STUDY SKILLS: READING
IELTS DISCUSSION CLUB
OVERVIEW
General Training Reading Test
The General Training version includes extracts from
books, magazines, newspapers, notices,
advertisements, company handbooks and
guidelines.
These are materials likely to be encountered on a
daily basis in an English speaking environment.
Academic Reading
The Academic Reading test is 60 minutes long.
There are 3 sections. Each section contains one long text.
Generally, the reading texts get longer and more complex.
Texts are authentic and are taken from books, journals, magazines
and newspapers. They have been written for a non-specialist
audience and are on academic topics of general interest.
Texts range from descriptive and factual to the discursive and
analytical.
Texts may contain non-verbal materials, such as diagrams, graphs or
illustrations
If texts contain technical terms, a simple glossary is provided.
IELTS Reading Skills
Grasp the big picture as well as the minor points
Distinguish facts from opinions and attitudes
Identify the overall purpose of the passage
Follow the main arguments in a written text
Locate specific details and relevant information
Summarize the key points
Represent written information in graphic form
Inter meaning
Use accurate spelling and corrrect grammar
Paraphrase and identify synonyms
Reading Strategies
Skim
Don’t start by reading the whole passage.
Read the title, introduction, topic sentences, last sentences
Scan
Read the question and locate the relevant section in the text.
Read intensively
Read carefully to answer the question
Look for synonyms
Read around the answer to check
QUESTION TYPES
Types of IELTS Reading Questions
True/ False/ Not Given
Short answer questions
Matching headings to paragraphs
Summary/ note/ table/ flow chart completion
Identifying the writer’s views (Yes/ No/ Not Given)
Multiple choice questions
Selecting factors
Diagram labelling
Sentence completion
Matching information with paragrpahs
Matching Headings
There are often more headings than you need.
Before you start doing the task, check how many
headings you need.
Read the headings before you read the passage to
help you focus on the main ideas.
There is only one correct heading for each
paragraph.
Make sure that the heading you choose
summarises the whole paragraph.
True, False or Not Given
In these tasks, the statements will not be expressed in the same way
as the relevant information in the reading passage.
Follow these steps to complete these tasks:
1. Read the statements and underline the most important words. Then
find information in the reading passage that has a similar
meaning. If you can do this, the answer to the statement is True.
2. If there isn’t any information in the passage with a similar meaning
to the words in the statement, look for information with the opposite
meaning. If you find this the answer is False.
3. The answer is Not Given if only some of the information in the
statement is in the passage, but not all of it.
Different types of Y, N, NG
Sometimes the task will ask you if a set of statements reflects the claims
of the writer and sometimes whether the reflect the opinion.
Opinions:
An opinion is a personal feeling. Opinions often start with the
words I believe, I feel, I think, in my opinion, in my view.
Sometimes the writer uses adverbs to show their opinion, eg.
luckily – (good/in favour); sadly – (bad/against).
Claims:
A claim is a statement that a writer makes.
The writer often uses evidence from scientific study to support
their statement.
A claim is not necessarily true.
Using information in a table
In some exam questions you will have to complete a
table with the information from the passage.
Keep in mind that sometimes the same word in the
passage appears in the table but at other times,
synonyms of important words are used.
A different form of the word in the passage can also
appear in the table.
Scan the passage for key words in the table and then
look for information you need in the same paragraph.
The answers may not be in the same order as they are
in the text, but they are generally in the same part of
the text.
Summary/ Note/ Table/ Flow chart
Completion
Questions 9-12
Complete the summary using the lists of words, A-I below.
Write the connect letter, A-I, in boxes 9-12 on your answer sheet.
The language Debate
According to 9……, there is only one correct form of language. Linguists who
take this approach to language place great importance on grammatical
10…… .Conversely, the view of 11…… , such as Joseph Priestley, is that
grammar should be based on 12……
A. Descriptivists B. Language Experts C. Popular Speech
D. Formal language E. Evaluation F. Rules
G. Modern Linguists H. Prescriptivists I. Change
Using information in a diagram
Use the information in the diagram to give you clues
about the information you need in the text.
Scan the passage for the words which are given in the
diagram and read the text around them. Does it give
you any important information?
Look at where the parts of the diagram that you have
to label are. Then scan the passage for words which
describe location in the text e.g. behind, in front of,
between etc.
Think about the function of the parts of the diagram.
Then scan the passage for verbs which describe a
function.
Sentence completion
The exam instructions usually say ‘Choose one word
only from the passage for each answer.’ Or ‘Choose
no more than two/three words from the passage …
‘. Make sure:
You use the same words as the words used in the
passage when completing the passages.
You use no more than the number of words stated.
The word is you find is the correct word class (noun,
adjective, verb etc.) so that the sentence is
grammatically correct.
Summary completion
There are two types of summary task.
1. In one type, a list of words you need to fill in each gap are given
in a box. These words also appear in the passage. There are
always more words than you need.
2. In other type, you need to choose words from the passage to
complete the summary.
Sometimes only part of a text is summarized. Scan the passage for
words in the title or the first line of the summary to help you find the
section you need.
Completion tasks normally state the number of words you will
need to complete each gap. You will lose marks if you use more
words than the task instruction states.
The order of sentences in the summary is not always the same as
the order of information in the passage. Look for key words from
the summary in the passage to help you find the correct information.
Multiple choice
Look for key points in the text that match or
contradict each of the options.
Read and find out if one option is the correct
answer before you read the next option.
Read all the options before you make a final
decision about which one is correct.
Recognizing synonyms
Underline key words in the question and look for
the same words, or words with similar meaning in the
passage.
When you’ve found the part of the text which
relates to the question, remember to read to the end
of that part and consider all of the options.
You cannot ‘learn IELTS’,
so learn English!
