IELTS Academic and IELTS General Reading test papers allow 60 minutes to answer a total of 40 questions. Both papers have three sections so you can spare only a maximum of 20 minutes per section. As you can see, time management is crucial in the IELTS Reading test and most of the students struggle with time. We, at Rosie Fernando Academy of English help you to manage time efficiently where you can easily score a 9. We will be teaching you how to follow the tips below:  

1. Have a plan

Usually, in both tests, section 1 is the easiest and section 3 is the most difficult. Therefore, you should divide your time based on the difficulty of these sections. We suggest you spend 15 minutes on section 1, 20 minutes on section 2, and 25 minutes on section 3. Thereby you can save more time to spend on section 3. 

2. Read the questions first 

You might be used to reading the whole text first and read the questions afterward. But, by the time you read the questions you might not remember everything you just read.  This means you have to go back and re-read. This consumes your time more than anything else. Instead, practice reading the question first and underline the keywords in that question. Keywords provide clues on what you should find from the text. This is crucial if you want to effectively manage your time. 

Be careful! Keywords are often paraphrased in the text. So, when you go back to the text don’t try to find the exact keyword. Look for similar or related meanings.   

3. Skimming and scanning 

Skimming means reading quickly to get the main idea of a passage.

To skim:

• Read the titles

• Note the pictures or graphics

• Read the subtitles

• Note the highlighted words or letters

• Read the first sentence of each paragraph

• Read the summary or concluding paragraph

Scanning means reading quickly to look for a specific piece of information or specific words in a passage. 

To scan:

• Identify the keyword or the type of information you seek (name, date, year, number and etc.) 

• Don’t read chunks of texts

• Use the knowledge you gained from skimming to find what you seek

4. Reading for detail 

Reading for detail means reading every word in order to understand the message of the text thoroughly. After skimming and scanning you can follow this step to fill your comprehension gaps. Remember to do this only if it is necessary to find the answers.  

We, at Rosie Fernando Academy of English explain to you a better way of understanding the 3 concepts of “skimming”, “scanning” and “reading for detail” using a more practical example. 

Imagine the passage/text is a dictionary. You need to find the meaning of the word “Tree”. That is the question. So, first, what do you do? Do you read the whole dictionary in order to find the meaning of the word, “tree”? Obviously not! So what do you do? First, search the dictionary for the letter “T”. This is called “’skimming”. You read quickly on the surface to locate the general area where you might find the answer. 

Then what do you do? Then you scan the word “tree” from a list of words starting with the letter “T”. In this same manner, you read the passage quickly to find specific information. This could be a paragraph where you think you might find the answer. This is called “scanning” the passage/text.

Then according to the example, once you identified the word “tree”, you can locate the meaning next to the word. This is called “reading for detail”! You read carefully to find specific information.  If you need more clarifications, feel free to ask us to explain in the class.  

5. Unfamiliar word 

While you read you might come across unfamiliar words. Don’t panic! Most of these unfamiliar or difficult words are there to confuse you and most of the time these are irrelevant. Don’t spend your time in understanding the exact meaning of these words. Just guess from the context.  

6. Question types and order

 You will have to answer a range of questions including matching questions, true/false/not given questions, MCQs, short answers, labeling diagrams, etc. You have to follow different strategies to answer different question types to make use of your valuable time effectively.

Most of the time, the questions and answers appear in order. But, based on the types of questions, the order may vary. For example, matching questions and labeling or classifying questions do not appear in order. At Rosie Fernando Academy of English, we help our students practice how to find answers based on different types of questions, using a range of strategies.

7. Remember the instructions

When transferring your answers on to the answer sheet, check the instructions; whether you have to use One word/Not more than two words/ Letter/One word and/or a number. Your answer might be correct, but if you have not accurately followed the instructions, you will lose marks. We will be discussing these in detail in the class.

Also, when you transfer your answers to the answer sheet, don’t wait until the last moment. Write your answers directly on to the answer sheet. Unlike your Listening test, you won’t be given extra time to transfer your answers!

8. Practice!

If you want to manage your time and increase your reading speed, YOU SHOULD PRACTICE! Practice at least 10 past papers and read authentic materials (newspapers, magazines, online articles, brochures) as many as you can. We, at Rosie Fernando Academy of English provide you with enough practice, where you will sit for the Reading test papers under timed exam conditions. All answers will be given followed by a discussion on how you got the answers and from which part of the texts, etc. The students will be taught how to number the answers in order to locate the answers easily in case they need to find them at a later stage.