9.1. IELTS Reading: Top Tips
The habits that keep marks, gathered in one place.
The short version
Reading has no extra time at the end.
A blank and a wrong answer both score zero.
The word limit is part of the mark.
The last text carries about a third of the paper.
Nothing here is new
These are the habits that carry across every question type you have practised. Each one is a place where a reader who knows the answer still loses the mark.
Six habits that keep marks
- There is no extra time at the end
Type or choose each answer as you go. Listening ends with 2 minutes to check your answers. Reading does not.
- Do not leave a blank
Wrong and empty are the same: zero. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so guess at the end.
- The word limit is part of the mark
Wooden box when the limit is one word scores nothing, even if box is right.
- Copy from the text, do not hunt synonyms
Completion answers come from the passage, or from the word box when there is one. A paraphrase of your own that appears in neither place is wrong.
- Leave time for the last text
Academic Passage 3 and General Training Section 3 each carry 13 or 14 questions, a third of the paper. An unread text turns all of them into zeros.
- Use the clause, not the topic
A paragraph about a topic does not make every statement on that topic true. If the fact is not there, the answer is Not Given.
Title, first sentences, question types. You are making a map, not answering yet.
Mark it, move. Certainty on one statement does not buy the last text.
Quiz time1 question
When the first text runs over
Choose the habit that keeps the last marks.
You have used 25 minutes on the first text and several questions in it are still empty. What should you do?
Recap
Type or choose answers as you go. There is no time at the end.
Fill every box, because nothing is deducted for a guess.
Protect the last text above everything else.
Next: the step up to the band you are aiming for.