IELTS Reading: advice and techniques

I've published this lesson before, but I think it's worth repeating it for people who have been asking me for reading tips. Here's my list of advice and techniques for IELTS reading:

1. Don't read the whole text; you haven't got enough time. Just go straight to the questions.
2. 'Paragraph' questions are much easier if you do them last. Do other sections first.
3. The answers to most questions should be in the correct order in the text, so you don't need to go back to the beginning to start looking for the next answer.
4. Read all instructions carefully.
5. Look for 'keywords'. There are usually words in the questions that are similar to words you need to find in the text. For example, if the text contains the word "global", the question might use the word "international". If you find the similar words, you have probably found the answer.
6. You must get to the end and answer every question. If you don't finish, you might miss some easy points.
7. Some questions are difficult because their aim is to separate band 8 and band 9. Don't waste time on difficult questions. Miss them, finish the exam, and return to them at the end.

Comments

[Prince]

Dear Altruist,

I want to IELTS exam on 19 september 2015. Please add me in the IELTS group

[James Z.]

Hi Simon,

I find it hard to do gap-filling of a shortened passage with the use of words from the original paragraph. I usually have to read carefully from the beginning to the end. But I think that'll be a waste of time. What shall I do to cope with this type of question?

Thanks in advance

James Z.

[mahmoud]

Hi James Z,

And me too, i think the only tip for this part of reading is just expanding your ability to identify synonyms which means there is a constant effort to improve your vocabularies as far as you can.

[Rajkumar Mohanan]

HI GUYS I AM SHARING ANOTHER ESSAY FROM IELTS CAMBRIDGE BOOK.

By punishing murderers with the death penalty, society is also guilty of committing murder. Therefore, life in prison is a better punishment for murderers.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

It is sometimes argued that by sentencing murderers for capital punishment, the community is also perpetrating murder as opposed to confining murderers for life imprisonment. While capital punishment is sometimes inevitable, I do believe that life imprisonment is the adequate form of retribution for an overwhelming majority of murderers.

There are several reasons why capital punishment is sometimes unavoidable. Firstly, supporters proclaim that the capital punishment will greatly act as a main deterrent for most potential murderers. For instance, by sentencing and executing a murderer, it would disseminate a sense of fear among the public, which prevents them from committing murder. Secondly, death penalty shows that homicide is never tolerated and would not be absolved, thus it ensures that each life is valued and respected. Furthermore, the huge cost of imprisonment is also avoided by executing the convict. Finally, this kind of retribution provides a safety measure to the public as the offender cannot pose a further threat to others.

Nonetheless, there remain many altercations against capital punishment and in support of life imprisonment. First and foremost, several innocent people could wrongly be convicted and executed because of the lack of circumstantial evidence to prove their innocence. In addition to this, capital punishment has already failed to prevent murder rate. By doing this kind of retribution, society creates a violent culture and encourages revenge. In my opinion, we have no moral rights to take another human life as well as capital punishment is not a good deterrent of murder as many criminals do not contemplate the deadly consequences of crime before they commit murder. Also, life imprisonment gives sufficient time for the murderer to realise the trauma who has caused to the society, remorse and reform.

In conclusion, though capital punishment stands good for certain rarest of the rare and deliberate cases, I would argue that life imprisonment is definitely a commensurate and sufficient method of retribution for a variety of murderers.

[James Z.]

Hi mahmoud,

Thank you for your kind words. I really appreciate that.

Best regards

James Z.

[ns]

Rajkuman mohanan, this one of the essay will score 8 or above. You have very good vocabulary which is apt for the topic and delivered your points in a sequence and i can see most of your idears are there in simons e book about crime. do practising and share it. GOOD LUCK

[good]

anyone, identify which parts of reading are hardest for you, that is a gap of the band 7
----
7.Some questions are difficult because their aim is to separate band 8 and band 9

Dear Simon,

I don't understand it "Some questions are difficult because their aim is to separate band 8 and band 9"
what is Some questions ? can you tell us in which type of Ielts's Reading ??

Pretty Please!

[DOAN]

Dear everyone,

Could you correct the mistake to me? I will be appreciated!

Some people prefer to live in a house, while others feel that there are more advantages to living in an apartment.

Are there more advantages than disadvantages of living in a house compared with living in an apartment?

It is true that houses are an excellent place to live because if we have a house, we will have more space, more comfortable and we can do everything we want. In my opinion, apartments are also useful with people who don’t have enough money to buy a house.

On the one hand, house is a place who want to have their own garage if they have a car. House is also useful for people with over the age of 60. For example, people who want to keep a pet or also need a big garden to cultivate some kinds of food. So house can be a best choice for them. Beside those, if you want to buy a house in the US, you should think careful because you must pay for the tax every year and the tax is high too. So this situation depend on the personal's
hobbies, budget or the place where you live.

On the other hand, in the big cities where almost everyone goes out daily for working or studying, apartments provide a better chance to choose. The advantages include the fact that apartments are cheap enough to hire or buy and you can also live next to a vary kind of neighbours. In addition, they are safety too because there are always have more than one security go around and check daily. So if you have a long trip, you will feel comfortable when your apartments are always safety.

All in all, both apartments and houses are also have the advantages or disadvantages too, so they depend on personal consideration. In my view, apartments are better choice nowadays.

[DOAN]

Dear Simon,

Thank you very much!

[xia]

I had my IELTS test on 8th of August in Abu Dhabi. My writing task2 was below:

even though rich countries provide the financial aid to poor countries, but it still cannot solve the problem of poverty, therefore, other ways can be done to solve the poverty problem, to what extend do you agree and disagree?

[xia]

I want to take a chance to ask one quesion here. Hope someone could help me! I can have many ideas when I write an essay by typing, my mind seems worked faster by typing the words online, but my mind would get stucked when I write an essay by hand writing, I would loss many ideas if I write essay by handwriting. Can anyone explain to me why?

[good]

hi xia, it is the common problems that quickly typing but slow handwriting .the problem is those day you are used to be

to fix this : every plan to start at handwriting on paper pls ,then organized ,logically order those ideas to which paragraph ??

Cheers

[xia]

Hi good,

Thank you so much for the advice! I will keep in mind and do more pratice by handwriting from now on.

[Rajkumar Mohanan]

Dear Xia APPEAR for PTE

[huyen]

if I do the passage 1, after finishing other questions, should i do the paragraph questions in this passage or finish other questions in the other passages first?

[Peter Postman]

Dear Simon

I took IETLS test twice and ting I noticed that it seem very easy when preparing myself. However on the test day, the material is too dense that it was always a struggle to comprehend the text than from choice of answers. I am following your lessons from some months now, off course it helps a lot.

The last test score is, R6,L6,W6 and S7. It is quite simple that I need supreme efforts in Reading, Listening and Writings.

After both tests, I realised test exam is much more difficult and higher level than the material available to prepare ourselves.

Any suggestions, I am practising my Reading almost every day for couple of hours. What more Simon. I am sometimes very disappointed.

Regards

Peter

[Peter Postman]

*thing

[Ayşen Müge]

Dear Simon,

Thanks for your amazing tips.

Could you please prepare a new post about apportioning time in reading part? You know last part in reading is much difficult than first part all the time.
I will appreciate it if you prepare a new post about this subject.

Cheers,
Müge

[Laziz]

How to recognize Band 8-9 questions quickly??