IELTS Exam Skills(2)

IELTS Exam Masterclass

Skimming

Skimming means to read the text quickly so you can understand the general meaning. You do not read each word or study the text in detail. You are just getting the gist of what it’s about.

Why is this important for IELTS?

Skimming is a key reading skill because once you understand what the text is all about, you will be able to find the specific information you need to answer the questions easier.

Understanding the general meaning of a text will help you to scan for the correct information and find the right answer.

How to skim read

1) Read the title and any headings and sub-headings. These give big clues as to what the whole text is about.

2) Read the first sentence (the topic sentence) of paragraph one. This will give you a good idea of what the paragraph is about.

3) Briefly scan through the rest of the paragraph noticing key information such as names, dates and keywords.

4) Repeat this with each paragraph.

5) Read the last paragraph a little more slowly as it probably contains a summary of the whole text.

This technique can be applied to any text but only with practice will you be able to use it effectively.

I will give an example text to demonstrate what this looks like in our next Blog post.