Reading skills are a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of the IELTS test. The practical IELTS Reading tips in this article might help you improve your reading skills, manage time effectively, and confidently tackle even the trickiest questions.

IELTS Reading tips help to boost your performance in the IELTS test

IELTS Reading Tips: Test Overview

Among all the skills tested in IELTS, Reading is a very essential one, which is designed to test a wide range of different topics to assess a candidate’s ability in terms of grasping main ideas, remembering details, skimming effectively, understanding logical arguments, identifying viewpoints, attitudes, and purposes in the text.

The IELTS Reading test evaluates your ability to comprehend and interpret written English

Test takers read three IELTS Reading passages and answer 40 questions within 60 minutes. Mastering the IELTS Reading test requires a combination of strong reading skills and effective test strategies. For further information about the Reading section as well as IELTS Reading techniques, check out this article about IELTS Reading Test.

Types of Questions in IELTS Reading Test

The IELTS Reading test features a range of question types designed to assess your ability to understand and interpret written information. Being familiar with these question formats helps improve accuracy and speed during the exam.

Matching Headings

Match a list of headings (short summaries) to paragraphs or sections of the passage.

Matching Information

Find specific information (e.g., causes, reasons, descriptions or other features) within particular paragraphs.

Matching Sentence Endings Questions

Match the beginning of a sentence with the correct ending based on the information from the passage

True/False/Not Given or Yes/No/Not Given

Determine if statements accurately reflect the information presented in the text.

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct answer from several options (e.g., A, B, C, or D). Some questions may require selecting more than one option.

Read more about IELTS Reading Multiple Choice Questions.

Short Answers

Answer specific questions using a few words or numbers directly from the passage.

Read more about IELTS Reading Short Answer Questions.

Sentence Completion

Fill in missing words from the passage to complete a sentence.

Summary/Table/Flow Chart Completion

Complete missing information in summaries or diagrams using words from the text.

Completion Diagram

Label a diagram, map, or illustration based on the information given in the reading text.

Common Mistakes in IELTS Reading Test

The most frequent mistakes in the IELTS Reading

To perform well in the IELTS Reading test, it’s essential to not only apply the IELTS Reading tips but also avoid common mistakes that can lower your score. Here are the most common mistake test takers usually make that you should watch out:

Spending too much time on one question: Overanalyzing a single question can waste valuable time and leave you rushing through others.
Not skimming or scanning effectively: Failing to quickly locate key information can lead to missed answers and confusion.
Ignoring instructions: Overlooking word limits or specific requirements can result in incorrect answers, even if your response is accurate.
Guessing without understanding: Random guesses without referencing the passage often lead to errors.
Misinterpreting True/False/Not Given or Yes/No/Not Given questions: Many candidates confuse “Not Given” with “False” due to incomplete comprehension of the text.
Not managing time properly: Spending too long on one passage can leave insufficient time for others.
Misreading the question: Missing keywords or failing to understand the question’s focus can lead to incorrect answers.
Over-relying on prior knowledge: Answers must be based primarily on the passage, not solely on your general knowledge or assumptions.
Failing to review answers: Simple mistakes can be caught and corrected with a quick review if time permits.
Ignoring synonyms or paraphrases: The exact wording of the question may differ from the passage, so spotting synonyms and paraphrases is essential.

Top 5+ IELTS Reading Tips

Mastering the IELTS Reading test requires effective strategies and consistent practice. Here are the best reading tricks IELTS to improve your reading skills and achieve your target band score.

Tip 1: Read the Instruction Carefully

This is one of the most essential IELTS Reading tips since it helps ensure that you understand what is being asked.

Always follow the instructions precisely

Failing to pay attention to details, such as word limits or specific answer requirements, can result in unnecessary errors that might bring your score down.

Tip 2: Practice Paraphrasing Skill

If you master Paraphrasing skill, you can apply these IELTS Reading tips to quickly recognize information and answers, as the exact wording of the answer is rarely found directly in the passage.

Practicing paraphrasing is one of the key IELTS Reading tips

The IELTS Reading test is designed to assess your ability to comprehend the complexities of language, so examiners will evaluate your understanding of main ideas and opinions expressed through various words and phrases.

Tip 3: Increase Reading Speed with Skimming

Skimming technique trains you to move your eyes quickly across the entire text to find important keywords. This is one of the most effective IELTS Reading tips to save time and improve your reading speed.

Skimming is one of the most vital IELTS Reading techniques

You can apply this IELTS Reading technique with these steps:

Read the first paragraph carefully to get an overview of the text.
Next, pay attention to the first few sentences of each paragraph, this will give you the main idea of each paragraph.
Always read the last paragraph carefully because this paragraph often contains a summary of the entire article, a conclusion, or a lesson learned for an issue mentioned in the article.

Tip 4: Find Detailed Information when Scanning

Besides scanning, skimming is another IELTS Reading technique worth trying. Questions often include dates, names, numbers, and all of these elements will appear in the answer you are looking for. Skimming won’t guarantee you’ll get all the information, but scanning will.

It is best to use skimming and scanning together

Follow these IELTS Reading tips:

Underline important information like names, dates, figures, and statistics.
After reading the question, identify the keywords and then scan the text for those keywords and possible synonyms.
Spend less than 3 minutes skimming a passage. Be quick and focused to find the information as quickly as possible.

Tip 5: Focus on the Idea, not Every Word

In the IELTS Reading test, many candidates make the mistake of reading every word carefully. This approach wastes time and can cause confusion. Instead, focusing on the main idea allows you to find answers faster and improve overall comprehension.

Focusing on the big picture, you’ll become faster in IELTS Reading

This is amongst the most unique reading tricks IELTS, involving reading the text overview and paraphrasing the information in your own words. This initial analysis helps shift your attention to the main ideas and messages, instead of getting caught up on individual words, which is crucial since the answer you need is often paraphrased.

Tip 6: Underline and Highlight Important Information

Once you find the exact location of the paraphrased answer in the reading passage, you need to compare the keywords between the question and the answer choices. If the information does match, you should underline the important information or note the location of the keywords in each question.

Underlining and highlighting are powerful IELTS Reading techniques

Additionally, there is always only ONE correct answer to each question. This is how tests are designed. That is exactly why the correct information for that question will be in a very easy to find out the location.

Tip 7: Determine the context

The last reading tricks IELTS for you is to examine the surrounding words or the sentence’s overall meaning to determine whether it conveys a positive or negative tone, or if it refers to a person, job, animal, or characteristic.

Understanding the context is a crucial IELTS Reading technique

You can also analyze prefixes like “un-” (which negates an action), “re-” (indicating repetition), or “-wise” (signifying reference to something).

Conclusion

Achieving a high score in the IELTS Reading test requires a combination of effective strategies, time management, and regular practice. By understanding the test format and apply IELTS Reading tips, you can significantly improve your performance.

Consistent practice with online IELTS test and IELTS materials on IELTS Test Pro will enhance your confidence and accuracy. Follow our Blog for other articles about IELTS tips, stay focused, and you’ll be well on your way to reaching your target band score.

Top 5+ IELTS Reading Tips: How to Improve Your Score