People who read too quickly in the IELTS test often miss the answers. If you go too fast, you won't really understand what you're reading, and you'll start to panic when you don't find what you're looking for.
On the other hand, some people read too slowly; they read each word as if it were a separate item on the page. These people tend not to finish the test.
Instead of skimming too quickly or reading each word slowly, I recommend that you read phrase by phrase. For example, read the first sentence of this lesson as three phrases:
People who read too quickly ..... in the IELTS test ..... often miss the answers.
Try to get into the habit of reading phrase by phrase. You should find that you can go at a reasonable speed and that you'll understand (almost) everything.
I find this very useful, thanks for sharing!
Posted by: trang | March 13, 2017 at 10:36
pls make me ubderstand phrase by phrase...with examples. many thanks
Posted by: Shamima | March 13, 2017 at 10:38
It would take a lot of practice of reading to understand English in blocks or phrases. For me, there is no such way of shortening reading time or perfectly comprehending English texts unless one sets up of a reading habit in English and practise it for a great deal of time.
Posted by: Sunho | March 13, 2017 at 11:47
That's really helpful.
Thank you!
Posted by: Xuan An | March 13, 2017 at 11:56
Can you suggest the average number of words per minute while reading Ielts tests?
Posted by: tuannm | March 13, 2017 at 12:46
Useful
Posted by: DP | March 13, 2017 at 14:22
Oh I have been through all the cases: read too slow, then I started to read much much faster, but I could hardly understand a thing in the text, after 19:30 minutes had passed I found myself completely in hot water, like: "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, what am I supposed to do!!!I still have 10/13 questions unanswered", so I thought that reading so fast like crazy would mean nothing if I could not understand a thing. So I decided to read slower again, as long as I was with the text. I read 3-4 paragraphs every day. I tried to read a little bit faster, just a little bit, every 4-5 days. When I'm reading, I must stay focused. It's like a game. I pretend that the author is my close friend and he is talking to me about what he is so interested in, and I am so eager to know more about his story. In this way I can easily follow his train of thoughts, I can easily guess what he wants to say after glimsing only a few words in the next part. This saves so much time. I think now I have read much faster. I think that while I'm reading, I tend to skip unimportant words like "very, really,.." , which appear a lot in the text, and waste a lot of our time if we use too much time looking at it, reading it, you know, the author wrote thise words just to make his text more beautifully, more aesthetically, they hardly play a role in showing the ideas, the content.
Posted by: Nam Anh | March 13, 2017 at 14:52
Dear Teacher Simon,
I have difficulty with such questions: they ask me to choose an image( such as a rocket) that fits the elaborate description in the passage, or they give me a diagram of an airplane or a spaceshuttle, and ask me to fill in the blank the details of the airplane according to the description in the text.
What should I do to figure out these questions?
I find it hard to understand such technical vocabulary. Would it work if I used the dictionary to look up every technical word in the text and try to learn them all?
I found that even if I understand all vocabulary, I can hardly fit what I'm imagining to the diagram they have given.
Thank you very much!
Posted by: Nam Anh | March 13, 2017 at 15:17
thank for this one advise
Posted by: yıldırım | March 13, 2017 at 17:05
Thank you Simon for the advice.
Posted by: Cyril | March 13, 2017 at 17:33
What's the significant differences between Phrase abd Clause.
Posted by: Raju | March 14, 2017 at 01:40
Resp Sir,
I have recently found your website. I am very much impressed of your teaching method, especially, to identify key words and answer keeping them in mind.
I was always struggling to answer - information given in which paragraph..... Now I enjoy practicing IELTS reading.
May God bless you for your altruistic help.
Best regards
Posted by: Shilpa | March 14, 2017 at 09:20
FROM SIMON:
Sunho,
Yes, this does take a lot of practice! Learning to read well in a second language is not easy. I'm just advising you about what to aim for in terms of a good, 'natural' reading speed: skimming is too fast and word-by-word reading is too slow, so try to practise doing what native speakers do - reading in chunks or phrases.
...
Anh,
I think you just need to keep practising in the way that you are doing now. Use a dictionary for technical words, and keep reading - you're improving gradually every time you practise!
...
Shamima and Raju,
Don't worry about the precise difference between phrases and clauses.
I'm using the term "phrase" here to mean "a group of words that make sense together".
Posted by: Simon | March 14, 2017 at 12:35
Thank you very much, Teacher Simon, I believe in you, with your reassurance, I feel even more confident with the way I have been practicing!
Posted by: Nam Anh | March 14, 2017 at 17:15
Thanks Simon.
I've always has difficulty reading passages.
Phrase by phrase is great idea and method.
Hope you long, healthy,wonderful life. You are such a great help to us.
Posted by: jon | May 06, 2017 at 07:25