How to Improve Your Reading Skills for the IELTS Exam?

Not everyone likes reading.  It is an activity that bores quite a number of people. However, people who love reading find pleasure in doing this activity. If you look at it, there are a lot of benefits this activity brings such as relaxation and the best of all – learning new things. In taking an English proficiency examination such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examination, having a good reading skill is a great advantage. This is the very reason why most candidates for the IELTS examination enrol in IELTS review centers to learn different strategies and techniques that will help them get a good band score in the reading.

Here are some tips on how to improve your reading skills for the IELTS examination.

1. Set a goal. Setting reading goals will lead you on what purpose you have in reading a particular resource material.

2. Get a variety of reading materials. You can start off with children’s books, a newspaper article, online articles, or even blogs on the net. It does not matter what kind of reading material you have. It is more on developing the enjoyment and fun in reading.

3. Once you have chosen a material, read on the title and its sections. Scan the pages and try to guess that you will be reading about.

4. Taking notes is a nice idea when reading. Write down words that you do not understand and look them up in a dictionary. Highlight expressions you think that could be helpful in your learning.

5. Write down ideas from your reading materials. What’s much better if you paraphrase them or use your own words on how well you understood the content.

6. Learn how the technique of scanning.  When you scan, your aim is to find specific information that the question needs in a matter of seconds. We use to find an item quickly through the use of keywords, highlighted words, and even examples in diagrams.

7. Skimming is another skill you should learn. You just need to read the text fast to get its general idea. In skimming, you can save some time by not focusing on those unnecessary details.

8. Know the different types of test questions for the IELTS reading exam. Having this information will make you prepared on the specific items you need to look for when given an article to read.

9. When practicing on an IELTS reading text, train yourself on how you can finish the entire questions rather than testing yourself if you could finish on time. Do not stress yourself in answering within the time limit. Answer with ease until you develop the skill in answering questions within the time limit.

10. Reread your materials. Do not just settle with one reading. If you need to read the material again, do it.
These are just easy steps. Work on it as early as today and be successful in getting a good score in the IELTS test.

Know more about IELTS here: http://www.ieltsexamstips.com

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