Preparation Tips for IELTS Academic Reading (part 1)

To prepare for the IELTS Reading module, read articles from newspapers, magazines, travel brochures, the Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, etc. You should read English novels too. Try to read about a variety of topics that you find interesting. You can find many interesting articles online.

Tip # 1:
Make the habit of reading faster by reading words in groups/chunks rather than word by word. Try to read a minimum of 2 hours per day. Read whatever interests you, but that has to be written in English. The three reading passages in the IELTS Reading test are on topics of general interest, and these passages are usually taken from books, newspapers, journals or magazines. So, try to read recent news, newspapers, magazines, travel brochures, etc., whenever possible.

Tip # 2:
Remember that you are reading for a purpose, not for pleasure. While practising, make a habit of looking at the title and headings when you survey the text, as well as special print like CAPITAL, Bold, italic, “quotation”, and underlined words. Try to understand exactly what the question wants and always follow the instructions carefully provided with the reading passages.

Tip # 3:
Practice scanning by applying the scanning techniques whenever you read a passage.

Tip # 5:
There are generally 10 types of questions available in the reading section. The types are:

1. Multiple Choice.
2. Short-answer questions.
3. Sentence completion.
4. Notes/ table/ summary / flowchart/ diagram completion.
5. Yes, No, Not Given or True, False, Not Given.
6. Classification.
7. Matching lists/phrases.
8. Choosing headings for paragraphs/ sections of a text.
9. Scanning and identifying the location of information.
10. Labelling a diagram.

1. Multiple-choice questions can test both your global understanding of the text and ask you for specific information. This means you will have to decide whether to skim or scan the text.

To prepare for the Multiple-choice questions:

• Read the instructions carefully and check how many letters you need to circle.
• Skim all the questions and the answer choices. As you do this:

» Underline the keywords (the words that give you the most information).
» Try to get an idea of the topic you will be reading about from the vocabulary of the questions.
» Look at any illustrations or diagrams that go with the text.

• Go back to the first question. Decide if you are looking for specific information or whether the question requires you to understand the whole text. Then either scan or skim the text, as appropriate, to find the answer.
• Read the relevant part of the text very carefully.
• Don’t leave any questions unanswered.

2. Short Answer questions will usually tell you to write your answers in NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS. So, you can answer with one word, two words or three words, but no more. However, this is not always the case. So you should always check what the questions ask you to do.

To prepare for the Short Answer questions:

• You have to apply both skimming and scanning techniques to be able to answer the questions in time.
• Skim all the questions quickly. As you do this:

» underline the key words.
» Decide what information you need to find in the text.
» Look out for question words like ‘where’ and ‘who’, which indicate
» You should find out about specific things like places and people.

• Go back to the first question and decide what part of the text you need to read.
• Read the part carefully to find the answer.
• You may use your own words. You don’t have to write a complete sentence, but it does have to be grammatically correct.
• If you don’t know the meaning of any of the words in the questions, find it using a dictionary, write it down in your notebook and try to reuse it over and over again.
• The answer could be one word, two words or three words, but not four or more. If you think you need more than three words, your answer is probably incorrect.

3. Sentence completion requires you to complete the end of a sentence. The questions generally appear in the same order as the information in the text. Type 2 questions are similar to the short-answer questions in that they will always tell you to write your answers in NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS. So, you can answer with one word, two words or three words, but not more. They will also tell you to use words from the reading passage.

To prepare for the sentence completion questions:

• Skim all the questions. As you do this:

    » Underline the key words.
» Try to work out what information you need.
» Think about the grammatical form as well as the vocabulary that should follow immediately from the stem.

• Go back to the first sentence and decide what information you need to complete it.
• Find the place where the information should be in the text and read it carefully.
• Look out for synonyms and parallel expressions because the questions are not likely to use the same words as those in the text.
• Make sure your sentences make sense both logically and grammatically.
• for type two, the answer could be one word, two words or three words, but not four or more.
• If you think you need more than three words, your answer is probably incorrect.

4. Notes/table/summary flowchart/diagram completions ask for specific information. There are two types of these completion questions in the IELTS reading
exam.

Type 1: With a selection of possible answers.
Type 2: Without a choice of possible answers.

These questions require you to:
  — insert a word or phrase in the middle of a sentence
— insert a word in the middle and another word at the end of a sentence

For Type 1 questions, the words or phrases provided will be different from the words in the text. There will be more words than gaps.

Type 2 questions are similar to the short answer questions in that they will tell you to write your answers in NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS. So you can answer with one word, two words or three words, but no more.

To prepare for the sentence completion questions:

• Look at the table or form, etc, carefully:

» Examine any headings or subheadings.
» Try to get an idea of the topic.
» Decide what section of the passage the exercise covers.
» Anticipate grammatical form as well as vocabulary.

• If a box of answers is given, see if you can guess any of the matches & eliminate unlikely answers.
• If the question is in the form of a table, work out which way it is best to read it – horizontally or vertically.
• If the question is in the form of a summary, read through it first and see if you can guess any of the missing words.
• Take each gap one by one and search the text for the best word(s) to fill the gap.
• If there is a box of answers, there will be at least two you don’t need.
• If there is no box, the answer could be one word, two words or three words, but not four or more.
• If you think you need more than three words, your answer is probably incorrect.
• There may be alternative rubrics for these completion questions, e.g. ‘complete the notice’ or ‘complete the explanation’, or ‘complete the news report’.

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