IELTS Reading Tip: The three sections in GT Reading

IELTS Reading Tip: The three sections in GT Reading

Certain tasks in IELTS are more predictable than the others — for example, we know that in the Listening module there is always at least one part related to education and academic knowledge. The Reading module in General Training also features topics that are fairly predictable, and there is no reason to not prepare well for them.

English for life

Section 1 is almost always based on two to three short texts related to using English to go about everyday business in life — booking a hotel room, looking for information in an advertisement, instructions on applying for a driving license. If you are used to using English in your daily life, the first section should not be too much of a problem for you.

Section 2 is also predictable, with at least one text related to work. For example, I have seen texts about dealing with office politics in the GT module. There are a lot of words and metaphorical expressions in the workplace that have very specific meanings, and understanding them will allow you to answer the questions a lot more confidently. Without using a dictionary, can you be sure about what these words, found in the General Training Reading module, actually refer to?

endeavour, evaluate, win-win, agreement, cost of entitlement, fixed-term contract, legally-required, ad-hoc basis, resource-allocation, assets, management directives, facilitate

If you can’t, you will probably need to do a bit more reading. You may also want to brush up your vocab a little bit more. For a start, I recommend these three media outlets:

  • Financial Times (Work and Careers)
  • The Guardian (Technology)
  • The New York Times (Health)

The unpredictability of section 3

Section 3 always features a long text that is a lot harder than the previous two. What’s worse, the topic of the text can just be about anything, ranging from marine animals to harvesting coffee beans. If you are aiming to get a band score of at least 7 in Reading, you must start reading texts related to the topics mentioned above. Make sure you don’t lose marks or waste time unnecessarily!

The three sections in GT Reading

The three sections in GT Reading The three sections in GT Reading The three sections in GT Reading v v The three sections in GT Reading

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