ielts preparation institute
Simple Tips to Improve Your IELTS Reading Score |
- Contrary to the popular belief that it is easy to do well in IELTS reading, data proves that maximum number of IELTS aspirants miss their band requirement because of low scores in reading. In the absence of right tips and techniques IELTS reading is quite challenging.
- Majority of the students lose marks in IELTS reading not because they don’t understand the given text but they do not follow the correct techniques to answer the questions. The questions must be answered exactly as per what is mentioned in the passage, answers must not be based on assumptions or general knowledge about the subject of the passage.
- Here is an example. The passage states, “Many people consider boxing as the mother of all games because a professional boxer competing at international level must have the stamina of a marathon runner, strength of a power lifter, footwork of a footballer, agility and hand eye coordination of a table tennis player and speed of a sprinter.”
- The true/false/not given question related to this text is “Boxing is the mother of all games.” The obvious answer to this question looks ‘True’ but the correct answer is ‘Not Given’ because the writer has mentioned that boxing is considered by many as the mother of all games, it is just stated as a personal belief of individuals and not as a fact.
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- Following are some basic but effective tips to do well in IELTS reading.
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- Skim over the passage
- Skimming means looking only for the overall idea of the passage for finding the answer. Always keep in mind you are not required to attentively read each and every word of the paragraph for answering the questions. If you have a proper understanding of the passage you can easily write correct answers by just skimming over the paragraph.
- Remember to underline
- While skimming over a text, always remember to underline the important text that you come across while skimming. It will help in saving your time while you search for answers.
- Pay attention to special texts:
- Paying attention to the detailing given in any special text like capital letters, italics, figures, underlining, tables and graphs is always a good idea as there are high chances that answers of the questions may lie in the special text.
- Answer all the questions
- Do not skip any questions, if you are not sure of an answer; take a guess as there is no negative marking for incorrect answers, so the guess may just work in your favor.
- Manage your time
- Remember in your reading section you have 60 minutes to read three passages and to answer 40 questions. Noteworthy, unlike listening, in reading you will not get extra time for transferring your answers to the answer sheet, so ensure that you mark the answers directly on the answer sheet.
- Check Spellings, word limit and grammar
- Last but not the least; do not forget to cross check spellings of your answers as you will get zero marks for wrong spellings. Do not exceed the word limit for fill in the blanks and short answer questions. That is if the instructions state ‘answer the following questions in no more than 3 words from the passage’, then make sure that you do not exceed 3 words. Be very careful with fill in the blanks, though all answers will be there in the passage but when you fill in the blanks make sure that your answer fits in the sentence with grammatical accuracy. For example if the text states,” Henry was not among the students who participated in the games. ” and as per the instructions, the sentences must be completed in no more than 5 words. The sentence to be completed is “Henry________________ in the games.” Then the answer must be ‘did not participate’
- To score good bands in IELTS reading, follow the above-given tips.
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