The reading section seems like it would be the
most simple. It’s the first one, so you
are fresh and energized. You can do back
and check your answers (which you canNOT do on the listening section) and the
text is right in front of you! All you
have to do is choose the correct answer!
However, consistently this is the section that
my students have the most trouble with.
I have had many students who will always finish their reading practice
exercises with tons of time to spare.
But suddenly when they are at the test center, they almost always run
out of time! Here are some tips and
tricks I have learned to help with the reading section.
Manage your time
You have either 60 mins to complete 3 reading
passages or 80 minutes to compete 4.
That sounds like plenty of time!
BUT it is not. Do NOT spend more
than 20 minutes on any of the passages.
There is a clock on the screen to help you. Look at it frequently, and when you are
practicing before the test, try to do 2 passages in 30 minutes as an exercise to
help you push the pace. This brings me
to the next tip...
Practice on a computer
My students are always amazed by how much time
it takes to click back and forth between the passage and the questions. Get used to this by using the ETS published
books to practice using the CD and a computer beforehand. Flipping the pages of a book and moving a
mouse around a screen actually take up different amounts of time!
Identify the type of question
This doesn’t help everyone, but most textbooks
spend a decent amount of time introducing the type of questions that are
asked. Vocabulary questions, factual
information questions, inference questions and negative factual information
questions are just a few categories that often come up. Learn what all of that means, and if you get
stuck on a question try to think about what category it is and how that could
help you find the correct answer.
Pssstt...there is a trick to the summary
questions!
A summary is not a piece of information.
Vocabulary
The reading section can trip up the most
prepared student if they run into a word they have never seen before. Do not think that means memorizing every word
in the dictionary! Of course you should
study vocabulary words, particularly from sample reading exercises in various
textbooks, but you should also learn how to understand the word in context, and
separate longer words into parts so you can recognize the root of the
word.
Vocabulary: trip up v. to confuse push the pace expression to
increase the rate of something
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