SOME PARTICULAR STRATEGIES USED TO OVERCOME THE QUESTION TYPES OF IELTS READING MODULE

Perhaps, the following strategies below may refer to the practical skills that are always significant to use for certain types of the IELTS reading module questions.

1. COMPLETION TASKS

Firstly, it is advisable that you should include the words which are essential to answering the questions correctly. Such correct answers, in fact, can contain fewer than the maximum number of words stated according to the instruction given. In completion tasks with words extracted straight forward from the reading passage, you must do your best to try predicting the type of answer that you are merely looking for. After that, the next step is skim the section that you have particularly identified and look for the word synonyms or paraphrases. So, try to think about both sides (the meaning as well as the grammar) and remember to use the exact words from the reading text.

Secondly, you should read the options carefully with other choices given in a box. It is very much possible that there could be more than one option selected for you to be able to complete the sentence, as the options will have the same grammatical structure. So in other words, you should pay your attention and focus more on the meaning instead and therefore, you should be capable enough to consider all the options provided in the box.

2. MULTIPLE-CHOICE TASKS

Dealing with the multiple-choice tasks, first, you should try to get rid of the options that may appear to be logically wrong. So, try to eliminate them by putting a cross beside when you are positive to confirm that they are the wrong choices. Perhaps, you also need to remember that in some cases, an option revealed may be true but it does not answer the question.

Then, it is recommended to double check your answer again. Remember, the answer that you choose is not only correct according to the passage, but also it has to give an appropriate reason or explanation to answer the question or complete the sentence. So keep it in mind that whenever you think that you have discovered the most correct answer in the multiple-choice questions, you have to double check that the rest of other options are definitely the wrong ones.

3. MATCHING TASKS

In the category of matching tasks, you should try to think of different words to describe what is in each picture and look for the keywords from the text given when dealing with matching pictures to sections of the text. Similarly, when it comes to matching the statements, try to identify the keywords carefully in the statements and look for the synonyms or paraphrases of these keywords contained in the passage.

Surely, it is necessary that you are advised to do the skimming technique over the given passage beforehand so that it can help you to build up a mental map of the reading text by noticing the main idea of each paragraph. Well, this is a good idea where you can match as many headings as possible without requiring you to read over the passage again and again. After all, you should also try to write down the number of all possible options that might be suitable and fit in to answer all the questions provided.

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STRATEGIES IN THE IELTS LISTENING FOR ALL SECTIONS

Some of the key strategies that I will soon reveal and outline below technically refer to the essential skills, which are essential during your IELTS listening test in all sections. Apparently, one of the major challenges that you as a test-taker have to face in many occasions is that while you are listening to the tape recording, you must be able to recognize simultaneously more than just names, places, time, and then try to connect ideas, organized information, generalize as well as infer the meaning from all the spoken materials. Here are several tips of IELTS listening module test that you can use them to help you achieving a better score for all the question types.

1^st STRATEGY – LISTEN ACTIVELY

I. BEFORE YOU LISTEN, it is highly recommended that you have to:

a. Read the instructions carefully to know how many words are allowed or required for you to write. This includes the word limits such as articles and prepositions. Hence, try not to go above the word limits otherwise your answer will be marked incorrect by the examiner.

b. Read through the questions and notes on the question paper, then decide what the topic delivered is all about. For example, in order to get the right information from a conversation or monologue, it does help you if you ask yourself before you begin listening in the first place, such as:

- Who is talking?

- What are they talking about?

- How do they feel about it?

c. Analyse the questions and prompts, and then decide what sort of information is required. Perhaps, this may include the types of specific information such as price, name, or time.

d. Underline the keywords in the rubric, questions, and options before you listen. In other words, by highlighting the keywords around each gap in completion tasks or in questions can actually help you to listen more effectively. For example, a speaker might use a range of vocabulary that helps you to identify how the talk is organized. And let’s just say that a Professor Kate is giving a lecture about Newton’s law of physics. So, in that case, she probably would discuss each law by using the sequence of cohesion such as ‘first, next, in the meantime, then, finally’ in her speech, where the entire script can be organized as follows:

i. Body paragraph 1: ‘Isaac Newton first thought that ... He tested his theory by ...’

ii. Body paragraph 2: ‘Next, Newton had always believed ... He conducted an experiment that ... Then he saw ...’

iii. Body paragraph 3: ‘Finally, Newton concluded that his theory ... However, he also learned that ...’

II. WHILE YOU LISTEN, here’s what you have to do:

a. Listen for any clue that the speakers are about to answer the questions. Perhaps, they probably will use different words (mostly, the synonyms) from the question given.

b. Always choose only the required number of options for each question.

c. Do not write more than the maximum number of words that you are asked for. Again, try to read and follow the instruction given carefully. Write only the words that you hear without changing them.

d. In case if you miss an answer, keep listening. Otherwise, you will miss the next questions by accident.

III. AFTER YOU LISTEN, this is what you must do:

a. Make sure you have answered every question because you will not lose marks for wrong answers.

b. As you copy your answers, check out the words you have written make sense or logical in the context. So, pay attention on the words you have written in particular of whether they are grammatically correct/correctly spelled or not.

c. Do not copy anything printed on the question paper when transferring your answers to the answer sheet provided. In that case, you should copy what you have written yourself.

2^nd STRATEGY – ANTICIPATING KEY POINTS BASED ON THE MAIN IDEA

Obviously, anticipating is literally defined as thinking about what might come or will appear next. Besides, anticipation can make you more focused and your listening easier. Knowing the topic beforehand helps you to predict and anticipate certain details. For example, a college student who wants to talk about his term paper might have a problem with the topic, organization (body assignment), due date, bibliography or a partner. Likewise, a professor who delivers a lecture about bees might discuss their appearance, abilities, evolution, migration, reproduction, diet, reasons for studying them, and so on. Hence, by knowing the possibilities of what might come out next, it will make your listening task achievement easier to be accomplished as a result of being able to hear clearly what the speaker says.

3^rd STRATEGY – DO NOT TRY TO RECORD EVERYTHING IN NOTES

Perhaps, if you decide to take notes during the exam, you need to make sure that your notes are both effective and efficient. Having said that, you need to determine the topic of the talk, study the questions, plus decide what types of information and words are missing. So, based on your observations, simply focus on noting down only those missing information and words. Also, while you are making notes, less important words could either be omitted (eliminated) or recorded using symbols and abbreviations.

For example, let’s just say that an essential topic of the talk is a project that started in 1997. So, the key word to remember is the ‘project, started, and 1997’. For your information, it is very unlikely or quite impossible that in the IELTS exam, you will be asked to complete the gap with a word ‘started’ or ‘the’. Thus, you could make the following notes by your own, something like ‘project à 1997’.

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IELTS LISTENING STRATEGIES FOR CONVERSATIONS & LECTURES

Previously, I already discussed a handful number of effective strategies that can be applied in the all sections of the IELTS listening test. When talking about IELTS listening module strategies over the conversations and lectures’ talk in particular, there are also a series of powerful guides which you can implement them to assist you in hearing what the speakers say during the section of your IELTS listening test. Thus, the following advice which I am going to elaborate below is practically referred to the effective strategies used in the IELTS listening comprehension, both for the conversations and the lectures’ talk. Hence, let’s have a look at them one by one.

1^st STRATEGY – CREATE ONE COLUMN FOR EACH SPEAKER IN YOUR NOTES TO AVOID CONFUSION WHEN YOU READ THEM

Should you decide to make notes, it is important to keep them neatly organized. Therefore, in order for you to do this, try to create one column for each speaker during the conversation presented. Although names are useful when they are being mentioned, however, you will never be asked to specifically name any of the speakers who deliver the talk. So, depending on the type of conversation spoken, it is better for you if you could identify each speaker such as which one is acting as:

a. Professor and the student

b. Man and Woman

c. Student 1 and Student 2

2^nd STRATEGY – BE PREPARED FOR THE UNIQUE ELEMENTS OF SPOKEN ENGLISH (INTERRUPTIONS)

In most cases, the speaker during the section of your listening test for conversations as well as lectures will not sound as if they are reading an essay. To put it simply, their speech will be perfectly natural instead and the way they sound will resemble everyday spoken English, which include interruptions and self-corrections.

As we know, such an interruption occurs when a listener in a conversation or lecture says something before the speaker has done making a point of statement or observation. A speaker, in fact, could be interrupted by a question or comment, and the speaker will have to resolve the interruption arose before returning to the original topic. So, in that case, you will have to remember exactly what was being spoken prior to the interruption in order for you to understand fully what was being said afterwards.

Here are the most common words or vocabularies spoken during the interruption:

a. ‘Excuse me, but ...’

b. ‘I’m sorry, but ...’

c. ‘I don’t want to be rude, but ...’

d. ‘Hold on a minute ...’

e. ‘Hang on a second ...’

f. ‘Can I just say that ...’

 

While on the other hand, the typical self-correction occurs when you hear the speaker suddenly mispronounces the words while he or she is delivering the talk. Obviously, it is not a surprise to notice the fact that anyone can speak incorrectly whenever there is a conversation going on. When people misspeak their words or vocabularies during their conversations, it is very natural to observe that they tend to interrupt themselves and then restate their idea correctly. Thus, self-correction could practically involve a certain number of expressions such as:

1. ‘Actually ...’

2. ‘That’s not exactly right, I suppose ...’

3. ‘Let me rephrase that in case if you don’t mind ...’

4. ‘Let me start again ...’

In a nutshell, such mistakes occurred are usually used as distracters in the listening examinations. That is when you hear the incorrect information and you literally think that it is the correct answer. So, it is crucial for you to be fully aware of those distracters and be prepared to change your answers accordingly.

3^rd STRATEGY – BE PREPARED TO INFER OR INTERPRET

Although it is possible at some point of time, however, a speaker will probably not state how his or her talk is organized directly. Hence, try not to rely on the explicit (obvious) statement such as ‘Let’s organize our discussions by types of energy sources bla...bla...bla...’ or ‘I want to begin with the best solution and then continue with the least suitable option bla...bla...bla...’

Therefore, it is also imperative that you must train yourself to predict and anticipate how the speaker’s talk is organized indirectly. Meaning to say, you will probably have to recognize how the element of speech is being thoroughly presented on your own.

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KEY STRATEGIES FOR THE IELTS READING MODULE

As discussed previously, the reading module is the second part of the IELTS examination. It lasts roughly around 60 minutes and consists of 40 questions based on a variety of task types. Although the task types of the Academic and General Training modules are the same, however, their types of reading passages differ. To put it simply, the Academic module usually will contain at least one passage organized as a logical argument, while the reading modules in the General Training on the other hand are likely to be more descriptive or instructive. And, in order to achieve the best results in the IELTS reading section, the use of combined strategies must be implemented. Hence, the following strategies which will be outlined below are some of the effective tips that can help you with this part of the IELTS exam, since they are considerably important to study in order to get you reaching your overall desirable band score both in the reading context of Academic and the General Training module.

1^st STRATEGY – MAKE NOTES

During your examination day, you are allowed to make notes on the IELTS question booklets since the IELTS examiners will never look at these notes that you have already written. Well, you can simply make notes, underline, draw arrows and symbols on the reading question booklet just to help yourself understand the text better and find your answers faster. By doing it so, you might be able to avoid chances of having to read the same portions of the reading passage repeatedly.

2^nd STRATEGY – TRY TO PREDICT WHAT THE TOPIC IS ALL ABOUT & BUILD A MENTAL MAP OF THE PASSAGE AS YOU SKIM IT

Before you read a text, it might seem rather helpful if you could try to guess what the topics of that passage will be. One way to do this, perhaps, is by using the information of the title, any subheadings, and the introduction part. And of course, reading a text for the first time can be disorientating or quite unfamiliar where you may find it difficult to scan through the entire passage. Thus, a useful technique to help you navigating the whole passage easier is by building up a mental map of the reading text. In other words, what you need to do is try to identify the topic or purpose of each paragraph in the passage, make notes (a couple of words) about the main idea or purpose of paragraphs and sections next to them, and then get to know what the paragraphs are about which will help you to find the answers quicker.

3^rd STRATEGY – IDENTIFY THE TYPE OF A TEXT THAT YOU ARE READING

For example, try to identify whether the passage is about a problem-solving case, chronological accounts/history/series of events of something, or whether it discusses some positive and negative points of view regarding a certain issue addressed in a topic presented. So, this can be done by quickly skimming the entire text and looking at the title, introduction, and opening paragraphs. As a result, these will give you the clues needed for you to easily identify the main ideas, topics, and organization of a reading text presented.

4^th STRATEGY – STUDY THE KEYWORDS & SKIM EFFECTIVELY

To locate certain parts of the text where the answers might easily be discovered, you need to carefully study the keywords in the questions and then scan the entire passage for these synonymous or parallel expressions. Well, by using your mental map of the reading text, this should help you to perform this technique effectively. As for the skimming method, try not to worry about words, terms, jargon that you don’t understand. Instead, it is better if you can get an overall impression of the text and one way to do this is by making sure to read the first sentence of each paragraph. Eventually, these will give you an overview of the text that you are reading upon. However, you must remember that sometimes, two different task types may focus on the same parts within the passage. In other words, you may not be tested exactly on the same information provided just in case.

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IELTS WRITING TEST – THE ACADEMIC AND THE GENERAL TRAINING MODULE

The Academic and the General Training modules of IELTS writing test both consist of two tasks which do not require you to have a specialized or technical prowess. In fact, the typical objective of this writing test is actually designed to assess whether you possess these following skills:

a. Ability to describe diagrams, tables, and lists

b. Ability to develop an argument supported by evidence (fact-based opinion)

c. Ability to communicate ideas vividly

d. Ability to utilize a range of English accuracy, vocabularies, and sentence structures

When it comes to the technicality structures of the writing task types, you will be given two answer sheets – one for the Task 1 and one for the Task 2. Both your answers in the Task 1 and Task 2 must be written in a full essay (not in the note form). As of today, you can choose whether to write your answers in pen or pencil (I personally suggest that you should use pencil instead because if you use pen, your answer sheet will end up untidy, especially after you write your wrong sentences and you try to re-write them correctly by crossing the wrong sentences with lines). Therefore, you should bring over your pencil along with an eraser into the exam room instead of solely carrying a pen.

Furthermore, the type of task 1 weighs one-third of the entire marks. In this case, you have to write at least 150 words for this task and it is advised that you should do your best to spend 20 minutes of your time on it. As for the typical writing test for Task 2 which carries two-thirds of the entire marks, you have to write at least 250 words and you are highly advised to spend 40 minutes dealing with your essay on it. Bottom line, keep in mind that you will lose mark if you write fewer than the required number of words. Thus, you must perform your best to accomplish the task achievement for both Task 1 and Task 2 because at the end, the overall result of your writing test will be translated into a score on the IELTS nine-band scale and therefore it is important for you to follow these guidelines in both tests respectively.

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SEVERAL EFFECTIVE GUIDELINES IN THE IELTS WRITING SKILLS

Obviously, in order for you to write effectively and score well on the IELTS writing module, it is very imperative that you should have in-depth knowledge of effective preparation and study plan, appropriate writing style and coherent tone, as well as the proper structure and format for each type of writing task. Well, this is mainly because when it comes to the flow of writing process, these tips will come in handy and therefore, you should study what could be the essential skills needed to earn a better result in the IELTS writing modules so that you can prepare your own essays effectively. Hence, the following procedures below are several guidelines which you can take into consideration in order to help you performing well in your writing test.

1^st STAGE – SELF PREPARATION

a. Read the instructions carefully. In this case, make sure that you have fully understood what you are required to write about, as you need to determine the appropriate style and tone of your essay to sound more coherently presented for the examiners to give a better mark.

b. Brainstorm and note down your ideas. Well, this should be done on your question paper (but not on your answer sheet) because no one will be interested to look at your notes after the test. So, try not to write the complete sentences while you are making your notes since you only need to extract your ideas (brainstorming) in order to help you identifying what you are going to write as instructed.

c. Plan your essay thoroughly. Select, prioritize, and group your ideas to the genre as well as the suggested layout for your essay format. In any case, you should not take more than 5 minutes to plan your essay for both tasks – Task 1 and Task 2.

2^nd STAGE – DRAFTING YOUR ESSAY

Once you have an overall picture of what you are going to write about, it is well-advised that you should use a pencil when drafting your essay because it will seem much easier for you to make changes and self-corrections afterwards. So, make sure that everything you write on your answer sheet is legible. In this stage, you should not take more than 10 minutes in writing Task 1 and 20 minutes in writing Task 2.

3^rd STAGE – REVIEWING WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN

Look back and try to read your essay again. Check it if there are grammar and spelling mistakes found. Perhaps, this is because of you probably will not be able to correct all the mistakes that you have made. So, focus on locating and correcting those typical mistakes of yours. To do this, you need to keep a list of such mistakes in mind and use it when you finish writing to check your essay. Again, you should not take more than 5 minutes for this part.

Here are some of the suggested checklists to help you reviewing your essay but before that, kindly ask yourself whether if you have...

a. Answered all aspects of the task required?

b. Chosen the appropriate style and language tone?

c. Included an introduction as well as a conclusion?

d. Made your paragraphing clear and logical?

e. Ensured all your supporting points are relevant?

f. Cross-checked any of your grammatical and spelling errors?

g. Accomplished the task achievement where you need to write at least 150 words for Task 1 and 250 words for Task 2?

Overall, bear in mind that for both parts of the IELTS writing modules, the language you use must be consistently appropriate, cohesive, and coherent in terms of style and tone.

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