How to approach the IELTS Reading Passages

ScottsEnglish

There are two ways to ‘tackle’ the IELTS reading test.  

Over many years, we have tried every different possible way known to man and here are the two ways - A and B - that work.  These two ways are based on the input of hundreds of students who scored at least 7.0.

Note: you should practice both these approaches in reading and follow a set pattern on test day.  Since you will need to write your answers in pencil, you should use a pencil to underline key parts and write your answers when you practice.

 

	A	Time Taken		B	Time Taken
1	Skim the passage and underline the key words.	1-3 mins	1	Read the question and underline the key words.	10 secs
2	Read the first question and underline the key words.	10 secs	2	Start quickly reading the passage and locate the area that contains the answer. NB: the answer will contain synonyms of the words you highlighted in step 1.	30 secs – 1 min
3	Locate the area which contains the answer.  NB: the answer will contain synonyms of words in the question. NB: If you did step 1 well, this should not take long at all.	10 secs	3	Read in detail to make sure you have located the correct area and answer.	30 secs
4	Read in detail to confirm your answer choice.	30 secs	4	Repeat steps 1-3 above
5	Repeat steps 2-4 above until all questions have been answered.		5	Write your answer directly on to the answer sheet.	5 secs
6	Write your answer directly on to the answer sheet.	5 secs

 For more information, go here: http://answers.scottsenglish.com/discussion/210/ielts-toefl-or-toeic-which-do-i-read-first