IELTS reading is doubtlessly a score-able section. There are very few opportunities in this section for an examiner to cut your score. If you are unmistakably precise and direct, the reading section might as well be your highest scored section. Unfortunately, candidates struggle with IELTS test reading.
Even though they think they were scoring well in the IELTS reading section, the score in the result is much less. There’s only one culprit to blame here — “silly mistakes”
You won’t even realize when you make them, but they will affect your IELTS test score. So how do we avoid them? What strategy do we adopt to overcome silly mistakes? Brought to you here is the most doable and workable guide to avoid silly mistakes and achieve band 7.5+ in IELTS reading!
STEP 1: KNOW THE FORMAT BEFORE ENTERING THE TEST CENTRE
IELTS exam is an important exam in your life. You can’t start writing a test and expect yourself to do well. Even though it’s an English test, IELTS does not only test your language proficiency. To a much greater extent, you are also evaluated for your time management skills, communication, and comprehension.
Being ready before the exam is the secret ingredient of sweeping silly mistakes out. It leaves no room for misunderstandings that you might have made under the real-time pressure of the IELTS exam.
STEP 2: READ QUESTIONS BEFORE PARAGRAPH
When you are presented with questions along with paragraphs, your priority should be reading questions first. Remember, your goal is to answer the questions; understanding text is secondary.
You have three lengthy paragraphs to read and 40 questions to answer within 60 minutes. Under these circumstances, it is wise to read questions first, and then look out for answers.
Investing your dwindling time in reading and understanding each para may turn out to be the biggest silly mistake in the IELTS exam.
STEP 3: GET THE ESSENCE OF PARAGRAPHs
Even though you will not be going into the depths of understanding a paragraph, you’d still need to grasp its core intent. If you don’t clearly understand the topic of the text, it would be ten times difficult to make sense, let alone find answers.
There is a trick here! Read the first two-three sentences of the text, the initial sentences of every paragraph, and the last two sentences of the text carefully. These parts are the summarizing portions of the text. By this trick, you’d struggle less to grasp the essence of the topic and sensibly write down answers.
STEP 4: DO NOT TAKE INSTRUCTIONS FOR GRANTED
Every instruction in the IELTS exam needs to be strictly followed. If the instruction says answer in “three words”, any extra word will cost you score by score.
STEP 5: REMEMBER THE LOGICAL SEQUENCE OF QUESTIONS
IELTS test reading questions are usually given in a sequence regarding paragraphs. So, if you have written answers to the first 3 questions from a particular part of the paragraph, then the answer to the fourth question would be in the remaining text. Remember, this doesn’t apply to matching-type questions.
STEP 6: DON’T WRITE ANSWERS IN QUESTION SHEET
As crazy as it sounds, some candidates write answers in the question sheet and realize their mistake until it’s too late.
If you are attempting paper-based IELTS, you have two copies of sheets, one is of questions and another is for answering. Rarely, but many times, aspirants make the silly mistake of writing answers in the question sheet. Remember, your answers will be checked only if they are written in the answer sheet.
STEP 7: GIVE TWO MINUTES FOR RECHECKING
In the end, the most common silly mistake is spelling and grammatical. These may seem to have nothing to do in the reading section, but they do. If your grammar and spelling are incorrect, examiners have the right to cut your score down.To avoid this, keep some time in the end to recheck your spelling and grammar.
These are just few tips to avoid silly mistakes. There’s a deep forest of mistakes, which can be easily avoided by our experts’ guidance. What hampers the most is your dream bands, and taking such a risk is never advised. That’s where our exclusive IELTS courses are offered to aspirants with experts on the desk. The successful results of many aspirants over so many years with our promising courses and IELTS test series have made us one of the best IELTS coaching centre in Dubai.
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