Three-Phase Advanced Reading Strategy
Advanced IELTS readers do not read texts from beginning to end before looking at questions — that approach consumes up to 12 minutes per passage and is a primary cause of time failure. The three-phase strategy maximises efficiency. Phase 1 — Preview (90 seconds): read the title, subtitle, topic sentence of each paragraph, and all questions. Annotate the question types on your question sheet. Phase 2 — Locate (variable): use question keywords to scan for the relevant paragraph, then read only that paragraph in depth. For matching headings, scan paragraph first sentences only. Phase 3 — Verify (30 seconds per answer): before committing to an answer, re-read the exact sentence in the text and confirm it matches the option word-for-word or through paraphrase. This three-phase approach limits full-text reading to only the paragraphs you actually need and is the method used by Band 8–9 scorers. For a 60-minute section with three passages, allocate 18–20 minutes per passage, using any remaining time for verification.