Prepare for the IELTS Reading Test
The Reading test takes 60 minutes. There are 40 questions, based on three reading passages with a total of 2,000 to 2,750 words. Both the Academic Reading and General Training Reading tests have the same format. All answers must be entered on an answer sheet during the 60-minute test. No extra time is allowed for transferring answers.
Academic Reading Texts are taken from magazines, journals, books, and newspapers. Texts have been written for a non-specialist audience. At least one text contains detailed logical argument. Texts may contain non-verbal materials such as diagrams, graphs or illustrations. If texts contain technical terms then a simple glossary is provided.
What reading skills are tested in IELTS Academic Reading? This is a test of reading comprehension in a general academic context. The texts used and the skills tested are intended to reflect the target language needs of undergraduate and postgraduate students, without bias for or against students of any particular discipline.
What is reading for detail? When we read for detail we read every word in a text and think carefully about the meaning of every sentence. It is often necessary in IELTS Academic Reading to read a certain section of a text in detail in order to answer a question correctly. Usually a candidate must skim or scan the text first to find the right section and then, having found the relevant section, read for detail.
How do we read text? In everyday life we use different strategies or approaches to read different texts. Sometimes we read quickly, skimming for general ideas or scanning for a specific point. Sometimes we read slowly, trying to gain a detailed understanding. How we read depends on the text – its length, its type – and our purpose in reading it.
General Training Reading
The first section, ‘social survival’, contains texts relevant to basic linguistic survival in English with tasks mainly about retrieving and providing general factual information.
‘Training survival’, the second section, focuses on the training context, for example on the training programme itself or on welfare needs. This section involves a text or texts of more complex language with some precise or elaborated expression.
The third section, ‘general reading’, involves reading more extended prose with a more complex structure but with the emphasis on descriptive and instructive rather than argumentative texts, in a general context relevant to the wide range of candidates involved. What reading skills are tested in IELTS General Training Reading? In IELTS General Training Reading candidates are expected to be able to deal with texts from a range of social and educational, training and work contexts which are general rather than discipline specific. Technical terms are avoided and low frequency lexical items may be glossed. It is a test of reading and not of general knowledge.
Steps
- How to Read:Many students are unfamiliar with the idea of adapting their reading habits according to the text and the task. They may have been trained (at school, for example) to read every word slowly and carefully, and not to move on until they have understood everything. It is important to break these habits. The paragraphs which follow outline some of the skills that students need to acquire or practice.
- Cohesion:It is important to develop in students an awareness of the different ways that the meanings in one sentence in a text are connected with the meanings in other sentences. There are a number of different ways of showing connections between sentences. These include:
- the use of reference words such as pronouns (it, he, she, this, those etc.) and the use of articles (first reference may be with ‘a’ and the next references to the same thing with ‘the’)
- the use of words referring to the same thing; either the same word repeated or synonyms or class terms used
- the use of connecting words to show the relationship in meaning such as ‘also’, ‘as a result’ and ‘in contrast’
- the use of substitution words such as ‘such’ or ‘so’ that take the place of whole phrases or sentences
- the omission of words that the reader is expected to understand because they were used in a previous sentence
- Do not read the reading texts first:It is a mistake to begin reading a passage or text with out first having a reason to read. Always have a reason to read a piece of text before you begin to do so. It is crucial to have a logical plan before intending to read the Reading Passage.
- Read the text in a logical order.
- Do not forget to read the glossary:The glossary (if provided) helps the examinee understand the meaning of the unfamiliar terms and therefore it helps them have a better comprehension of the reading texts.
- Answer the questions quickly and accurately. If you can not answer a question quickly, leave it and come back to it later.
- As the passages are long, you don't have to read them in detail. Skim and scan them to find the relevant information.
- The level, the texts and the tasks become progressively more difficult. Therefore, do the earlier questions as quickly as possible, to give yourself more time for the difficult questions.
- You have roughly one and a half minutes for each question.
- Do not panic if you can only do maybe three questions out of seven. Go through them again and again, but quickly.
- When you finish one passage, check your answers and try to fill any gaps. The questions generally follow the order of the information in the text. However, the questions in one section can overlap another and they may be jumbled.
- The questions are usually paraphrases of the text so look for the meaning in the text, not the exact words.
- Some question types are used to see how you deal with specific information and general meaning. For example, a multiple-choice question can test for detail or understanding of a whole text.
- The questions do not test your knowledge of English, but your ability to use your English. The exam is testing whether you can use your English to find your way around a written English text.
- Remember to read the instructions carefully. The instructions will tell you where to find the answers, what you need to do, what kind of answer is required, and how many words you need to write. The instructions will also tell you if an option can be used more than once, and will remind you to transfer your answers to your Answer Sheet.
- Remember that the questions for certain task types follow the order of information in the reading passage.
- Remember to read all the questions very carefully.
- Practice scanning for key words in the extracts or the reading passage that match the items. You can also practice scanning for paraphrases of key words.
- Remember that in most tasks which involve writing words or numbers, e.g. Short-answer Questions, the answers have to be grammatically correct and spelt correctly. Accuracy in spelling and word form are very important and you will be penalized for incorrect spelling.
- Use the information provided in the notes, tables, diagrams or flow-charts, as well as any examples, to predict the type of information that is required.
- In classroom activities, discuss the type of information you need for each task type you might meet in the test.
- Underline key words and phrases when you read as well as paying attention to key words in the questions.
- Practice using synonyms, summary words etc. to help you locate information.
- Practice different ways of expressing the same ideas or information in a text.
- Practice reading skills such as skimming and scanning for information.
- Some students are convinced that only test practice will really help them, and want to do test after test. This can be discouraging, as they do not see the rapid progress they would like. You should read widely, e.g. newspapers, journals, magazines and books, and use materials from these sources when preparing for the test.
- Be aware of the different text types and how best to approach them. Practice the full range of IELTS Academic Reading task types. Take time in class to discuss the differences between task types and the skills that are being tested.
- You should make sure that you understand that there is more than one way to read a text. Some students believe that they must read every text slowly and carefully, underlining every unknown word and stopping to worry about it. You should remember that your main aim is to locate the answers to the questions. You do not need to read in the same way you would if you needed to memorize something. You should try not to worry too much about the presence of unknown words, and you should also practice guessing meaning from context. Try not to look up every unknown word in the dictionary.
- Make sure that you read the instructions carefully in every case: many task types contain variations, and it is easy for you to confuse them if you do not check carefully what it is you are required to do.
- You should remain conscious of time limits during the test, and you should move on rather than spending too much time on a particular question to which you are unable to find the answer.
- Be aware of the dangers of relying on locating the exact words in the text that you find in a question: practice using paraphrases and locating paraphrase in a text.
- In task types where the information is located in order in the text, remember you don't need to go back to the beginning of the text for each question.
- Take care when you need to copy a word or words from the text onto your Answer Sheet. Copying incorrectly will lead to loss of marks.
- Make sure that you get some practice in using an Answer Sheet.
- Answers which exceed the word limit will be marked incorrect.
- All words that candidates will need in order to answer the questions will be given in the passage, so they should be encouraged to transfer their answers to the Answer Sheet with care. Candidates should be aware that poor spelling and grammar are penalized.
- Remember maximum word requirements
- Guess the meaning of unknown words from context
- It is important to write your answers on the answer sheet as you do the Reading Test. if you do not, you may find yourself in the unfortunate position of having completed the test in the given time of 60 minutes but without having recorded any answers at all!
