ＴＲＩＣＯＮＹ •  ＭＥＴＨＯＤ Let me tell you a secret. We create a method to solve query easily. The IELTS reading test is not really a reading test. Sure you need to use reading skills like skimming and scanning but, lots of people have done really well on the IELTS test without practicing these skills. What separates students who get band 9 and everyone else is one thing. Vocabulary. The reading test is not really a test of your reading skills it is a VOCABULARY test! You not only have to know lots of vocabulary but you have to know lots of synonyms (words that have the same or very similar meanings). Don’t believe me? Let’s look at some past exam papers. Source: Cambridge English IELTS Past Papers. This question looks simple enough. All we have to do is use our reading skills to locate the information in the paragraphs, right? Not really! The answer to number one is in the paragraph below: So you would have to know that ‘ affected by cold temperatures ’ had been paraphrased as ‘ ...