IELTS Reading: How to Find Reading Answers

Did you always run out of time before you managed to do 40 questions?

I've tried many different techniques to find what works best. Today I want to share with you a few IELTS reading tips that I've used during my exam.

That's the technique that helps me to go through questions more quickly and to find more answers in less time and I can't guarantee that it will work for you. Try it but it definitely works for me.

The technique that helps me save the most time in reading is answering questions while I am reading passages for the first time. I know it will not be a revelation. It's a noun technique but it works so well if you are not familiar with it.

• It means you read the first question then you start reading the passage and till you find an answer.
• You read the second question, reading the passage and you look for the next answer.

So on the key here is to know which questions come in order and which don't and that's what I'm going to tell you about in this article. 

I've analyzed a number of official IELTS reading practice tests and I made a list of tasks where questions come to order and a list of tasks and where they don't. So I'm gonna give you all this information now. I will show you how to recognize each type of task.

How to Find Reading Answers - 6 Tips

1. Missing Words

Let's start with tasks where questions come in order. 

It means you're at the first question. You find the information in the text or it's a second question find an answer and so on. The first task here is missing words that are probably the most common type of task in Ants Reading. It's easy to spot.

• The task will be to choose no more than one word from the passage below or choose no more than two words from the passage below.
• You will have sentences with gaps and you need to find words from the text and fill in those gaps the task.

It doesn't always look the same. You may need to complete notes like in this example or a summary or a table it doesn't really matter what you need to complete. What's important to you: you need to find missing words and questions come in the same order and the information is presented.

2. True, False, and Not Given

The second question type is true false not given. That's a notorious type of question because it's so hard to answer. Basically, you have a statement and then:

• you need to answer true if you can find the same information in the passage 
• you answer false if you can find contradicting opposite information in the passage 
• you answer not given if by reading the passage you can't decide 

If the statement is true or false you simply don't have sufficient information in reality. Quite often it's so difficult to decide between true, not giving or false, not given.

But what should make this type of task a little easier for you?

If the knowledge that at least you can read the first statement finds an answer, read the next statement find an answer and so on you don't have to keep all this information in your head.

3. Yes, No and Not Given

The next type of task is yes, no, not given. It's very similar to true, false, not given but here you should think about the opinion of the writer and the question will be doing the following statements agree with the claims of the writer. So think about that pinyin of the writer. 

• If he agrees its yes.
• If he disagrees its no 
• If it's not clear whether he agrees or disagrees because you simply can't find sufficient information and the passage then the answer is not given

In most cases, answers do come in the same order as questions are asked and part of a situation. This type of task comes at the very end of your reading section and in this case, answers may not be in order 

4. Multiple Questions

They are the next type is multiple-choice questions. That's where you have a question and three or four options. You need to choose one which is correct. So if you're not sure which option is correct but you certainly know that one of the options is incorrect cross it out straight away and also you can find answers to your questions in the same order as you find your questions.

 Read also:  How you can improve your reading score  

5.  Choosing Correct Heading

Now let's talk about tasks or questions that do not come in the order. It means you have to read the whole passage first and then attempt to answer questions. The first group of such tasks is where you need to match something, match headings, matching paragraphs, match information.

It's very specific the task always reads and chooses the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. So you have a list of headings in a box numbered. So here questions are not going to in order. 

• What I usually do is, I answer all other questions about this passage first and then I match headings. It means when I start doing this task I've already read all the passages and I've answered all the other questions. So, I know what the passage is about quite well. It saves time.
• I would also say match all your headings first check that you don't use the same option twice and then transfer your answers to the answer sheet. 

Matching paragraphs the question contains several statements and you need to find which paragraph each statement about. Sometimes you may also be allowed to use any of the letters more than once. So check for that before you start answering questions and the last matching question is matching information.

6. Choose the answer from the List

The next type of task is to choose the answer from the list of answers. The task is to read complete the summary using the list of words and phrases below in this example you're required to complete a summary.

Sometimes you may be required to complete a flowchart. Whatever it is just remember. If you are required to find answers from the list of answers then questions do not come in order.

Sentence endings that are a rare type of task where you need to complete each statement with the correct statement ending or sentence ending again questions do not come to an order questions.

At the end of the section bear in mind that if you have a couple of random questions at the very end of your reading section or if you have yes, no not given questions about the last passage in your reading section. Then probably answers will not come in order.

 Everything I told you about in this section is what I found out from previous exams and there is no guarantee that you examined the future will be built exactly the same way but I still believe that now in this pattern will help you finish your reading section a little more quickly.

Another thing you need to succeed in arts reading is to read fast and if you want to learn how to do that Please comment below. I will write an article on How To Read Fast. 

Thanks!! And Good Luck !!

Also Read: Tips For IELTS Reading