Blog

Take time to improve your IELTS Reading Score With these 5 Tips.

There are 5 main reading skills to develop while you prepare for the IELTS Reading Test:

1. Previewing

When you preview a text you look at the headings, the layout and any images to get an overview of what the text is about. This helps you to predict the content, which makes it easier to understand the text

2. Skimming

When you skim read a text you look for the main idea, rather than the specific details. This enables you to get the general idea of the topic, by reading the text quickly, before locating specific information needed to answer a question.

3. Scanning

You scan a text to quickly find the information needed to answer a question. For example, at an airport you would quickly scan the timetable to find the departure that you want.

4. Guessing the Meaning

When you read and encounter a word that you don’t know, you can sometimes guess the meaning from the context it is in. This is a useful skill to develop because you are not allowed a dictionary in the test.

5. Understanding Opinion and Attitude

Understanding attitude and opinion is an important skill because writers do not always state clearly how they think or feel about their subject. So, develop the skill of understanding the author’s opinion through the language they use.

Improve Your IELTS Reading Score by Practising Every Day

• 
• Practise reading news articles, novels and blogs in English. Reading helps to improve your writing because you learn new vocabulary and grammar.
• Practice skimming and scanning magazine articles.
• Read the title first, then quickly read the first paragraph.  Read and underline the first two lines of each paragraph.
• Write down new words and look them up – this will help you to remember the words and their meaning.
• Take note of the grammar – Think about the structures used, look at the sentences, the tenses and the punctuation.
• When reading news articles think about how the writer develops their ideas?
• Schedule reading time eg when travelling, at lunchtime and before bed.
• Keep a dictionary and a notebook with you and write down any words you do not know. You can do this easily if you have a smartphone or Ipad with you.

If you follow these tips you will improve your IELTS Reading Skills and you will improve your Band Score.

The best way to improve your IELTS reading score is by practising with a native English speaker so check out our one-on-one Skype lessons.