Basic IELTS Reading - Effective Reading Skills Enhancement Material

For those who want to learn IELTS Reading but don't know where to start, Basic IELTS Reading is a must-have resource. The main content of the book begins with 11 types of IELTS Reading questions, reading skill strategies, and practice exercises in the standard format of real exams. These cover all the knowledge that a newbie needs to grasp. Let's delve deeper into the structure of Basic IELTS Reading and the steps for effective reading with PREP!

I.  Introduction to the Basic IELTS Reading Book

First, let's explore some general information and the target audience for Basic IELTS Reading with PREP!

1. General information about Basic IELTS Reading

Basic IELTS Reading is part of the Basic IELTS book series, which focuses on the IELTS exam and consists of four books corresponding to the four skills: Basic IELTS Listening, Basic IELTS Speaking, Basic IELTS Writing, and Basic IELTS Reading.

True to its name, "Basic IELTS Reading" provides readers with the most fundamental information and knowledge about the IELTS Reading test, helping newbies gain confidence in familiarizing themselves with and mastering this skill.

2. Target audience for Basic IELTS Reading

The suitable audience for studying Basic IELTS Reading is individuals who want to embark on conquering IELTS Reading, especially those at a 4.5 IELTS level. Since the book is written entirely in English, individuals with a foundation in English will be able to use it more effectively.

In addition, IELTS teachers or mentors can also refer to the knowledge in Basic IELTS Reading to guide their students.

II. Review of the content of Basic IELTS Reading

Let's explore the detailed structure of the Basic IELTS Reading with PREP right below!

III. Pros and Cons of Basic IELTS Reading

Let's explore the pros and cons of Basic IELTS Reading with PREP!

1. Pros

• Basic Guidance: Basic IELTS Reading PDF is designed to familiarize learners with basic IELTS Reading question types and study methods. It provides the necessary techniques and strategies to effectively approach the test, helping learners quickly tackle any question type.
• Practice Exercises: Basic IELTS Reading PDF comes with 14 practice reading exercises and 2 IELTS Reading tests in the standard format of real exams. This helps learners practice their reading skills and tackle common question types in the Reading test.

2. Cons

• Limited Difficulty Level: Basic IELTS Reading tends to limit its difficulty level to the basic range. Therefore, it may not be suitable for those aiming to achieve a higher level of IELTS Reading band score.
• Lack of Updates: Basic IELTS Reading PDF is not regularly updated, so it may not provide the latest information on the format and requirements of the IELTS Reading test.

IV. Reader's Evaluation of the Basic IELTS Reading Book

Let's hear what readers have to say about the Basic IELTS Reading with PREP!

• Thanh Hung in the "Great IELTS Reading Materials" group shared: "Basic IELTS Reading not only provides detailed explanations of IELTS Reading question types but also offers important vocabulary and phrases based on the reading passages, helping learners expand their vocabulary."
• Customer "Thanh Huong" on the Tiki book platform shared: "Basic IELTS Reading is very suitable for beginners like me. It provides a variety of question types, detailed strategies, practice exercises, and even answer keys. I really like Basic IELTS Reading."

V. Effective Strategies for Studying Basic IELTS Reading

Let's explore the strategies suggested by the author of Basic IELTS Reading to help learners conquer three easy IELTS reading passages with PREP!

1. Skim the Reading Passage before Detailed Answering

"Skimming the reading passage" is one of the steps you should not skip when doing the IELTS Reading test. What are the benefits of doing this?

• It helps readers grasp the length of the reading passage, enabling them to determine the appropriate amount of time to allocate for answering.
• Although skimming may not help readers understand detailed information, it helps them understand the topic that the author is referring to. This triggers their existing knowledge about the topic, serving the purpose of answering subsequent questions.
• It helps identify question types, allowing readers to recall and develop answering strategies for each IELTS Reading question type.

For the first step, you cannot overlook the skills of Skimming and Scanning. These skills will help you quickly grasp the main ideas of the reading passage. Refer to: Handling the IELTS Reading Test with Skimming and Scanning Skills.

2. Read the Main Title, Subtitles, and Attached Appendices

An IELTS Reading passage is presented in various formats:

• Main title (Article title)
• Subtitles (Section titles)
• Appendices (Additional explanatory materials)

Understanding the content of these three elements will help you correctly grasp the content that the author intends to convey to the reader: positive or negative, expressing an opinion, supporting or arguing. This will greatly assist you in answering the questions below.

3. Carefully Read Graphs and Tables

As suggested in Part 2 of PREP, each type of IELTS Reading passage is presented in various formats:

• Articles
• Reports
• Letters
• Tables
• Charts
• ….

Especially for IELTS Reading passages that involve graphs and numerical data, readers need to study them carefully. Quickly reading the information gathered in the tables will help you understand the content of the IELTS Reading passage without paying much attention to the lengthy text above. It saves a lot of time, doesn't it?

4. Study the Opening and Closing Paragraphs

Usually, the sentences that express the main content of the IELTS Reading passage are found in the opening or closing paragraphs. The opening paragraph may summarize the upcoming issue to be discussed, and the closing paragraph will summarize all the additional information. By studying the opening and closing paragraphs of the reading passage carefully, you will quickly grasp the main ideas of the entire passage instead of reading each paragraph, which is time-consuming.

5. Read carefully to find the "Topic sentence" of each paragraph

For question types like "Matching heading" or "Summary of a paragraph," the skill of reading each paragraph to find the "Topic sentence" is crucial. For these question types, you must read each paragraph carefully to determine its main idea and match it with the corresponding answer.

A tip to approach this type of question is to find synonymous or related words between the question and the passage. The answer will definitely not be an exact replica of the paragraph's content; it will be paraphrased. If you grasp many synonymous pairs in English, you will easily see the connection and complete the answer.

6. Use keywords to find the answer to the question

If finding keywords between the question and the passage containing the answer has helped you succeed by 50%, the remaining 50% lies in understanding the content of the previous and following sentences of the sentence containing the keywords. Since the content of a passage cannot be expressed in just one word, it will be fully expressed through two, three, or even a short paragraph. Therefore, to find the most accurate answer, you need to carefully study the sentences surrounding the keywords.

7. Use word prefixes to determine the meaning of new words

Encountering new words while doing the IELTS Reading test is inevitable. So, how can you do the task if you don't know the meaning of the vocabulary? The author has suggested relying on the prefixes and suffixes of words to determine the meaning of new words.

In English, we often have prefixes and suffixes that, when looked at, can imply whether their meaning is positive or negative. Below, PREP has collected and compiled common prefixes in English, for example:

• Un - Unhappy;
• Non - Nonprofit;
• In - Independent;
• Mis - Misunderstand;
• Dis - Disadvantage.

8. Use context to guess the meaning of new words

In addition to relying on prefixes to guess the meaning of new words, we can also rely on the context of the reading passage to infer the meaning of the vocabulary. For example: “Cutting down trees and destroying forests is an action that should be condemned. Those people deserve to be punished”.

In this sentence, we have "punished" as a word whose meaning you don't know. So, in your perspective, does this word carry a positive or negative meaning? Based on the preceding part: "Cutting down trees, destroying," we can infer that "Those people" who carry out these actions should be punished, criticized, condemned ➞ negative meaning.

VI. Where to Buy Authentic Basic IELTS Reading?

Currently, there are many fake books floating around the market, so be careful when buying Basic IELTS Reading! To save you time, below PREP has compiled and collected the addresses of super reputable places to buy the book along with the Basic IELTS Reading PDF file for you to download and study for free. Check it out!

Download Basic IELTS Reading PDF for free

In this article, PREP has provided a detailed review of the content structure of Basic IELTS Reading and effective strategies to conquer 3 IELTS Reading passages. Visit PREP regularly to update yourself with high-quality English materials! Good luck!