There are a lot of students who ask the same question and have the same problem in IELTS reading that they could not attempt all the questions, don’t have enough time for the 3rd passage or find it difficult to manage their time
effectively.
If you face the same problems then this post is for you
Here are 11 Reading tips for managing your time in IELTS Reading –
1. Learn the exact skill that you need to solve a particular type of question
– Not all the question types are the same we all know this but students apply the same strategy when it comes to solving all of them and end up being disappointed. This needs to be changed and thoroughly learn
– IELTS Reading tests your different types of Reading skills like Reading for gist, reading for main ideas, and reading for details. So, you should work on all of them carefully and if you do not have the exact skill then you should learn it and practice it.
2. Divide your time
– You should try to minimize the time you spend on your 1st passage of Reading. Try spending say 15-17 minutes or less on the first passage, and 18 minutes on the second passage, then you can utilize that time on the last passage. Because IELTS Reading is designed in such a way that it goes from easiest to hard, and the
hardest so if you divide your time like this. You will always have enough time
to solve 3rd passage.
3.Work on the easiest part first
– Always attempt the type of question first that you are good at. if you are good at solving True/False/Not Given or Fill in the blanks, attempt them first.
– Even if they are the last question in the passage you really don’t need to attempt all the questions in chronological order if you solve the easiest first you can solve
them in less time and you will have enough time to attempt other questions you find difficult or need more time to solve.
4. Don’t panic – calm down
– I think, this is the most important aspect when you are under real exam conditions, because it’s natural to feel a little pressure or some students get panic when do not find the location or answer for one particular question. Because it affects your concentration, and you will feel stressed or cannot concentrate. Therefore, it is crucial to not to get panicked and try to calm yourself. If you do not find answer or location for one question, move to the next question because there
are 39 other questions to solve, this one question can waste you valuable time.
5. Don’t rush
– Rushing in questions is another common mistake that many students make. Some questions demand more time, like the list of headings because you need to read between lines within the paragraph just to understand the main idea. So you need to be aware of where to spend and where to save your time.
6.Try different approaches to practice
– Always try to make reading interesting because it can be boring sometimes always try a different approach to solve the reading
– if you have a problem with time management then what you can do is first attempt 30 or 35 questions try giving 60 minutes to only 30 Or 35 questions instead of giving it to all 40 questions like this you might not attempt all questions but as you are attempting fewer questions in the same time you will have some extra time attempting the questions more efficiently and will score better as if you attempt 30 questions with full concentration and get 28 correct and just guess the answer of other 10 questions and get 2 correct out of those than in overall you will get 30 answers correct and score 7 bands and with is great!
7.Learn new vocabulary words
Reading is more like a vocabulary test so if you have a rich vocabulary, it is an advantage that can help you foster and solve your reading quickly.
8. Identify your weakness and strength
– You need to know which question you lack it is not that you get all your fill-in blanks correct but you spend fifteen minutes on it. so when you will attempt the other question.
– Like you are attempting true/false/not given first and get all of them correct and after that try to attempt multiple choice questions but here you only get one or twocorrect answers the problem might not be in the approach of multiple choice questions but instead, you might be spending more time on true/false/not given
and don’t have enough time to attempt multiple choice questions so you need to work on the approach of true/false/not given.
9.Identify what type of errors you make
– You should always check what kind of errors you make that affect your score in reading if you lack vocabulary learn synonyms and antonyms.
10.Read often – make it a habit
– Reading can be very beneficial in IELTS as if you are an active read you can skim and scan the paragraphs very easily
– And these are very important things to master in reading skimming, scanning, and reading. Scanning should be fast, skimming should be slow and reading should be the slowest. In brief, first, read the question take keywords then go to the passage scan to locate the keyword this should be fast because you are only matching the keyword and if you will waste time here the time of skimming and reading in detail you will lack time and won’t be able to answer accurately.
– So read every day to improve your reading module.
11. Track your progress
– Always keep a check on your progress. Try to make notes and understand where you lack and what kind of mistakes you make. Make a chart of the questions that you were not able to attempt and also of the questions you tried finding a location and could not answer and the questions you were able and was fully sure that will be correct but it is still incorrect and write the reasons also that you misunderstood the question or there was some kind of a word written that meaning you did not knew so work on them.
