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'I hate reading!' and 'reading is so hard!' are common complaints from IELTS students in classrooms all over the world. So what is it about the IELTS reading test that causes bright, hardworking students so much stress?
Here is my list of things you must do to improve your IELTS reading band score and get a better overall result.
1. Get used to reading difficult passages
IELTS reading texts necessarily use obscure advanced vocabulary because it is designed to test even the most proficient of English students to a perfect band score of 9, and in the academic test, texts are similar to what you might encounter as an undergraduate student at university.
Ok, so a band score of 9 is really exceptional and may be out of reach for a lot of people. In fact, many IELTS students don't realise that the average IELTS score for a native English speaker with a high school education is only 7.5! That's why 7.5 is considered a very good score in IELTS and even the most prestigious universities around the world don't expect more than that. University is, after all, a time for students to further develop their reading and writing skills.
Increasing the amount of difficult texts that you read will help you develop stronger comprehension skills and give you a much better chance of scoring highly in the IELTS reading exam.
You can find excellent articles at National Geographic, New Scientist, The Economist, and Time Magazine.
If you are serious about improving your IELTS reading score, you could try ReadTheory. There are other mobile apps designed specifically for IELTS, most of which you have to pay for, but ReadTheory is a website with a library of thousands of texts with quizzes to test and monitor your reading comprehension skills for free. There are 12 levels on ReadTheory, one for every year in the British education system. As a rough guide, beginner students should expect to start at level 1-3, intermediate learners level 4-7 and advanced at 8+. Progressing to reading passages at level 10-12 will give you a better chance of scoring highly in the IELTS reading test.
2. Don't try to understand everything in the text
If you've ever felt the weight of a paper dictionary, you will know that English has an enormous vocabulary. At the time this post was published, there were a staggering 171,146 words in the Oxford English dictionary! Research suggests that whilst the average native speaker knows about 20,000 words and university-educated people have a vocabulary of approximately 40,000 words, there are only around 5,000 common words that are used repeatedly in everyday communications. Once you have accepted that there will be vocabulary that you are unfamiliar with in the IELTS reading test, you can free your mind to focus on real, practical and proven ways to increase your IELTS reading band score.
Most question types that you will encounter in the IELTS reading test require you to locate information in a text and approximate its meaning or reorganise it in some way. Plus, it is often possible to decipher the meaning of unusual vocabulary by looking at the sentences around it. You don't necessarily need to know all the words to answer most IELTS questions accurately.
3. Develop your IELTS vocabulary
What you most certainly will need to be familiar with is the official IELTS vocabulary list for each of the IELTS topics. The complete IELTS vocabulary list can be found at the back of official IELTS textbooks.
A good IELTS study schedule will include:
1. Learning new vocabulary, synonyms and paraphrasing
2. Practising different question types
3. Practising locating specific information quickly in texts
4. Skim and scan
Skimming is reading a text very quickly to get an understanding of the general idea and topic. Skimming an IELTS text should take about 2 to 3 minutes but I recommend first skimming the IELTS questions. Skimming is an important skill to master for the IELTS exam. Skimming the text be done first, but skimming the questions before the text can be a very helpful strategy to use, particularly if you sometimes run out of time, as you will already be prepared for the topic and the kinds of questions you will have to answer.
Scanning is another essential IELTS skill and involves searching a text for specific information. This skill is used when you go back and forth between questions and text to locate answers. To scan effectively you need to have skimmed a text and highlighted important vocabulary first.
There are plenty of free mobile apps designed to help you improve your speed reading techniques and practise skimming complex passages. Breaking news English is a great website, created and used by English teaching professionals, that uses current affairs as an engaging and relevant topic for improving reading skills.
5. Highlight key words
This is a very important time saving skill but it must be done well. Student often aren't sure what information is important in a text before they skim it and end up with highlighter pen all over their text. Highlighting too much can be very distracting and hinder your speed and accuracy.
So, how do you know what information is important in a text? Skimming the questions before reading should give you a better idea of key words you will need to look for later on in the test. In other words, which information is worth highlighting. It is better to limit highlighting to specific key words. If you start to highlight entire sentences, you might fall into the trap of highlighting too much.
Is a paragraph about a specific person or changes that happened during a specific date? Just highlighting the name or the date, if they appear in a question, will help you locate correct answers more efficiently.
6. Develop skills to answer each type of reading question
There are around 14 different question types in teh IELTS reading test and you will need to find a strategy for and practise answering each one to maximise your results. Some questions involve locating information in the text in order from beginning to end, but some questions do not. Many students find the true, false or not given questions more difficult than other question types, so it is a good idea to practise this type of question more often if you know it is a weakness.
7. Practise, practise, practise
Completing timed practise tests from genuine IELTS reading exams is crucial, especially in the weeks before your IELTS exam, because it will help you with time management and hone your skimming and scanning skills. If you never practise, you'll never improve your score; it really is that simple!
If you're short on time, give yourself 20 minutes to answer questions on 1 passage as this is the time you will have to work on each text in the IELTS reading exam. This was you can do practice tests on your lunch break or while commuting. A busy lifestyle does not have to get in the way of achieving the IELTS band score you truly deserve!
If you've tried these methods and still feel stuck at a band score of 5.5, or you're becoming frustrated with a particular type of reading question, seeking assistance from a trusted and experienced IELTS tutor is the best way to quickly identify where you are going wrong and develop strategies and skills to overcome problems with reading and comprehension.
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