IELTS reading

Tips:
Make the most of your Reading test:

• look out for the title, headings and any special features such as capital letters, underlining, italics, figures, graphs and tables
• make sure that you understand the questions and follow instructions carefully
• pay attention to timing; do not spend too long on one passage or question
• do not try and read every word; remember, you are reading for a purpose
• if you do not know the answer to a question, attempt it but do not waste time; move quickly onto the next one
• do not panic if you do not know anything about the subject of the text; all the answers can be found in the text
• the word(s) you use must be taken from the Reading text; you must not change the form of the word(s) in the text
• do not worry if there is a word that you do not understand – you may not need to use it
• check your spelling
• be careful to use singular and plural correctly
• focus precisely on what you are asked to do in ‘completion’ type questions
• if the question asks you to complete the note ‘in the…’ and the correct answer is ‘evening’, just use ‘evening’ as your answer; note that ‘in the evening’ would be incorrect
• pay attention to the word limit; for example, if you are asked to complete a sentence using no more than two words, if the correct answer is ‘silk shirt’, the answer ‘shirt made of silk’ would be incorrect
• attempt all questions; there are no penalties for incorrect answers, so you have nothing to lose
• check your answers