[0:00]Here's something that will make you angry. Most IELTS students with excellent English fail to get the IELTS reading score they need. Not because they can't read, but because band nine students are playing a completely different game. They know things about the reading test structure and format that turns the reading section from a panicked race against time into a simple victory. So today, I'll show you exactly what these students know. In this video, I'm going to show you why general training and academic students should study exactly the same things. The progressive difficulty trap that catches 90% of test takers, the Usain Bolt principle that replaces all time management tricks, and how band nine students finish in 40 minutes while others can't finish in 60. But first, let me shatter the biggest myth that's destroying your score. Many people believe that general training is easier than academic. Band nine students know this is not true. Here's the truth, general training and academic use the exact same question types, multiple choice, true false not given, matching headings. Identical strategies work for both academic and general training. Many people believe that general training is easier so they ignore those practice tests. Band nine students practice both test types, they're getting twice the practice, twice the preparation. But knowing the format is just the beginning. There's something about how the test is structured that band nine students use to their advantage. So every reading test has three passages. Most students think that they're randomly ordered. Band nine students know better than this. So section one is the easiest, and then section two is medium difficulty, it gets a little bit more difficult. And then section three is designed to be super difficult, it's designed to destroy you. So why do the people at IELTS do this? It's actually quite brilliant. So they're separating the band sevens from the band eights and the band nines. Those final questions in section three, they're designed specifically to catch people who aren't quite at a band eight or a band nine level. But here's what most students do. They get confident after sailing through section one, and then maintain the same pace through section two. Then section three hits like a brick wall, panic starts to set in. They start to run out of time and they get most of section three wrong. Band nine students actually do the opposite. They race through section one, they do it as quickly as possible, knowing it's designed to be easy, and they bank that extra time for the final battle in section three. Here's a rough idea of how much time my band nine students spend on each section. So you can see most students spend an equal amount of time on each section, but band nine students are far more strategic. Next time you're doing a practice test, try to time yourself and spend more time on the latter sections which are much more difficult and require more time. But even spending more time on the more difficult parts of the test won't help you if you don't understand our next point. So there are over 10 different question types on the IELTS reading test. Each one tests a completely different skill. Most students just have one strategy, something like read, find keywords, skim, scan and hope to find the correct answer. And because each question test different reading subskills, each question type requires a different strategy. But don't worry, I've put all of these question types, all of the skills, and all of the strategies step by step into this massive PDF for you. If you want that, all you have to do is just go to the description, click the link and you can get instant access to it. But band nine students don't just read a PDF with strategies, they master those strategies. This means they can use the strategies without even thinking. They master individual strategies until each of them becomes automatic. So when a band nine student sees a matching headings question, they don't think about what to do, their brain switches to that specific strategy instantly. Think about it like driving a car. When you were first learning how to drive, you had to consciously think about every aspect, every little step. But after months and years of practice, you don't even think when you're driving, you do everything automatically. But the first step is to understand each question type and master them, so do download the PDF. To master them, practice those strategies slowly, just like you'd drive slowly when you were first learning, you didn't drive at 60 miles an hour on day one. But once you're comfortable using those strategies, you can start to pick up speed. Which brings us to our next point. So everyone wants magic time management tips. Here's the truth that nobody wants to hear. Band nine students don't manage time better, they read better. Think about Usain Bolt before the Olympic 100 meter final. Do you think that he was Googling top 10 time management tips? No, he's just faster because he trained to be better at running, not because he finds some magic time trick. I finished my IELTS reading test in 20 minutes and got band nine, not because I had some special time management strategies, but because I've trained my reading skills to an elite level. Band nine students don't need time management because they've done two things. Number one, they've improved their core reading skills, and number two, they've mastered each question strategy until it's automatic. In other words, they're not faster at reading, they don't have time management tips, they are just better readers. It's like tying your shoelaces. You don't need a time management strategy for tying your shoelaces, you've done it so many times that it takes you five seconds without even thinking. That's what band nine preparation looks like. No tricks, no hacks, just pure skill development through constant practice. But there's one more thing that ties everything together. Most students think IELTS reading skills are just skimming and scanning. Band nine students understand that there's a range of other skills. You need to be aware of them all, and more importantly, when to use each one for each different question type. Skimming helps you understand the general meaning of a paragraph quickly, but it doesn't help you find where the correct answer is. Scanning helps you find the location of certain information, but again, it doesn't help you find the correct answer. But close reading, a skill that not many people talk about, the skill of reading a small section of the text carefully, helps you decide the correct answer, which is the most important skill. Most students jump straight to random skimming and scanning, wondering why they can't find the answers, they panic, they start to guess, they run out of time and they fail their test. Band nine students follow a systematic process that makes answers almost jump off the page. You also need to understand that certain question types require one skill more than others. For example, matching headings questions require a lot of skimming, but not much scanning, whereas true false not given questions don't require much skimming at all, but require lots of scanning. Again, if you just have one strategy for every type of question, that's where you're going to go wrong. But band nine students don't have to worry about this at all, because they practice each question type so many times and practice the strategy so many times, it's just like tying their shoelaces, they don't even have to think about it. So here's one last tip before we go. A question that we often get is, should we do computer-based or should we do paper-based for the reading test? Band nine students don't really care, they will get a band nine no matter what they do, but if given a choice, they will pick computer-based. Not because it magically improves scores, but because of a few different things. Number one, there's less transfer stress, you're not worrying about transferring things to the paper. Also, there's just a cleaner interface, which reduces mental fatigue, and many have said that there's faster navigation between questions, and they also don't have to worry about their handwriting. It's a small edge, but band nine students do take every advantage strategically they can get. So if you have a choice between the two, do the computer-based one. But all the information in this video is useless if you don't take action. Here's what's happening right now. While you're watching this video, someone else in a different country has downloaded the strategies and is already working on them. They are far more likely to get the score that they need because they are taking action. Watching videos is not taking action. Every day you delay costs you more than time. Think about it this way, how much more per year will you earn in the country of your dreams? For many of our students, doctors, lawyers, software developers, that could be around a hundred thousand dollars. Divide that by 365 days in a year. So every day you are wasting time, it could be costing you $273 every single day. Many of you complain that the test costs too much, the courses cost too much, but really what's costing you every day is your own inaction. The students who'll get band nine next month aren't smarter than you, they just started using these strategies while others kept looking for magic tricks and hacks and shortcuts. So you have two choices. Number one, keep searching for easy hacks that don't really exist, or stay stuck at a band five or six and watch others go on and live their dream. Or start tonight with one strategy, one practice test, or if you want to work with us one-on-one and have us hold your hand and guide you to the score that you need, we may have some places available on our VIP course.
[10:08]Click the link in the description to check if some of the places are available. The things I've shared in this video aren't theories, they're proven by thousands of band nine students who were once exactly where you are now. And I know for many of you, you just don't know where to start. If you feel like that, watch this video. It's going to show you how to find your current reading band score and pinpoint your exact weaknesses for free. Once you learn this, it will completely transform your preparation because you'll only spend time on things holding you back.
