How to get a high score on the IELTS Reading In this video I am going to give you ten important tips that will help you succeed on the reading module of the IELTS Prepare yourself for test day by watching this class and taking my quiz at the end My name is Emma and in todays video we are going to talk about the reading module of the IELTS Im going to tell you some of my top IELTS reading tips So lets get started
During the reading module of the IELTS there will be three passages that you read and for each passage there are a bunch of questions you have to answer The first tip I have for you is dont spend too much time reading the passages What happens to a lot of students is they read word-for-word everything They see a word they dont know they keep trying to understand the meaning You dont have to understand everything to understand the passage If you dont know a word thats fine
The better thing to do than to slowly read is to use skills such as skimming which means you quickly read for the main idea or scanning meaning you look for key words or you look for specific detail A lot of students what they do for the IELTS is they will actually read the questions first and then they will read the passage And that way they They know what theyre looking for You dont have to do this its one technique Some students find this a lot easier other students like to read the passage first and then answer the questions I recommend trying both out First do the reading then the questions then try to read the questions first and read the passage and see what you like better what youre more comfortable doing
So the key thing here is dont read slowly Its a timed test you have three parts you have to get through 40 questions its very important that you read quickly You can start practicing reading quickly also There are a number of resources out there where you can actually start practicing And time yourself when you practice make sure youre not going over time
Number two similar to number one my tip is dont spend too long on each question Some of the questions are difficult-theyre possible you can do well on them-but some of them you might be reading and you might think Oh I dont know what the answer is and you might look at it and think and try and try and try Well the problem is if you spend too much time on a question there are 40 questions and the one hour limit for the test it goes by very quickly So you can spend too much time on each question So what I recommend is read a question try to figure out the answer If you dont know it you can put a star beside it and come back after Dont spend too long on any question You can also take a guess move on and come back later
My third tip spend less time on earlier questions For the reading module the Like I said there are three passages The first passage is the easiest then the second passage and then the third question If you spend all your time on the first passage youre not going to have time to do the second and the third And like I said the first one is easier So a good idea is to spend less time on the first passage maybe about 17 minutes then the second passage maybe spend about 20 minutes and the third passage maybe 23 minutes You dont have to follow this exactly but the main idea is spend less time on part one more time on part three because part three is harder
My fourth point is make sure you have enough time to transfer your answers They will have an answer sheet and youre supposed to write your answers on it Its very important to leave yourself time to transfer your answers from your test paper to the answer sheet A lot of students they work through the booklet and then they realize theres no time to transfer their answers so make sure you leave time for this
