WHY TO READ QUESTION BEFORE PARAGRAPHS IN READING?
In IELTS reading, there are fourteen types of questions for which candidates have to find answers. Test takers have only one hour to read 3 passages and answer 40 questions. Usually, each passage has about 3 to 4 different types of questions.
It is common to hear that reading seems arduous to the students and one of the prominent reasons why it seems tricky is that they are not aware of how to practice reading. It is common that students read the passage before questions and they waste time by understanding it. When you start reading, you should do so with some questions in mind. Otherwise, you’ll read the text, then the questions, then the text again.
You’ll end up reading the texts too many times, and you simply don’t have time for that. Ultimately, they do not know the purpose of the question and that’s why they are unable to perform well. Read the tasks and questions first, before you read, and think about the information you need to find to answer those questions while you’re reading.
Different type of questions are done in different ways but in all questions candidate needs to find the location of particular question and the location can only be find if a person knows what to find in the passage.
– If it is clear that what to find then only a person (candidate) will check for the location and then he or she will mark accordingly, otherwise he or she will just waste time in reading paragraph and then locate for answers and get confused.
– Instead of starting from paragraph start with reading questions to see what type of information you need to find.
– After reading questions mark key words locate them in passage and mark accordingly.
– Timing is an imperative part of the reading test. So, spend around 12-15 minutes reading the passage in detail and answering the questions.
– If the question is taking too long, move on, don’t waste time just for 1 answer.
– Use your last 3-5 minutes to transfer your answers, checking and gap filling in any gaps in your answer.
Best method to solve questions
Read question
Skimming and scanning. Skimming is running your eyes over the text, or surface reading. You’re not looking for details, but just getting a general idea of what the passage or paragraph is about. When you skim over the text, underline the most important phrases. It will help you to save some time when you will search for answers.
Look thoroughly through the text. Any special features such as capital letters, underlining, italics, figures, graphs, and tables are likely to matter. It is not reading for detail that a candidate should read and revise; it is just for a purpose to check reading ability by answering the questions after reading the text.
Some type of questions are not direct and are different from set of notes, because those questions consist of complete sentences that are connected grammatically and for that candidate have to carefully read and understand the questions decide what type of word is needed to complete each gap in questions. If needed check for synonyms.
Locate and carefully read relevant part of the passage. After analyzing the paragraph choose the word or phrase (either from box of answers or passage) that accurately fits to the answer.
This practice saves time and makes the candidate more aware when they solve answer because they (have an idea, which part of the paragraph may have the answer. This is the good technique in the longer run as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article!
