IELTS Reading Tips and Advice

What is the IELTS Reading Test Format (Academic)?

In your Reading test (Academic), you will find three sections, each having one long text.

These texts are excerpts borrowed from either books, magazines or newspapers. These are usually around topics of general interest, and so you need not be a specialist to answer them. These excerpts can range from being factual and descriptive to analytical and discursive. They may also have non-verbal elements like graphs, diagrams or illustrations. If in case, there are jargon or technical terms used, a glossary will be provided.

Remember that this type of question requires you to locate and identify specific information. This information will be presented in the text as facts. The information in the text follows the order of the questions, so the information you need for the first statement will be found before the information for the second statement.

When you read the statement you have been given, you then have to decide if the information helps you to decide if an answer is:

• • TRUE because the statement agrees with the information
  • FALSE because the statement contradicts the information, or,
  • NOT GIVEN because there is no information on this

So how do you answer this type of question?

We will use the following extract from a Part 1 text about the scientist Marie Curie.

The life and work of Marie Curie

Marie Curie is probably the most famous woman scientist who has ever lived. Born Maria Sklodowska in Poland in 1867, she is famous for her work on radioactivity and was twice a winner of the Nobel Prize. With her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics and was then sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

From childhood, Marie was remarkable for her prodigious memory, and at the age of 16 won a gold medal on completion of her secondary education. Because her father lost his savings through bad investment, she then had to take work as a teacher. From her earnings, she was able to finance her sister Bronia’s medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that Bronia would, in turn, later help her to get an education.

In 1891 this promise was fulfilled and Marie went to Paris and began to study at the Sorbonne (the University of Paris). She often worked far into the night and lived on little more than bread and butter and tea. She came first in the examination in the physical sciences in 1893, and in 1894 was placed second in the examination in mathematical sciences. It was not until the spring of that year that she was introduced to Pierre Curie.

Adapted with permission from Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2007 by Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Step 1: Read the question first and underline key information

The first thing to do before looking at the text, is to look at your set of True, False, Not given questions. In this example, there are three statements.

1. Marie Curie’s husband was a joint winner of both Marie’s Nobel Prizes.
2. Marie became interested in science when she was a child.
3. Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne because of her sister’s financial contribution.

Scan each statement and underline or highlight the keywords in each, focusing on the key information that is given to you. Keywords refer to words that are important to the meaning of the text. They can be simple facts; names, places or figures, or they can be words that will help you understand the focus of the question, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and so on.

For example, in the first statement, you can see that Marie’s husband was a joint winner of both Marie’s Nobel Prizes. So, underline and highlight the most important information that helps you look for the answer. We have done this for each statement:

1. Marie Curie’s husband was a joint winner of both Marie’s Nobel Prizes.
2. Marie became interested in science when she was a child.
3. Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne because of her sister’s financial contribution.

Step 2: Scan the text for keywords

When you have highlighted your keywords and information, then look at the text and scan quickly to find the same words or words with similar meaning (synonyms). For example, as you read statement 1, you should be thinking of words that would help you find if Marie’s husband was a joint winner of her two Nobel Prizes, remember that ‘both’ means two.

For statement 1, think of these words and synonyms: husband, Mr Curie, both, one, two, second, twice, with her husband, without her husband, on her own, by herself.

Look at the text and find words that relate to this statement. You will see the word ‘sole’, which means ‘only’ and describes Marie as the only person involved in winning her second Nobel Prize.

Marie Curie is probably the most famous woman scientist who has ever lived. Born Maria Sklodowska in Poland in 1867, she is famous for her work on radioactivity, and was twice a winner of the Nobel Prize. With her husband Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics and was then sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

Statement 1: Read carefully and decide on your answer

“Marie Curie’s husband was a joint winner of both Marie’s Nobel Prizes.”

When you have highlighted your keywords and information in the text, you will then be able to decide whether the information in the text agrees or contradicts what is in the statement by reading these highlighted sentences carefully.

Look to see if Pierre Curie was a joint winner of both of Marie’s prizes.

Marie Curie is probably the most famous woman scientist who has ever lived. Born Maria Sklodowska in Poland in 1867, she is famous for her work on radioactivity and was twice a winner of the Nobel Prize. With her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics and was then the sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

We can see the following facts:

• Marie was twice a winner of the Nobel Prize.
• With her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics
• She was then the sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

The answer is FALSE as Pierre Curie was a joint winner with one of her Nobel Prizes (1903), she was a ‘sole’ winner for the other (1911) – the ‘only’ winner.

Statement 2: Read carefully and decide on your answer

“Marie became interested in science when she was a child.”

When we search the text for the keywords underlined in the question, we are looking for information that tells us that she loved science (interested) from an early age (a child). So, the focus here is to see if Marie Curie was actually interested in the subject of science when she was a child.

For statement 2, think of these words and synonyms: interested in science, subject of science, science classes, school science, child, childhood, at school, young girl.

Look at the text and find words that relate to this statement.

From childhood, Marie was remarkable for her prodigious memory, and at the age of 16 won a gold medal on completion of her secondary education. Because her father lost his…

We can see the following facts:

• as a child, she had a great memory
• at 16 she won a gold medal for her secondary education

These are the only facts related to her childhood, there is no mention of science, or her interest in this subject when she was a child, so because there is no information, the answer must be NOT GIVEN.

You cannot assume that she was always interested in science as she won Nobel prizes for science. You must not use the knowledge that you already have to answer this type of question, you can only use the information given to you in the text.

Statement 3: Read carefully and decide on your answer

“Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne because of her sister’s financial contribution.” 

When we search the text to find the reason why Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne, we are looking for keywords related to this. An important keyword here is ‘because’ as a reason will follow this conjunction.

For statement 3, think of these words and synonyms:  money, afford, expensive, Sorbonne, university, sister, father, husband, education, finance, financial, paid, payment, contribution, contribute, give, help. 

Look at the text and find words that relate to this statement.

From childhood, Marie was remarkable for her prodigious memory, and at the age of 16 won a gold medal on completion of her secondary education. Because her father lost his savings through bad investment, she then had to take work as a teacher. From her earnings, she was able to finance her sister Bronia’s medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that Bronia would, in turn, later help her to get an education. In 1891 this promise was fulfilled and Marie went to Paris and began to study at the Sorbonne (the University of Paris). She often worked far into the night and lived on little…

We can see the following facts:

• Her father lost his savings through bad investment
• She then had to take work as a teacher
• She was able to finance (pay for) her sister Bronia’s medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that Bronia would, in turn, later help her to get an education
• In 1891 this promise was fulfilled, and Marie went to Paris and began to study at the Sorbonne

We read that Marie could attend the Sorbonne because her sister paid for her education. When we scan the text, we read that her father lost his money (savings) so Marie worked as a teacher. We see a keyword ‘finance’ and see that Marie helped her sister with her medical studies. We then read that her sister would later help Marie to get an education. This was a promise, or in other words, an understanding.

Reference words can also help with finding key information, for example, ‘this’ in ‘this promise’, refers to the promise to pay for Marie’s education.

So, Marie went to the Sorbonne because Bronia paid for it. The answer is TRUE.

So, if you want to get better at this question type, remember to practice reading exercises and to make sure you understand why the choice is True, False, or Not given. Learn how to highlight keywords that will help you understand the text and the question statements. Hopefully, these blog tips will make you feel more confident about answering ‘true’, ‘false’, and ‘not given’.

Strategies to answer the questions related to Matching Heading/Information

1. Quickly read through the paragraph headings so you can see what they say.
2. Then look at the first paragraph.
3. Often only the topic sentence needs to be read carefully because the main idea and answer are there – you may be able to just skim the rest.
4. Sometimes, however, the answer is not in the topic sentence and the whole paragraph needs to be read more carefully.
5. If a match is not immediately obvious, move on to the next one.
6. If you are unsure between two answers at first, put them both in. You may be able to eliminate one answer later if it fits another paragraph better.
7. If at the end you are still stuck between two answers for a question, pick which fits best.

Things to beware of

1. There are always more choices of paragraph headings on the list than paragraphs, so be careful when matching them.
2. Watch out for synonyms – often words in the paragraphs and paragraph headings will not be the same; they will be synonyms.
3. Having a noun from a heading that is in the paragraph does not guarantee they match – you still need to read it carefully to check.

The first thing you should do is read the question first. Remember that the summary will be quite short, so you will be able to read it quickly.
Let’s look at some important points to focus on when you read the questions.

1. As you read it for the first time, you will be able to form an incomplete summary in your head before looking at the text.
2. Pay attention to the heading – The importance of language– understanding that the summary will be about how important language is.
3. As you read the summary, underline or circle key information words – wheel, invention, major impact, composed, small number of sounds, sophistication, overlooked.
4. Then pay attention to the missing words and think of what word-groups they might belong to. For example, the first gap implies that the word will be an adjective, describing aspects of life. This is also the case of the third gap – Language is very … where a word will describe what language is in relation to the main idea in the text.
5. Focus on linking words, adverbs, or conjunctions that might introduce a reason, contrast, or comparison – but, yet, however.
6. Then look at the list of words – there are 7 words, and only 4 gaps to fill. You will see that the words in the box are mainly adjectives, so look at the summary again and think of what word type should fit each gap. The grammatical structure of the sentence will also help with this, for example, but no impact has been as 2 ………… as that of language– comparative structure using an adjective.

• Q1: adjective describing the impact on aspects of life
• Q2: adjective describing the impact of language
• Q3: adjective describing a feature of language
• Q4: adjective describing how language appears to us

Similar to other sections in the IELTS Reading, answers for the Multiple Choice section will most likely come in order. This will help when reading the questions and scanning for information. Additionally, the strategy required is scanning for information and using the Process of Elimination, which we will detail below.

What To Do:1. Read the Questions and Underline Key Words – As the answers are most likely to appear in the text in the same order as the questions, test takers should pay close attention to the order of questions. Read each statement first in order to get an overview of the theme of the passage, and underline keywords in both the question and the answer options.

Quick Tip: Pay close attention to “absolute” words in these answer options. These words include many adverbs of frequency and words that generalize ideas. The most common include: mainly, all, some, sometimes, often, usually, occasionally, hardly ever, never, only, and always. When these words are included in an answer option, it is usually harder to prove correct, and they are often included as answer options.2. Scan for Information in the Passage – Once you have successfully understood the information presented in the question and answer options, it is time to search for this information in the text.

Quick Tip: If you are “stumped” by any given question, skip it and move on. Remember, the answers will most likely come in order for this section, so you can check your answers later and get a better understanding of where the difficult question’s answer may be.3. Skim Read as Necessary – As we detailed above, scanning is an important strategy, but you’ll also have to understand the information in order to correctly answer the question. Check back on the answer options and begin to use Process of Elimination until you have reached an answer. Once you answered the question, you should make marks in the passage(such as a line or dot to signify where the answer can be found). This way you know what to reference when you want to double-check if your answer is correct.

Process of Elimination (POE): More often than not, there will be two answers that are very difficult to choose from. For this reason, it’s best to use the Process of Elimination (POE) for each question. First, you can eliminate the option that is the most different from what you believe to be the answer or the most different from the information in the passage. If the option is not even discussed in the passage, you can eliminate it from your options first. Then, use POE for the remaining two options until you arrive at your answer. We will detail this strategy in our example below.

What Not To Do: Do not read the entire passage. As a general rule for the Reading section, it is not necessary and actually time-restrictive to read the entire passage, word for word. Be sure to use the scanning technique, first and foremost, and then the skimming technique as necessary. Some test-takers believe that reading the entire passage is helpful since there are many answer options in questions, but it is actually best to devote your time to the questions at hand and use your time wisely with POE.Do not forget to use POE. Even if a question is very difficult, you can use POE to narrow down your options. With this in mind, do not leave anything blank. By using POE, you can increase your chances of getting the question correct, even if it’s just a guess.

Here are some brief tips to remember when approaching this question type:
Do:

• Read the questions first, underline key words, and scan for information.
• Remember that answers will most likely come in order.
• Remember to use POE.
• Make marks in your passage as to where you’ve found various answers.
• Skip a question if it is difficult and move on. Then, you should be able to better locate the answer to a difficult question in the text, since it will most likely be between some of your marked information.

Don’t:

• Read the entire passage first.
• Leave any answers blank – by using POE, you can greatly increase your chances of answering the question correctly.
• Forget to pay close attention to the wording in the answer options. Just one word can change the meaning of the entire phrase.

• Practise reading different kinds of texts in English to develop the habit of reading quickly.
• Before you answer any question, read each question properly to make it easier to find answers later. If you can, mark possible answers while you read. If you are taking IELTS on computer, make notes or even highlight any section of the text.
• Start with a cursory reading of the text to have a generic idea what it is about. Once you are a little familiar, read it carefully keeping in mind the questions to which you need to find the answers.
• Since you do not have to apply your own knowledge to answer the questions, all answers will be there in the passage itself. Read carefully to not miss them.
• While answering, ensure that you are using the correct spellings as given in the passage.
• Sometimes there can be questions to test upon your understanding of the given passage. For instance, the question could be about the topic, highlighting particular words or ideas denoting the core message of the passages.
• It is a good practice to mark important words as you read along. For instance, if there are important dates, mark them! It becomes easier to spot them if a question is asked around the same.
• Ensure your spellings are always correct, especially when you are copying from the passage.
• if you are attempting IELTS on paper, write your answers down on the answer sheet. You will not get any extra time later on to transfer any of your answers.

To be better prepared, you can also download the range of other important official IDP Education IELTS preparation tools that we have available for you.