How to Succeed on the English Reading Comprehension Sections on your Exam

Reading comprehension refers to understanding what the message the writer is trying to convey. Reading comprehension is a critical component of the English language and that is why it is included in all of the major English proficiency exams (TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS).

Different elements of reading comprehension include:

CONTEXT – Refers to the overall surroundings of the text, by knowing the context you can accurately guess the meaning of a sentence or a text even if you are missing information.

FACTS – Facts are presented to support the overall main ideas people read, they must attend to factual details.

MAIN IDEA – Is the overall thesis (point) of the whole text. Once again “what message is the author trying to convey”.

When taking your English proficiency exam, your objective at the reading comprehension part of the test should be:
• Identifying the theme or author’s purpose
• Judging author’s tone
• Becoming aware of the author’s point of view
• Recognizing persuasive elements employed by the author
• Distinguishing fact from opinion

If you can answer all these questions you will always be fine when answering questions based on a text.

How to Improve your English Listening Comprehension for your Exam

Listening comprehension is one of the most important factors when it comes to English language proficiency. That is why a listening comprehension section is included in the TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS exams. There are a many ways to improve your English listening comprehension; in this post we will provide a few of them.

In real life when listening to a lecture or having a conversation you can always ask for clarification. However, when taking a standardized test you have to be able to quickly think on your feet and understand what the person is saying even though you missed a word or two.

Taking organized notes is one tool to enhance your listening comprehension, just look at all the professional journalists who take notes during press conferences or interviews. Just be careful, avoid taking too many notes as it can easily distract you from actually understanding the overall story.

Listening comprehension is all about being able to understand what the person just communicated to you. Understanding the main idea, details, attitude and purpose. These are the types of questions you will see when taking an exam.

Main Details: What is the main theme of the lecture?

Detail: Give me two reasons why he can make that claim?

Inference: What does the teacher imply when he says this?

Attitude: What is the professor’s attitude towards his topic?

Purpose: Why does the professor bring up the two different cities?

Frequent Listening comprehension topics when taking the TOEFL, TOEIC or IELTS exams are art, science, biology, history, biographies and other academic topics.

These are some factors to consider if want to improve your English listening comprehension score for your exam.

Good luck on your exam!

How to Quickly Identify the Main Theme of a Text

The key component in reading comprehension is being able to quickly recognize what the main theme of the text is, especially when your under time constraints. In today’s article, I’ll give you some tips to help you recognize main ideas in the reading section.

If you have looked over our templates for the writing section you will see that there is a clear structure with an introduction, body and conclusion. One advantage is that most academic text you will read follows exactly the same structure.

Focus your attention on the introduction as the main idea; it can usually be found in the first paragraph. If not, the conclusion is another good place to look. The body paragraph often focuses on explaining the stand or information presented in the introduction.

When reading your passage, you will be presented with information that is just there to distract you. Focus on key points like dates, numbers, and names. Also be aware if a certain term or word is repeated several times. Don’t forget to read the title of the paper you’re reading!

Remember to look at the details; it’s often the small things that make students give the wrong answer to a question. It’s easy to rush and make unnecessary mistakes. The reading section often attempts to trick you by adding a word like “expect” or “not” in the middle of sentence.

Read carefully, and always reread the question before choosing your final answer. Never forget the main theme of the passage; it’s easy to get stuck in a detail. If you are struggling with a word or question it’s better to skip it, but if you have an extra few minutes at the end jump back to look over those questions you missed.

By following these guidelines you will be able to quickly identify what the texts main theme is. Good luck on your test!

How to Improve your English Speaking Skills

The first and most important step to improve your English speaking ability is to speak English as often as you can. By practicing your English you will improve rapidly and boost your confidence. The following tips will help improve your English speaking skills.

Don’t worry about making mistakes because in order to improve you will have to make mistakes. There is a tendency for foreign speakers to rush through sentences, try to speak calmly and accurately. Feeling nervous makes us rush when speaking, stumble on our words and or feel unsure about the pronunciation. Focus on speaking at a comfortable pace and pronounce your words correctly.

A good way to practice is to record your own voice and listen to your pronunciation. Many students become surprised after hearing themselves speak, students often notice mistakes they didn’t have a clue they were making.

Expand you vocabulary and try to learn at least one new word every day. The key is to try to use your newly learned words in conversation when speaking. Another way to increase your vocabulary is to read the newspaper, magazine or a book in English.
When reading try to read out loud, this will help you learn and improve the pronunciation of different words.

You can also try to listen to English news channels or watch English movies. Improving your listening comprehension goes hand in hand with your speaking skills.

Remember that silent letters are not pronounced when we say the word. In other words, these letters or alphabets are written when spelling the word but not said out loud verbally. For example the alphabet ‘B’ is not pronounced when it comes after ‘M’, for example words like tomb, plumber or comb.

By applying these tips to your daily English practice you will improve your English speaking ability in no time!

How to Improve your English Writing Skills

The writing sections of English proficiency exams are often the most stressful part of the exam. However writing skills is often one of the most important language skills if you are going to study in an English speaking university.
Here is a list of a few things to keep in mind while writing in English.

Keep everything short and simple; avoid sentences that run off too long. The most important factor when writing is to explain your message to the reader in a clear and simple way. Use commas with short sentences; by using a comma you can extend your sentence. Remember that numbers of ten or less are normally written as word (for example nine) while numbers over ten usually are written in number (for example 19).

Depending on whether you are taking an exam to enter a U.S. University or a British University you should be aware that there are some differences between American English and British English. For example when using quotes, American English use double quotes (" "), while British English use single quotes (' ').

Structure your writing in a consistent manner, if your text is organized well the reader will be able to understand your thought process. Begin with an introduction followed by a couple body paragraphs and finally wrapping the text up with a conclusion.

Keep your reader in mind while writing; it’s important that you tailor your text towards your audience. For example an academic paper would be written differently from a business email.

In the end, the best way to improve your writing skills is to actually practice your writing. Learn the different rules and apply what you have learned when writing. If you are looking for writing practice for the TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS sign up with ePrepz.