IELTS Reading

Academic Reading

This test consists of three sections with 40 questions.It is suggested that candidates spend about 20 minutes on each section.There are 3 texts, which are taken from journals, books, magazines and newspapers.The texts are on topics of general interest, At least one text contains detailed logical argument.

Question types

• Gap-fill
  Fill the gaps with words from the passage
  Fill the gaps to label a diagram
  Fill the gaps with words form a list/box
  Fill the gaps in a table
• True/false/not given
• Yes/no/not given
• Multiple choice
• Short answer questions
• Matching paragraph headings
• Matching paragraph information
• Matching names
• Matching sentence endings

Suggestion

• Keyword
  Underlining the mainwords of the question, and searching those word or similar words in the passage.
• Time
  Read at nomal a speed & miss any difficult questions & 20 minutes for each passage
  If you read too quickly, you will miss the answer and waste time. So, don’t skim or scan, unless you are searching for something very easy, like number or name.
• Vocabulary
  Always write down the key vocabulary from any reading text, and learn it.
  （If you understanding the word you read, you should be able to get the right answer.）
• Practice
  slowly and carefully(try to get a high score first, and then get faster later.)

Basic exam techniques

• First, read the title
• Then, go to the first question
• Underline ‘keywords’ in the question
• Then, search for those words in the passage
• Underline them
• Read that part of the passage carefully
• Try to get the answer
  .
• Read at normal speed
• Only skim/scan for names or numbers
• Miss any difficult questions, get to the end

【TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN & gap-fill】

• Find the ‘keywords’ and then compare the question and passage carefully.
• The answers are always in the correct order in the passage.

【Multiple choice questions】

• Basic exam techniques (upper)
• The answers are always in the correct order in the passage.
• The main thing is searching for the question

【Matching names】

Tips:

• The answers are not in order in the passage.
• One name may be used for more than one answer.
• Some of the names may not be needed.

Techniques:

• Underline ‘keywords’ in each statement
• Scan the passage to find all of the names (Highlight each name clearly)
• Choose the name with the shortest description
  Read the sentences around that name, and underline the main ideas relating to that name.
• Compare with all of the question staements

【Matching paragraph headings】

Tips:

• The answers are not in order in the passage.
• Some of the headings may be similar.

Techniques:

• Do ‘paragraph headings’ question last
• Underline ‘keywords’ in each heading on the list
• Then read the shortest or easiest paragraph
  Read at normal speed
  Underline the main ideas in the paragraph
  Compare with all of the headings

【Which paragraph contains?】

Tips:

• The answers are not in order in the passage.
• Same paragraph may contain more than one answer
• Some of the paragraphs may not contain any answers

Techniques:

• Do ‘which paragraph contains’ questions last
• Underline ‘keywords’ in each statement
• Then start with the easiest statement
  Information that you remember reading about
  Easy keywords that you can scan for

【Short answer questions】

• Basic exam techniques (upper)
• Isn’t very common as the other questions
• Limited of words

【Matching sentence endings】

• The answers are always in the correct order in the passage.
• Underline keywords in the sentence endings
• Then start with the first question
• Underline keywords in the question
• Read the passage at normal speed
• Underline keywords that you find
• Compare the passage with the sentence endings
• Choose the best one