The best IELTS Reading-Tips and Tricks

How to do True / False / Not given?

• Not Given উত্তর হওয়ার সম্ভাবনা বেশি দেখবেন,কিন্তু মনে রাখবেন sentence এর অর্থ না বুঝার কারণে হয়তো মনে করবেন question এর তথ্যটি passage-এ নেই।
• যেহেতু question এর sequence passage –এর উত্তরেও থাকে, সুতরাং কোন প্রশ্নের key word যদি খুজে না পাওয়া যায় অথবা উত্তর আছে কিনা passage এ confusing তৈরি হয়, সেক্ষেত্রে আগের অথবা পরের question এর key word খুজতে হবে । তাহলে ওই question এর location পাওয়া যাবে।
• কোন question এর মধ্যে Comparative অথবা Superlative শব্দ থাকলে সেটা ভালো ভাবে মিলিয়ে নিবেন। কারণ এটার কারণে answers এর পরিবর্তন আসে।
• কোন question এর মধ্যে only থাকলে এবং সময় না থাকলে no/false দিয়ে যাবেন , কিন্তু সময় থাকলে অবশ্যই প্রশ্নটি ভালো করে মিলিয়ে দেখবেন।

• No এবং Not Given এর সূক্ষ্ম পার্থক্যটি বুজতে হবে। এর অর্থ হছে no এর জন্য প্রশ্নের sentence এ subject এবং object পেতে হবে এবং আদের তথ্য question এবং passage এর মধ্যে contradict করবে। simple কথাই তথ্যকে ভুল বলতে পারেন। কিন্তু Not Given এর ক্ষেত্রে subject অথবা object absent থাকবে।
• যদি Passage এর তথ্যরে পুরা অংশ অথবা আংশিক অংশ question এ পাওয়া যায়। তাহলে আমরা সেটাকে বিবেচনা করবো yes হিসাবে।
• Passage এর sentence এ যদি simple তথ্য থাকে এবং question specific,সেই ক্ষেত্রে answers Not Given হবে। For example:- passage এ যদি থাকে “people have lunch in the afternoon”এই তথ্যটি একটি সাধারণ কথা বলছে। আবার question এ যদি থাকে  “people have rice in the afternoon ”এই ক্ষেত্রে  rice একটি  specific তথ্য। সুতরাং এটি Not Give. আবার অবস্তান বিপরীত হলে yes হবে।
• যদি Passage এর sentenceটি  question এর মধ্যে interrogative sentence হিসাবে বসানো হয়,সেই ক্ষেত্রে  answers হবে Not Given.

Approach

1. প্রথমে প্রশ্নে দেওয়া Sentence-টি ভালোভাবে বুঝে নিবেন। যেন এমনটি না হয় question টি পড়ার পরে passage -এ যাওয়ার সময় অর্থ ভুলে গেছেন। এতে বরং সময় বেশি নষ্ট হয়।
2. একটি Key word বেছে নিবেন এবং Key word সহকারে passage–টি ভালোভাবে বুঝে পরবেন। প্রয়োজনে sentence –টি trim করে সহজে মূল অর্থ বুঝে নিবেন।
3. এখন আবার Question–এ যেয়ে অর্থ দুইটির মধ্যে তুলনা করবেন। এবং সঠিক উত্তর বেছে নিবেন। যদি অর্থ পরিপূর্ণভাবে না মিলাতে পারেন,সেই ক্ষেত্রে ওই key word এর sentence টির পূর্বের এবং পরের sentence টিও পড়বেন।

How to match headings?

এই questions-এ একটি list থেকে paragraph এর জন্য heading বেছে নিতে হবে। স্বাভাবিকভাবেই list এর সংখ্যা paragraph এর চেয়ে বেশি থাকবে। একটি মাত্র question  যা Passage এর আগে দেওয়া থাকে।

Tips & Tricks

1. Heading এর সাথে paragraph এর would বেশি মিলে গেলে, সেটি Anwar না হওয়ার সম্ভাবনা বেশি থাকে।
2. Contradictory connective প্রথম তিনটি sentence এর বাহিরে থাকলে, matching heading এরক্ষেত্রে গণনায়নেওয়া হবে না।
3. কোন sentence এ যদি example দেওয়া থাকে তাহলে example এবং তার পরের sentence থেকেই answer পাওয়ার সম্ভাবনা বেশি থাকে।
4. Interrogative sentence কে অর্থের জন্য পড়বেন না। but sentence হিসাবে গণনা করবেন।
5. মাঝে মাঝে paragraph এরশেষের sentence পর্যন্ত পড়তে হতেপারে heading match করার জন্য।
6. শুধুমাত্র এই প্রশ্নে directly passage এ চলে যাবেন। Question এ পরে যাবেন।

Approach

1. প্রথমে example কে heading list থেকে বাদ দিবেন।মানে heading list কে ছোট করে নেবেন। সাথে সাথে example  এর paragraph গুলোcross out করেদিবেন।
2. যে paragraph এর heading প্রয়োজন,সেইparagraph এর প্রথম তিনটি line পড়বেন and contradictory connective খুঁজবেন। যদি connective পাওয়া যায়, সেইক্ষেত্রে শুধুমাত্র connective এর sentence টি পড়ে অর্থবুঝে নিবেন। এবং এই অর্থ দিয়েই সবচেয়ে কাছাকাছি heading বেছে নিবেন answer হিসাবে।
3. যদি connective না পাওয়া যায়,সেই ক্ষেত্রে paragraph এর প্রথম দুটি sentence পড়বেন এবং এর অর্থ দ্বারায় heading matching করা নোর চেষ্টা করবেন। কিন্তু যদি heading না মেলানো যায় অথবা দুই sentence এ ভিন্ন দুই রকম অর্থ থাকে, সেই ক্ষেত্রে আরো একটি sentence পড়বেন, যতক্ষণ না একাধিক sentence পাবেন with similar idea. And এই similar idea  দিয়েই heading match করাতে হবে।
4. এর পরও যদি heading না মিলানো যায় অথবা confusion থাকে সেই ক্ষেত্রে এই paragraph এর heading টি skip করবেন, বাকি heading  এর উত্তর দেওয়ার পরে অবশিষ্ট heading এর list থেকে Method of Elimination এর মাধ্যমে সবচেয়ে কাছা কাছি Anwar বেছে নিবেন

You will be asked with a sentence whether it is True or False or Not given!

True: If the sentence “agrees” with the information in the given paragraph/passage, then you have to write True. Write it on the answer sheet. Straight! Isn’t it?

False: Write this when the information given in the sentence speaks in an “opposite” tone to the information given in the passage/paragraph.

Not given: Not given can be used when the information given in a sentence does not say “agree” or “contradict” with the information given in the passage/paragraph or if it is not possible to extract from the paragraph that the sentence is true/false

What mistakes the candidates make:

Many people first try to find the keyword from the sentence in the paragraph. But almost always the word is not there. Synonyms are given. So be careful!

Many people just take the word as true. This is a big mistake. You need to read the whole sentence to understand what is being said. Just finding the Key Word can not be True.

Special Caution: You may have extra information or general knowledge on a topic. But never use that information in the test book. Only work according to the information given in the passage or paragraph.

What skills are tested with this type of question is: How quickly you can realize by reading paragraphs/passages whether any information is correct/incorrect or not.

So how do you answer? Tips:

If you already know something about the given sentence, keep it out of your mind. See what’s in the paragraph.

If you can’t find the information in the sentence in the paragraph, give Not given.

If you do not read the paragraph, the sentence is True / False, then Not given.

Read the sentence and try to understand the full meaning. Then look in the paragraph to see if anything matches that feeling. Don’t waste time just running after the keyword. What the whole sentence says is more important.

See if there are any such words in the sentence. E.g., some, all, only, mainly, often, always, occasionally, claimed, believed, etc. For example, the EU often buys products from Bangladesh.

And the EU only buys products from Bangladesh. The meaning of these two sentences is not the same.

He believed that Rony is a tailor. And Rony is a tailor. The meaning of these two sentences is not the same.

Usually, there will be at least one True / False / Not given among the answers. If at least one True / False / Not given, then you may be making a mistake.

How to match the last part of the sentence? (Matching Sentence Endings)

This type of question usually consists of the first part of a few sentences. Then there is more than one blank in the question.

From there you have to mark the correct answer and write it in the answer sheet. This kind of question does not come up frequently in the reading section. Nevertheless, not practicing would be foolish.

This type of question usually tests the examinee’s ability to quickly understand what he is reading.

What mistakes the candidates make:

Many people try to start the answer without reading the text. This is a big mistake. Because just grammar will not be correct. The questioner can trick you this way. Be careful!

Like every time again, find synonyms. The chances of giving the exact word or sentence are very low. So don’t waste time.

So how do you answer? Tips:

This type of question has a huge advantage. What is that?

The questions will come serially. This means that if the answer to the first question is in line 10 of your reading text, then the answer to the second question will never be from any line before line 10.

Rather it will come from any of the next lines. So you don’t have to waste time thinking that the questions will come from before and after. You can find out the answer only after reading the serial.

So always start answering the first question.

Read the question carefully first. Then look forth. Because the answer will contain multiple phrases that cannot be used. So it is foolish to read the answer in the first part.

Next, select some phrases. You can do it easily. Because not all phrases will be grammatically correct in sentence structure. Suppose, as the last part of the first sentence, you think C, E, and F can be grammatically correct.

Now mark those “Key-Word”. Many times you will not get the exact word. So synonyms can come, keep that in mind too.

Now find out from the reading text which one really matches C, E, or F.

See if the sentence has a date, place name, etc. If there is, it is quite an advantage. These can be easily found in the reading text.

It may take some time to match the last part of the first sentence. Don’t be upset. Because after that you easily know which part you don’t have to read anymore. Or where the rest of the questions will continue to come from.

The most crucial IELTS Reading Tips

How to match headings?

First, let’s see how the question is. Here are a few paragraphs. Then some headlines will be written in the question and you have to say which headline matches which paragraph. It is very simple. Isn’t it?

Here are some steps you can take to begin the process of preparation for heading matching.

Step 1: Read the headings.

Step 2: Read the paragraph.

Step 3: Now, look at the headings again and think about them. (E.g. red under each heading below)

What mistakes do the IELTS candidates make?

1.  Not being able to find the time to read the whole paragraph.

2. Spending too much time figuring out the heading of a paragraph.

3. Trying in vain to match the headline by reading only the first sentence.

4. Multiple headlines mean to look the same. (Hesitation)

5. With one / more words in the headline to see if it matches the paragraph. Because if one or two “keywords” match, it may not be the answer. (100% sure if there are tricks here!)

Remember, the same heading is not usually used twice. So keep an eye on which ones are used.

So how do you answer? Tips:

1. First read the headlines given in the questions. Don’t memorize. Just go through once.

2. Then start reading the paragraphs slowly. First, read the paragraph that is the shortest.

When you have finished reading each paragraph, write down in pencil your personal opinion which should be the headline. At the end of the reading, check if your ideas match the headlines.

3. Remember, you are not looking for a specific word. You will understand the main idea of the paragraph and match the heading.

4. Tricks: Not all headings may be used. So be careful.

5. The headings are given with i, ii, iii, iv, etc. If the answer is ii then write only ii in the answer sheet, not the full heading. Be careful!

6. If time is very short, read the first three lines and the last three lines of each paragraph. Use this method only if you do not have time.

How to match information?

In this type of question, you have to find a piece of specific information from the given paragraph/section/passage. Paragraphs/sections are named with different types of letters, such as A, B, C, etc.

You need to write the name of the correct paragraph/section (e.g. if the answer is A, then write A) in your answer sheet. In this type of question, a paragraph/section may be used more than once, while some paragraphs/sections may not be used at all.

Remember, if a paragraph/section is used more than once, it will be written in the question that if you want in the answer sheet you can say more than one paragraph.

What skills are tested with this type of question is the ability to carefully study paragraphs/passages, to find the exact source of the information provided.

What mistakes do IELTS candidates make?

The question that has been asked can be from anywhere in the paragraph. So read the entire passage/paragraph, it is clear whether it belongs to that paragraph/passage.

The question may be from before-after. This means that the answers can be A, D, C, A, B, etc., instead of A, B, C, D. So it is not right to think that the answer will be gradual.

Sometimes multiple answers can come from the same paragraph/passage. So there is no question that B will not come again because B has been used once!

After reading the first or last line of a paragraph/passage, many people try to get the idea that the sentence is in that paragraph.

But this kind of question is not about understanding the meaning in paragraphs or passages, but about finding the source of the information. So be careful.

Then how to answer

Read the question carefully. Read not only the question but also the rest of the instructions given with the question.

There are many mistakes that students make due to not reading questions well.

Then quickly read the paragraphs once. As soon as you read the question, you may be able to easily match the answer.

It is foolish to try to find exactly what is said in the question in the paragraph/passage. Instead, find out if there are synonymous/synonymous sentences that mean the same thing.

For example, if the question is, “Karim loves cooking.” Then the paragraph might say, “Karim developed an affection for cooking and does it every day with a lot of love.” So, understand and detect the right answer!