General reading skills
In this lesson we’re diving into a crucial aspect of the IELTS Reading Test – reading skills that are essential for success in this examination.
Before we delve into the strategies and techniques, let’s start by acknowledging the challenge that the IELTS Reading Test often presents.
It’s imperative to grasp that the IELTS Reading Test presents a unique challenge. You’ll be faced with not one, not two, but three texts or sections to read and a whopping 40 questions to answer, all within the constraints of a mere 60 minutes. To conquer this challenge, it’s essential to adopt a distinctive approach to reading – one that enhances your efficiency and effectiveness.
Identifying Reading Skills
Take some time to consider the following questions, then we will explore the different skills we have highlighted.
Consider answers to the following questions:
1) You are casually looking around in a bookshop (or online) looking for
something to read. What do you look at?
answers
In general, when looking for a quick read you would quickly consider the title and the author. You may also consider the cover, blurb, cost or even size of the book.
To do this you would look at the text very quickly, BEFORE reading it to get an idea of lay-out, titles, headings, glossary etc. This is called Surveying
2) You are looking at a news website or newspaper and you see an article
that you think might be interesting. What do you do?
Answers
quickly look at parts of the article (headline, pictures, photos, sub-headings)
to see if it really is interesting. This is called skimming Quickly glancing over a text to get a rough understanding of the text and a general idea of the organisation of the text.
3) You are looking at your email inbox for an important email. What do you do?
answers
You would quickly look down the list looking for a specific word or two, such as the email address, name or subject.
This is considered scanning. Quickly grabbing facts that you think are important.
| Skimming | Reading a text very quickly to get the general understanding and to get an idea of the organisation of the text |
| Scanning | Reading a text with the specific purpose of extracting information such as numbers, facts, words etc. |
| Surveying | Looking at a text very quickly before reading to get an idea of lay-out: title, pictures, graphs, headings, glossary etc. |
Make a habit of reading the questions before the passages
You should always read the questions before reading the passage. This will help direct your reading with a focus, instead of just reading without having any idea of what you are looking for.
