BEST TIP: MANAGING TIME IN IELTS READING
IELTS has a total of four modules, namely, WRITING, SPEAKING, LISTENING and READING. Out of these all, the one which is considered to be the toughest and the most complex is IELTS READING.
PROBLEMS FACED GENERALLY
There are numerous problems which candidates face while attempting this section . Some of these are : LACK OF TIME MANAGEMENT , UNABLE TO COMPREHEND THE QUESTIONS, UNABLE TO FIND LOCATIONS and the list never ends.
Through the aid of this passage we would focus and try to analyze the issue of lack of time management and try to figure out how can this problem be overcome.
MANAGING TIME IN IELTS READING
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
First of all let’s see what type of problems are faced under this issue.
i) Predominantly, candidates are frequently unable to complete their readings on time . Most of the aspirants share that even after trying their best, they are never successful in attempting all the 40 questions, no matter what strategies they use.
ii) Secondly, sometimes even when they complete their questions they fail to tranfer their answers on time and as a result loose the chance of scoring good .
MANAGING TIME IN IELTS READING
iii) Most importantly, this problem is faced majority of times when they are doing question types like LIST OF HEADINGS or PARAGRAPH SELECTION. Since they cannot find the location on time, they are unable to figure out correct answers and fail to get their desired band scores.
MANAGING TIME IN IELTS READING
WHAT CAN BE DONE
Although this seems to be a never ending issue, but still some initiatives and tricks can help you out. Mentioned below are some strategies which you can utilize:
1. FIX A TIME FOR EACH PASSAGE: The first thing which you should do is fix a certain amount of time that you need to spend on each section or passage. For instance, say, you should spend 17 min on each passage so that in the last few minutes you can transfer your answers and also give a proof checking if left with time. No matter whether you have completed your passage or not, whenever you practice just spend a limited amount of time on your each article.
Moreover do not spend more than 1 minute on each question. If you cannot find the answer, mark the question and leave it till last time and solve the questions on the further list atleast.
MANAGING TIME IN IELTS READING
2. UNDERSTAND THE STRUCTURE OF YOUR PASSAGE: Most of the time, you are unable to fing locations for your questions, probably because you have a lack of understanding of the structure of your passage. Give a general overview to your reading always before starting so that you can analyze that in which structure or pattern are the paragraphs written.
You can for example, scan your passage initially and see which paragraph contains what type of information on the basis of your topic sentence (first two lines of the paragraph) and underline some major nouns and keywords that you come across. By doing so, when you would go for solving your questions, you would be easily able to figure out where can possibly your location be.
MANAGING TIME IN IELTS READING
3.LOOK FOR PATTERN OF QUESTION TYPE: Further, you can also according to your question type that whether the answers would be in order or not. Mostly, the questions like PARAGRAPH SELECTION, LIST OF HEADINGS AND MATCHING are not in order but rest of them most probably come in order. Therefore, keeping this in mind try to locate your answers.
4.TRY DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF DOING READING: Also, analyze that whether your current strategy of attempting reading helping you or not. If not, whenever you practice always try to change your pattern each time. Like, sometimes you should start from passage one and other times try to do it by starting with passage three. Changing the way of attempting your reading can actually work wonders for some of you so try to give it a shot.
MANAGING TIME IN IELTS READING
5. TRANSFER ANSWERS SIDE BY SIDE: Other thing is that try to transfer your answers simultaneously after you find them so that you don’t need extra time at last to transfer your answers. Or you can tranfer answers after completing each section and make sure you are writing correct answers with accurate spellings and instructions.
6. DO OBJECTIVE QUESTION TYPES AT LAST:The other tip that you can try is doing the types you which are objective like for which you have to write options or only letters as answers at the end. These can include TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN, MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS OR MATCHING. The reason is that even if you don’t get enough time for doing these, you can guess and there are chances that it can be correct as there are limited options and probably your chosen one can be one of the correct ones.
MANAGING TIME IN IELTS READING
So these are some of the tips you can make use of and try to figure out if they help you. Just remember that no matter what, the main key point is your practice. Therefore, keep practicing as much as you can.
Thanks for reading
MANAGING TIME IN IELTS READING