In this series Greg Archer, co-author of Mindset for IELTS, provides bite-size support for teachers new to preparing students for IELTS. In his third instalment, Greg looks at the Reading test.
What is the format of the Reading Paper?
There are 3 texts of around 800-900 words – so quite a lot of material for students to get through! Greg says that the essential difference between the Academic and General Training versions of the Reading test is that the Academic version is aimed at people wishing to enter university, so it contains texts from journals or newspapers. The General Training test uses texts more likely to be found in everyday life.
What are the key skills for success?
Students need to be able to read a text and extract information from it quickly, so make sure your students can understand texts without having to read every single word. However, as well as being able to skim text for content and scan to find specific detail, they also need to understand what they have read!
How can I help develop my students’ reading skills?
Students have a lot of text to get through, so help students brush up on their memory skills and break their reading into bite-size chunks so they can remember what they have read.
How important is it to check your answers?
It’s important that students leave time to go back and check their answers with fresh eyes. Greg’s top tip: when students think they’ve found an answer in the text, they write the question number next to it, saving precious time when they go back and check their work.
How can I help lower-level students?
All the Reading questions have the same marks, but some are harder than others, and lower-level students won’t be able to answer all of them. Greg believes teachers should encourage their students to answer the questions they think they can do first.
How is an IELTS Reading class different to a General English class?
In Greg’s experience, IELTS students will be more interested in what the correct answer is, what the wrong answer is – and why, rather than analysing the text for its merits. So teachers need to know the texts they use in the classroom inside out!
So, what’s Greg’s number one tip for the IELTS Reading paper? Always take the time to check your answers!
For more tips and information, watch Greg’s video in full below.
Greg will be back with advice for preparing students for the Speaking test. Meanwhile, check out Greg’s blogs on Writing Task 1 and Task 2.
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