This is the IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1511, Time-Saving Tips for Computer-Based IELTS. welcome to the ielts energy podcast from all ears english downloaded more than 35 million times with examiner trained ielts wiz aubrey carter and lindsay mcmahon the english adventurer if you are stuck with a low score our insider method will help you get the score you need to unlock your dreams Get your estimated band score now with our two-minute quiz at allearsenglish.com slash myscore.
On the computer-based reading exam, you have the ability to highlight words, but should you use this tool?
Find out today. Are you still translating from your native language into English in your head?
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Hello, Aubrey. What's going on? I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you? I'm doing good. What are we talking about today with IELTS?
Oh, we got a great question about the computer-based exams.
I have a question here to start us out. When you're reading a book, do you highlight text?
Uh, usually not unless I'm studying. I mean, I used to, I used to have the highlighter in college, right?
And you highlight things to prepare for the exam.
Same, right? And the university with a textbook, I would highlight, underline, mostly because they were quite boring.
So you would have to do something to keep your mind on what you're reading, but in the novel, but have you ever purchased books like novels that are all highlighted up in the margins?
Sometimes. If you buy a used book, you'll see notes or underlining, highlighting.
Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah. I've seen that as well.
And because I don't do it, it's always fascinating to me.
I find myself reading all of the notes they wrote, you know, that they made.
Imagining what's going on with them as they're reading that.
Yeah. Exactly. Yes. I want to know all of their thoughts.
So it takes me twice as long to read it because I read all of their notes.
That's funny. But we got this great question about the highlighting function on the computer-based IELTS exam.
Could you read that for us, Lindsay? Here it is from Everson.
Do we have enough time to highlight on the computer-based test?
What do you think about that? Some strategies when it comes to computer-based tests?
I really appreciate your podcast. It has been so useful in my journey through this jungle that is preparing for IELTS.
It is kind of a jungle, Everson. It is a jungle.
Yes, I'm glad you find the podcast helpful, but it is.
There's so much to wade through, just like a jungle, a lot to have to know about aisles.
And this is a great question. It is a fantastic question.
So where are we going to start in answering it today, Aubrey?
Can we highlight? Should we highlight? What's the answer?
Great question, right? We're going to talk about three of the tools, and we'll let you know if you're taking computer-based IELTS, whether you should use them or not.
And if you're taking paper-based IELTS, we're also going to talk about sort of what you would do for the paper-based exam that's related to that tool, right?
So first, highlighting, Lindsay. Should students highlight?
They should. You should highlight, but you should not be highlighting everything.
You should be strategic. That is our advice, right, Aubrey?
Exactly right. You should not highlight interesting passages as you read, as you might do with a physical book. because you are not reading entire passages.
This isn't a comprehension exam, so that's not how you should be using it.
Instead, you are using that highlighting function to highlight key words in both the questions, and then when you find either that word or a synonym, a parallel expression in the passage, because the answers will be close to those keywords.
Yeah, it's interesting what you said, Aubrey.
It's not a comprehension exam. I think that's probably part of the reason why many native speakers don't even complete the reading test, right?
They don't get a reading nine because they actually think, okay, here we go.
I'm going to read a few paragraphs. I'm going to answer some questions.
Let's get started, right? Exactly. That's why we need strategies.
Yeah, yeah. And it happens to test takers the first time they take the exam a lot as well.
If they're thinking, I read pretty well, I'll have time to read these passages and then find the answers to the questions.
You just don't have a lot of time. So you need strategies.
You need to be identifying keywords. And when you're taking the paper-based exam, it's really easy to underline those keywords.
But on the computer-based exam, you can't do that.
So they have this highlighting function.
The way it works is you select the text with your cursor, right-click on it, and then options will pop up.
One of them says highlight, and you'll choose that, and it will highlight that text so that you can easily look back, see the keywords.
Once you find them in the passage, you want to highlight there as well.
Yeah, importance of practicing on a computer itself, right?
I'll be ready to prepare if you know you're taking the computer-based test.
Exactly. And one thing that's interesting to note is that the examiner does not see what you highlighted.
So if you're worried at all that that could affect your score, we can let you know that it won't, right?
This doesn't affect your score. The examiner doesn't see what you highlighted.
They just see your answers for the reading exam.
Great to know. Great to know. And we've talked about how to highlight.
So what else do we have to know here about highlighting, Aubrey?
Yeah, we want to make sure that you will understand what happens if you don't highlight.
Because on the paper-based exam, it's so fast.
It's pretty much a given that you're going to underline those keywords.
It does take a little more time on the computer-based exam.
So there is a chance that you'll say, I don't have time for that.
I'm going to skip it. But if you skip it, it's very difficult to find answers in the text if you don't identify keywords in the questions and then scan for them in the passage.
And if you don't highlight them, Very easy to like forget which ones were the keywords.
You might find yourself reading a question multiple times instead of just being really strategic about identifying keywords.
Interesting. So it really is a test preparation strategy to practice highlighting, isn't it?
Yes. Yeah, that's a really good point as well.
If you take an online IELTS course, make sure that it also prepares for the computer-based exam for that function so that you can practice that highlighting strategy.
You can also do this on a regular computer.
It works the same way where you take your cursor, highlight a word or a phrase, right click, and then there'll be a dropdown for you to check.
So if you don't use a computer a ton, this would be a function that you would need to practice so that you can do it very quickly.
I love it. So important to know. Yeah. And you also need to, oh, sorry, Lindsay.
That's okay. What else, Aubrey? There's another reason you definitely need to highlight.
It's very easy to lose track of where you were in the test.
So many answers are in order in the passage, and you want to highlight those keywords when you find them because that's where you'll be starting to find the next set of questions.
You do not want to start... From the top of the exam and then read all the way through, right?
Once you find those questions, you know you don't have to start at the top.
You start from the question you just found and the next question will be in order.
So if you don't have anything highlighted, it's easy to lose track of where you found that answer and where you'll start reading.
Yep, this is where strategy and practice comes in, right?
We need to walk into that exam knowing exactly how to handle this test, not being passive, being active in how we approach it.
Things like highlighting, time management, those are key to your score.
Exactly. It's absolutely vital that you highlight.
So I'm so glad Emerson sent in this question, Emerson, because you definitely want to use that function, practice using it so that you're ready to very quickly look for those keywords and highlight them.
And then once you find them in the passage as well, you'll highlight them there as well.
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Okay, Aubrey, let's get into other functions on the computer-based exam.
We talked about highlighting in the first part of the episode.
Now let's talk about taking notes. Is this something we should do?
If so, where should we do it on the computer test?
Yeah, you should not use this note-taking function.
Don't know why it even exists. It is a waste of time and won't help you.
So when you right-click text, you've highlighted some text, right-click it, you have the option to highlight or take notes.
You do not have time to ever take notes and you don't need to.
You are using strategies to identify keywords, find those answers in the text.
Any notes you would possibly take there during the reading exam would be a huge waste of time.
You do not have time to take notes. So don't use that function.
So good to know, because I could see if we're not listening to this podcast or taking a preparation course, we might go in there and see, oh, I have the capability to do it.
That's probably what they want me to do.
Right. Right. You might think the examiner sees those notes.
Maybe you're graded on them. Who knows? It's strange that IELTS gave you this function, maybe just because, of course, when you're taking the paper-based exam, you can write anything you want on that test paper.
So if you did think of a note you wanted to take, don't know what that would be, you don't really have time to be writing about what you're reading, but then they're giving you that option to also be able to take a note on your computer-based exam.
We highly recommend that you don't use that function.
Okay, so note-taking notes. What about marking questions for review?
Yeah, so this is another function on the computer-based exam, and you definitely do want to use this function.
You don't want to spend longer than one minute looking for an answer.
If it takes longer than that... If you can't find it quickly, you want to mark it for review and come back.
Get all of the questions that you can find quickly.
And then if you have time, you'll come back to those that were taking you a little more time.
So how would we do this on the paper-based exam, Lindsay, if we want to mark a question for review?
Yeah, it's funny to learn how IELTS has tried to take what happens on pen and paper with pen and pencil and paper and gets translated into the computer.
On paper, you would simply circle the number on the exam, right?
Yes. Exactly. And you're just skipping that one.
And then you'll flip back through your exam and look for any numbers that are circled that you skipped.
You don't have that option of circling a number on the computer-based exam.
So there's a little box that you can check for each question if you're skipping it.
And then along the bottom, you'll see that you can return to those for review.
So it's pretty simple, pretty user-friendly, and you should definitely use it.
If you end up spending five, six, seven minutes looking for an answer, that might be five, six, seven questions you don't have time to answer at the end.
So instead of doing that, mark it for review.
Come back later if you have time. Yeah, that's an important point too.
Any extra time we're spending on something is time we're giving away from something else further down on the exam.
So good to know. Right. Exactly. Right.
So of these three functions, these are the main functions on the reading exam that like you said, Lindsay, IELTS is trying to figure out how to make it equitable for students that are taking the paper based exam and computer based exam.
Anything that you would have written on a paper test.
They want you to have that option when you're taking the exam on the computer, right?
Definitely go in our archives and look for past episodes we've done about the computer-based exam because there are some other perks.
There are other reasons that we've said if you can, take the computer-based exam.
You can control the listening audio more easily.
There are definitely some things that make it easier.
It's not available everywhere in the world yet, but if it is, we highly recommend that you take the computer-based exam instead of paper-based.
Good recommendation. I love it. And of course, our course, Three Keys IELTS, prepares you for all types of the exam, the writing academic, the general, the computer general, and academic.
All right. Exactly. Whatever you are taking, whichever IELTS exam you're taking, Three Keys IELTS prepares you, so you can sign up at allearsenglish.com slash keys, K-E-Y-S.
And you also have an opportunity to join our community for speaking practice and for that sense of community, that support that you often need.
You don't want to do it alone when you're studying for a test like IELTS.
Oh, for sure. And you want that frequent speaking practice.
We offer up to two times a week, most weeks, two opportunities, two different times you can come and join and speak with many students and the teacher as well.
One of us is usually hosting the call and you have a chance to speak with us in the large group or sometimes in the hot seat if you're lucky.
All right. Exactly. What great practice for the IELTS speaking exam.
So sign up at allearsenglish.com slash keys.
All right. Have a good one, Aubrey. See you next time.
Awesome. Thanks, Lindsay. Bye. Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy.
Hit subscribe now and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglish.com slash my score.
