As you know, one of the biggest problems for many IELTS candidates is the amount of reading you have to do in the Reading Module. Each text can be up to 1,000 words long, and you have to read three of them and answer 40 questions in an hour.
In class we learn about reading skills which can help you deal with this problem. These are things like skimming for the general idea, scanning for specific information and so on. Apart from these, though, it is also useful to increase your overall reading speed.
So how can you do that? Well, the main thing here is practice, practice, practice. You need to read in English on a regular basis. News stories are always good practice. If you read one news story every day, in time you will find it gets easier and more enjoyable.
Dealing with words you don't know
Of course, if you read news articles written for native speakers, you'll see a lot of new vocabulary. This is one of the great benefits of reading the news. However, please consider your main purpose. I hope you'll find great pleasure in reading, but you also have a job to do: namely, you want to get the best possible result in IELTS.
In the Reading Module, the texts can be quite technical and deal with very specific subjects. You'll definitely see words in the exam that you've never seen before, and you won't have your dictionary. Therefore, it's absolutely essential that you feel comfortable in this situation. It isn't a natural situation - usually when people read, if they don't know a word they open their dictionaries immediately - and it can make you very stressed if you feel that you don't understand everything. You need to train yourself to feel ok about it.
Bearing all of this in mind, here's my recommendation:
1. Read the whole text without checking new words
2. After you've read it once, go back and underline words that you
don't know
3. Thinking about the main ideas of the article, choose the words you
think are the most important.
4. Find these words in your dictionary. Make notes about them if you
want to.
5. Read again, to get a better understanding of the text and to see
your new words 'in action'.
This technique will really help your reading speed and your vocabulary. Also, if you read one news story every day, you'll notice that some of your new words will appear in different texts. This is a really nice feeling ... progress!!
Where to begin ...
The links below will take you to websites where you can read English texts on a wide variety of topics. Most of them are news sites.
Happy reading )))
Sydney Morning Herald: Strange But True
The Sydney Morning Herald is Australia's biggest newspaper. It's good reading practice in general, but you may find this section fun to read. It focuses on the most unusual news stories from around the world.
Sydney Morning Herald: Travel
We all know that travel is a 'predictable topic' in IELTS. This section of the Herald has regular stories about beautiful and exotic locations, and people's experiences while travelling around Australia and the world.
BBC World News
An excellent variety of stories from around the world. Most of them are short, so it won't take you all day to read one :-)
BBC Science News
The Reading Module usually contains at least one text with a scientific theme. Reading about science will help you understand the language writers use when they explain scientific ideas.
BBC Learning
This part of the BBC site has a huge variety of articles on how to learn different things. It isn't only about academic subjects - here you can read about anything from IT to building skills and gardening. It's incredibly useful for IELTS candidates ... plus, you might learn how to build your own house, or fly a plane!
The Big Issue
This is a magazine with a social purpose. It's sold on the street by homeless people, who get a little bit of money for selling it. The stories in The Big Issue usually have a slightly different style to 'official' news like the BBC, so its useful to read some of these.
The Guardian UK
The news stories on this website are much longer than BBC or Sydney Morning Herald stories. If you're a busy person (and I know you are!), it might take you two or three days to read one story, but that's ok. Take your time, and enjoy the process )))
Ezine Articles
There are thousands of texts here, all organised by topic. Simply go to the website and choose the topic you want to read about. You'll see a selection of texts to choose from.
Other suggestions
Dominic Cole's IELTS blog has a long list of reading suggestions. These are divided into different IELTS-related topics. The links don't always work, but when they do, they're very useful. Dominic also suggests some self-study activities you can do with reading texts that you find yourself.
Summary writing
If you have time and you like this idea, you can find a news story on a topic that interests you, read it several times, then write a summary. Remember that 'summary completion' is a common task in the IELTS Reading Module, so it's a good style of writing to practise.
You can post your summary in the comments box below.
In class we learn about reading skills which can help you deal with this problem. These are things like skimming for the general idea, scanning for specific information and so on. Apart from these, though, it is also useful to increase your overall reading speed.
So how can you do that? Well, the main thing here is practice, practice, practice. You need to read in English on a regular basis. News stories are always good practice. If you read one news story every day, in time you will find it gets easier and more enjoyable.
Dealing with words you don't know
Of course, if you read news articles written for native speakers, you'll see a lot of new vocabulary. This is one of the great benefits of reading the news. However, please consider your main purpose. I hope you'll find great pleasure in reading, but you also have a job to do: namely, you want to get the best possible result in IELTS.
In the Reading Module, the texts can be quite technical and deal with very specific subjects. You'll definitely see words in the exam that you've never seen before, and you won't have your dictionary. Therefore, it's absolutely essential that you feel comfortable in this situation. It isn't a natural situation - usually when people read, if they don't know a word they open their dictionaries immediately - and it can make you very stressed if you feel that you don't understand everything. You need to train yourself to feel ok about it.
Bearing all of this in mind, here's my recommendation:
1. Read the whole text without checking new words
2. After you've read it once, go back and underline words that you
don't know
3. Thinking about the main ideas of the article, choose the words you
think are the most important.
4. Find these words in your dictionary. Make notes about them if you
want to.
5. Read again, to get a better understanding of the text and to see
your new words 'in action'.
This technique will really help your reading speed and your vocabulary. Also, if you read one news story every day, you'll notice that some of your new words will appear in different texts. This is a really nice feeling ... progress!!
Where to begin ...
The links below will take you to websites where you can read English texts on a wide variety of topics. Most of them are news sites.
Happy reading )))
Sydney Morning Herald: Strange But True
The Sydney Morning Herald is Australia's biggest newspaper. It's good reading practice in general, but you may find this section fun to read. It focuses on the most unusual news stories from around the world.
Sydney Morning Herald: Travel
We all know that travel is a 'predictable topic' in IELTS. This section of the Herald has regular stories about beautiful and exotic locations, and people's experiences while travelling around Australia and the world.
BBC World News
An excellent variety of stories from around the world. Most of them are short, so it won't take you all day to read one :-)
BBC Science News
The Reading Module usually contains at least one text with a scientific theme. Reading about science will help you understand the language writers use when they explain scientific ideas.
BBC Learning
This part of the BBC site has a huge variety of articles on how to learn different things. It isn't only about academic subjects - here you can read about anything from IT to building skills and gardening. It's incredibly useful for IELTS candidates ... plus, you might learn how to build your own house, or fly a plane!
The Big Issue
This is a magazine with a social purpose. It's sold on the street by homeless people, who get a little bit of money for selling it. The stories in The Big Issue usually have a slightly different style to 'official' news like the BBC, so its useful to read some of these.
The Guardian UK
The news stories on this website are much longer than BBC or Sydney Morning Herald stories. If you're a busy person (and I know you are!), it might take you two or three days to read one story, but that's ok. Take your time, and enjoy the process )))
Ezine Articles
There are thousands of texts here, all organised by topic. Simply go to the website and choose the topic you want to read about. You'll see a selection of texts to choose from.
Other suggestions
Dominic Cole's IELTS blog has a long list of reading suggestions. These are divided into different IELTS-related topics. The links don't always work, but when they do, they're very useful. Dominic also suggests some self-study activities you can do with reading texts that you find yourself.
Summary writing
If you have time and you like this idea, you can find a news story on a topic that interests you, read it several times, then write a summary. Remember that 'summary completion' is a common task in the IELTS Reading Module, so it's a good style of writing to practise.
You can post your summary in the comments box below.
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