CELPIP Tips: Preparing for the Reading Test
Here are some useful tips on how to create a study plan that will help you improve your reading test scores, plus you’ll gain a lot of interesting and thought-provoking information along the way!
This article was originally published at https://www.celpip.ca/celpip-in-5-minutes-a-day-reading-tips/
When it comes to preparing for CELPIP, the best advice we can offer to you is to take your time. Preparing for the test the day or even just the night before you take it will not allow you adequate time to prepare and feel comfortable taking your test. Creating a daily routine is your best path to ensuring your success. In this blog, we will focus on tips for the reading portion of your study routine.
Reading Tips:
Read in English.
On a regular basis, try to read as much as possible in English. Whether it’s English magazines, online articles, or full novels, any English reading will help you improve your overall comfort and speed when reading.
Extract information.
Do not try to memorize information! The CELPIP Test is not a memory test. You will not need to use the information from one section later in another section of the test. Instead of trying to memorize, read the content carefully and try to extract information by identifying key ideas and important details. Also, practice inferring from context.
Use different reading strategies.
You don’t have to read every single word in the article to successfully answer the questions on your test! Instead, practice using reading strategies, such as skimming and scanning as you practice. First, skim through a text to get the main idea. Then re-read and find some key words for which you can scan the text.
Don’t stress the vocabulary.
It’s all right if you can’t understand every word in a text, as you don’t need to understand everything to be able to get the main ideas. If you find a word that you don’t know, try to determine its meaning based on its context in the sentence or in the passage as a whole. If that doesn’t work, skip the problematic word and keep reading.
Conclusions
Building your vocabulary and familiarizing yourself with a variety of English contexts, such as articles in newspapers and magazines, are great ways to improve your reading skills.