IELTS- Reading Module
There are three sections in the reading test. Each section has 13-14 questions, making
a total of 40. The sections become Progressive harder. The whole test lasts
an hour and altogether, you have to read a maximum of 2350 words. Academic module
has longer text as compare to general training module.
Section 1
Up to three short passages related to everyday life..
Section 2
Two passages related to education and training or work.
Section3 (3-4 minutes)
One long passage on a topic of general interest e.g. newspaper texts.
ON THE EXAM DAY
Skimming and scanning
are the two main techniques that people use to read
and answer. It's not a question of using one or the other but you will need both
methods in doing the test. Let's have a look at the two techniques in turn.Skimming:
Skimming is reading fast to get the "gist" or the general idea of the text. There are different techniques of doing skimming. You can run your eyes over the text getting the general meaning, not stopping at words that you don't understand as this will slow you down. The important thing with skimming is speed. Another way to skim is to just read the first and last paragraphs of a text and summaries as well. You could also just read the title, subtitles and illustrations if there are any. I prefer for IELTS the first way - reading it all quickly to get the general meaning, but of course it depends on your reading speed. If you are a slow reader in English you really need to practise to improve. You don't need IELTS specific texts for this. A good English newspaper is fine. Get one every day and read the articles as quickly as you can. Do this with as many articles as possible every day and your speed will quickly improve.
Scanning:
This is another very important technique for the IELTS Reading Tests. This is the technique that you use when you are reading a telephone book or a dictionary. You are not starting at the top and reading every line back and forth as you would read a novel. You are moving your eyes around the text, back and across and up and down. You are searching for some specific information: a word or name. This is an important technique in IELTS reading as you are often searching for some specific information. You read the question and then you search for key words or ideas associated with the question. This is a bit more difficult to practise than skimming. You get long texts (from newspapers, magazines or other sources) and get a friend to read it and then ask you to find key ideas or words as quickly as possible. Again, if you do this frequently, your speed will quickly improve.