Hi! I’m Bee. Today I’m going to tell you about how you can prepare for the IELTS academic reading test. First I’ll give you an overview of the reading test. Then I’ll talk about some strategies you can use for answering questions. And finally, towards the end, I’ll give you some tips to help you for the reading test. So, first the reading test lasts one hour. There are three texts to read, and a total
of 40 questions. You aren’t allowed any extra time to transfer
your answers, so write them directly onto your answer sheet. And you’ll need to manage your time during
the test because you won’t be told when to start or finish each section. You can expect to read around 2500 words in
total during your test – that’s the length of the three texts combined. These texts are taken from books, journals,
magazines and newspapers. They’ve been written for a non-specialist
audience and are on academic topics of general interest. So, reading a magazine such as Nature can
give you good preparation. The texts range from the descriptive and factual
to the discursive and analytical. So, expect a range of different texts. As I mentioned earlier there are 40 questions. You can be asked to fill gaps in a passage
of a written text or in a table, match headings to written texts or to diagrams
or charts, complete sentences,
give short answers to open questions, or answer multiple choice questions.
sometimes simply a letter, number or symbol. So always, make sure you read the instructions
carefully. Each correct answer receives one mark. So, don’t spend too much time on one question. Spend at most 20 minutes on each text. And use your time wisely Let’s now look at reading strategies. First let’s look at skimming and scanning.
Skimming is when you read something quickly to get the general idea of a text. You’ll need skimming skills to complete
a question where you need to match headings or other information to paragraphs. When you skim, you look at the titles and
headings. You’ll also read the first sentence of each
paragraph. Skimming should only take you a minute or two for each text. Scanning is when you look through a text quickly
to find a specific piece of information. You’ll need this skill for certain IELTS
type reading questions. For example, if you know that one answer requires
you to find something that happened in ‘Peru’, you can look quickly over a block of text
until you spot the word ‘Peru’, and then read around that word until you find the correct
answer. The main point is that you do not need to
read the entire text to answer this type of question. OK, so skimming and scanning will help you
answer many of the questions in the IELTS reading exam. However, for some questions you will need
to read a paragraph in detail to find the answer. This means you will need to read some sentences
very carefully to understand the full meaning and answer the question correctly. Right, use these strategies to help you to
improve your speed in an exam, to give you more time to answer the test in full, and
to leave you more time to double-check your answers at the end. OK, now we come to the third part of the video,
some general tips about the IELTS academic reading test. First, use that skimming skill! Skim the text. Look out for the title, headings and any special
features such as capital letters, underlining, italics, figures, graphs and tables.
Also, make sure that you understand the questions and follow instructions carefully. Pay attention to your timing; do not spend
too long on one text or question. Spend 20 minutes per text maximum. Remember, you don’t need to
read or understand every word. You just need to understand enough to answer
the questions. Don’t waste time. If you are having problems finding an answer,
do attempt to answer it, but don’t spend lots of time on it. All the answers are found in the text – so
don’t panic – use those skimming, scanning and reading for detail skills. Remember to check your spelling and grammar
carefully Pay attention to the word limit. for example, if you are asked to complete
a sentence using no more than two words, and if the correct answer is ‘leather shoe’,
the answer ‘shoe made of leather’ would be incorrect. Make sure that you attempt all questions;
there are no penalties for incorrect answers, so you have nothing to lose.
And of course, leave some time at the end to check your answers. OK. That’s it for this video. Remember to practise your reading skills. The more you read, the better at reading you’ll get. Goodbye, and good luck on the IELTS academic reading test!