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How to improve your IELTS Reading
One thing to realise about IELTS reading is that it is not simply a test of comprehension. It is more to do with study skills and extracting specific information than meaning. If you think of it in these terms then it will be easier to approach.
The technique you need for the reading is the same you would use if you were looking for the telephone number of someone in a large telephone directory i.e. looking for a small amount of information in a large body of text. The key to this process is that you DO NOT READ THE WHOLE TEXT just as you would not read every name in the telephone book to find the one you are searching for.
In the first instance you would use tools like your knowledge of the alphabet to narrow down your search and then you would scan to locate the name that you want. In the IELTS reading the process is similar – your tool is the use of key words in the questions which you will scan for and then analyse the sentence or sentences that you have found with these key words to find the exact answer.
Skimming is another tool which you will need when answering questions like headings or summaries – these are called global questions as they look at a broader meaning contained in the text unlike YNNG and TFNG which analyse details.
Your guide for the test is the questions NOT the passages. Don’t read the passages in the entirety – it’s possible that there are paragraphs you may not even need and so reading everything might waste your time.
When scanning and skimming know what you are looking for – if you have no purpose for this then DON’T DO IT. Again it will waste your time.
Work quickly you have about 1 minute per question so if you spend 5 minutes on the questions it will be difficult to complete the test. If you can’t find an answer move on and come back later. In fact you may find the answer when you are looking for another question –this happens all the time like when you lose your car keys and can’t find them but when you stop your frantic searching they suddenly appear!
Keep coming back to the question as you search for the answer – it us easy to get seduced by the vocabulary in the text and forget exactly what the question was asking you.
Once you have chosen your key words in the question be loyal to them and remember they must be together in the passage to help you find the right place – if they aren’t maybe this is not the correct place and you should look again.
Understanding sentence structure and sentence relationships (this is something you will know – I hope – from your writing) will help you in your understanding of how to get the right answers. Linking words give you clues;’ but’, ‘however’, ‘on the contrary’ suggest the opposite of what is written is true maybe this will help you in your answer. Also be very careful of negative questions – they can be very tricky.
There is a lot to think about but with knowledge, and most importantly, practice you can get a high band in your IELTS reading.
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