IELTS Academic Reading: Ultimate Guide

🔑 TIP 01: UNDERSTAND THE METHOD AND FORMAT OF THE TEST

✅ It is extremely important for you to be familiar with the test format.
You should know:

• How many passages will there be?
• What kind of passages will be included?
• How many questions will be asked?
• What type of questions will appear?
• How much time will be allocated for the entire reading session?

⚠️ These are the vital questions that require your attention.

📋 For a quick review:
There will be 3 sessions and 40 questions in total, each carrying 1 point.
The passages will be academic in nature. The total time for the reading session is 1 hour.

✨ TIP 02: DEVELOP THE SKILLS OF SKIMMING AND SCANNING

📖 Skimming and scanning are two significant reading skills that help a lot in understanding the text/passage and detecting the main ideas.

🌀 SKIMMING is a reading method where you just have a quick glance at the text. You do not go through each and every detail in it. Instead, you keep it simple and quick.
You mainly focus on the main ideas without looking at every word. When you are doing this while reading, you are actually skimming.
✅ Sounds easy, right? This is the kind of habit you should develop while reading longer passages (so that they do not grab your whole time).

🔍 SCANNING, on the other hand, is another reading skill where you go through the passage in such a way as to collect the key points in it.
In a way, you get what you are looking for and comprehend the text in a better way. Thus, it is a quick reading method to make you familiar with the text and what it advocates.

✨ Both skimming and scanning techniques are highly useful and it is recommended that you use them before handling any question.

🕒 Once the passage is handed over to you, you quickly go through it for 2 to 3 minutes while highlighting the main ideas.
✅ This will aid you in handling the questions in a better way and help you in scoring higher.

🧠 TIP 03: IMPROVE VOCABULARY

📚 Vocabulary plays an important role in understanding the passage.
It is a major reason why candidates score lesser points in IELTS Reading—and it is the reason why they can boost their scores.

⚠️ Some of the words given in the passage might be unfamiliar to you. In this case, I highly recommend you not take vocabulary for granted, as it can either increase or decrease your score.

📘 By learning any difficult word, you should be able to use that word properly and in an appropriate manner.

🧩 FOR INSTANCE:
Principle means basic truth or any moral sense while Principal means head of school.
So, you can’t write, “Today, our principle scolded us,” or “My principal is to help others in the time of need,” as it would be wrong.
(⚠️ One has to be really careful while using such confusing words.)

✨ Furthermore, you have to learn synonyms and paraphrasing patterns to deal with the passages and questions in an effective way.
This aids in garnering more scores and gives you the band you deserve.

✅ So buckle up! Below is an instance of some tricky and challenging words that you should be familiar with while attempting the reading session:

🧠 Mitigate, Exacerbate, Lethal, Tactful, Zealous, Ample, Facetious, Uncanny, Choir, and Ambidextrous.

📈 If you know these words, you are going to ace the test.
However, if you struggle with these puzzling words, it is time to brush up your vocabulary by reading from multiple engaging sources.

🧩 TIP 04: POLISH YOUR GRAMMAR

📘 Grammar plays a big role in not only understanding the language but also aids in using it appropriately.
Thus, comprehending the rules of English grammar and being able to apply them properly gives you a plus point.

💡 Why? Because grammar helps in Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking skills and provides a super score in IELTS.

📌 WHY GRAMMAR IS NECESSARY?

✅ It allows you to focus on the sentences that are complex in nature.
If you are unfamiliar with longer sentences, there is a pretty good chance that you might misunderstand the main idea. This can be bad news for you guys…

📝 FOR INSTANCE:
"While the leader of the team was demonstrating the new plan to the workers, the CEO, who had been closely watching from the corner of the room, suddenly interrupted him to clarify a point that the leader had not yet covered."
📘 This is a complex sentence with multiple clauses and sub-clauses, plus phrases.
⚠️ If you fail to understand the technicality of this complex sentence, there might be higher chances for you to make your answer wrong.

🔍 Also, grammar helps you in the identification of subject and object, which leads to better understanding. For example, we all are familiar with Active and Passive voice.

Since passive voice is a bit tricky and requires focus, the questions in IELTS Reading can be properly and correctly answered.

📝 TO DEMONSTRATE:
"The modern-day Nation-State System, which is followed by many European states, was established by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648."
❓ Question: What formed the Nation-State System?

✅ If you have a good grip over English grammar, you would be able to answer this question perfectly, as you would know the action as well as the object.

🧠 Moreover, grammar is really important in identifying the correct words while filling the blanks.

📘 As it was mentioned in the question types, Sentence Completion and Summary Completion kinds of questions appear in IELTS Reading.
Thus, if you have a grasp of grammar, you can totally identify the most suitable words to fill the blanks. This will aid you in scoring more marks.

📌 FOR INSTANCE:
“The objective of the policy is to ______ inflation.”
(✅ You would know that here, the sentence requires a verb to complete it.)
Go ahead, and fill the blank by putting an appropriate verb in your mind.

🏆 TIP 05: MOST IMPORTANT — ‘PRACTICE’

🎯 Practice is the key to achieve success—not only in IELTS but in every test.
I always tell my students to keep practicing in order to score higher in tests.

✅ You all would agree that continuous exercises and solving questions can help you in achieving perfection.

💡 WHY IS IT IMPORTANT??

• It brings time-management within you and cultivates a sense of completing the tasks on time.
• It helps you in identifying your mistakes and getting rid of your errors that keep you behind.
• Most importantly, it brings you closer to accomplishing your desired score.

📝 TYPES OF IELTS ACADEMIC READING QUESTIONS

Each IELTS Academic Reading passage comes with a unique set of questions. It is essential to be familiar with these question types so you can better apply your strategies of skimming, scanning, and vocabulary knowledge to effectively answer them.

Here are the main types of reading questions in IELTS Academic:

• 📝 Matching Headings – Match the appropriate heading to the given paragraphs.

• ❓ Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) – Choose the correct answer from multiple options.

• 🔍 Matching Information – Match information from the text to the provided list.

• ✔️ True/False/Not Given – Determine whether the statement is true, false, or not given in the passage.

• 🟡 Yes/No/Not Given – Identify whether the writer's views or claims agree with the statements provided.

• ✏️ Sentence Completion – Fill in the blanks with the correct words from the passage.

• 📋 Summary Completion – Complete summaries with information from the passage.

• 🗺️ Diagram Labeling – Label diagrams with the correct information from the passage.

• 🔠 Short Answer Questions – Provide short answers using no more than three words from the text.

• 🏷️ Choosing the Title – Select the most appropriate title for the passage.

• 📊 Table Completion – Fill in a table using accurate information from the passage, usually with a word limit.