Band 9 IELTS Reading Tips

hi there it's asiya and today my  ielts reading score is band nine   yes in the last test i finally achieved a perfect  nine which i'm really happy about in the previous   two tests i got 8.5 but i still remember  how intimidating this test was when i took   it for the very first time to study  for my master's degree in london   i couldn't understand everything and it felt like  there was very little time but i still managed to   get an aid back then and today i'd like to share  with you my tips that will help you perform   better in your test and hopefully achieve  a higher score okay let's get started   let me quickly tell you about the exam format  and then we move on and talk about the tips   ielts reading lasts for 60 minutes you get 40  questions split into three sections and questions   generally get harder as you progress the tests  are slightly different for academic and general   training students academic students get three  longer passages and general training students   get five sometimes six shorter passages academic  students need to answer 30 questions for band 7   and 35 for band 8. they get more scientific  more difficult texts general training students   get easier passages and they will be expected to  answer more questions correctly for the same score   basically they need 34 correct  answers for band 7 and 38 for band 8.   now let's discuss how you can answer  all 40 questions in 60 minutes   in ielts reading you have a lot to read and  most likely you won't even understand everything   because this section demands the widest  vocabulary out of all four ielts sections   and you have just 60 minutes so the pressure will  be high and time management is key the official   guidance says that you should spend 20 minutes on  each section 20 20 20. the truth is that questions   in the first section are the easiest and you need  less time to answer them and questions in the last   section are the hardest and 20 minutes is probably  most likely it's not enough to answer them so   i think you should spend about 15 minutes on the  first section 20 on the second and 25 on the third   then you have the best chance to answer all  the questions that you can answer quickly   if your english skills allow for that you should  go through your test even more quickly and have   some time left at the end to go back to the  questions you missed and try to find those   answers and you need to track time if you  take a computer-based exam it's not a problem   the timer will be on the screen but if you take  a paper-based exam there will be a clock on the   wall you're not allowed to have your own watch  and under all this stress you may simply forget   what time you started so as soon as the section  starts write down the time on the sheet then you   always know how much time is left invigilators  will tell you when you have 10 minutes left   and 5 minutes left my big strategy here is  to start with questions here is what i mean   if you read the passage first and then attempt  to answer questions you're likely gonna spend   much more time doing that that's because you have  to read the whole passage attentively because you   don't know which information you will need and  also by the time you get to questions you will   forget little details and you will have to go  back to the text and find those bits because   remembering just a general idea  is not enough in ielts reading   the good thing is that most questions come in  order you can read the question start reading   the text find your answer read the next question  find your answer and so on in this case you save   time because when you feel that your answer is not  there you can read quickly and then slow down when   you feel that that's a sentence or sentences  which contain the answer and you spend your   time you re-read the question you find the answer  then you read the next question and you continue   some questions don't come in order for example  matching headings but still you don't have to read   the whole passage you can read the first paragraph  find the answer the next paragraph find the answer   then you always know what you need to concentrate  on and it saves time i have a detailed video   describing this strategy and all the types  of questions which come in order and which   don't come in order and i will link it in the  description box below my next tip is don't rush   i know you have little time but if you don't  read your questions carefully your options   or sentences which contain answers you will  make mistakes which you could easily avoid   you save time on answering questions as you read  the passage you also save time on reading some   sentences of your text quickly because you know  they don't contain your answer but when you find   the sentence which contains the answer you should  read it carefully re-read the sentence if you need   otherwise you simply leave points on the table  and also you have to read the whole passage even   though you can read some sentences quickly and  some more slowly and attentively you have to read   everything don't try to crack the test by reading  the first sentence of each paragraph or by just   looking for keywords in the text those tactics  don't work in ion's reading the next tip is don't   spend too much time on any single question some  answers are really difficult to locate but if   you spend too much time on a single question you  may still not find the correct answer but you lose   the ability to answer several questions that you  could answer so first go through all the questions   and then if you have some time at the end go back  to those you skipped and try to locate your answer   every time i take an ielts reading  test i mark several questions to review   and i go back to them at the end of the test  and spend much more time on every question   because i know that i've answered all the other  questions already the next step is use keywords   these are the main words in your questions in the  options in the text that will help you understand   what this sentence is about so if you use keywords  they help you concentrate on what information   you're looking for and in the text they help you  navigate in your long passage but don't look for   the same words in your questions in your options  and in the text ielts reading is built in such a   way that correct answers are paraphrased they use  different words and if you look for the same word   those are usually used in incorrect options  those are traps so look for the meaning   look for synonyms and not for the keyword in  the option and in the text that will not help   when you're reading the passage highlight all the  names surnames locations names of theories dates   they will help you to find information if you  need to go back to this passage later so how can   you highlight keywords in a computer-based exam  you have a function to highlight them in yellow   and in a paper-based exam you can simply underline  them you should also cross out incorrect answers   let's say you have four options if you  eliminate two you'll be selecting between   just two of them and have a better chance of  guessing what the correct answer is and answer   all the questions at the very end even if you  don't know what those answers are select one   you always have a chance to guess correctly and  you don't lose any points for incorrect answers   and let's talk about transferring your answers  so if you take a computer-based test you don't   need to transfer your answers anywhere you just  select them on the screen straight away but if you   take a paper-based test you'll be selecting your  answers on the question sheets first and then you   need to transfer them to the answer sheet but you  don't get any extra time to do that like in ielts   listening so don't leave it until the end you  finish the first section transfer your answers you   finish the second section transfer your answers  third transfer and only then when you have just   a few gaps left for those questions you are not  certain about then you go back and you try to find   those answers and on the last minutes of the test  if you don't know just answer something oh yes and   don't try to answer on the question sheet directly  because that will be distracting you from the task   you need to concentrate and choose the correct  answer and select the correct letter and write   it in the correct box so don't do that during  the test find your answers for the first section   then transfer them that will give you a one minute  break and then you concentrate on the next passage   and so on now let's talk about the  format of your answers you can write   them in capital letters or on small letters or  capitalize the first letter it doesn't matter   when you're answering true false not given and  yes no not given questions you can just write t or   n or ng not given that's fine and actually  even if you write no instead of false or   true instead of yes those will still be counted  as correct answers so don't worry about that   but pay attention to your spelling if you have  a spelling mistake it's an incorrect answer if   you take a computer-based test and you need to  copy a word you can actually select the word   and press ctrl c copy and then ctrl v to paste  it in the gap then you are guaranteed that the   spelling is correct and if you're taking a  paper-based exam then well you need to copy   those words carefully and if you're wondering if  ctrl f works to search for certain words then no   it doesn't if you're wondering what it's  like to take the ielts exam on the computer   i personally find it pretty convenient and it's  great for ielts reading because you have the   passage and questions right next to each other and  you don't need to transfer your answers anywhere   you simply click on them and that's it so you save  a couple of minutes but it all depends on whether   you're comfortable typing your answers in ielts  writing or you're better off writing them by hand   and that is what will decide which format is  better for you now let's talk about preparation   i think you should definitely prepare for the most  difficult types of tasks and for most people these   are true false not given yes no not given and  matching headings you need to have your strategy   then you know what you need to do and you can  find more answers in less time but those are   big topics so i have two separate videos with  strategies and practice tasks linked below   and what you do to prepare for your test  really depends on how much time you have   and i have a separate video where i explain how  you should prepare in one week in one month in   three months with pdf study plans which you can  download and this video is right on the screen   so thank you so much for watching me today good  luck with your preparation and your exam bye

Channel: Fastrack IELTS

Views: 77,506

Keywords: ielts, ielts exam, ielts test, ielts exam preparation, ielts preparation, how to prepare for ielts, ielts tips, Fastrack education, fastrack ielts, fastrack asiya, ielts reading 2021, ielts reading exam, ielts reading strategies and techniques, ielts reading tips, ielts reading tips and tricks, how to improve ielts reading, how to improve ielts reading skills, ielts reading answers format, ielts reading how to prepare, ielts reading preparation

Id: e_B983oQ7k0

Length: 13min 16sec (796 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 05 2021