Are these 27 mistakes

lowering your score?

If you are not improving as fast as you’d like, check these possible reasons.

Find out why you’re not a success at reading and what you can do about it.

Instructions:

- Answer 'Yes' or 'No' for each question given

- Count the how many you marked 'Yes'

- Read what this means for you on Page 6

- Take notes & record Zimmerman's Cycle on Page 4

About Niamh

Teaching IELTS 10 years

in Cambridge & the best

1. Are you worried about the time limit in the exam?
universities in Ireland.
Worry is a form of anxiety. Well-known psychologist, Sigmund
Used scientific training
Freud, first described it in 1894. Psychologists today know that time
(Master's in Science) to
pressure in exams creates more worry. This reduces brain functioning
develop unique processes
& focus which leads to bad decisions, the wrong answers and lower
for students to use based
scores. To reduce anxiety & improve confidence requires in-depth
on in-depth research into
practice & the use of proven strategies to enhance focus & decision-
how the brain works
making in the exam.
during tasks for language

learners.
2. Do you have problems remembering where you
    With Niamh's strategic

   found information in the text? processes over 700 students

You are using your short-term memory. But it can’t handle a lot of secured places at top

information. If you have a bad short-term memory, you get distracted universities with band 7+

easily & choose the wrong answers. Psychologists report that having a     Students can increase

bad short-term memory leads to poor academic achievement, however, band scores with just a few

it is possible to improve with targeted strategies. hours of training. One

student moved from 5

in reading to 7 & 8 in just

3. Do you often fail to get all the answers correct?
5 weeks.
Students with a ‘low-literacy’ rating have poor reading skills. They try

to answers based on speed instead of accuracy. This battle between

Did you know?
speed & accuracy leads to the wrong answers. Students with ‘high
1 in 6 people are 'poor
literacy’ make better judgements and don’t rush the answers. Strategic
readers' & will work jobs
training can move you from ‘low-literacy’ to ‘high literacy’ & develop
that pay very little keeping
your ability to find the correct answer.
them in poverty.
McKoon & Ratcliff,, 2018

4. Are you worried about the topic areas?

Did you know?
If you are not familiar with a topic, more problems exist because of the
Band 6.18 is the average
new vocabulary. Solve this by reading a wide range of topics. You will
reading score for females
see new words & expand your knowledge. Increased engagement with
& 6.02 for males.
new words will advance your level quicker.
IELTS Test Data, 2017
 Hippo Educational Technologies

Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel-prize winner, describes this as the ‘Exposure Effect’. Rapidly improve

this with a reading plan & directed activities.

5. Do you think that it is a good idea to read the questions first?

I’m sorry to say this is a huge time waster. It requires your brain to remember more than it needs

to. Your short-term or working memory can’t do it. So it forgets & you read the questions again.

Twice. Maybe 3 times. Forget it! With my process, you don’t do this and you can get to the right

answers much quicker. 

6. Do you get distracted easily?

Getting distracted lowers your exam performance. This is called ‘Distractor Interference’. Your

attention is moved away from the task to something less important. To control your attention, you

need to focus only on the key information. Process training can improve your cognitive control

(brain processing) & attention for higher scores.

7. Do you find the vocabulary difficult?

Your range & knowledge of words affect your comprehension. Make a plan to learn 5-10 new

words every day from different subject areas. This will widen your vocabulary range, boost your

fluency rapidly & with paraphrasing. Don’t forget to use my vocabulary building techniques for

rapid advancement.

Nobel-prize winner Daniel Kahneman

states that repeated exposure to words you

need to know increases your learning with

the 'Exposure Effect' (Q 4)

8. Do you answer the questions in order?

Time wasting! Only answer the questions according to the question type NOT the order. Each

question type requires a specific strategy that you must know. Not following this effective process

brings ‘The strategy struggle’ & your scores to suffer under the time constraints. 

9. Are you trying to improve your skills alone?

Perfect, once you are a highly motivated individual with a high level of ‘self-directed

learning’ & a plan (see Question 16).

10. Do you think you read too slowly?

To read the 6,500 words in the 3 reading passages at an average speed of 200 words per

minute would take you 32.5 minutes. Don’t read everything. Measure your reading speed &

develop your skimming technique. Trying to read quickly leads to mistakes; read

strategically, not rapidly.

IELTS Reading Masterclass

 Hippo Educational Technologies

Using the right strategy at the

right time lowers your stress &

increases your ability to answer

True/False/Not Given (Q15)

11. Are you too confused about the correct approach to use for different

     questions?

It is highly likely you know them, but just don’t when or how to use them. Researchers

(Nordin, et al. 2013) found that knowing how & when to use the correct strategy is the

difference between an effective reader and one that gets low scores. Effective readers train

their skills & achieve greater academic results.

12. Do you struggle with paraphrased terms?

Your brain must quickly use the words given to find the right meaning. This involves your

prior knowledge and memory. Making your brain work in two ways which requires in-

depth thinking (Anderson & Ortony, 1975). Process training develops these thinking skills

to make it easier & quicker to get the right meaning when the words are different.

13. Do you ever misunderstand the instructions?

Trying to finish quickly creates errors. Slow down! Take a few extra seconds to guarantee

you understand the task. Otherwise, you can lose marks for simple mistakes.

14. Does matching headings make you feel sick?

Researchers know that a bad experience in the past, impact your feeling towards it now.

You probably want to avoid matching headings because of previously feeling confused or

stressed, right? Your brain tells you it is worse than it is in reality. This is ‘adaptive

cognition’ and blocks your ability to get the right answers. Regular strategy training for this

question will reduce this effect.

15. Does T/F/NG give you a headache?

Everyone’s favourite, right? This requires more effort than other questions as you need to

read for detail. Skimming and scanning just aren’t good enough. But if it causes pain in

your head, this is due to the tension created. Muscles are contract because of worry. This

from test-anxiety. Stress & anxiety are lowered by implementing the key strategy for this

question & Yes/No/Not Given. Over time, you answer them quicker & without stress.

16. Do you forget to record new words when doing a reading task?

Your word knowledge determines your understanding & fluency level.

Researchers Grabe & Stoller (2002) say learners must understand 95% of words in an

article (‘receptive mastery’). To reach fluency, you must know at least 10,000 headwords.

Don’t forget to record & learn new words every time you read. It will take you longer to

become fluent. Assessment 5.0 in the Reading Masterclass helps you measure your

receptive mastery.

IELTS Reading Masterclass

 Hippo Educational Technologies

17. Do you leave a practice test after you have corrected the answers?

Maybe you already think you are a motivated student & can prepare for alone. It’s good to

do practice tests but correcting your answers is not the end for a truly motivated student.

You must use Zimmerman’s (2000) Cyclical Phases Model (below) to measure your

learning or you will not be improving as much or as fast as you think.

Planning
- Analyse the task
- Set goals 
Adapt & improve - Create a strategic plan Activate
Strategy Use Strategy Use

Self-reflection Performance
- Assess performance - Carry out the task
- Determine strategy - Use process 
effectiveness - Monitor strategy use
- Consider new - Stay motivated
strategies

Measure Effectiveness
of  Strategy Use

 Figure 1: Adaptation of Zimmerman’s (2000) Cyclical Phases Model for self-directed learning

18. Do you forget the right strategies to use under the time pressure?

The ticking clock increases stress levels. Your body produces cortisol which is bad news.

This hormone connects to the part of your brain for memory – the hippocampus and makes

you forget. But you can’t forget strategies to use if you have mastered them & used them

enough that they become natural brain process – like riding a bike.

19. Do you try to underline the keywords in the questions first?

Oh no! A classic mistake that is like ‘fake news’ being spread by low-quality teachers who

don’t know how the brain works in reading tasks. Don’t do it.

Why? Because you don’t know what is ‘key’. Studies show that students with poor reading

skills underline the wrong information. Your brain is then focusing on irrelevant info that

leads to the wrong answer. We don’t need to just focus on words, it’s about focusing on the

ideas!

IELTS Reading Masterclass

 Hippo Educational Technologies

20. Do you have problems finding the keywords in the questions?

Well, yes, how do we know what is ‘key’? I see students underlining 5 out of 7 words in a

sentence. Ridiculous! Focus on the idea of the sentence, then ask ‘what could be changed?’

Mostly, they change a positive ‘The teacher did say this…’ to a negative ‘The teacher did

not say this…’ So that’s one thing to look out for. I’ll be highlighting more ways to find

what is key in the Reading Masterclass.

21. Do you think reading the news every day will improve your IELTS score?

Learning about the world is a good thing. But just reading the news daily will not impact

your skills for IELTS. Remember, IELTS is a timed strategic exam that requires proven

techniques. Skimming the news is not preparation because you need more advanced

techniques that create purpose. Use advanced techniques like prediction & inference.

Maintaining motivation to do this while studying alone is difficult & it’s hard to know if

you are doing it correctly or effectively.

22. Do you rely on information in Facebook groups to help you get a

     better score?

Oh dear! While it is good to share your experiences & ideas with, relying on the tips you

receive here is a bad idea. Yes, I know I have a Facebook group & the things people say are

quite often false. But at least I am there to fix it & give the right information. A lot of

groups are unregulated, full of scams & people who don’t truly know the right strategies to

use. Ask questions, for sure, but only accept the advice of experts…real experts.

23. Do you think that the best way to improve is by doing as many

     practice tests as possible?

‘Practice makes perfect’, right? Wrong! You’re not learning classical guitar. You are doing

a complex task that is always changing. So you need to think & adapt quickly. Each task

changes, so it’s difficult to predict performance unless you’ve learned the strategies &

know how to adapt your approach. I say, practice makes permanent.

24. Do you think boring topics slow down your reading speed?

It’s definitely less enjoyable. I struggle with history. But your speed & reading process

shouldn’t change if you’re effectively using the right process to answer the task. With the

correct process, your ability to skim the text quickly and effectively shouldn’t change.

Getting better at skimming is not enough to

improve your reading skill. More advanced

reading techniques will develop your

reading, motivation & skills (Q21)

IELTS Reading Masterclass

 Hippo Educational Technologies

25. Are you sometimes forced to guess the answers?

Students love to guess, but it has a low success rate. Guessing shows a lack of word

knowledge, time management & an inability to know what strategy to use.

26. Do you get confused between skimming, scanning, reading for gist,

     reading for detail and any other reading strategy you may have heard  

     about?

You may be aware of the names of the strategies but unable to know when and how to use

them. This is the difference between a ‘skilled’ & an ‘unskilled’ reader. Confusion shows

that your skills have not developed in this area. That’s terrible because knowing how &

when to use each strategy is the most important part of the exam.

27. Do you dislike doing tests?

Researchers, Darnell & March (2011) report that if you had a bad experience, then you will

avoid it. You avoid it because your brain tells you it’s a negative experience. This is the

‘hot-stove effect’. With time, you fear it, get more worried & stressed & it will stop you

progressing. This false belief is a ‘Learning Trap’ & can be overcome by training with

better techniques which reduce stress & increase scores.

What's your score?

0-12 13-20 21+

Motivated Madness! Confusion Central! Danger Zone!

You're motivated to work Watching videos & You've fallen into all of

hard & use strategies but following tips online from the traps like many others.

you're following many false other students wastes time The risk is that you can

practices. & effort. It's time to waste months even years

Doing well & achieving a focus. trying to improve when

high score is your target. Set a plan with goals & you can do it easily with

To achieve it requires look for support as your guidance.

the right training with motivation & ability to do it You can reduce your risk

direction & a purpose. alone is low. with expert training.

What my students say...

"Niamh has made me "Using Niamh's methods "Before joining Niamh's "As a result of Niamh's

feel more confident explores the best lessons, I was at band 5 in strategies, I was able to

rather than doing self- approaches. You will be reading. Now, I achieve grow academically, which

study" surprised about what you scores between band 7 and allowed me to succeed at

Layal, Syria thought you knew." 8!" university."

Margarita, the Philippines  Tien, Hong Kong/UK Riccardo, Italy

IELTS Reading Masterclass