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Every Word Counts in IELTS Reading
When I start working with IELTS students on their IELTS reading I often find that they spend a lot of time on the passages and only read through the questions quickly before rushing off to find the answers. This strategy is the wrong way around.
Much of the content of the reading passages is irrelevant for the questions and so it is important that you find ONLY that information that will answer them. The way to do this is to spend more time analysing the questions – word for word – so that you know EXACTLY what the question is asking you for.
Another thing I have observed is that when students do actually spend time with the questions, choose key words and take time to understand exactly what is being asked, they often then get immersed in the passage and forget all about this work on the questions and go for the very first keyword, ignore the others and put down a wrong answer. The questions are your key to finding the correct information so even when you think you have found the right place you need to refer back to the question to make sure. Remember to use all your key words and not just the first one you find.
You may think that this sounds like a lot of work and that you won’t have time to do this. Achieving a high band in IELTS reading depends on two things:
- firstly the ability to locate the answer accurately
- secondly the ability to do this quickly
Without the first skill the second will not help you. Only worry about speed once you are able to locate the right answer again and again. In fact you will find that once you can do this the speed will no longer be a problem to you.
I cannot stress the skill of choosing and using keywords enough. This is your ‘satellite navigation system’ for finding the right answer in the text. Every word in the question counts. The questions in IELTS are NEVER random – they are all carefully constructed by the exam writers to test something specific – every word in the question is important and you need to take note of all of them in order to find the right place for your answer and then the right words to create your answer. Some words will help you locate the answer, some will tell you exactly what kind of answer is required and some will help you to qualify the information that you find so that you can get exactly the right answer (in YNNG for example).
If you see a word like fast or not or most, for example, you should ask yourself why it is there in the question. It will be there for a reason and to ignore it will probably end up with you choosing a wrong answer and losing a point.
Using the key words in the question to locate accurate answers is not a skill that you can learn overnight. It takes time to practise this skill for each type of question and some question types will take longer than others. Also, achieving band 7 or 8 in IELTS reading is not a skill that you can learn overnight. Be systematic, take your time and you will be rewarded with the high band in IELTS reading that you seek.
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