IELTS Reading: 6 tips

How can you improve your reading? Here are 6 tips:

1. If you want to improve your reading, the first thing to do is read a lot. There are no shortcuts or secret techniques; you will only improve with time and practice.
2. Anything you read in English is good practice, so read about subjects that interest you. Try to enjoy reading in English.
3. English is the most used language on the Internet. Whenever you search for information on the net, try searching in English first.
4. Remember that "understanding is not the same as using". Keep a notebook with useful words and phrases that you find when you're reading, and try using them in your own sentences.
5. Apart from reading things that interest you, you also need to read lots of IELTS passages. If you've done all of the tests in the Cambridge books, read the passages again without doing the questions. Use a dictionary, take notes, and try to fully understand each passage.
6. Another way to use the Cambridge tests is to look at the correct answers to each question first. Then, your task is to find out why those answers are correct by analysing the passage carefully and finding the 'keywords'.

I'm sure you can think of other suggestions. Be creative with your reading practice, try to enjoy the learning process, and trust that you will improve if you persist.

Comments

[James Z.]

Thank you Simon for your consistent dedication.

[saeid]

Dear all
Apart from Cambridge books, which book(s) do you recommend to be as much close as the level of IELTS (Academic) exam?
Thank you

[esha ali]

Thanks simon

[Nani]

Thank you Simon for your advice

[Amit]

Hi Simon,

I have a few doubts that I request you to clarify:

For "fill up the blanks" type questions:
1. Is it required to start each word with a capital letter?

2. For Questions that have "no more than three words and / or a number":
Is the answer marked wrong in the following examples?

Example-1: "shopping mall" instead of "a shopping mall"

Example-2: "30" instead of "Thirty"

Thanks,
Amit

[Mr. Khayal]

How to improve GT reading skills. I have done all cambridge and Collins and Macmillian Books. Also I did Ielts plus books series and National Geographic IELTS books 1 and second parts. Now no newly publicated books available in store. Can you tell me how can I continue to improve my reading skills to get 7 from reading part??? Any other recent publicated materials????

[Summer]

hi simon
i have been through all of the techniques regarding reading mentioned here in the blog. i was too bad ..but i am so amazed nowadays i m barely make a mistake or two in a reading test .. on top of getting the right answers, im farely managing to complete whole test ten minutes before the total of one hour ,within a time span of only 50 minutes..i hav been encountering this experience since last week .. i am affraid is it really an improvement and that whether i ll be doing the real test in the same way or distracted on the test day..well lets see how would it goes on the real exam day . All in all thankyou so much for all the help .

[Thu]

Thanks

[kanis Fatema]

Hi simon
I need point 5. I also want to seat to final exam on 21 th November. Could you please tell me how can I get this points.
Thanks

[Pal khan]

Hello every1 ! I wanted to ask a suggestion from you people.i have been reading this blog for an year .i have taken four ielts exams during this time.i have improved my score from 6.5 to 7 band.this blog have helped me tremendously .i love it with all my heart.i am so thankful to simon for creating this blog n sharing his knowledge with us.i just want to ask you people that i sometimes skip lessons,such as,i ve not been practicing my writing for two days.i am just doing passive reading or listening.due to this i feel extremly guilty sometimes and undergoes into depression afterward.i just wanted to know if somebody else does it or have same condition as me.should i be studying hard for it? I wanted to add here that i am stay at home mom.thanks in advance

[Trung]

Thank you so much!

[Jennifer]

Thank you Simon!
Best regards
Jennifer

[emma li]

Hi Simon, "matching headings" is giving me hell! i'm practicing Cambridge 10, every time i came across this type of question, i easily got 2~4 wrong, it's sooo frustrating!

[Pallavi]

Thank you Simon
its very helpful

[Ame]

Hi Simon, thank you very much for the tips and your IELTS blog.

I also did really bad at reading test because of nervous, can not read in time and get confused during the test.

my band score is only about 5-6, while several friends got about 7-8 !, and I am still trying to find the strategy for the reading test. So anyone who success in the reading test, please kindly share your strategy ^ <

Here is one thing, I've noticed from my practice.
For the matching heading paragraph: I think sometimes the answer is located at the first and / or the end of the paragraph, because of the first and the end of the paragraph sometimes are the topic sentences. ?

[Stephen]

Hi Ame,
In opinion, you should try to answer all other types of question. Once you finish the rest, then go back with the head matching questions. I think I improve your reading score if you do so.
By the way, answering the header matching, you should read the first sentence (topic sentence) and the last sentence.
Hope it will be helpful
Thanks,
Stephen

[Hasan]

Thanks a lot Simon for your valuable advice

[hashini]

SIR,
I have GT exam on 19 March 2016.need 6 band for each.still am struggling with the reading part.there are several types of reading parts,so could you please tell me.what kind of question types are getting answer in an order in the reading passage?
ex:Fill in the blanks
thnx

[Angie]

Hi Simon,

Thank you so much for giving these tips. It gave me more motivation to study hard. God immediately answered my prayer how to improve on reading test. Please don't get tired to help others.

[Sumon]

I am very week in reading section. What are the actual way to improve my reading skills?

[Anvar]

Hello every i wanted to improve my reading skills but i cannot can you give me some advices

[Anvar]

Simon can you help me
I want get 7.5 band score in reading
Please

[Rebecca Dashe]

I want to improve on reading to score higher band from 5.5 to band 8