carol Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Hi All I sat my academic IELTS on Saturday and I must say I thought it was ok- well that is all of it apart from reading! I have done the practice tests from the IELTS book and someone kindly sent me a couple of other examples. I know that I have messed the reading part up so much so that I have rebooked before even getting my results! I need some help- is there a system/sequence to the reading test? I actually couldn't answer some of the questions and had to guess! I have no idea why as I am academically bright and have never struggled with the examples! I am booked in for Edinburgh on the 25th August so any guidance will be appreciated! Carol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jit7 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I don't know of any system to it. Fingers crossed you've done enough to get the level you require. Don't worry too much about it until you get your results. Good luck x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nycplanner Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 The key to doing well on the IELTS is practice, practice, practice - keep practicing until you get the score you want. On the reading section specifically, my strategy was to read the questions first and then scan the text until I saw the answer - reading the passages completely is a waste of time since not everything in the text is being tested. Another tip: when you're doing additional practice tests, focus on the questions you got wrong and try to figure out why you got them wrong (you misread the passage, there was another passage you missed that had the answer etc). The Academic test scoring is a little less strict than the General - for the General, you want to get at least 35/40 to get a band 7 score. On the Academic, you can probably get by with 33/40 to get a band 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I would have the opposite advice to above for the reading test! :biggrin: I think for non native English speakers skim reading is a good idea, however I think for English speakers you might as well read the passage a few times before even attempting the questions, each time you read you take in a bit more and I found that helped with questions when I turned to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nycplanner Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I would have the opposite advice to above for the reading test! :biggrin: I think for non native English speakers skim reading is a good idea, however I think for English speakers you might as well read the passage a few times before even attempting the questions, each time you read you take in a bit more and I found that helped with questions when I turned to them. Haha - I guess everyone has their own methods. I'm a native English speaker and honestly I found the passages on my test pretty dull so I would have fallen asleep if I'd had to re-read them multiple times. But that's just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rezasol Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I gave the test twice and I scored: 9-9-6.5-8.5 => L-R-W-S [Yep.. my handwriting blows...] I needed all 7 so I retested and I scored: 8.5-9-7.5-8 => L-R-W-S Our schooling system included this type of reading tests uptil 10th grade so I never had any problems. I am a non-native english speaker and I would go with nycplanner.. Read the question, identify the paragraph(s) its from. Answer. By the time you're done with all the questions, you must've read the content almost twice or thrice and would be very familiar with: 'What the question is asking and whether you've answered correctly in previous questions.' I never found reading the content first because 1. I don't know what I am looking for.. 2. It's just easier that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Adamsons Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I sit it tomorrow in Edinburgh for the first time, not to confident I must say as not long back from holidays and not had a great deal of time to study! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malkitek Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 Hi, When practising for the reading I found I couldn't much of it because the topics were often so random and generally uninteresting to me, so I also went the route of reading the questions first and then scanning for the answers, rather than reading the whole text first. I also think was right plan for me as was sooo nervous that doubt I would have remembered much through sheer panic! Good luck! Gill x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pinklotusflower Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 I paid to have some lessons from an IELTs tutor which I found really useful. During the exam I skim read for the answers, any I struggled with I left to the end and went back and spent the time finding the answers for those. Good luck with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimoneAL Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Hi, I sat the Academic IELTS 3 times in just over ten years for very different reasons, last time being less than 2 years ago. My issue with the reading test the first time was that I very much thought it was an easy win and I did not practice it enough. The second and the third time I spend hours during prep reading articles from The Guardian, The Times, The Economist and BBC news on all sorts of topics I knew little about. I put a lot of effort in reading it quickly the first time, trying to identify and memorise the key points, and than slowly the second time to check how much if the article I had actually understood. Mind, not skimming but quick reading. This quick reading skill helped me a lot. I first read the text from a to z, quickly memorizing the key points and then I answered all the questions quick enough (almost) without mistakes. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Adamsons Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Having sat it yesterday I would like to confirm that the reading part was a total brain mincer, I think I done not too bad on it for a first attempt but I'll find out in due course, The listening section I found easy but missed one answer, (I had a wee guess at it though). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carol Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 I sit it tomorrow in Edinburgh for the first time, not to confident I must say as not long back from holidays and not had a great deal of time to study! Oh how did you find it? I have no clue what to do for next time- every time I practice I get full marks or just a couple wrong! I suppose I will just need to wait and see if it goes better next week, it better as I can't fork out £125 every couple of weeks! Carol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carol Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 Thanks everyone for getting back to me i suppose the answer is that there is no universal 'right' way to tackle it! I was just hoping someone would say "oh this is all you have to do and you will pass it- magic"; I suppose we all live in hope! I am glad I booked again straight after because if I didn't I'd need to wait until end of September. I think I have done all the academic IELTs reading examples available - I will just need to plod on and keep at the practicing! Thanks again everyone Carol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverCap Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Hi there, I am a non-native English speaker but quite good on reading (score R9 at last two tests). If anyone want some help, do a practice test then send me your answer, I may show why you chose the wrong answer or may offer some tips for reading test. Best regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carol Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 Hi All Just to let you know that I passed reading! I am not sure how it happened but i got L-9 W-8.5 S-8.5 and R-7.5 As I have paid for another IELTS on the 24th I am just going to go and sit it to try and get 8 and above in all areas so i can get 20 points in stead of 10 points in visa application. Carol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pinklotusflower Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 well done Carol and good luck with the next test Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ieltsandrea Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Hi Look at this website - ielts-simon.com. It's brilliant. IELTS testbuilder is a great book as it tell you how to get the answers. Make sure you answer the question (a lot of people don't), check the gap fills to make sure it makes sense. Find similes and hunt around there for the answers. Yep, practice test but make sure you review the answers and understand why. Regards Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carol Posted September 10, 2012 Author Share Posted September 10, 2012 Hi Everyone Just to let you know I got better results for my IELTS second time around I got 9,9,8.5 and 8.5 with overall 9 I am chuffed as it will give me 20 points taking my points up to 75 when i apply for 189 I think what I learned from IELTS is that it is just the luck of the draw! I found the reading much easier the second time around and the writing was a question about preventative health- I work in Public Health so the question couldn't have been any better! Cx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jit7 Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Hi Everyone Just to let you know I got better results for my IELTS second time around I got 9,9,8.5 and 8.5 with overall 9 I am chuffed as it will give me 20 points taking my points up to 75 when i apply for 189 I think what I learned from IELTS is that it is just the luck of the draw! I found the reading much easier the second time around and the writing was a question about preventative health- I work in Public Health so the question couldn't have been any better! Cx That's fantastic - congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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