
– Divide your time equally between the sections.

HOW TO BECOME A BETTER AND FASTER READER
– Read as much as you can!
– Store vocabulary in a meaningful way.
– Try to read academic and authentic tests.
– Pick up magazines and newspapers and predict their content from the titles, pictures and headlines.
– Skim magazine articles just to see what they are about.
– Read texts that really interest you for detail.
– Use reading strategies: predicting, reading for gist (gist is the general meaning or purpose of a text, known as skimming), reading for detail, scanning (scanning is one type of fast reading – it’s useful when you want to find a word, a telephone number, dates, prices, etc.)
Did you like our hints? Don’t miss our next post, which will be about Writing!
Stay tuned!