Way to Read the Newspaper to Improve your IELTS Reading Score
In IELTS Reading, three passages are given mostly derived from journals, reports and articles which are quiet lengthy. You will be asked to solve 40 questions based on the given passages in an hour. Reading almost 6000 words, understanding passages and giving answers for 40 questions in 60 minutes is very hard, but not impossible. To complete the reading test in time, your reading speed and the ability to understand the main point of the passage should be excellent. These skills can be developed and enhanced by reading newspapers. Your question must be why the newspaper? IELTS aspirants usually get bored practicing from the reading practice test and sometimes they even pay for latest material but newspapers are easily available on the internet and you have to pay nothing for it. Reading newspaper not only enhances your reading speed but also enhance your vocabulary range. You even get familiar with the new things happenings around the world which can be helpful in Writing and Speaking. For improving your reading score you should not simply read the newspaper but adopt a Way to Read the Newspaper to Improve your IELTS Reading Score as discussed below.
1. Read regularly
Practice is must to achieve your goal so you should practice on daily basis if you really want to learn something from newspaper. I am not saying that you should read the newspaper for long 6 or 7 hours but at least for 15-20 minutes a day but on daily basis and 5-6 days a week.
2. Be Focused
While reading it is necessary to be focused on the matter as you will not be able to get the benefit if you get distracted as your speed will slow down and you will not be able understand the gist of the news. Here I will like to mention another thing that the language used in the papers is exactly the IELTS students need to score good bands as it is neither too formal nor informal.
3. Do something after you read?
In language there are some areas like word order and collocation that cannot be learnt actively but it can be easily grasped by passive practice. Reading newspaper is the great passive exercise for learning although it takes time to master the skill. To get the maximum benefit of the exercise it is recommended to read the paper and then speak or write what you have read in this way the chances of remembering the things increase as you practice of your own.
4. Read for general meaning
The language used in the news is quite difficult and it is possible that you will not understand the meaning of every word. The main motive is to understand the meaning of the whole news and if at the end you understand the main ideas of it than you are the achiever. So you should not stop reading thinking that you don’t understand anything.
A Few Other Tips to Keep in Mind regarding Reading test:
– There is no negative marking so you should not leave any question unanswered.
– You can make notes on your question paper, but don’t forget to copy or write answers on the answer sheet as only your answer sheet will be checked.
– For the True/False questions, you cannot write “T” or “F” should write TRUE or FALSE.
– Questions aren’t always linear.
– Follow the given instructions.
– Be familiar with different question types and approaches
– Keep an eye on time.
We hope you found these tips helpful please your views and suggestions in the comment section. Best of luck for the exam.
Thank You 🙂