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Skimming And The Ielts Reading Test – The Why.

It is important to know how to skim during the IELTS exam, but knowing why you do it, even more so.

Date : 01/11/2019

Author Information

Emilia

Uploaded by : Emilia
Uploaded on : 01/11/2019
Subject : IELTS

When Simon Sinek says know your why in one of his talks, I want to give him a standing ovation in my living room. Couldn t agree more with this simple phrase applied to pretty much anything in life. Having taught IELTS full-time for ten years now, I can say: YES, IT DOES APPLY TO IELTS, TOO.

Let's leave the simple question of why am I taking this test? for another article and concentrate on why Skim in IELTS?

95% of the students showing up for my Reading Masterclasses and 1-2-1 sessions say they know about or have tried skimming (along with scanning) before.

So, are you puzzled about the difference between skimming and scanning and, frankly, cannot see the point at all since the test is so confusing and difficult anyway?

STOP RIGHT HERE!

This is precisely why you need to use these strategies in the IELTS reading test.

It has been designed to be difficult. In the academic module, there are three long texts (around 2,000 words each) to read in 60 minutes while one has to answer 40 questions (yes that's 1minute and 30 seconds per question!) while transferring the questions to the answer sheet at the same time.

Now. I said difficult, but not impossible .

So WHY do you SKIM in IELTS?

Not because they write about it in every coursebook.

Not because they tell you it's good for you.

Not because I tell you to (I do - during each and every webinar, 1-2-1 on or face-to-face class)

You SKIM because you want to:

find out what the text is about in the shortest time possible (it takes up to 3 minutes for one text in the academic test)

calm your brain down and give it what it loves the most: knowing what's going on and knowing the structure/order/organisation of things

know how information is organised in the text

orientate yourself in the text and know where to find your answers based on what the context of the question is telling you

acknowledge, celebrate and capitalise on what you DO understand in the text by putting all the pieces together into a bigger whole and let go of what you don t understand (brooding over that won t help, sorry!)

know the bigger picture

feel more confident when you start reading the questions (because the text is not a vast ocean of unknown anymore)

make the territory of the text familiar to yourself before you face the questions so they are a little less jarring or scary

prepare yourself for the task of answering the questions

In short: it is the best investment of your time during the IELTS reading test.

Excited to give it a try?


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