Common mistakes that occur in the IELTS Reading Module
Let’s discuss some common mistakes that occur in IELTS Reading Module. ‘Time Factor’ – This is the most common factor. You have to both read and write your answers in the give time.
The Examiner will give you both the answer sheet and the question booklet and there won’t be any additional time given to you to transfer your answer from the question booklet to your answer sheet. So, make sure you manage your time properly. It’s always a good thing to do practice mock test for your IELTS exam before so that you can improve your speed and efficiency. More and more practice will help you get better.
Well IELTS exam has a particular format so, its’s advisable to go through the test format beforehand. Lack of awareness about the test formats also is a common reason in IELTS Reading module. Most of the mistakes done by ignorance are led by unawareness.
#1 IELTS Reading Mistake: Ignoring Instructions
IELTS examination will test you in every aspect. Candidates often tend to make this mistake (not reading the instructions properly).
If it is instructed “not more than 3 words”, then it is clear that your word limit is 3 words for the particular task.
Tip to Avoid:
Don’t answer in 4 words and give them an opportunity to penalize you. IELTS tests your vocabulary and paraphrasing capabilities and therefore instructions are very crucial and should be followed.
One more mistake here is that if the instruction states to choose 2 answers but the candidate choosing only 1 would cost marks. Similarly you are instructed to write ‘true’ or ‘false’ but you stating ‘yes’ or ‘no’ also will cost your marks.
This is not a potentially a major mistake but it might bring a huge difference.
#2 IELTS Reading Mistake: Using Question Booklet Instead of Answer Sheet
Are you aware of the IELTS test format? There is no additional time to transfer answers to the answer sheet. So, if you use the question booklet to write an answer, then you can’t successfully transfer the answers due to lack of time.
Tip to Avoid
You must make sure not to write the answers on the answer sheet itself and not the question booklet. Even if you write them on the booklet, the examiner will only consider the answer sheet.
You will be in trouble if you commit such mistakes especially in rush. So, obey the instructions and pattern of the test.
#3 IELTS Reading Mistake: Reading Entire Passage
Contextually, it is a mistake with regarding the time factor because the test is time constrained. Using unconventional reading techniques, you should read and extract the idea of the passage as soon as possible.
The IELTS reading section has 3 passages with around 700 hundred words each with 13 – 14 questions per section. You should answer a total of 40 questions in a span of 60 minutes.
So, if you attempt to read the whole passage, you have no scope of fulfilling the test at your mark. So learn the techniques to scan and skim the passage in order to avail the limited time at its best benefits.
Tip to Avoid
Only think about the required answer. It’s a human tendency to search (or at least think) about the meaning of an unknown word.
Keep in mind that reading the passage completely is a wrong approach to waste the precious time. Extract the core idea and start answering.
#4 IELTS Reading Mistake: Ignoring the order of questions
Except in matching exercise, comprehension passages maintain a question order. You are prone to lose valuable time if you are not concerned about the question order.
Tip to overcome:
Simply, observe that if you have underlined 6th and 7th answers, then 8th answer is next to that. Don’t read from first again.
But this won’t apply to the matching type questions. Therefore you should be strictly aware of the question types in the IELTS test.
#5 IELTS Reading Mistake: Lacking in finding keywords
Keywords are the important things to answer the given questions. But the most common mistakes done by the test takers in IELTS reading module are neglecting ‘negations and transition words’.
That means, mistaking the question or answer by neglecting the words like NOT and EXCEPT. These two words are negations and will turn context just by suffixing them.
In addition, transition words despite, however and though can easily change the meaning of the entire sentence.
Tip to overcome:
In order to get out of such confusion, one has to get the right keywords. More than that, be sure with the context and idea of passage.
It is to say, not to search the keywords blindly or try to find the synonyms that match the question. Instead, concentrate to grab the central idea of the question.
#6 IELTS Reading Mistake: Unknown Vocabulary
You don’t need to understand the meaning of every word. Our main purpose is to answer the question. So, our main aim is to answer the question rather than understanding each and every word. We can’t afford to loose our precious time. Sometimes it becomes mandatory to understand the word, in that case look in the passage or read the sentence as the context will help you to understand the question means you can make an educated guess according to the context a word or phrase is used in a passage or a sentence.
Thank You 🙂
