The reading section is a challenge for many PTE students. One of the main reasons is poor time management. Some of the texts seem to be too long, especially in the multiple-choice sections, therefore, it is very important to develop good scanning and skimming skills. This article will give you some advice to get better over time.
Track the clock
Always bear in mind that time is limited for reading; only 32 — 41 minutes. Allocate the specific amount of time for each section with practice. Pay attention to the timer and move on when spending too much time on a section.
Expand your vocabulary and remember words that frequently occur together. This will help you to navigate faster within big texts.
There are hundreds of rules, so make sure you are familiar with the most common ones before taking a test.
Practice makes perfect
Practice improves your skills concerning summarising, skimming, locating keywords and guessing the meaning of new words. Also, include the following exercises for better marks in Reading:
- Read Aloud
- Summarise Written Text
- Highlight Correct Summary
Have a strategy
- Skim through each sentence to get the overall ideaof the text.
- Next, find the main sentencein the text. It usually consists of past searches, peoples’ names, locations, dates and main keywords.
- Then identify all transitional words(however, as a result, to begin with, yet, etc). These linking words will help you to apply a logical flow or chronological sequence to all sentences.
- Lastly, read the reorganised text quicklyto check if anything feels inappropriate, with a final confirmation or correction.