This is an IELTS Energy Podcast Episode 1614, How to Manage Time to Improve IELTS Reading Scores.
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Are you able to finish an IELTS reading exam in the 60 minutes you're given?
If not, you're not alone.
Today we share time management strategies that will boost your IELTS reading scores.
Have you ever finished a conversation in English and thought, I know I can say that better?
You understood everything that was said.
You had ideas, opinions, maybe even a joke.
But when it was your turn to speak, your answer came out shorter than you wanted or more basic than how you would say it in your own language.
This happens when your understanding is stronger than your speaking fluency.
The good news, that gap is very common and very fixable once you know exactly where you are.
Take our free two minute fluency quiz to discover your current English level and what to work on next.
Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score.
That's allearsenglish.com slash F-L-U-E-N-C-Y-S-C-O-R-E.
Hello, Michelle.
How are you today?
I'm doing well.
Aubrey, how are you?
I'm excellent.
I am really excited for the question we got today.
This is interesting because we just recorded an episode not long ago about vocabulary for time management because this is a common topic on IELTS Speaking.
And then we got a great listener question about reading.
So first of all, I know we talked about this a little bit when we shared vocabulary, but Michelle, do you feel like in general you're good at managing your time?
I am not.
I'm going to admit right now.
I try.
I try.
I try too.
I'm bad at it.
I think it just really depends on what it is.
For sure.
Same.
I have a hard time prior, like figuring out priorities and I want to do, I'm like, I can put that off and do that later.
And instead I want to work.
I want to do something I want to do now.
That's either more fun or feels more important, you know?
And then I'm delaying things that I really probably should be doing right now.
Oh, man.
Yeah, it really depends on what.
Yeah, I would say that that sounds pretty spot on for me.
But I think I think I do.
Okay.
I'll say I'm okay.
I'll take okay.
Yeah.
I have gotten really bad about this right now because I'm writing a book, guys, which I'm hoping will be published soon.
I finished writing it, Michelle.
It's done.
And I really am proud of it.
I think it's really good.
I'm looking for a literary agent.
So stay tuned, guys.
I'll let you know when it's available for purchase.
Hopefully it will be.
But it's been so hard to do anything else.
I was excited about it.
And I just wanted to write and it was so hard to get any work done to like be a good mom.
I'm like, but I want to write my book.
That's all I want to do.
Yeah.
So yeah, this
Is tricky and we know that for you IELTS students
You're in that same boat where you have to study for IELTS but there's so many things you'd probably rather be doing so you have to be managing your time and this also is related to IELTS reading because when you are taking the exam on test day it's
It's so important that you have these time management strategies so that you can get as high a score as you can.
Often the reason students get lower scores is not about not having good reading comprehension.
It's about a lack of time management.
So should we should we get to the question yes we got a great question on youtube from rohit she so would you like to read that for us lindsay or michelle that's okay it happens
It says, hello, I recently faced a problem while practicing.
Actually, when I solve different types of questions at once, I guess when I answer, right, I get so involved in matching the information that almost one third of the allotted time, let's say 12 to 15 minutes in a 20 minute passage is spent.
Can you guide me on this?
Ooh, yeah, that's a great question.
Yes, this is so tricky.
So I'm excited to dive into this because first of all, well done, Rohit, on recognizing that you need to be thinking about time management.
You need to be taking practice exams ahead of time.
It's like the LSAT.
I was practicing for the LSAT for a while.
And it is more about the time management, about being able to answer all of these questions in the very limited time you have.
IELTS reading is a lot like that.
It's not just a comprehension test.
It's about having strategies.
Because even native English speakers have a hard time answering all of those questions in the time that you're given.
So it's very tricky.
You need strategies.
Yeah, exactly.
So we're going to go through some ideas for you today.
But guys, remember to hit the follow button wherever you're listening or watching and stay to the end for details about a recent episode with related vocab.
So that's going to be helpful.
So you're going to definitely want to check that out.
Yes.
I mentioned that we talked recently about time management vocabulary and you want to make sure to have that.
We'll share details at the end.
If that sounds unfamiliar to you, maybe you missed that episode.
But yeah, let's dive into this because Rohit is not alone.
Many of you out there listening are likely in the same boat.
This is an extremely common IELTS reading problem, especially when students are serious, careful readers, because usually what's happening, it's not a language problem.
It's more about lacking strategies and attention management, because if you are reading too carefully, you're reading entire passages, you just do not have time.
To find all of the answers you need during the reading exam.
It's impossible.
Yeah, exactly.
So and Rohit mentioned that when there are several question types together, so especially like matching information, Rohit might spend 12 to 14 minutes on one passage because you become deeply involved in searching and comparing details.
And so what does that tell us, Aubrey?
Yes, this is sort of a red flag for study habits, for strategies here.
First of all, you are likely reading too closely, too perfectly.
And you might be rechecking excessively, right?
You might be treating every sentence as equally important.
And these are all things that you just can't do.
And on the IELTS reading exam, that approach is extremely dangerous because the test rewards efficient locating of keywords and answers, not deep academic reading.
So we're going to give you strategies on, we're going to let you know like why this is a problem and how you need to fix it.
But you've heard here from us before, each question should not take you longer than a minute.
You have to use strategies to skim the passage then and you look at the questions first so you know what keywords you're looking for.
You're scanning for keywords.
And then when you find those keywords, only then do you read carefully every word in the sentence or a few lines there.
So if you are carefully reading entire passages, you will not have time.
You won't have time to get all of those answers correct.
Yeah.
So, all right.
So, let's talk about these question types, right?
So, like, why these take so much time.
So, we're talking about, like, matching information, matching headings, matching features, right?
Or questions that start with things like, which paragraph contains, right?
Exactly, right?
Matching information in paragraphs.
We often call that one these things.
Are so tough they're intentionally designed to slow students down right michelle
Yeah exactly and so i mean this is for a variety of reasons so like it could be because information is paraphrased heavily or the answers are not always in order which is definitely tricky um
What else?
Also, several paragraphs may seem like where you should be looking.
There could be a few different paragraphs that kind of generally cover the topic that the keywords are related to.
So it's not always obvious exactly where you go to look for that answer.
You might need to scan and you might sort of see those keywords a couple of times.
Then if you read closely and don't see it right away, then you move to the next one.
This can take time.
You have to practice in advance.
You can't just know the strategies that you need and then go on test day and expect to be able to use them efficiently.
It takes a lot of practice ahead of time.
Yeah.
So if you try to fully understand everything before answering, you are going to get trapped.
And I mean, here's an example of the biggest mistake.
So see if this sounds familiar to you.
Many students do this.
Read paragraph A carefully, then compare it with question one, then compare it again.
Then what else, Aubrey?
What happens?
Yeah, then they'll check the next paragraph, right?
Then they'll check the paragraph B.
Returning to A, rereading the question again, rechecking the keywords, doubt their answer and start over.
And suddenly you've wasted so much time and you haven't even found one answer.
That cycle totally destroys your timing and you just won't have enough time to find these different answers.
So IELTS is about timing.
As I was mentioning, it's much more important that you learn how to scan for keywords, that you learn how to recognize those paraphrases.
We often call them parallel expressions because rarely is the exact word from the question in the passage.
It's usually a synonym.
A paraphrase, a parallel expression, and you need to practice looking for those.
And then also you have to practice decision-making under time pressure.
You can't be doubting your answer and looking again and rechecking.
You just don't have time for all of that.
Right, so IELTS is not testing for perfection, right?
So, I mean, here's the correct mindset.
Instead of asking, do I fully understand this paragraph?
You should be asking yourself, do I see the specific information the question is asking about?
And having that mindset change alone can actually save you minutes.
So this is really huge.
Exactly.
It's about locating keywords, identifying keywords in the question, and then locating them in the passage.
So that even these very difficult matching questions that can take so much time, you can actually do each of them in less than a minute if you have these strategies and you practice this and you know how to quickly identify keywords.
And then as we've said recently on the podcast, if it takes longer than about a minute,
Make your best guess.
Move on.
We'll talk about that more in a little bit.
But we want to give you sort of a step by step, very actionable process that you can use on the reading exam.
So first of all, your first step is to give yourself a hard time limit.
And that is one minute per question.
So, in general, you can think about the time you have for these separate sections, right?
For matching questions on the first passage, there might be five, six, seven questions.
You're going to be able to take a maximum of five, six, seven minutes on that.
You can't be thinking, okay, I have 17 minutes because these are harder questions.
No.
You have to still limit yourself to about a minute per question.
So yeah, so passage one, a max five to six, passage two, maximum six to seven, and then passage three, maximum seven to eight minutes.
Yeah.
And that's if there's more questions, right?
Often passage three is going to have seven to eight questions.
So you can take seven to eight minutes for that.
It depends on how many questions it is.
Yep.
Right, right, exactly.
And so if you reach this time limit, I mean, then it's time to think about,
Okay, I'm going to make a guess, or I'm going to move on, or you could even mark it to come back to later if you end up having extra time.
So you really must train this discipline because it's
It is hard when you just think, I just want to answer the question.
It's hard to just say, okay, I have to move on, come back to it, something else, right?
And many high scorers are comfortable leaving uncertain answers and continuing.
So that's definitely a strategy.
Absolutely.
Right.
Make your best guess.
Fill it out.
Make your best guess.
Move on.
But mark it to come back later.
In a written exam, you can mark it right on the test.
If it's a computer exam, you can flag it.
So step two is to stop reading entire paragraphs repeatedly.
So instead, you want to read strategically.
So you want to focus on things like names, dates, words.
Contrasts, unusual nouns or transition words, right?
So Aubrey, what would some of those example transition signals be?
Right.
However, surprisingly, unlike, despite, or in contrast, what else?
Or one reason or researchers found, right?
So there's a ton of them.
So guys, these often are the keys, right?
These often contain the answers.
So that is a huge tip right there.
Imagine being in a fast conversation with native speakers.
Someone makes a quick comment, another person jumps in, everyone reacts instantly, and by the time you've fully processed what was said, the conversation has already moved on.
It's not that you don't understand English.
It's that real conversations move quickly with slang, tone changes, and interruptions.
When you are fluent, it means being able to follow and participate in that natural rhythm.
The first step is understanding your current English level.
Take our quick, free two-minute fluency quiz and see exactly where you are.
Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score to take the quiz.
That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y s-c-o-r-e.
All right, what is step three, Michelle?
Okay, so step three is learn to identify the core meaning.
So let's suppose the question says, which paragraph mentions a negative effect of modern technology?
The passage may say, researchers warned that constant digital exposure reduces attention span.
So here you must really just train yourself to immediately see negative effect equals reduces attention span and modern technology equals digital exposure.
So strong IELTS readers, what they do is they match ideas, not words.
Exactly.
We say identify those keywords, but you're not looking for those exact keywords.
You're looking for those ideas, the paraphrase, the parallel expression of that idea.
This is huge.
This saves you so much time.
Yeah.
And then step four is don't try to confirm 100%.
So this is likely your main issue, right?
Because students often spend 30 seconds finding an answer, three more minutes trying to prove it,
But the thing is, in IELTS reading, 80% certainty is actually usually enough.
So if one paragraph clearly matches, others do not strongly match.
So you just choose it and continue.
Yeah.
Exactly.
The worst thing you could do is to find a paragraph that matches, but then look at all the other paragraphs to make sure they don't match.
You don't have time for that, right?
Answer, move on.
And then if there might be a later question in the set...
That makes it clear to you like, oh, actually, this other paragraph might match too.
Now I might double check that.
Sure.
But don't look at each paragraph to prove that you were right.
You have to be smart about the time that you have.
Yeah, exactly.
And then step five is to use the mark and return method.
So if you're stuck after about 40 seconds, mark the question, choose your best temporary answer.
I like that idea.
And then
And then move on.
And I mean, why though, because later questions actually often help you understand earlier paragraphs.
And if you stay stuck, I mean, this used to happen to me on on tests, actually, because I have a lot of anxiety when taking a test.
A lot of people do.
You're not alone.
Was going on
So yeah this kills your momentum right
If you're stuck for longer than a minute you start to kind of panic
That's a problem for anyone
So this about 40 seconds is a good gauge
For like i'm not finding this easily i'm gonna make my best guess move on and i've got this bonus 20 seconds later
Maybe one of these other questions will give me some kind of a hint about this or where to find this in this passage.
And then you'll have time to come back and make sure that you get that right.
This is such a good strategy.
Yeah.
So step six is understand which questions deserve time, right?
Because not all questions are equal.
So students waste so much time on...
Difficult matching questions and then rush the easy questions later.
But the better thing to do would be to just quickly secure the easy marks first and then to return to difficult matching later if the time remains.
Exactly.
Because remember, you get the same amount of credit for one difficult question as one easy question.
So it's smart to like just be smart about the time that you have.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So everyone, we also were talking about an episode earlier that is going to help you out with great expression.
So that was episode 1611, which was avoid a last minute scramble on IELTS.
So really good for those expressions, more on, you know, time management, things like that.
So very helpful there.
Yes, because not only do you need time management on the IELTS reading exam to actually use time management, you also might need to talk about it on the IELTS speaking exam.
So that episode has band nine vocabulary.
If you get asked about if you're on time, you know, if you are good at managing time on IELTS speaking.
So definitely go check it out.
Yeah.
All right.
So takeaway for today is, you know, you guys need faster decision making, less perfectionism.
What else, Aubrey?
Scanning habits, right?
You have to have those strategies to be able to identify keywords and then scan for parallel expressions, paraphrases that you have to practice.
You have to practice that in advance.
And then...
Confidence with uncertainty.
You're not going to be 100% certain that this is the perfect paragraph.
That's okay.
80% certainty is perfect.
And then move on.
And if something happens as you're looking for these other answers that makes you doubt, then maybe we can go back and make sure if you have extra time.
But you don't want to be doubting every question and spending the time to double check.
Double check you just don't have time for that
No.
So just remember this.
The goal in IELTS reading is not, I fully understood everything.
The goal is I located enough information efficiently to maximize my score.
So definitely think of that.
Exactly.
You likely won't even read entire passages because that's
It's not the goal.
You're not there to read all those passages.
You're there to find the answers.
Yes.
Exactly.
Oh, my gosh.
This has been really helpful.
Thank you, Rohit, for that question.
And Aubrey, I'm glad we spoke about this today.
I think a lot of our listeners will feel some relief getting some ideas here.
I agree.
Yes.
Thanks for joining me, Michelle.
Thank you, Rohit, for your question.
And we will see you next time.
Thanks guys.
All right.
Bye guys.
Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy.
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