TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR READING COMPREHENSION

 

TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR READING COMPREHENSION

Reading is fun, relaxing, and helps you increase your knowledge and boost your vocabulary, writing, and grammar.

TURN THE READING INTO A RITUAL:

1.       Make it a habit.

2.       Make time for your reading.

3.       Read daily.

4.       Look for a quiet place to read.

5.       Avoid distractions at all costs.

 TIME TO READ:

1.       Choose reading material in line with your interest (don´t waste your time reading something you find boring) and according to your English level. If you don´t know it, you can find out here, click Macmillan Readers Level Test 

2.       Skimming technique: read to get a general idea about the text, don´t worry about what you don´t understand.

3.       Scanning technique: read to search for specific information.

4.       Once you have read, go back and look up the words you don´t understand.

 WHAT TO READ: here are some useful links

    Graded readers:    english-e-reader.net and esl-bits.net

    News in levels:     newsinlevels, enewsdispatch. and breakingnewsenglish.

   Spanish newspapers English edition: spainenglish and english.elpais.com

   Newspapers: the guardian, theconversation., and bbc news

- 

 

PET / B1 MOCK TESTS: READING AND LISTENING

Mock exams are taken as practice before an official examination to give you the experience of the test process. Moreover, you can find out your strengths as well as identifying the areas which need to improve. 
It´s made up of four papers:

1) Reading (45 minutes)
2) Writing (45 minutes)
3) Listening (30minutes)
4) Speaking  (12-17 minutes)

Click on the links below to check your knowledge:

TEST 1

READING: PART 1     PART 2     PART 3     PART 4     

LISTENING: PART 1     PART 2     PART 3     PART 4

TEST 2

READING:   PART 1     PART 2     PART 3     PART 4

LISTENING: PART 1     PART 2     PART 3     PART 4

TEST 3

READING: PART 1     PART 2     PART 3     PART 4

LISTENING: PART 1     PART 2     PART 3     PART 4

APTIS GENERAL READING PART 1,2 3 AND 4

Below you will find links to reading practice materials to help you succeed.

Part 1 Sentence comprehension
Choose words to complete sentences
 3-option multiple choice.
Exercises: 1 2  3  4  5  6  7  8

Part 2 Text cohesion
Put sentences into correct order to make a story
7 sentences jumbled up.
Exercises:  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15

Part 3 Short test comprehension
Choose the best word from a list to make a sentence
10 options and 7 empty spaces.
Exercises: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7

Part 4 long text comprehension
Match headings to paragraphs
7 paragraphs and 8 headings.
Exercises: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7

APTIS GENERAL READING PART GAP-FILLING

You have to complete the text by choosing the correct word from a list to fill in the gaps.
First, read the text before and after the gap, then choose the correct one.
Here there are some exercises to practice:
EXERCISE 1     EXERCISE 2     EXERCISE 3     EXERCISE 4 

EXERCISE 5     EXERCISE 6     EXERCISE 7   

READING: A2 / B1 / B2 AND C1

Are you sitting a test in a near future? Do you need to improve your reading skills?
Here you will find an excellent link to do it, choose your level: elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced. Then, click on the link with the exercise you want to do it.
Here there is the link: Reading exercises 

READING B1

Here are some links to help you for reading exams. There are five types of exercises: signs, details, matching, gist and gap. First click on a number, then click the bottoms above to choose different kinds of exercises and finally click home when finishing.

Exercises:           
                              1 / 2 / 3 / 4  / 5 /  6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 /
                             11 / 12  /13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 

TIPS FOR PET READING QUESTIONS

Here you will find some tips and advice on the five parts of the reading.
Part 1: three-option multiple choice
TASK INFORMATION: 
You will be given five short texts (signs, messages, emails, labels, postcards, notes, etc) and there is a three-option multiple choice with each one.
ACTION PLAN:
First, read the text carefully and then read each of the three options. Choose your answer and read both the text and the answer to check your choice is correct.

Part 2: matching
TASK INFORMATION: 
You will be given five short descriptions of people and you have to match them to five short description of eight on a particular topic such as holiday, books, films, etc.
ACTION PLAN:
First, read the five description of the people and underline the key words. Then, read the eight topic texts and underline any information that matches. Finally,check that your choice match on all points.

Part 3: true or false
TASK INFORMATION: 
You will be given a long text with ten true/false statements. If the statment is correct, writes A and if the statement is incorrect, writes B.
ACTION PLAN:
First, read the ten statements which come in the order on the information of the text and underline the key words. Then, read the text and find the key information.

Part 4: four-option multiple choice
TASK INFORMATION: 
You will be given a long text with four-option multiple choice. The text is usually about someone´s attittude, opinion and what their purpose is.
ACTION PLAN:
First, read the text quickly to get a general idea of it. Then, read the text carefully and answer the questions.

Part 5: four-option multiple choice cloze test
TASK INFORMATION: 
You will have to fill in the 10 gaps of a text and you will be given four options for each gap. You are tested on grammar and vocabulary.
ACTION PLAN:
First, read the text to get a general idea. Then, read again and remember to read what comes before and after the gap before choosing.

PET / B1 WRITING PART 1

Writing part 1 has five questions which are all about the same theme. For each question, there is one complete sentence and a second sentence which has a missing word or words. You have to complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first sentence. 

Links to improve your test: 

EXERCISE 1     EXERCISE 2     EXERCISE 3     EXERCISE 4   

EXERCISE 5     EXERCISE 6     EXERCISE 7

PET / B1 READING PART 5: MULTIPLE CHOICE-CLOZE

Part 5 is A short text with 10 numbered spaces. Each space represents a missing word and you have to choose the right answer from a choice of four (A, B, C or D).

Here you have some links:

EXERCISE 1     EXERCISE 2     EXERCISE 3     EXERCISE 4

PET / B1 READING PART 4: MULTIPLE CHOICE

Part 4 has a long text and five questions. You have to read the text and choose the right answer (A, B, C or D) for each of the five questions.

Here you have some links where to practice: 

EXERCISE 1     EXERCISE 2     EXERCISE 3     EXERCISE 4

PET / B1 READING PART 3: TRUE OR FALSE

Part 3 consists of a long text and 10 sentences about the text. You have to read the text and say if each sentence is true or false. Here you have some links to practice: exercise 1     exercise 2     exercise 3     exercise 4

PET / B1: READING PART 2: MATCHING

There are five short descriptions of people and eight short texts to read. You have to match each person to a text.

Here you have some links to improve this part: 

exercise 1     exercise 2     exercise 3     exercise 4

PET / B1: READING PART 1 MULTIPLE CHOICE

There are five very short texts (they may be signs and messages, postcards, notes, emails, labels, etc.). You have to read them and choose which of the three sentences (A, B or C) is the best description of the text.

Here you have some links to improve your reading: 

exercise 1      exercise 2     exercise 3     exercise 4

MORE AUDIBOOKS

On listening to some words while reading, you can improve your diction and you can understand English better.

Here you have more links to classic audio books:

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audio-books.html

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audio-books/2.html

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audio-books/3.html

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audio-books/4.html

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audio-books/5.html

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audio-books/6.html

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audio-books/7.html

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audio-books/8.html

LET´S READ PART 2: AUDIOBOOKS

If you need to imrpove your listening skills, you can try listening without the book in order to understand or gist the general idea of the page or the chapter. I'm pretty sure that listening to an audiobook and following through a real book can help improve your English language.

Here you have more links to audiobooks:

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audio-books-mp3.html

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audio-books-mp3-2.html

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audio-books-mp3-4.html

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audio-books-mp3-5.html

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audiobooks.html

https://agendaweb.org/listening/audiobooks-2.html

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR READING

READING
Here you have a post about sites to help you improve and practice your reading comprehension.
There is still room for improving your reading and One way of doing it is to catch up reading and watching videos on international news. Here you have some interesting links:

 1)  http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/english-you-need

 2)   http://www.bbc.com/
       
 3).  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

4).  Newsela.com : a good site to improve while reading current event articles. It has five         different levels of the same article so choose the best one for you. It’s compulsory to sign but it’s free.         

5) http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html: there are lots of tests on different topics. It’s for students with an advanced level of English.

6) British newspapers such as:TheGuardian,  Independent, The Telegraph, The Times,  Huffington Post