Reading Test Tips

READING TEST TIPS

1. True / False / Not given questions are by far the most difficult types of question to answer as they are designed to trick people into thinking about the answer and giving their deduction as an answer.

2. Many students are generally very good at reading tests – they are very good at spotting the key words in a question, finding those keywords in a text, reading around the key words and finding the answer to the question. However, as with the listening test, in the IELTS reading test the words in the questions are often not the words you will find in the answer. As a result you have to look for synonyms of key words as well as the actual keywords. Consider a word like ‘correct’ – among others, possible synonyms include:

a. Right
b. Accurate
c. Exact
d. Truthful
e. Spot on
f. Proper
g. Acceptable
h. Accepted

Depending on the context, only some of these synonyms might apply. You need to be aware of for these words as well as the keywords you are looking for. In addition, consider antonyms – words with the opposite meanings. A sentence like ‘It wouldn’t be wrong’ would mean ‘correct’ in certain contexts. As you can see, you will need a fairly deep understanding of vocabulary.

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