English Mastery / Reading

Read for meaning, not for every word.

Bangladeshi students are usually the strongest at reading — but in the wrong way. School trains you to translate every sentence. The exam asks you to find specific information in 700 words in 9 minutes. Different skill. Different muscle.

Reading practice tests Start free

The four-pass method

The single technique that unlocks Band 8 reading.

Pass 1 · 60-second skim
Read only the title, first sentence of each paragraph, and the last sentence. Ignore everything else. You are building a mental map of the passage, not understanding it.
Pass 2 · Read the questions
Now read all the questions. Underline keywords — names, numbers, dates, capitalised terms. These are your scan targets.
Pass 3 · Scan for answers
Go question by question. Use your mental map to jump to the right paragraph. Read only the 2-3 sentences around your scan target. Answer. Move on.
Pass 4 · Verify uncertain answers
The questions you weren't sure about — these are usually paraphrased. Look for synonyms, not exact wording. "Inexpensive" in the question = "low-cost" in the passage.

The five question types and how to crack them

True / False / Not Given

The trap is "Not Given." If the passage doesn't say it — even if it sounds plausible — the answer is NG, not False.

Matching headings

Look at the first AND last sentence of each paragraph. The heading is usually a paraphrase of one of these. Eliminate before guessing.

Sentence completion

Match keywords first, then look at grammar. The word you insert must fit grammatically with what's around the blank.

Multiple choice

The wrong answers are often half-true. Eliminate before choosing. Two options will sound similar — one of them is the distractor.

Summary completion

The summary is in a different order than the passage. Don't expect linearity. Map the keywords first.

Diagram / flow-chart labels

Read the passage in chronological order around the process described. Bangla speakers often skip — don't. Process descriptions are linear by design.

The two-newspaper rule

Read two articles per day from the international press. One from a British paper (The Guardian, BBC, The Economist) and one from an American (The Atlantic, NYT, Washington Post). Why two? Different vocabulary, different sentence rhythm, different idioms.

Spend 5 minutes reading, 2 minutes summarising aloud in English. Do this for a month and the IELTS reading test becomes routine.

Speed targets you should hit before the exam

IELTS Academic Reading: 60 minutes, 3 passages, 40 questions. Aim for 18 minutes per passage with 6 minutes left to verify.
TOEFL Reading: 35 minutes, 2 passages, 20 questions. ~17 minutes per passage including all questions.
PTE Reading: Mixed item types, ~30 minutes total. Each item takes 90 seconds to 3 minutes. Speed comes from practising the item types, not from reading faster.

Take a timed reading test