Tips for Reading Test -Part 4

Assumptions are the mother of all mess-ups!
Don’t assume you know the answer, search for it in the passage. When answering the questions, you must stick to the facts as they are written in the paragraph. Forget all about your personal knowledge and experience! Relying on your own knowledge is the most natural thing for you, so sometimes they use it in IELTS to trick you into making a choice of answer according to what you know or believe and not according to the passage.


Practice, practice, practice!
The only way to make it happen is to practice in using my tips while doing the Reading test.

When practicing, finish the reading test and then check your answers according to answer key. Pay attention to those you've got wrong, not those you've got right –understand why didn't you do them right and try to remember, so that mistake won't come back.

Practice with a clock and copy your answers to the Answer Sheet. You may use the one from the chapter on Listening test; it is similar to Reading test Answer Sheet.
In order to practice, use not only the General Training module tests, but also Academic module reading. This advice has 2 main reasons behind it – there are more Academic texts available to practice on than General Training, and it is a proven strategy to get your score higher, because while hoping for the best you are preparing for the worst. Academic reading is much more difficult than General training, and if you are ready for Academic – General will be a piece of cake for you.

Tips for the Reading Test - Part 3

Strategy for Multiple-choice task
Here too True/False/Not Given technique is a big help. The difference is that you need to use it on each answer choice. For every possible answer you need to decide, if it is True, False or Not Given in the text. Finally, answers you have marked as False or Not Given are incorrect, and the ones you marked as True are correct.
Remember: it is True only when passage says exactly the same thing, it is False when passage says exactly the opposite and it is Not Given in any other case.
Keep in mind that there are cases when all the choices are correct or none of them is correct. Read the instruction carefully and you will know what to do in such cases.


Strategy for the Gap fills
First of all try to understand what the main idea of the first sentence is. Then find it on your map – this should take you to the paragraph that "hides" the answer.
Now, when you know where to look, you need to know what to look for. Look around the gap to understand what’s missing, a noun (like boy, toy, truck), an adjective (little, pretty, shiny) or a verb (stands, looks, moves).

For example, what is missing here: “She ____ around and saw him in the corner”?

You have 4 choices: happy, man, looked, smiled. It is clear that you need a verb here, but which one, “looked” or “smiled”? Now it is time to start reading the text.

Find where example answer is and start there. Remember to read only first, second and last sentence. Of course, “looked” is the right word!

Sometimes there are words near gap that will give you a clue what kind of word is missing. For example, “Main physical activities in the summer camp are fishing, ________ and swimming. Naturally, you will look for words that end with “ing” to fill for the gap – like “hiking”.

There are 2 types of gap-fills:

1) There is a list of words for you to choose from
2) There is no list, you need to choose words from text

When you choose a word from the list and the instructions say that every word is to be used once only, write it above the gap and cross it out from the list. If there is more than one possible answer – write them all and then decide which one is better.

If they don’t give you a list, try to pick a word from text. It is better then "inventing"
it, because it saves time and your chances of being right are higher.

After you have decided about the word that goes into gap, read the whole sentence again. It must make sense according to the text, and it must be grammatically correct.

When you move forward to the second gap, keep in mind that usually there are no more than 2 gaps per paragraph. It means that if you have found answer to the first gap in paragraph 1, the answer to the second gap will be in the paragraph 2 and so on.

Tips for the Reading Test - Part 2

Go fishing!
Now it is time to start “fishing” for answers. Read question one-by-one, for every question see what its theme is. Then find it (or some thing close to it) on your map - that is the paragraph to search for the answer.

Choose your battles
If any question takes you too much time – give up, move to the next one. Don't forget to mark it with some sign (like "?"), so you could identify and come back to it later.
There are a lot of questions and you might miss the easy ones if the hard ones take all of your time. Another reason to leave hard questions for last is that after you do all the easy ones, you know more about the text, so then solving the tricky questions mightbecome easier.

Use passage layout
Every text and every paragraph in it has a certain structure, meaning it is written according to some rules.

Usually first paragraph contains the main idea of the passage and the author’s opinion. Last paragraph often summarizes the main points of the passage.

Every paragraph has its structure that is similar to the structure of whole text. It has introduction, body and conclusion. The main idea is usually can be found in the introduction. It means that if you want to understand quickly what paragraph is about, it is enough to read only its introduction.

Find the keywords
Keywords are the main words in the question; they contain the most important information. For instance, in a question like “Employers are likely to employ graduates, who…” there are 3 keywords: employers, employ and graduates.
Identify keywords in each question and look for them in the text – the answer will benear. Don’t stop after finding just one, continue to scan through the text – there might be more.

Strategy for the Matching task
First, read instructions and example. If instructions say that a heading can not be used more than once – cross the heading used in example out of the list. This way you won’t try to use it again by mistake (and believe me, it's a very common mistake!).

Second, return to the map you prepared. Go over the text, look on your map what it says about the idea of first paragraph. Go to the list of headings and choose heading that has the most similar meaning to idea on your map, write its number on the margins of the first paragraph. Now continue and do the same for the second paragraph, and so on.

If some paragraphs are hard to match – leave them alone, keep moving forward. Come back to them later.

When finished matching - check your answers carefully, because they can influence each other. Don't forget to copy answers to the Answer Sheet.

Strategy for True/False/Not Given task

To simplify it for you, if the statement clearly appears in text - it is True. If the text clearly says the opposite of statement – it is False, if you didn't find statement to be either TRUE or FALSE – it is Not Given.
The best advice here is not to over think it. Otherwise what happen is that you start building logical sequences that take you to the wrong direction.

Tips for the Reading Test - Part 1

Test structure

The structure of Academic and General Training Reading tests is different. Academic Reading on most cases consists of 3 large texts from newspapers or magazines. In General Training there are several smaller passages that are taken from advertisements, official documents, booklets, manuals and 2 or 3 larger texts taken from books, magazines or newspapers.

Like in the Listening test, questions in the Reading test are given in groups. Instructions will tell you which group of questions belongs to which paragraph or portion of text. You may see the questions before or after the passage they belong to.


Manage your own time

As I said before, time is your greatest enemy. In the Listening test it was managed for you, but not in the Reading test. So manage it very carefully yourself.
When you receive the Reading booklet, first of all count how many passages are there. Let’s say there are 4 passages in the booklet. It means that you have 15 minutes for each passage. Write the time when you should start and when you should end working on each passage and stick to it. Use 13 minutes to actually answer the questions (write the answers on the booklet pages) and 2 to copy your answers to the Answer Sheet. If you didn’t finish a passage on time, move to the next one anyway.
And whatever you do, please do not forget about the Answering Sheet (remember the guy with the ZERO score?)

If you have some time left in the end of Reading test, make sure that you didn’t forget to answer any question, check and double check your answers. It can add you a few “easy” points if you find mistakes before the examiner does

Don’t read – scan!

It sounds absurd that you don’t need to read on a Reading test, right? Anyway, it’s true. The biggest mistake you could make is to start the test by reading the whole passage.
The best thing is to scan quickly through the text. Don't try to understand every word!
Just go over it and get the idea of what each paragraph is about. Usually you don't need to read the whole paragraph – a couple of first sentences are enough.




Make a map

The text before you is like a new strange territory, it is easy to get lost inside all these words. What you need is a map that will help you to orientate. Every paragraph in the passage has its own main idea, different from all other paragraphs. Write on the margins near the paragraph what is its topic, main idea. If writing takes too much time, underline the words in the paragraph that explain its main idea. Congratulations! You have just created a map that later will guide you through the search for answers.

Tips for the Listening Test - Part 6

Copy answers smartly

After 20 minutes of Listening test, there are 10 additional minutes. During the test you have written all of the answers in the Listening test booklet. These 10 minutes are given you to copy your answers to the Answering sheet, and you should use them smartly.

The Answer Sheet has 2 sides, one for Reading test and one for Listening test, so make sure you are writing on the Listening side. I include here an example of Answering Sheet so you could get familiar with it and use it for practicing. First, copy all the answers from the booklet to the Answering Sheet, and pay attention
to the following guidelines (as simple as they sound – they are BIG time savers):

• For multiple-choice questions and picking pictures - just copy the letter of correct answer, don't circle it.

• For sentence completion – just copy your answer, not the whole sentence.

• For True/False/Not given question – just copy T, F or NG, whatever your choice is.

• For gap-fills – just copy the word you have chosen for the gap.

• For answers written in short (like prof. advise) – write the full version (professional advise).

• Check that all the answers are clear and understandable.

Now, if you missed some questions – it is a good time to guess.

Practice, practice, practice!

I strongly recommend that you use all the tips while practicing.

Play the Listening samples and start using the tips while searching for answers. This
is the only way to really understand how these tips work. You may have to play the
same Listening file more than once, to practice in different techniques.

Tips for the Listening Test - Part 5

Watch out for traps

Trap Number One – unexpected turn

You might hear speaker starting to say one thing and then, suddenly, continuing to something completely different. This is a trap, so make sure you don’t fall for it. The rule here is “Last word counts”. For example, if the speaker says “I want to visit that gallery on Monday. No, wait, I’ve just remembered that it is closed on Monday, so I will go on Wednesday.”, and the question is “when” – the correct answer here is Wednesday, and Monday is a trap.

Trap Number Two – generalizations

You might hear speaker first gives a list of things and then says them all in one word.For example: “Well, I like to swim, hike, and camp – to be involved in outdoor activities.” If the question is “What kind of activities…” the correct answer is “outdoor” and not “swimming”, “hiking” or “camping”.


Trap Number Three – explicit answer choices

Explicit answers choices can be (and mostly will be) traps. The following example demonstrates what I mean:
The tape says: “This course is a must for all first year students, excluding foreign students”.
The Question is “All the first year students have to take this course”, The Answer should be F(alse), because there is an exception – foreign students. All the explicit answers that mean “no exceptions” are suspicious to us and call formore attention.

Check the grammar

If the answer you give is grammatically incorrect – it can not be the right one. Checking the grammar of youranswers will give you an idea whether your answercorrect or not, especially in tasks like:
• Gap-fill
• Sentence completion

Use your time wisely

During the test, you have a little time between passages. Use it to check and complete your answers

Tips for the Listening Test - Part 4

Spelling tasks

As simple as it sounds, the spelling task is not so easy. You should practice a little to be prepared for it. Just ask someone to spell the names of cities from the following list for you. If you study alone, you could record yourself spell those names and numbers, and then play it. The same goes for the list of telephone numbers I include here. It is a good practice and will only add to your confidence. Note: in numbers "00" sometimes is read as “double o” instead of “zero-zero”.

Eliminate

When you deal with multiple-choice questions, elimination is a good strategy. Usually only one answer is correct, unless instructions say something else.This task is similar to True/False/Not Given. You should decide for every choice of answer - is it True, False or Not Given in the passage. After you have decided, choose
the one that is True – this is the correct answer. Any other choice, False or Not Given, is incorrect. Keep in mind that there are cases when all the choices are correct or none of them is correct. Read the instruction carefully and you will know what to do in such cases.

Gap-fill strategy
Look at the words around the gap to understand what’s missing, a noun (like boy, toy, truck), an adjective (little, pretty, shiny) or a verb (stands, looks, moves).
For instance, if you see Noun before the blank (“The boy is___”), it means that it’s Adjective (“The boy is small”) or it’s Verb (“The boy is smiling”) is missing. Once you have picked a word, write it above the gap and then read the whole sentence to be sure that it makes sense.

"Chameleon" questions
They might use different words with the same meaning to confuse you. It could be expressions or synonyms.
For example, the tape says “All the candidates have to fill an application form” and the question says “The candidates must fill an application” – is it True, False or Not Given? The correct answer is True because "have to" means "must".

Tips for the Listening Test -Part 3

Distractions
Don't get confused by all the different voices you are going to hear. The recording uses several different voices – of younger and older people, men and women. You may also hear different accents - Australian, British, American, Japanese, etc. The background noise is also varies. It can be of airport, cafe-shop, street, University lecture hall, you name it. Be ready for it and don't let it distract you – because that is exactly what they want. Ignore the noises and listen for the answers.

Listen for specifics
When you are listening, look for descriptions and details, such as dates, places, telephone numbers, opening hours, years (1995), transportation (car, bike, train)If you hear them, but don’t know where to place them yet – write them on margins of the Listening booklet. Later you will have some time to check your answers. Going
over the questions that you couldn’t answer during the Listening passage, you might see that what you’ve written on the margins fits.

Answer as you listen
The reason you have to “answer as you listen” is that you immediately forget the sentences after you have heard them – because of stress, foreign language, constant flow of information, etc. After hearing the third sentence you won’t be able to repeat the first. It means that when any part of Listening is over – you won‘t be able to
remember any of the answers. So write them as you hear them, leave nothing for later.


Keep moving forward
A worst case scenario is you “loosing the sequence of answers” – so you miss one answer and then you miss another one and so on. To prevent that from happening, always look one or two questions ahead. It sounds confusing, but after a little practice becomes very natural and helps a lot. Even if you have missed the answer to a
question – admit it and move to the next one, otherwise you will loose it too.

Know your clues
The answer is usually pronounced louder and clearer, it is easier to hear and understand. If you can’t hear something clear (because the speaker swallows words or whispers), then probably the answer is not there. With some practice you will be able to tell the difference.
A good clue to answer is when you hear a repetition of a word, a word being spelled out (G A R F U N K E L) or a number dictated.

Tips for the Listening Test - Part 2

Instructions will keep you safe
Every task in IELTS Listening test has its instructions. It may sound stupid, but you really need to read them carefully. Why? Because they will tell you exactly what to do with the information: how many words you can use to answer, is there a table you must fill, is there a list to chose words from, how many items you must name, etc. And if the answer must be in 3 words – write EXACTLY 3 WORDS, because writing four or two words will get you 0 score.
To make this point crystal clear, let’s take the following scenario for example: The speaker on a tape says:
“Well, if you are dieting, try to avoid fruits with lots of fructose like watermelon, mango, peaches or grapes.”
The question in the booklet is: “Name 2 fruits a person on a diet should not eat”.
The answer may be “watermelon, mango” or “mango, peaches” or any combination of two items, but never three or four!!! Anyone who writes “just in case” –watermelon, mango, peaches, grapes – receives 0 score for that question.

Note: when counting words – “a” or “the” counts as a word.

Divide and concur!

The recording divides questions into groups, so every time you are instructed to answer a group of 4-5 questions. There are 20-30 seconds of silence before each group.

First thing you should do when the tape starts playing, is understand which group of questions you need to answer.

For example the tape says: “Look at questions one to four”. It means that you have about 20 seconds to look at those questions. Go over questions, read them and underline keywords. Keywords are words that contain the main idea of the question.

They will help you guess what you will hear – numbers, opening hours, names, locations, etc. Draw a line under question four, so you won’t look further before it’s time.

Then you will hear a piece of passage and answer the questions one to four as you listen. It means that you should be able to write one answer and listen to another.

After that, the tape will say the numbers of questions in the next group. Repeat the same process, including drawing the line. This dividing technique is very efficient because every time you concentrate on limited number of questions, so it makes you more focused and in control.

Tips for the Listening Test -Part 1

In general

The Listening Test is probably the one people get most scared of. To help yourself overcome that fear, start watching TV programs in English. It is better than radio or audio books, because you also see images that help you understand the words you hear.

Listening – a skill, not a gift!

In many cases Listening is the least developed skill. So if you feel especially weak in that area - pay attention to the following tips, that will help you improve your Listening ability. Remember – nobody is born with it, it’s just a skill and you learn it.

Teach yourself the words

The only way to improve your Listening ability is to train your “ears” to separate and understand the words you hear in the flow of sentence. Often what you hear is a Blablablablabla”, which you can't to break into words, and for that reason it makes no sense to you. When training, take a recording of the news, lecture, television program movie or an actual IELTS Listening test and work with it.Use MP3 player. You can easily record English from the radio or any other source to it. It is also easy to repeat (re-play) sentences you didn't understand. MP3 player is small and light, so you can use it in any spare moment that you have – riding the bus or tram, walking the dog, taking a walk yourself, etc.

First, listen, remember what you heard and stop the recording after each phrase. Even if you didn’t understand the phrase, play it in your head a couple of times, like a broken record – “Tonight we have a special guest”, “Tonight we have a special guest”, “Tonight we have a special guest”.
Then say it out loud. If you understood that phrase at first, this exercise will improve your pronunciation. If you didn’t understand the phrase for the first time, this repetition will give you more time to hear it better, break it into words and make sense out of them. And if it is still difficult, you can always rewind and hear the phrase again.
There is a big difference between seeing a word printed on paper while reading and hearing it. If you saw a word, it doesn’t mean you will recognize it when you hear it. So every word you have seen, you must hear at list once.

Speaking at a glance

This is the fun part of the test, for many reasons. You get to rest before it, you are a little tired from previous 3 parts and therefore more relaxed. The examiners are trained to smile no matter what, so you feel as if you were speaking to your best friend.

First sub-part of Speaking test is an interview, which means that the examiner asks you questions about yourself, your work, studies, parents, brothers/sisters, pets, etc. This is an easy task to prepare for.

In the second sub-part of Speaking test you receive a card with 3-4 questions. After one minute, that you have to think about something to say, you should give a little speech for one to two minutes, which answers those questions. In the end the examiner might ask you a couple of additional questions.

In the third sub-part of the test you have a discussion with examiner. The topic is somehow related to the one from section two, but it is about more abstract ideas. You have to express and justify an opinion. The examiner will record your session on tape. Don't worry about it; the tape is to test the examiner and not you.

Writing at a glance

Writing has 2 sub-tasks. First one is to write a letter according to scenario you receive, using about 150 words. The second task is to write an Essay on given topic, present and justify opinion or give solution to a problem, using not less than 250words.

Nothing to worry here! Once you’ll start using a certain structure for the letter and the essay in addition to your imagination, it is a piece of cake. This task requires a bit of training, but after you write a few essays and letters you will be well-prepared for it and you will feel confident.

Reading at a glance

Reading consists of 4 text passages and about 40 questions in total. Your job is to read the passages and either answer questions, label diagrams, complete sentences or fill gaps. For every type of task there are instructions and example. Passages are taken from books, newspapers, magazines and the topics are very diverse, from scubadiving to space exploration. Passages progress in difficulty, with first being the easiest and fourth the hardest.

Good news is that you don't really have to read the whole passage, Not so good news is that there is no additional time to copy your answers to Answering Sheet and you need to squeeze it in the 60 minutes that you have. Please, don't forget to do it – I witnessed someone who did, and it was not a pretty sight. Poor guy was crying, he received score 0 for the whole Reading test. Here too you may write in pencil only, no pens are allowed.

Reading at a glance

Reading consists of 4 text passages and about 40 questions in total. Your job is to read the passages and either answer questions, label diagrams, complete sentences or fill gaps. For every type of task there are instructions and example. Passages are taken from books, newspapers, magazines and the topics are very diverse, from scubadiving to space exploration. Passages progress in difficulty, with first being the easiest and fourth the hardest.

Good news is that you don't really have to read the whole passage, Not so good news is that there is no additional time to copy your answers to Answering Sheet and you need to squeeze it in the 60 minutes that you have. Please, don't forget to do it – I witnessed someone who did, and it was not a pretty sight. Poor guy was crying, he received score 0 for the whole Reading test. Here too you may write in pencil only, no pens are allowed.

Listening at a glance

Listening consists of 4 sections. There are about 38-40 questions in total. You need to answer all the questions as you listen to the tape. Tape is not paused at any time and you hear it only once. The questions get more difficult as you progress through the test.
Are you scared yet? Don't be! There is a technique to get you through it. A huge relief is that spelling is not important in Listening, except for the words they spell for you on the tape. Just make sure that your answers are readable and understandable, when you copy them to the Answering Sheet. You may write in pencil only