- Read for an hour every day!
In 2014, when I started my IELTS preparation, I made a big mistake. With a single sitting. I just went through a single passage and questions from it-not completed the full test at a stretch. As a beginner, it was acceptable. However, unfortunately, I developed a habit of this method.
I had to pay a heavy price for this mistake. In my first IELTS attempt, I could not make what I deserved for the reading test. After completing the 1st passage in the test- I started to become tried to read more. I was confused, and I had a difficulty to decide about the answer. I was shocked because I used to do well for all the passages while practicing individually. After the test, I understood my problem: I hardly took the full test at a stretch. As a result, I had low stamina to read intensively for an hour in the original test.
In the last preparation, I used to read for an hour every day. You can follow this too. This is the key to do better in the IELTS reading test. If you can do so, your stamina for the reading test will increase significantly.
Ironically, in the IELTS reading test, as it gets difficult gradually, your stamina level declines. Reading any materials such as newspapers, magazines, and book for one hour daily, will train your brain and eyes. As your brain gets training, your attention and focus on the reading material will increase dramatically as a result your brain will not get tired in the test. Therefore, you can analyze the reading passage and question appropriately, so your answer accuracy improves a lot as well.
2. Step by step: chunking text
Who does not have any problem with understanding long sentences in the reading test? I think, almost everybody has it. Chunking can give hope who cannot understand long sentences in the IELTS Reading passage. Chunking basically means, breaking down the long sentence into small pieces.
For example1:
Empirical evidence//- published by the national institute of mental health-// show that// along with physical diseases, // obesity also bring psychological problems// among the boys and girls//: anxiety, mental fatigue and depression// to be named some of them, // even more negatively, //committing suicide is not uncommon// because of bullying.
Example: 2 Empirical evidence- published by the national institute of mental health- show that along with physical diseases, obesity also bring psychological problems among the boys and girls: anxiety, mental fatigue and depression to be named some of them, even more negatively, committing suicide is not uncommon because of bullying.
If you practice chunking during your preparation time it will help in 2 ways: It will make your understanding of text very easy, and your information retention will develop a lot.
There are many question types in the IELTS reading test in which you have to understand the main theme of a given paragraph, Matching Heading for an example. However, there are other types of questions in which you need to understand the supporting details information of a given paragraph, T/F/Not Given for an example.
So, take a pen and paper while you practice for the Reading test, and after reading each paragraph, write down the main idea and the supporting details from your own. This process will help you to answer all types of questions easily.