IELTS Reading Tips ( Cẩm nang ielts reading )

In general, you have to:  Read through the text first and last sentences of paragraphs to understand the main ideas and have an overview of the text  Read the questions, understand key

In general, you have to:

 Read through the text (first and last sentences of paragraphs) to understand the main ideas and have an overview of the text

 Read the questions, understand key words and do the exercises

 Remember that questions follow the order of the text

QUESTION TYPES TIPS

 Multiple choice  Note that the questions follow the order of the reading

text

 Read the questions and the options carefully to see whether they asks for main ideas or details of the text

 Note the key words in the questions -> to locate the area

of the text where you will find the answers

 Read the text carefully to decide the correct answers

 Gap-fill (summary)  Read through the summary at normal speed so that you

have a fair idea of what it is about

 Check the instructions: you can use a maximum of two words for each answer and these words must be taken from the reading passage If you use more than two words or words that are not in the passage, the answer will be marked wrong

 Read the sentences and underline the key words

 Skim the passage and find out where the part that has been summarized begins

 Read the text around each gap carefully See if you can predict the answer or the kind of word(s) that you are looking for

 Select the best word from the text for each gap

 Re-read the summary, with the words you have selected for each gap, to make sure that it makes sense both grammatically and in terms of meaning

Gap-fill (diagram/ flow chart/

table completion)

 Check the instructions for the questions to see how many words (often only TWO) and these words must

be taken from the reading passage If you use more than the maximum number of words or words that are not in the passage, the answer will be marked wrong

 Skim/scan the passage until you come to the section that describes the two types of bridge

 Read this part very carefully and select the words in the passage that fit the labels

Sentence completion  The questions follow the order of information in the

passage

 Check the instructions: usually you can use a maximum

of three words for each answer and these words must be taken from the reading passage If you use more than three words or words that are not in the passage, the answer will be marked wrong

 Read the sentences and underline the key words

 Read the words around each gap carefully See if you can predict the answer or the kind of word(s) that you are looking for

 Scan or skim the passage until you come to the part that

is relevant

 Re-read the sentence with the word you have chosen for the gap to check that it makes sense both grammatically and in terms of meaning

Short-answer questions (NO

MORE THAN THREE

WORDS)

 Read the questions and underline key words

 Understand what the questions ask for (who – name, title, relationship; what – thing, action, when – time, where – place, why – reason (noun phrase), how – means, manner, quality (adv, adj, V-ing, noun phrase)

 Read the text, locate the area where you can find the answers

 Read carefully to decide which phrase to choose as the answer

Matching 1 Matching headings

 Read the headings carefully, underline key words to understand the main idea of each heading

 Read the topic and concluding sentences of each paragraph (if the paragraph is longer, more than 6 sentences); read the whole paragraph if it is short

 Match the headings with paragraphs of the same main ideas

2 Matching opinions with the speaker/ writer

 Read the opinions Underline key words

 Locate the place where key words appear in the text

 Read carefully to find the names of the speaker/ writer

3 Matching each statement with the best ending

 Note that the part-statements or questions follow the order of information in the passage

 There may be more endings than statements, so there are some unused

 Note the endings that fit the statements grammatically, often two or three endings for each, but this is good as an exclusion

 Guess the answers if you have read the through the text and remember some information

 Underline the keywords in each statement, then scan the text for these words When you find the relevant part of the text, read it very carefully

 Select the option that best completes each sentence

 Re-read the completed sentence and compare this for meaning with the appropriate section of the passage

YES/NO/NOT GIVEN  The questions follow the order of information in the

passage

TRUE/ FALSE/ NOT GIVEN  Start with the first question and note the key words

Pay attention to adjs, advs, and numbers

 Skim or scan the passage until you come to the part where the writer is discussing his/her views on the topic or idea presented in the question If you cannot find any information on this, the answer may be 'not given' Check this carefully

 If you do find some information, decide whether the writer's views are the same or the opposite of those given in the question

Identification of the author’s

views/ claims

 This is often a multiple choice question

 Note that the options which are too specific (many details) usually are not the answer

 The answer should be a sentence that is GENERAL ENOUGH A too broad one cannot be accepted

 Depend yourself on the main ideas of paragraphs and on your understanding of the text

From Thầy Vinh IELTS with love ^^

ielts.vinh@gmail.com