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IELTS Preparation: Some Easiest Ways To improve your IELTS Reading and Listening score

Alas! Did you fail to get good bands in IELTS listening and reading once again? It means that somewhere you lack some important information that can actually help you get good IELTS bands. Some candidates often miss out on the most important IELTS reading and listening techniques which in turn results in fewer scores. Hence, you must do your IELTS preparations with rigorous concentration and procure full knowledge of reading and listening through IELTS listening practice and IELTS reading practice.

Let’s start with IELTS reading first,

Here are some simple steps to improve the IELTS reading score:

  • Start with reading the questions.
  • Mark the keywords.
  • Remember that your keywords are usually synonyms or similar words and not the exact keyword as given in the passage. So, you can brainstorm and try to understand its meaning to connect it to the right passage.
  • Nevertheless, the nearby matched words and your paraphrasing skills will make you understand the question’s meaning.
  • Skimming and Scanning the whole passage. It will save a lot of time.
  • Pen down your answers
Now, where do most of you get stuck in IELTS reading? 
Most candidates get stuck in finding the most appropriate keywords in their questions. This eventually makes it even more challenging for them to ace the exam since keywords help in selecting the correct answer in the reading test. 

Now, look at the list of words below that act as keywords in your IELTS reading and IELTS listening test.

  • Nouns and Verbs
  • Names of places, scientists, people, and more included in the passage
  • Capitalized or Italicized words or phrases
  • Locations ( especially towns, cities, states, and countries)
  • Specific Dates and Years
  • Numbers or Figures
Next, let's understand through examples how to choose the right keywords.
Example 1
Passage Statement:
Her guests often tease the bride about her husband and give her advice about married life.
  1. Recommendations about ________ are given to the wife-to-be.
Keywords in the passage           Keywords in question
bride                                                wife-to-be
give                                                  given
advice                                             advice
about                                              about
Answer: married life

Example 2

But look closer at the specifics of any quake and the details are much more complicated. The Tyrrhenian Basin, or Sea, which lies to the west of Italy, between the mainland and Sardinia/Corsica, is slowly opening up. Scientists say this is contributing to extension, or “pull-apart”, along the Apennines which works at a rate of 3mm per year. Add in movement in the Adriatic where the crust is rotating in an anti-clockwise direction, and you have a fiendishly complex picture. Italy is literally being pushed and pulled every which way.


Question: When the particulars of an earthquake are studied deeply, it is found that it is very _______.

Answer: complicated.

Some commonly used synonymous words for picking the most suitable IELTS reading answers are as followings:

Practicing the IELTS reading section through different mock tests will help you get good IELTS reading bands.

Next, we will be talking about how keywords and synonyms words play a significant role in the IELTS listening module.
A candidate’s ability to understand the true essence and meaning of the paragraph is examined through the IELTS listening test. In brief, examiners try to check your level of grasping the literal meaning of the audio clip.

First of all, as the recording starts, you can get to look at the questions and focus on the words synonymous with the phrases and words in the questions. For example, if you hear the speaker saying “people arrived at my coffee shop, but in the question “customers” the word is mentioned instead. Or if you hear where did he live in London? But in the question, “residence” the word is used instead.

Hence, having a strong knowledge of vocabulary and synonym words is extremely important to ace the test.

The importance of synonyms is more noticed in the summary questions where candidates must be prepared to read and write the summary while listening to the recording.

You can practice different listening mock tests to brush up on your listening skills before attempting the exam.

Conclusion

In the end, it can be said that it is necessary to develop the 'Keyword technique' to achieve good IELTS listening bands and IELTS reading bands. To achieve that in one go, you can start practicing some IELTS Reading and listening practice tests. Try learning more about keywords and similar words so that you don’t get confused during your exam. Moreover, if you want better preparation, you can choose the best online IELTS coaching center. Dr. Roma has been a recognized IELTS tutor with top-level knowledge and 15 years of experience in helping her students score no less than 7 bands.

Dr.Roma 
Content Writer