IELTS Reading Keywords Techniques
IELTS reading module is a part of IELTS test conducted by different organizations to analyze the skills of reading and your abilities that how well you understand about reading. IELTS reading test is one of the challenging tasks for you to manage time and solve all types of questions in the test within a limited time constraint. Time limit for IELTS reading test is 60 minutes and you cannot complete the test without IELTS reading keywords techniques and strategies. For having detailed introduction, read articles IELTS reading introduction and frequently asked questions faqs about IELTS reading on this website.
The reading test consists of 3 lengthy passages with different topics. You are to attempt 40 questions along with wide range of question types in both types of IELTS reading- IELTS academic reading and IELTS general training reading. You have to answer all questions after understanding along with following instructions, because instructions are important to note and follow in the test. If you do not follow instructions, you can lose scores.
Reading passages, understanding them, reading questions, and answering with full care in the pressure of limited time are difficult tasks to handle. You have to face different words with similar meanings. Therefore, you must need to take good command on vocabulary. In handling most of the words known as key words, you have to find with full concentration which are not easily to appear in the text.
Let us have a quick detail about keywords.
An introduction about IELTS reading keywords
The words that contain a specific information about specific task regarding question in a reading test are called keywords. These keywords can be in the form of:
Summary of IELTS reading keywords
Keywords reading techniques are essential to save time and perform best in the test of IELTS reading in which 3 lengthy passages are assigned to check the abilities of a candidate that how well he understands the reading passages and questions. Vocabulary plays an important role to identify keywords in the passages due to the complexity of words and most of the time. If you have good knowledge of vocabulary, identifying ability of keywords will be increased. Keywords are the words related to exact words or have the close sense of actual words. These words consist of specific information in the passage regarding specific task in IELTS reading test. These keywords are in the form of nouns, verbs, names, locations etc. Therefore, you do not need to pay close attention, just use skim reading and underline keywords and choose exact one to answer the question of reading test. In simple words, it is also called keyword technique to find keyword in an easy way.
- Nouns (unique: special, distinctive, eccentric etc.)
- Verbs (follow: walk behind, obey, observe etc.)
- Names (Ajmal Dass Jaipal can be used as Jaipal, Dass etc.)
- Locations (Paris can be visible as the city of light)
- Dates or years (18 April may be represented by World Heritage Day)
- Italicized words
- Capitalized words etc.
The relevant information about question can be found in keywords. These are important to give answer in a limited time, otherwise it will consume a lot of time to answer each question. Use the skill of reading named as scanning, and find all keywords in the reading passage. Then, pick the words and answer it with respect to the question.
There are a lot of IELTS reading practice tests used to polish their skills of reading and finding keywords in a fast manner.
Importance of keywords in IELTS reading
IELTS reading keywords play a significant role in IELTS reading. With the help of keywords, you can manage your time perfectly. Because these keywords help you to answer the questions quickly without wasting time to get answer by understanding deeply.
Vocabulary plays a vital role to get right keywords for answering questions. Keywords are the specific information regarding questions. So, there is no need to pay a level of attention to search answer, just use scanning to find answer and grip the exact one.
What are keyword synonyms?
The words which have similar meaning; the meanings are related to the words are called synonyms. Keyword synonyms are important to note out from text to save time and answer fast. Most of the time these words cannot be exact meaning of that word but you can find close meanings. These keyword synonyms are used to analyze the understanding of a candidate about his vocabulary.
To clear this concept, I share some examples for you which can also be called IELTS reading keyword table.
| Words | Close meaning |
| People | Folks |
| Heart | Centre |
| Books | Scripture |
| Era | Age |
| Content | Material |
You face these types of words in the reading passages.
Ways to identify IELTS reading keywords in a paragraph
IELTS reading test is one of the challenging tests of IELTS. It can be easy for you if you use good strategies of skimming and scanning. If you have good command on skimming and scanning, the result of reading increases a lot. Underlining the keywords makes it easy in searching keywords. Keyword technique is mandatory to find keywords in IELTS reading passages.
What is keyword technique?
Keyword technique is to find out the similar words with close meanings in the passage of IELTS reading. These words cannot be exact same like question words but it may be in the sense of that word. Keyword technique is simple to follow while choosing keywords in reading passages. Following are the IELTS reading keywords techniques:
- You must have a good command on vocabulary.
- First of all, read the question carefully.
- Understand the sense of the question.
- Make a note in mind about question words and its synonyms.
- After it, use the technique of skimming and scanning.
- Underlining keywords makes you easy to find correct keywords. Therefore, underline keywords like nouns, verbs or adjectives etc.
- After underlining keywords, skim the passage.
- Read question again and compare correct answers.
- If you do not find same word, do not waste time and find close synonym.
- Finalize your correct answer and transfer it to answer sheet.
These IELTS reading keywords techniques help you to save your time in IELTS reading test. But it is important to note that you must have good command on vocabulary so that you can find synonyms easily. You will definitely get good bands if you have good understanding about vocabulary.
In a nutshell:
IELTS reading test is one of the challenging tests and difficult to attempt because of its time period and lengthy passages. You have to manage your time to do the whole test.
If you have ability to find right keywords, you can easily crack reading test. But it is compulsory to note that your finding ability of keywords can be strong when you have good command on vocabulary. Therefore, first of all make good knowledge of vocabulary. Examiner evaluates your reading abilities and strategies that how well you are able to understand different types of situations in the reading module.
Keywords are similar words used in the paragraph of the IELTS reading test. You have to remember that most of the time you cannot find close similar words in a passage, at that time you are required to search close meanings. Keyword technique is essential for identifying keywords in a text.
