Do you know how many words on average you need to read in the IELTS exam? It can be up to 900 words for each of the three questions- that’s a lot. How long does it take you to read all those words? I don’t know, but it’s a question you need to ask yourself.
Now, in the exam of course, if you’re smart that is, you don’t have to read all those words and I’ll be posting later to show you effective strategies to do just that. Nonetheless, it’s still true that you will need to up your reading speed. This is not just about skimming and scanning, it’s about reading more quickly. Take a look at this advice on how to improve your reading speed, there are techniques here you can learn.
Cueprompter is a fantastic program which can help you do just that in another way. If you use it regularly, your reading speed will increase. And there are at least three other advantages. It’s free. It’s fun – so you’ll actually want to use it. It’s also an excellent way to read newspapers and RSS feeds, both of which will improve your general vocabulary for the exam.
Here is a brief video tutorial on how to use it.
Moral: almost the hardest part of the reading paper is the amount of words you have to process. You need to practise this skill regularly, you won’t learn it overnight.
http://www.Shaks.ws is a FREE tool for speed reading, very useful the reading part of the IELTS. It has exercises that help to move eyes faster, reduce sub-vocalization, excellent online tool