In this lesson, you will learn strategies for READING COMPREHENSION exercises in exams and tests. Also see - MOST COMMON MISTAKES IN ENGLISH & HOW TO AVOID THEM: • 50 MOST COMMON MISTAKE...
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Transcript:
Hello and welcome back. This
lesson comes from a request by
Aditya from Maharashtra, India.
Aditya says he is preparing for
a competitive exam and he has
to do reading comprehension
exercises as part of the exam,
and he wants to know the best
way to do these.
Before we start, if you want to
request a lesson, just leave a
comment. In your comment, tell
me your name, and I will
mention you in the video.
OK, in this lesson I will give
you some important tips and
strategies for reading
comprehension exercises. I will
give you a reading plan that
you can follow, and there are
exercises in this lesson for
you to practice.
Alright, now my teaching
experience is mostly with exams
like the IELTS and TOEFL, but
the tips that I give you in
this lesson will help you in
any exam situation.
So the first thing is: when it
comes to reading in an exam,
budget your time. That means:
you should know how many
reading passages there are in
the exam, how many exercises
there are and how much time you
have. In the IELTS exam, for
example, there are three
reading passages and you have
one hour to do all of them. So
then divide your time amongst
those passages - for IELTS, you
might spend roughly 20 minutes
per passage. In some exams, one
passage might be shorter or
easier, and another passage
might be longer or more
difficult. In that case,
obviously, you should plan to
spend less time on the short
passage, and more time on the
long passage.
And you should time yourself -
if you are allowed to wear a
watch in your exam, look at
your watch and keep track of
the time. If you plan for 20
minutes per passage, stick to
that plan. Now, if you’re not
allowed to wear a watch, then
use the clock in the room or
hall, or ask the invigilators
how much time you have left.
Alright, that’s the first
thing: budgeting your time. So
now the exam starts - and you
have the first reading passage
in front of you - what do you
do? Well, I’ll tell you what
you should NOT do - don’t start
at the beginning and read
slowly to the finish. Many
students do this - and the
problem is that when you get to
the end, you will have
forgotten a lot of the details
in the middle, and when you
read the questions, you have to
go back and read the passage
again to find the answers.
Instead, here’s the plan that
you should follow: your first
step in reading should be to
skim the passage. What does
that mean? Well, skimming is
actually something that we do
with milk. It’s when you heat
or boil milk, and the fat rises
to the top in the form of
cream. Removing that layer of
fat is called skimming.
When it comes to reading,
skimming means to read the
surface of the text quickly to
understand the overall message.
So if there’s a heading or
title to the passage, and if
there are subheadings, read all
of these first. They will tell
you the subject of the text.
Then read the first sentence of
each paragraph - they will give
you a good idea of the overall
message.
Let’s practice this. You see
two paragraphs on the screen,
but only the first sentence in
each paragraph is visible. Stop
the video, read the sentences
and try to understand the main
topic in each paragraph.
Alright, so what do you think
the topic of the whole passage
might be? It could be the
negative effects of social
media on children. What about
the first paragraph? What is it
about? Well it says that using
social media can affect a
child’s writing skills. And the
second paragraph? It says that
some people don’t agree with
this - that is, the first
paragraph - for two reasons:
scientific reasons and
practical reasons (pragmatic).