Reading text content plays a vital role in Langauge learning, as well as the key factor to achieve a high-level understanding of documents, books, essays, reports, etc. In IELTS, the reading part consists of various types of questions, which the candidates must practise beforehand in order to become familiar and comfortable with it.

Skimming

Skimming means quickly reading the text to get only its main idea. To skim effectively, you need to read only a part of the material.

Skimming

Scanning

Scanning means searching for specific phrases in the text to answer some questions.

Scanning

1: TRUE, FALSE, or NOT GIVEN? (ordered)

Answering Strategy

1. Read the first passage.
2. Lookup for answers to the first few questions.
3. If you found an answer - read the whole sentence carefully, and only then answer the question.
4. When there are no answers left - move on to the next paragraph, and repeat this strategy.

2: Multiple Choice (ordered)

Answering Strategy

1. Read the first question and underline the keywords.
2. Read the text from the beginning, simultaneously scanning it for the information that relates to the question.
3. Once you found the keywords or their synonyms in the text - look for the answer (it should be somewhere close).
4. Once you've found the answer, read the next few lines of the text to make sure that it is correct. Also, reread the question.
5. Repeat this strategy with other questions, but now read the text from the place where you stopped the last time.

3: Sentence Completion (ordered)

Answering Strategy

1. Read the text.
2. Use key words to find the needed paragraph.
3. Make sure you understand the question statement and search for sentence with similar meaning.
4. Once you've found the answer, check if it fits into the statement grammatically and doesn't exceed the word limit.
5. Repeat this strategy with other questions.

4: Matching Paragraphs (unordered)

Answering Strategy

1. Look through the list of headings.
2. Read the first paragraph. Don't pay much attention to details, just get the general idea of it. You can ask yourself: "What does author want to tell me in this paragraph?" or "How would most likely this text be called if I saw it in the newspaper?". These questions will help you to think in the right direction.
3. Read the headings list attentively and choose the best match.
4. If you don't see a match, move on to the next paragraph.
5. If you are unsure about the right match (you think that paragraphs A and D are OK), write down all possible answers. Don't guess yet! Maybe some of your choices will be crossed out later.
6. Move on to next paragraph and repeat this strategy.

5: Short-answer Questions (ordered)

Answering Strategy

1. Skim over the text.
2. Read the question and find the paragraph, which is likely to contain the answer. Use key words to navigate.
3. Read attentively the paragraph you’ve found, searching for the answer.
4. Once you've found the answer, check if it doesn't exceed the word limit.
5. Repeat this strategy with other questions.

6. Classification (unordered)

1 to many question

Answering Strategy

1. Look at the given options (A, B, C).
2. Skim over the text to get its general idea and see where each option is described. It may be useful to underline the options in the text, so it will be easier for you to find them later.
3. Attentively read all the information that relates to the option A.
4. Read the statements. If the statement corresponds to what you have just read, then classify it as A. You may use scanning to find the key words from the statement in the text.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with other options (B, C etc.)

7. Diagram Completion (ordered)

listen and follow the narrator

Answering Strategy

1. Read the text, underlining the new terms and important names.
2. Look at the diagram and think which parts of it you can label.
3. Check your assumptions by looking back at underlined terms and label the parts you’re sure of.
4. If there are some unlabeled parts left, check the diagram for key words. Then, scan the text for the right answer.