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Reading tips

How to prepare for the IELTS Reading test, tips and techniques to improve your skills and raise your score

IELTS Band Score Calculator

IELTS-Blog proudly presents a new hot feature:

  • IELTS Band Score calculator

    • This nice addition is something I always wanted but never had. It converts the number of correct answers in the Listening or Reading sections of the IELTS test to approximate Band Score. You will find it very helpful when practicing in solving IELTS exam papers; it saves you some time of calculating the exam result yourself.

    But enough said – one picture is worth a million words, check it out right here.

    Another useful calculator will work out your Overall IELTS Band score for you, using the scores in all the individual sections (Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking) – give it a try here.

    Enjoy and tell your friends!

    And now after you had the chance to check your score, here is a way to improve it:

    1. Read texts from this list of sources (the passages are of Academic IELTS difficulty)

    2. Practice using these Academic Reading tasks.

    3. Practice using these General Training Reading texts.

    4. Another bunch of Academic and General Training Reading and Listening tasks here.

    IELTS Reading tips: True, False, Not Given

    Every IELTS Reading test, no matter Academic or General has tasks of this kind. Lots of students tell me (and I agree) that this is a very confusing task.

    For those who have no idea what I am talking about, I’ll explain – this task has a statement, and your job is to say whether or not it is True, False or Not Given according to the reading passage.

    How do you “attack” this question type? First learn the rule:

  • If the statement clearly appears in the text – it is True
  • If the text clearly says the opposite of the statement – it is False
  • If you didn’t find the statement to be either True or False – it is Not Given

    • For example:
    “Smoking is dangerous and can lead to cancer” – T, F, NG

    1) If the text clearly says that “smoking is dangerous and leads to cancer” then the answer is T.

    2) If the text says that “No research showed evidence that smoking is dangerous and leads to cancer” then the answer is F.

    3) If the text says “The research included smokers of both genders of ages 30 to 45” and nothing else about smoking – your answer is NG.

    Don’t make these mistakes:

  • Don’t assume anything based on your knowledge and experience, read the text! It is the oldest trick in the book and they use it a lot in IELTS exams.
  • Don’t “overthink” your answer – you could start building long logical sequences that will lead you to the wrong answer.