IELTS reading strategies and tips Part 2. Today, we're going to discuss how considering the passage layout is very important. Remember that in the reading test the questions may come before or after the passages. You need to know where each of the three sections of the reading test begins and ends, how many questions there are in that part of the test, and where they also begin and end. How long you spend on a group of questions and which questions to answer first. Remember, we have many types of IELTS reading question tasks, and some of them we reviewed in our previous lesson. As you remember, that matching headings with paragraphs, short-answer questions, identifying information was, yes, no, true, false or on that given questions. We have different notes, summary, table, flow chart, completion, matching phrases, identification of a writer's point of view, multiple-choice questions, sentence completion and classification. We have different types of tasks and knowing how to answer a specific task is very crucial. Before taking your test, you have to make sure you understand the passage layout, and how to approach each type of task. Now, we are going to discuss one of the most common strategies in the reading, which is scanning the reading passage. We use a strategy all the time at school, at work, at home, and during different occasions. Remember, scanning is a method to use when you need to search a page quickly for information that you acquire. When you complete your IELTS tests, it's one of the most important strategies to know. Try to make sure that you practice to scan as much as possible because during the reading test as you remember, you'll be given three large passages to read and you will not have enough time to read them all carefully. A lot of times you would have to scan your passages, go back to your question, and then go back to your passage again and identify specific information and answer the question. Also, you can follow the tips below. For example, you can skim the passage quickly for the general information. Then you can scan the passage for the specific information. As you remember, specific information is numbers, data, names, etc. Then you just sweep your eyes across the page slowly and smoothly. It's a good idea to start at the top left and work your way across and down the page. Do not read every word and do not rush. Also, guide your eyes with your finger or pen. I always try to use my pencil when I scan some passages, and when I find some specific information that I'm looking for keywords, I always circle them. It helps me to go back and identify the answer. Occasionally stop for a moment to read something important and continue skimming back and forth. Now, I'm going to discuss how to read and identify the topic sentence first. A reading passage consists of a number of paragraphs, each of which has a main idea or topic that tells the reader more about the main topic of the passage. The topic sentence is usually, but not always, the first sentence of the paragraph. You can try to use the following order when you look for a topic sentence. First, you can check the first sentence, then the second sentence, and then the last sentence. Remember, if you didn't discover the topic sentence of the paragraph, you probably have to read the whole paragraph to find out what it is about. Remember that introduction has the main idea or topic of the entire passage. Pay close attention to your introduction and try to understand it. If the passage is an argument, it should state writer's opinion. Also, it's important to remember that conclusion often summarizes the main points of the passage and is often worth reading directly after looking at the introduction. Now, we are going to review how to read around the keywords and phrases. Sometimes the answer to the question can be found without a detailed reading of a paragraph that might contain the answer. When you are completing multiple-choice, true, false, in a given type of tasks, you need to choose a keyword or phrase from the question you have, and go back to your reading passage and try to locate the first example of it. Try to read the words around it and discover the answer. Read the sentence that the keyword or phrase is within. If it's necessary, you also can read sentences before and after. That can help you to identify correct information. If you cannot find the answer, continue looking for the next instance with the keywords.