HOW TO GET GOOD BANDS IN ACADEMIC READING IELTS
Academic Reading has always been a challenge for the students while struggling hard to get the right answer and also managing the time .The academic reading needs to be done in one hour with the transferring of answers in the answer sheet.The challenging part is that there will be no extra time given to transfer the answers in the Reading part unlike the Listening module (10 minutes are given to transfer the answers).The reading section can only be done with smart work and not the hard work.There are lot of strategies which helps in attaining good scores.I have some of my own strategies while performing the Reading section which I have learnt throughout my experience.
BASICS
Starting from the basics, reading has 3 passages with 40 questions.Every passage is assigned 20 minutes each.(total covering 60 minutes.)The transferring of the answers are done on the answer sheet within the 60 minutes,so basically the reading should be done within 50 minutes and 10 minutes to transfer the answers.
The passage could be from any background,Geography,Science,History etc.It does not matter a student comes from whichever stream.Remember ,reading is not a knowledge test,it is a vocabulary test.
TIPS AND STRATEGIES TO CONDUCT READING WITHIN THE 1 HOUR
This type of question has the name of different people as per mentioned in the passage and looking at the options it has to be observed who said who .
To cite an example
A.Robert
B.Peter
C.John
The statements are given in the question and it has to be analysed that which statement is said by whom.
For this, SCIM and SCAN will be helpful as the proper nouns are always mentioned and so the location is found by going to the particular name ,collecting the information and marking the answer.
If it is found that the particular statement is said by Robert ,then mark A in the answer.
Hence these are the type of questions found in the Academic Reading of IELTS exam.
The transferring of the answers has to be done within the one hour.So it should be made sure that the transfer of the answers are done side by side with every passage.
NOTE:READING IS A VOCABULARY TEST AND NOT A KNOWLEDGE TEST .TRY TO MARK THE NEW WORDS IN THE READING AND FIND THE MEANING.NEVER LEARN THE WORDS,JUST UNDERSTAND THEM AND TRY USE THEM IN SENTENCES.
BASICS
Starting from the basics, reading has 3 passages with 40 questions.Every passage is assigned 20 minutes each.(total covering 60 minutes.)The transferring of the answers are done on the answer sheet within the 60 minutes,so basically the reading should be done within 50 minutes and 10 minutes to transfer the answers.
The passage could be from any background,Geography,Science,History etc.It does not matter a student comes from whichever stream.Remember ,reading is not a knowledge test,it is a vocabulary test.
TIPS AND STRATEGIES TO CONDUCT READING WITHIN THE 1 HOUR
- Scim and scan the reading passage: It is generally asked by the students that whether they should read the entire passage or move towards the questions.So the best answer is to underline and encircle the keywords.(in order to differentiate between the words)The example can be illustrated in the picture image.
- After the scim and scan is done ,it is the best time to move ahead to the questions.
UNDERSTANDING THE VARIOUS TYPE OF QUESTIONS AND STRATEGIES TO SOLVE THEM
There are various type of questions which the reading passage have and it is important to understand how one can solve them within least time.I would like to illustrate you with the following types of questions and strategies to solve them.
- LIST OF HEADINGS:
The passage has the line : A Maximum amount of water is consumed in the regions of North America and South America.
The list of Headings are : 1. Maximum water consumption
2. Thirsty Sectors
Q) Choose the correct heading
1.Section A
The correct answer will be : 1.Section A - 2
i.e Thirsty Sectors
Explanation : The passage had a line saying that " A maximum amount of water is consumed in the regions of North America and South America."
Most of the students will mark the right answer as 1, assuming that the maximum amount of water consumed is linking with the heading "Maximum water consumption".So they are linking words and not observing the nutshell.Basically it is not necessary that the words mentioned in the heading will surely be in the paragraph,it may happen that a synonym might be used.The only strategy to get list of headings right is by looking at the nutshell of the paragraph and then giving a heading to that paragraph.It should be an explanatory title for the entire paragraph. Just like a title of the movie.So assume that every paragraph is a movie.Hence in the example :
A maximum water consumed can be overall said as "Thirsty" while regions of North America and South America considered as "Sectors".
Hence one should not link the words but analyse the entire nutshell of each paragraph.
2.FILL IN THE BLANKS:
This type of question have fill ups and need to be filled according to the location found in the passage.Here it is to be notified that even after the location is found student need to be cautious enough to change the form of the sentence of the word which is located grammatically.To cite an example:
Q.)The impure water is ............................. into the pure form.
The passage has the line: Distillation is the process of purifying impure water into the pure water.
The correct answer will be : DISTILLED
Explanation : Hence the locating word was "Distillation" but it was changed into distilled according to the grammar rule.
The other type of fill in the blank is the blank will be given in the question and also there will be list of synonyms at the end.For instance:
Q)The soldiers ...................from the battle.
LIST OF SYNONYMS:
RAN AWAY ; LOST
The passage has the line : The warriors flee from the war.
Correct answer is : RAN AWAY
Explanation :The location in the passage is the word "flee" which has a synonym "ran away".(Synonyms are the words which have the same meaning).Thereby the word ran away will be selected from the list of synonyms and written in the correct answer.
NOTE: These types of questions can also be solved if student have good vocabulary so enhancing vocabulary will be first priority over here.
3.TRUE ,FALSE AND NOT GIVEN:
Explanation : The passage had a line saying that " A maximum amount of water is consumed in the regions of North America and South America."
Most of the students will mark the right answer as 1, assuming that the maximum amount of water consumed is linking with the heading "Maximum water consumption".So they are linking words and not observing the nutshell.Basically it is not necessary that the words mentioned in the heading will surely be in the paragraph,it may happen that a synonym might be used.The only strategy to get list of headings right is by looking at the nutshell of the paragraph and then giving a heading to that paragraph.It should be an explanatory title for the entire paragraph. Just like a title of the movie.So assume that every paragraph is a movie.Hence in the example :
A maximum water consumed can be overall said as "Thirsty" while regions of North America and South America considered as "Sectors".
Hence one should not link the words but analyse the entire nutshell of each paragraph.
2.FILL IN THE BLANKS:
This type of question have fill ups and need to be filled according to the location found in the passage.Here it is to be notified that even after the location is found student need to be cautious enough to change the form of the sentence of the word which is located grammatically.To cite an example:
Q.)The impure water is ............................. into the pure form.
The passage has the line: Distillation is the process of purifying impure water into the pure water.
The correct answer will be : DISTILLED
Explanation : Hence the locating word was "Distillation" but it was changed into distilled according to the grammar rule.
The other type of fill in the blank is the blank will be given in the question and also there will be list of synonyms at the end.For instance:
Q)The soldiers ...................from the battle.
LIST OF SYNONYMS:
RAN AWAY ; LOST
The passage has the line : The warriors flee from the war.
Correct answer is : RAN AWAY
Explanation :The location in the passage is the word "flee" which has a synonym "ran away".(Synonyms are the words which have the same meaning).Thereby the word ran away will be selected from the list of synonyms and written in the correct answer.
NOTE: These types of questions can also be solved if student have good vocabulary so enhancing vocabulary will be first priority over here.
3.TRUE ,FALSE AND NOT GIVEN:
This type of question needs to be understood separately first.
If a statement given in the question is mentioned by the writer in the passage then the statement is TRUE.
If a statement given in the question is vice versa or opposite to what the writer has mentioned in the passage then the statement is FALSE.
If a statement given in the question is not mentioned at all in the passage by the writer or only partial /unclear information is given by the writer then the statement is NOT GIVEN.
To cite an example:
Q) Red pens are lying on the table.
Passage says: The pens which are red in color are on the table.
Ans) TRUE
Explanation: The statement given in the question is mentioned by the writer in the passage.
Q)Blue pens are on the table.
Ans)NOT GIVEN
Explanation:Most of the students are likely to mark it False saying that in the passage the pens which are mentioned have red color and here blue but it has to noted that the writer is not talking about blue pens , infact there is no information regarding blue pens hence NOT GIVEN.
Passage says: The pens of red color are not found on the table.
Ans)FALSE
Explanation:The statement given in the question is entirely opposite to what it is mentioned in the question ,hence it is a vice versa or an opposite statement.
NOTE: Never link words , but only the overall meaning of the question ,to decide whether it is mentioned ,not mentioned or vice versa mentioned by the writer in the passage itself.If instructions say write YES,NO and NOT GIVEN,make sure that only above initials are written.
4.MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS:
These basically consists of questions with 3 options of 4 options.
To cite an example
If there are three options then one option will be clearly eliminated taking into account that two options are closely related.Furthermore if there are 4 options then two options will be clearly elimanated.Only the struggle will be between two options.
Q) 1.)a(eliminated)
b
c
2.)a(eliminated )
b
c
d(eliminated)
5.COMPLETE THE SENTENCES:
This type of question basically involves the completion of the statements after locating in the passages.This type of questions can only be attempted in the end because it requires depth understand-ability of the passage.
6.STATEMENTS MENTIONED BY A PERSON AS PER THE PASSAGE:
If a statement given in the question is mentioned by the writer in the passage then the statement is TRUE.
If a statement given in the question is vice versa or opposite to what the writer has mentioned in the passage then the statement is FALSE.
If a statement given in the question is not mentioned at all in the passage by the writer or only partial /unclear information is given by the writer then the statement is NOT GIVEN.
To cite an example:
Q) Red pens are lying on the table.
Passage says: The pens which are red in color are on the table.
Ans) TRUE
Explanation: The statement given in the question is mentioned by the writer in the passage.
Q)Blue pens are on the table.
Ans)NOT GIVEN
Explanation:Most of the students are likely to mark it False saying that in the passage the pens which are mentioned have red color and here blue but it has to noted that the writer is not talking about blue pens , infact there is no information regarding blue pens hence NOT GIVEN.
Passage says: The pens of red color are not found on the table.
Ans)FALSE
Explanation:The statement given in the question is entirely opposite to what it is mentioned in the question ,hence it is a vice versa or an opposite statement.
NOTE: Never link words , but only the overall meaning of the question ,to decide whether it is mentioned ,not mentioned or vice versa mentioned by the writer in the passage itself.If instructions say write YES,NO and NOT GIVEN,make sure that only above initials are written.
4.MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS:
These basically consists of questions with 3 options of 4 options.
To cite an example
If there are three options then one option will be clearly eliminated taking into account that two options are closely related.Furthermore if there are 4 options then two options will be clearly elimanated.Only the struggle will be between two options.
Q) 1.)a(eliminated)
b
c
2.)a(eliminated )
b
c
d(eliminated)
5.COMPLETE THE SENTENCES:
This type of question basically involves the completion of the statements after locating in the passages.This type of questions can only be attempted in the end because it requires depth understand-ability of the passage.
This type of question has the name of different people as per mentioned in the passage and looking at the options it has to be observed who said who .
To cite an example
A.Robert
B.Peter
C.John
The statements are given in the question and it has to be analysed that which statement is said by whom.
For this, SCIM and SCAN will be helpful as the proper nouns are always mentioned and so the location is found by going to the particular name ,collecting the information and marking the answer.
If it is found that the particular statement is said by Robert ,then mark A in the answer.
Hence these are the type of questions found in the Academic Reading of IELTS exam.
The transferring of the answers has to be done within the one hour.So it should be made sure that the transfer of the answers are done side by side with every passage.
NOTE:READING IS A VOCABULARY TEST AND NOT A KNOWLEDGE TEST .TRY TO MARK THE NEW WORDS IN THE READING AND FIND THE MEANING.NEVER LEARN THE WORDS,JUST UNDERSTAND THEM AND TRY USE THEM IN SENTENCES.
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