Sixty minutes, forty questions, three dense passages. The secret is allocating your minutes with military precision and trusting scanning skills.
Adopt the 17/20/23 split
IELTS Reading gives you 60 minutes for 3 passages. Spend 17 minutes on Passage 1 to build confidence, 20 minutes on Passage 2, and keep 23 minutes for the dense final passage. Practise with a timer until switching passages at those time stamps feels natural.
If a question stalls you for more than 60 seconds, skip it and mark the number. Returning later with a fresh mind is far better than losing time for six remaining questions.
Use layered reading
Every passage should be read in layers: skim the headings for gist, scan for keywords that match the questions, then deep read only the lines that contain answers. This approach keeps you from wasting minutes on irrelevant paragraphs.
Physically map the text with pencil marks or symbols whenever you locate a keyword. When Matching Headings questions ask about paragraph D, your annotations guide you straight there without rereading the entire passage.
Master True/False/Not Given
Write paraphrases of the statements in your own words. Then compare your paraphrase with the passage: if it matches, mark True; if the passage says the opposite, mark False; if there’s no confirmation, choose Not Given.
Avoid emotional reactions. If you ‘feel’ an answer should be true but the text provides no evidence, choose Not Given. Logical discipline protects your band score more than guesswork does.
Handle tricky matching tasks
For Matching Headings or Information, underline the topic sentence of each paragraph. Most answers hide there because it summarises the idea. Then eliminate headings that do not feature the core noun or verb you see in the paragraph.
When matching researchers or theories, build a quick table in the margin with names and key facts. This manual index saves time later.
Stay calm during answer recording
You write directly on the answer sheet, so keep handwriting neat and capitalise proper nouns. If time is running short, prioritise filling every blank—even educated guesses are better than empty boxes.
Use the final minute to check spelling, especially for paraphrased words that appeared only once. A single missing letter can drop an otherwise correct answer.
Key Takeaways
- Stick to the 17/20/23 guideline until it becomes instinctive.
- Treat scanning as the default, deep reading as the exception.
- For Matching Headings, match gist not keywords.
Final Thoughts
Time management is a habit. Drill with a timer, analyse where minutes disappear, and you will reach question 40 with confidence.