hello my name is Emma and in today's
video we are going to talk about the
reading module of the IELTS I'm going to
tell you some of my top IELTS reading
tips so let's get started during the
reading module of the IELTS there will
be three passages that you read and for
each passage there are a bunch of
questions you have to answer the first
tip I have for you is don't spend too
much time reading the passages what
happens to a lot of students is they
read word for word everything they see a
word they don't know they keep trying to
understand the meaning you don't have to
understand everything to understand the
passage if you don't know a word that's
fine the better thing to do than to
slowly read is to use skills such as
skimming which means you quickly read
for the main idea or scanning meaning
you look for keywords or you look for
specific detail a lot of students what
they do for the IELTS is they actually
will read the questions first and then
they will read the passage and that way
they know what they're looking for you
don't have to do this it's one technique
some students find this a lot easier
other students like to read the passage
first and then answer the questions I
recommend trying both out first do the
reading then the questions then try to
read the questions first and read the
passage and see what you like better
what you're more comfortable doing so
the key thing here is don't read slowly
it's a time test you have three parts
you have to get through 40 questions
it's very important that you read
quickly you can start practicing reading
quickly also there are a number of
resources out there where you can
actually start practicing and time
yourself when you practice make sure
you're not going over time number two
similar to number one
my tip is don't spend too long on each
question some of the questions are
difficult they're possible you can do
well on them but some of them you might
be reading and you might think oh I
don't know what the answer is and you
might look at it and think and try and
try and try well the problem is if you
spend too much time on a question there
are 40 questions and the one hour limit
for the test it goes by very quickly so
you can't spend too much time on each
question so what I recommend is read a
question try to figure out the answer if
you don't know it you can put a star
beside it and come back after don't
spend too long on any question you can
also take a guess
move on and come back later my third tip
spend less time on earlier questions for
the reading module the like I said there
are three passages the first passage is
the easiest then the second passage and
then the third passage if you spend all
your time on the first passage you're
not going to have time to do the second
and the third and like I said the first
one is easier so a good idea is to spend
less time on the first passage maybe
about 17 minutes then the second passage
maybe spend about 20 minutes and the
third passage maybe 23 minutes you don't
have to follow this exactly but the main
idea is spend less time on part one more
time on part three
because part three is harder my fourth
point is make sure you have enough time
to transfer your answers they will have
an answer sheet and you're supposed to
write your answers on it it's very
important to leave yourself time to
transfer your answers from your test
paper to the answer sheet a lot of
students they work through the booklet
and then they realize there's no
have to transfer their answers so make
sure you leave time for this okay my
fifth tip is a very very common error
students make three words or less in the
reading section also in the listening in
the instructions you will also or you
will often see the words write three
words or less they mean write three
words or less a lot of students write
too many words here so for example if
I'm talking if I'm doing a reading on
archaeology and you know I have to read
an answer and my answer is the tomb of
the Pharaoh for example this is a
pharaoh if you don't know ancient Egypt
if the instructions tell me write three
words or less and my answer is the tomb
of the Pharaoh I've written way too many
words I've written one two three four
five so that's too many so I would get
this wrong on the IELTS and get a big X
even though my answer was right because
I didn't follow the instructions and I
wrote too many words I'm going to get it
wrong so what would be the correct
answer in this case is the Pharaoh's
tomb this is three words so in this
example that would be correct we haven't
gone over three words also I could write
for these questions maybe one word or
maybe two words I can write one two or
three words no more than that very
common mistake number six is another
common mistake students make their
spelling a lot of students forget that
the reading section also has a writing
component and that is you have to write
your answers you also have to spell your
answers correctly and many students
unfortunately make spelling mistakes so
it's very important
to practice spelling before you do the
IELTS it will help you with the
listening section the writing section
and the reading section I can't
emphasize this enough smelling spell
it's not smelling spelling matters okay
one idea is you can get a book and any
time you spell a word wrong write it in
your book and practice those words have
a spelling book for yourself so you can
see which words you often make mistakes
with number seven a lot of students also
make this mistake with grammar you have
to use the correct grammar when you're
answering a question so for example
sometimes maybe the answer is castles
with an S but a student might write the
singular version in their answer maybe
they just write Castle but the correct
form would be with an S so you always
have to be aware of grammar the best
thing to do is after you write your
answer check it to see if the grammar
makes sense were they looking for
singular answer were they looking for a
plural answer okay so that's very
important to keep an eye out for finally
my last my last tip for today is a lot
of students don't read the instructions
properly this is a very very big mistake
to make a lot of students they've done
lots and lots of IELTS tests and they
think they know it so they don't bother
reading the instructions always read the
instructions even if you've done a
hundred IELTS tests read the
instructions just to make sure for
example some common mistakes that happen
is for a multiple choice in the reading
section maybe the question will ask you
to choose two answers and if you don't
read the instructions properly you might
just pick one or maybe it asks you to
pick three answers so it's very
important to read the instructions
properly another common issue with
instructions is people confuse not given
yes no questions with not given true or
false questions they're different so by
reading the instruction hopefully you
can see the differences and then when
you're supposed to write yes you don't
write true and when you're supposed to
write no you don't write false so make
sure you don't mix those questions up
read the instructions so in order to
practice the IELTS I invite you to come
visit our website at wwlp.com we have a
quiz there on some of these tips you've
just learned and also I would recommend
visiting another site www.scopemonth.com
until next time