Top Tips for Effective Reading
The IELTS reading range presents some challenges for most candidates, but there is no need to get panic. Fortunately, a few simple steps can help you dramatically improve your reading score. The IELTS Best Coaching Centre in Kerala is Casper Academy, which can assist you in getting an IELTS top band score.
Read Fast:
To speed up your reading, avoid using a finger or stylus as a cue. Avoid sub-vocalization, i.e.”Read aloud in your mind,” and instead of just reading a word or two each time you look at the text, read in “groups of meanings,” i.e. Groups of words that together form a unit of meaning. And before you know it, you might be reading quickly without compromising comprehension.
Pay attention to the content words:
content words are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs and carry most of the meaning in a text. Grammatical or structural words such as auxiliary verbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, on the other hand, help clarify the meaning. Of course, both types require attention, but it’s a good idea to pay more attention to the content words to decode the meaning.
Find out the meaning:
IETLS Difficult vocabulary is typically used when reading texts. Don’t worry too much about this, however, because if you don’t know the exact meaning of a word or phrase, work it out from the neighboring words or phrases. These “neighbors” can be synonyms, antonyms, definitions or explanations of the difficult vocabulary concerned.
Pay attention to the structure of a text:
Often the title and subtitle of a text are good indicators of focus, purpose and content. This also applies to images, charts, tables, etc. Within each paragraph, find the key or topic phrase, decipher the meaning of paragraph titles, and see how ideas connect and flow from each other. Pay attention to the structure of the text introduction, topic development, and conclusion and mark it well as you read. Also recognize the main ideas and their supporting ideas in a text. If paragraph titles are missing, it’s a good idea to provide your own. Keep them short and precise. As you read, you can highlight or label important ideas or blocks of information in a text.
Determine the author’s aim, tone and attitude: Every time you read a text you need to ask yourself what the author’s aim is (e.g. to inform, describe, argue, discuss) and what attitude or approach and tone, which he/she has on the subject. This knowledge will help you better understand the text.
Familiarize yourself with the different test items and their rubrics: find out what different types of reading questions can be used in the reading module – space, sentence completion, chart labeling, table completion, true/false/not given, matching items, etc. and practice as much as you can to master them without making mistakes. It is important to carefully read the rubrics or instructions for answering the questions, as each type requires a different type of answer.
Get a look inside the examiner’s mind:
Think about what your examiner might want to test in the reading section. What type of questions can he or she ask and from which areas of a text? Quite often, questions deal with areas such as dates, numbers, names, places, people, events, reasons/causes, conditions, purposes, attributes, characteristics, to name a few. And when you read a text, look for areas that contain such information and you will find that questions are often based on it!
Plan your exercise:
For now, don’t worry about the time limit. Pay attention to the smallest details and try to get every answer right. Once you get the hang of it, gradually increase your pace so that within a few days you’ll learn to answer all 40 questions in about 40-45 minutes, and have some time to check and revise your answers.
Avoid guessing or speculating:
Guessing can be good for figuring out the meaning of words and phrases in a text, but answering questions based only on guesswork can be disastrous. So instead of relying on guesswork or speculation, use logic and reasoning and get all of your answers correct. Also remember that not all questions are designed to respect the order in which the information for their answers occurs in a text. Casper Academy of Excellence, located in Kochi, is the best online IELTS coaching centre in Kerala.