Conquering the IELTS Reading Part: Unraveling the Secrets!

Hey IELTS people!

So, you're gearing up for the IELTS, and the reading part has got a bit of a twist? No worries! Let's tackle it together. Trust me, it's more manageable than it seems, Let's dive into it!

Decoding the IELTS Reading Part; Unraveling the Secrets!

Alright, first things first. This section is all about testing your reading skills in different contexts. You'll be given passages from books, magazines, and even newspapers. Sounds familiar? it's like your everyday reading, just with a little IELTS twist. The test contains 3 tasks with a total of 40 questions. you will be given 60 minutes to complete this part.

What to Expect;

1. Passage Variety;

you'll encounter different types of texts. It could be anything from a casual conversation to a formal article. Don't worry, we'll break it down step by step.

2. Question types: 

The questions will cover a range of formats. From Multiple questions to true/false/not given, you've got a toolkit of skills to apply.

3. Time management:

This one's important! You've got about 60 Minutes for three passages, so pace yourself. Don't get bogged down on one question.

Okay,

Let's talk about question types and some strategies that you can use to tackle these questions in detail:

Reading question types and listening question types are more or less the same, instead of listening to a recording you just need to read the given passage and find the answers. Again this is how I did my exam and got 8.5 for reading.

First of all, when I practiced for the test I tried several types of strategies to find the answers for the questions. At first, I quickly skimmed through the passages and then got to the questions and started answering but I always ended up short time for the last passage. I had to do it in a rush which caused to reduction of my mark to about 6.5 to 7. So I tried another method which is what I'm going to tell you now.

So what I did was I did some research on the questions because through my practice I found out that some answers for some question types come in the order of the paragraph. Like for example, the answer to the first question will be at the beginning of the passage and the answer for the second question is in the next part of the passage. But some questions may not follow a pattern like that so the answer could be in the first paragraph or it could be in the last paragraph. So I divided the question types into two; 

When I start the test I read the instructions carefully and then quickly look what are the question types in the task. 

1) If the question types are the types that follow the passage order,

I read the first question and the second one quickly marking the keywords. Then I start reading the passage more like skim until I find those keywords in the question when I find them I will read carefully to find the answer. then I quickly go back and read the second question and the third one real quick and go find the answer to the second one like I said earlier. Why I'm reading the next questions you might ask, the logic behind this is if you know that the answers follow the order of the passages if you find the answer for the third question while you were searching for the answer for the second question then that is an indication to you that you have passed the answer so you can go back and find the answer quickly. This is a really effective way to find answers more accurately and fast.  

So following question types will follow an order;

1. Multiple Choice questions with three or four answers

2. True/ False /Not Given

3. Yes /No/ Not given

4. Missing words

5. Sentence Ending completion.

2) If the Question types are not the types that follow the passage order;

For these questions, you can develop your own way whatever suits you is the best. I read the first question second and third quickly marking the keywords and then start reading the passage while I mark the keywords.

1. Matching Information

Matching Headings; In these questions, you have to read the passage and find the suitable heading for that passage which are given in the question. So you will have to read the entire passage to understand its content and meaning. Then you can decide what topic is suitable. Read the passage first and read the topics find the most suitable one and cross it out. Read the second one read the topics again and cross it out. Like that, you can do this type.

Matching paragraphs; Here also you have to read the entire passage and match the given information. You can follow the same strategy here also.

Matching information; Most likely there will be a statement of a phrase that someone said you just need to find who said it or which para contains it. Again same strategy.

2. Multiple choice questions with five options with two correct answers

one thing you can do is whenever you read the passage mark keywords underline them or do something that you can identify them. It will come in handy when you answer these questions. Most likely these questions will come at the end of a task so you may already finished reading the passage you just need to go back and find those keywords.

3. Questions at the end of a task;

These could be any type. So mostly in task 3 that questions come at the end will not follow an order.

so this is what I did I'm just sharing it with you so you might get an idea of what to do. At the end of the day, it's your test so practice is the key I identified these tricks through practice so just like that you guys can do that too.

 Some additional tips;

Please make sure that you read the instructions clearly and do not rush into the questions you may miss important signposts like "Not correct", "Not false" etc. 

When you practice I recommend you time yourself like this:- 15 minutes for taste 1, 20 minutes for task 2, and 25 minutes for task three. It will help you with time management.

So that's it, folks. Please practice well for the test this is just to ease your journey, As always please leave a comment if you need to know any things. I'll see you in the next.

Cheers,

Hasitha Senarathna