IELTS Energy 1500: How to Score Band 9 on IELTS Reading
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This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1500, How to Score Band 9 on IELTS Reading. Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English, downloaded more than 35 million times with examiner-trained IELTS whiz Aubrey Carter and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer.

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Do you worry that you'll get into the IELTS exam and you won't have the words you need? In this episode, get three strategies to choose reading material to ensure you're banned seven or higher.

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Hello, Aubrey. Did you know that this is the 1500th episode of IELTS Energy? Isn't that amazing? Happy 1500, everyone. Lindsay, how many minutes?

of is that if you have listened to every episode of IELTS energy I actually did the math and it is 22 500 minutes of IELTS energy that is impressive that is impressive that's amazing if any of you have been with us from the beginning or gone back and listened to older episodes to get all of the strategies and vocabulary we've taught 22 500 that's amazing yes exactly and hubby what are we getting into today

Yeah, well, we want to make sure if you missed last Friday's episode, you may have missed our announcement that Jessica has moved on to other opportunities. We are so grateful for her contribution to IELTS Energy. Be sure to check out episode 1498 from last Friday if you missed it to get all of the details. Yeah, so I will be taking over as co-host alongside Aubrey for the second time. If you did listen to those 22,000 minutes of IELTS Energy, then you know that I was the co-host today.

of IELTS Energy from 2015 to 2019. So super excited to be back, Aubrey. Yes, we're so excited to have you back. And we're diving into a really interesting question today. This is great. This is from Sardor who asked it during one of our webinars and just said, you know, I have a question for you. What books do you recommend reading to improve our vocabulary?

Now, this is going to be great. We are diving into, we will share some book recommendations, but it's less about the specific book and more about your level and your interest with the book you're reading. So we're going to dive into why that matters. Yeah, because I think our relationships with the books that we read should be that we look forward to go ahead and go back into that book.

Like I'm reading a great book right now. And last night we were watching a TV show and I was like, actually, I want to go to bed and read my book because I want to know what happens in the next section, the next chapter. So that is what it should feel like. If it doesn't feel like that, we should ditch that book. It's not like we have to, it's not a report card for school, right? We're adults. Exactly. And this is more difficult in a second language, right? I have picked up books in French and Spanish thinking, okay, I'm going to read this. Yes, it is.

yes right it is no matter what it's harder for our brains and you're trying to learn more vocabulary so it won't be as easy reading that book in your first language but it's still lindsay makes such a good point it needs to still be interesting to you a page turner you don't want to dread

reading or you won't do it as much as you need to when studying for ielts 100 so there are a few things that we should look at when we consider what book we want to go ahead and get into aubry right exactly so let's first talk about the level right you want to be reading books that push you a bit but don't frustrate you so if you're having to look up every word and you can't understand the gist then that's not where you should be right now right yes yes you need interesting vocabulary and it shouldn't be too easy of a level

But as your level increases, then you can push yourself to that higher level. Right now, wherever you are, it needs to challenge you, but not be frustrating. Yeah. And this might take some experimentation, like we said. So don't be afraid to put something down. If it's not working, try something else. This is that beautiful balance that we have to find.

Right. So right now you might want to look at YA novels. They are a slightly lower level. Harry Potter is a good example or the Hunger Games or the Uglies. These are still going to have a lot of really interesting vocabulary. They're really interesting. They're page turners, really good plots, really good character development, but the reading level is a little bit easier. And so then it won't be as frustrating.

Yeah, for sure. My niece loves The Hunger Games. She read all the books. Then she made me watch all the movies and she's super into it. I love them too. And there's a new one that was just released that's sort of like a prequel. Yeah. And what does YA stand for if we don't know? Young adult, right? So these are young adult books. They aren't going to be... They're intentionally not using this extremely higher level vocabulary that's more rare in conversations.

So you are going to need to be looking for some topic specific vocabulary. We'll talk about that. But this is more to improve your general reading fluency because when it comes to the reading exam, you need to be able to skim a passage and understand the gist right away. So your overall reading comprehension needs to be improved.

Yes, I love that. And what if we're at a bit of a higher level? What could we look for, Aubrey? So again, it really depends on your interest. Do you like thrillers? If so, I highly recommend Frida McFadden. These are page turners. I have one right here if you guys are looking on YouTube. This one is The Crash. They're all...

super quick read. But if you like sci-fi, Orson Scott Card is an amazing author or fantasy. If you liked the Lord of the Rings, Brandon Sanderson or Jordan or Robert Jordan are excellent authors. What do you enjoy reading for you, Lindsay? It might be a little different, right? What are you reading? I kind of like historical nonfiction. So, or no, sorry, historical fiction, historical fiction. I'm reading, uh,

A tree grows in Brooklyn right now. I don't know who wrote it. And I believe it's historical fiction. As far as I understand, I don't think it's based on a true story, but it's based on characters that did exist at that time. Very similar story of people, immigrants in the early 1900s in Brooklyn and extremely poor making a life.

I don't know, it just makes me reflect on history. So I like that. Yeah. So a book like that and these authors I recommended, maybe self-help books or biographies, all of these are going to have higher level vocabulary. They are going to have much more complex grammar structures. They're written for adults. And so they are a higher level. If you start one and find yourself frustrated, then check out some of these YA novels, these young adult novels, and you will find your reading

fluency, improving, and then you can move on to these other higher level novels. Yeah. And we mentioned interest, but we're going to just reemphasize how important it is that these books engage you, Aubrey, right? Exactly. You need to look forward to your reading, like Lindsay was saying, even in a second language,

You might be thinking, no matter what, this is study. I'm not going to enjoy it. No, not necessarily. If you can find a book you really enjoy and get into the story, you know, enjoy reading about the characters, you will look forward to it. It needs to pull you in.

Or have it tie in in the same idea of interest, have it tie into something you're exploring personally at this moment. Like I remember when I was in my early 30s, I hiked the Camino de Santiago in the north of Spain and I was just starting to explore meditation and spirituality and figure out what I believed and what I practiced and all that. And someone gave me a copy of The Alchemist, but in Spanish. And I was searching for something bigger at that time. And then I had The Alchemist, but it was in Spanish.

And so something like that, right? Let it pull you, like pursue your interests or your curiosities in,

English. Exactly. Right. If you're very interested in, you know, who knows, engineering mechanics, the environment, you can find a book about that. Right. I love that. Focus on your interests to make sure you're interested in what you're reading. And then, of course, you also do need to be reading the news. Right. But self-help books, biographies, whatever you're reading, you you want to make sure that it captures your interest.

Yes. And so do we need to read the news, Aubrey, for IELTS to be prepared for any potential questions? Is that necessary, do we think? Yes. Yes. So this right after the break, we will share more details about that. Unfortunately, you can't avoid the news. All right, good. So we'll take a quick break then and we'll be right back.

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All right, Aubrey, we are back for number three, topic specific ideas and vocabulary. So tell us about the news. How much do we need to know of the news? How likely are we to get a news related question on IELTS? Yeah, so especially for writing task two and speaking part three, you absolutely are going to need it to know about a lot of different topics, right? The environment, technology,

there's no escaping this and in order to score seven or higher on vocabulary you need topic specific impressive vocabulary so you can't just read a novel yes you need to read that to boost reading fluency but you're also looking for topic specific vocabulary so you need to read the news and you need to read you know the economy section articles about maybe the environment technology wired magazine is a good one for technological articles so this

It's important that you don't just read the headlines, front page news that's maybe all politics. You need to dive into these other sections of the news as well. Yeah. So maybe when it comes to news, we're looking for breadth rather than depth. Aubrey, could that be?

Yes, right? Yeah, I mean, both really, because if you think about it, you are trying to fill your head with ideas on any topic you could possibly get and you don't know what it's going to be. So you need to be figuring out your opinions about things and also looking for that vocabulary. Yeah. And that comes like how you said every section of the newspaper, the health section, there's always really interesting health research that comes out, right?

Be interested in that politics travel almost covering every section. That's a good plan. Love it. Yes And while I was looking for newspapers to recommend here, I found something interesting you guys out there may have heard of this It's called the ad font s media bias chart

And you can find it at adfontesmedia.com. They've done an in-depth study of bias and reliability of news sources. I really loved this. So you can dive in, see what you think. But right in the middle of those that are the least biased were the Wall Street Journal and the Globe and Mail. And...

And so those are two that we would recommend. But it's interesting to check out that study about bias because so many resources were either really far to the right or really far to the left and just have so much bias these days. Yeah, there might be some newspapers we're reading that are extremely biased. We don't realize it, for example. And that gives us a level of insight that we could probably work into a speaking part three answer.

Absolutely. You could be asked about bias in the news. Can you trust the news? So just even looking at that media bias chart would give you ideas for those questions. Oh, I love that. Or even just kind of commenting on what we're saying, kind of qualifying that we know this might be a little biased, but fascinating. Good way to increase your score. And when it comes to these topics, specific ideas and vocabulary, you can always

also find these in the other books that you're reading, right? The historical fiction that you're reading, Lindsay, self-help books, biographies. These also will be full of vocabulary that can be used on these task two and part three questions as well. Yeah. And biographies are so inspiring, right? Because someone who became great in any way, we want to know what was the genesis of that? Where did that come from, right?

What messages do they get as kids? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Really interesting. And these biographies sometimes are a more difficult read, right? So you can, you know, just read a chapter or two to feel like you're getting a lot of information. And if you feel yourself dreading reading that, switch to a new biography or read a novel for a while, right? Yes. It's important that you stay interested in what you're reading.

I love that. This episode has been a really good guide, Aubrey, into how we can get ideas, right? Which is what we need for the test. What's our takeaway today? Yeah, there's a lot to think about when deciding what to read when you're preparing for the IELTS reading exam. I love that this student is thinking about it. Like, what can I be reading to get this high scoring vocabulary? The good news is pretty much anything. Whatever you're reading is going to have interesting vocabulary for the most part. So make sure you're reading something that interests you.

And so that you look forward to that reading practice. And I think the takeaway, another takeaway here is don't be afraid to toss a book. If I mean, don't toss it, donate it, please. But don't be afraid to swap out a book. You know, we're not in school here. We're not, we don't have a book report to write. We're looking to prepare for an exam. And so don't waste your time with things that bore you.

Okay. Right. If you are dreading that reading practice, you've got the wrong book, right? Or even the wrong newspaper, because a lot of them do. They also have interesting vocabulary, but they might be saying it in a more entertaining way. So switch up your reading. All right. Great advice. All right, Aubrey. We'll see you back here on IELTS Energy very soon. Awesome. See you next time. All right. Take care. Bye. Bye.

Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy. Hit subscribe now and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglish.com slash myscore.

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