Reading Tips

IELTS Tips - Reading

To know whether you should read the IELTS Reading passage first or the questions first, experiment with both strategies and see what works best for you. Many students have found it helps to skim through the questions first to get an idea of what to pay attention to in the reading passage. This method may work for you too, but in reality, it depends on a number of factors. These include how well or how quickly you read, the type of questions, how difficult they are, how much time you have, and so on. So, never mind what your teacher recommends, or what your best friend is going to do. Try both ways and see what helps you the most.

Read the IELTS Reading instructions carefully. Don’t try to save time by skipping this part. The instructions give you critical information about how many words the answer should be, what exactly you need to do, and so on. Always read the instructions, even if you have done hundreds of practice tests already!

In many cases, the questions follow the order of the information in the reading passages. This will help you find the required answers quickly.

Spelling matters, so take care while writing in the short answers. You will lose points for incorrect spelling. Take special care when copying words from the text.

Grammar counts too, so make sure you pay attention to this aspect as well.

In sentence completion tasks, focus on the meaning to select the right answer.

Do many practice tests to familiarize yourself with the test format, the types of questions, the level of difficulty and more.

Read widely from a variety of sources to strengthen your general reading skills and enrich your vocabulary.

Look out for key synonyms used in the text or question, to help you identify where to find the answer quickly.

Use only the stated number of words in your answer or you will lose the mark. Hyphenated words count as one word.