Tip 1

Background Strategies



Tips alone, with nothing else, are not enough to greatly improve your reading. We need to make a solid foundation for your success, so in Tip 1, we will look at some more general ‘background’ strategies that you should always be using.

Any language is words, words, and more words. Reading is a process of understanding words, and English has more words than any other language. Well, you will not be able to do well in the IELTS Reading test until you begin actively learning words. This will, of course, help you in all the skills of IELTS: Listening, Writing, and Speaking.

Here are 7 vocabulary learning and reading strategies for students who really want to achieve results.

Strategy 1: Learn Words in Context

‘Words, words, and more words. How can I remember them all?’

Many students ask this, and maybe you do, too. The answer is that you best learn new words as you hear or read them—that is, in context. Context means the situation in which you receive the word. It means who, when, why, and where, and all these stay better in your mind, and connect to that word, helping you to remember it.

Do not be tricked by ‘IELTS Vocabulary’ books. There is no special ‘IELTS’ vocabulary. ‘IELTS vocabulary’ is equally likely to be in a newspaper, but would you buy a book called ‘Newspaper Vocabulary’? ‘IELTS vocabulary’ is ‘English vocabulary’, and that appears in all written texts, and written texts present words in context, which is the best way to receive them.

Start reading an English newspaper or magazine. Use your dictionary at the same time, and learn ‘IELTS vocabulary’ in context. That is how you remember it, and that gives you all the other important information that you need to know—the form of the word, the way it is used, and the sort of situation it is used in.



Strategy 2: Have, and Use, a Good Dictionary

famous (adj) Someone or something that is famous is very well-known. New Orleans is famous for its food... England’s most famous landscape artist.

Where did I find this information? Obviously from my dictionary, which you have, right? Or do you have an electronic device? A much better idea is a ‘hardcopy’ learner’s dictionary. These dictionaries will show not only the word and its meanings, but also the sound, stress, part of speech, the way we use it, and example sentences. The definitions are written to be especially easy to understand. At higher levels, you should think about an English-English dictionary.

If you are serious about preparing for IELTS, you should have a good learner’s dictionary, and you should use it regularly.





Tip 2

Read the Text First



In Tip 1 we set the basis for good reading development. Now, we need to look at the IELTS Reading test itself. The IELTS Quiz at the beginning of this book asked the following question.

Upon starting, you should immediately look at the questions.

Some students do this, but my advice is... don’t! Well, I need to prove this, and I can do this in three ways. One: by the fact that I definitely look at the text before anything; two: by suggesting that, logically, nothing makes sense until you know the situation or context, and so, similarly, we need to know the context (that is, the reading) in order to make sense of the questions. The third way to make my point is with the following two exercises.

Exercise 1

Look at the following three questions first, then read the text to find the answers. Spend three minutes only. Use no more than three words for each answer.

1. In what way should a company best regard itself?

2. What should frontline staff have?

3. Who will determine the future of a company?

The Strategic Mindset I

No strategies can make bad managers good, badly run organisations efficient, or bad products sell, but, nevertheless, there are certain considerations which comprise a strategic mindset necessary for organisational success.

The most significant is the importance of the customer. This is, of course, almost a cliché (‘the customer is always right’) but many businesses do not fully realise that the core business of any organisation is to deliver value to the customer, and in the end, no matter how well strategy is built around cost, competition, product grouping, internal functions, or geography, it is the customers who will determine the future of the company.

Apart from the customer, there is also the staff of the company, and the next consideration concerns the need to give authority to act to the people closest to the customer—in other words, to those who need to make decisions related to the situations they face. Unanticipated conditions always arise, calling for spontaneous and innovative behaviour. Consequently, frontline staff should have some degree of practical autonomy, or as much as possible given the nature of the organisation.

The last consideration also involves staff, but this time through motivation. The prime consideration is employee involvement. Nothing as complex as an organisation can run without free and genuine communication and involvement, and, of course, listening. It follows from all these arguments that as a strategic consideration, the company should best see itself as an organic whole, with systems in place to encourage ways of communication and involvement.

The second reading is on the same subject, is the same length, and is as hard as the first, and the questions are similar, but I would like you to try a different approach.

Tip 1

Background Strategies



Tips alone, with nothing else, are not enough to greatly improve your reading. We need to make a solid foundation for your success, so in Tip 1, we will look at some more general ‘background’ strategies that you should always be using.

Any language is words, words, and more words. Reading is a process of understanding words, and English has more words than any other language. Well, you will not be able to do well in the IELTS Reading test until you begin actively...

About this Book

So, you have Book One of the Practical IELTS Strategies series. Let us first be sure we know the meaning of those two key words.

Practical = connected with real situations; right or sensible; likely to be successful

Strategy = a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose; the process of putting a plan into effect in a skilful way

This book—Book One—is for the IELTS Reading Test. This is not a grammar book; not a test practice book; not a vocabulary book, although all of those elements are here. Overall, this book is practical and strategic, exactly as those definitions tell us. The real situation is the IELTS test, and the particular purpose or plan is to give you the highest score that you can achieve.

My other four ‘Practical IELTS Strategies’ books are:

Book 2: Speaking

Book 3: Writing Task One [Academic Module]

Book 4: Writing Task Two [Academic Module]

Book 5: IELTS Test Practice Book

Now, it is very important at this stage for you to trust me, and for this to happen you need to know two facts. The first concerns my credentials. In order for you to trust someone who writes an IELTS preparation book, they must be fully qualified to do so. Please look at the back cover of this book, and read my credentials carefully. The second fact concerns why I wrote these books. Let me begin this by saying that students of English often come to me and ask, ‘How do I pass the IELTS test?’ This is the wrong question—you do not pass or fail the test; you just receive band scores. However, I know what the students mean. They mean how do they achieve the band score they need—usually 6.5 or 7.0 overall.

So what do I say to these students? I usually say that there are no magic answers to obtaining higher band scores in the IELTS test. It is a test of English language ability, so, of course, you obtain higher scores by having higher ability. The best way to raise your ability is simply to practise your listening, reading, writing, and speaking. However, no matter how good your English may be, it is certainly possible for you to be unprepared, unpractised, and to try to do parts of the IELTS test in the wrong way, and thus to receive a result lower (or far lower) than what your English ability deserves. This is why it is also important to prepare and practise. I say this, too, to my students. However I know that they want a more definite answer.

This is why there is so much ‘IELTS Preparation’ material available, and my students often have, read, and use some of it, but does this material always provide the best advice and approaches? The answer is no. Students should know that there are no magic answers, and that practice and preparation are important to achieving a high IELTS band score, but they clearly want and need some practical and strategic approaches showing how, and they are too often relying on unsatisfactory material to find this.

So that is why I wrote these IELTS books. In short, these books are the answer to that question about how to ‘pass’ the IELTS test. The answer is to follow the tips in these books. In this one, there are twenty tips and over forty exercises. Each tip builds on the previous. Each tip is solid, proven, and supported. There are answers to all exercises. All the knowledge is summarised and demonstrated at the end to make a clear and achievable framework. This book is how you ‘pass’ the test. So, let us then begin on this road.

About this Book

So, you have Book One of the Practical IELTS Strategies series. Let us first be sure we know the meaning of those two key words.

Practical = connected with real situations; right or sensible; likely to be successful

Strategy = a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose; the process of putting a plan into effect in a skilful way

This book—Book One—is for the IELTS Reading Test. This is not a grammar book; not a test practice book; not a vocabulary book, alth...

關於本書
About this Book
About the IELTS Reading Test
About IELTS Reading
The IELTS Band Descriptors
Reading Tips
Tip 1 Background Strategies
Tip 2 Read the Text First
Tip 3 Overview Read
Tip 4 Read Beginnings and Ends
Tip 5 Check for Signposts
Tip 6 The Quick Read Approach
Tip 7 Know about Conjunctions
Tip 8 Guess the Meaning of Words
Question Answering Tips
Tip 9 Read the Instructions
Tip 10 Use Common Sense
Tip 11 The Scanning Process
Tip 12 Scanning Techniques
Tip 13 Think of Synonyms & Concepts
Tip 14 Think about Answering Order
Tip 15 Know the Question Types
Tip 16 Eliminate Choices
Tip 17 Think of Type
Tip 18 Think of Grammar
Tip 19 Think of Translation
Bringing It All Together
Summary of Tips
Tip 20 The Reading Procedure
Summarising Exercise
Practice Reading Test I
Practice Reading Test II
Practice Reading Test III
Practice Reading Test IV
Conclusion
Answer Section

關於本書
About this Book
About the IELTS Reading Test
About IELTS Reading
The IELTS Band Descriptors
Reading Tips
Tip 1 Background Strategies
Tip 2 Read the Text First
Tip 3 Overview Read
Tip 4 Read Beginnings and Ends
Tip 5 Check for Signposts
Tip 6 The Quick Read Approach
Tip 7 Know about Conjunctions
Tip 8 Guess the Meaning of Words
Question Answering Tips
Tip 9 Read the Instructions
Tip 10 Use Common Sense
Tip 11 The Scanning Process
Tip 12 Scanning Techniques
Tip 13 Think...