70 Skills that guarantee success - effective time management (skill 1)

Many IELTS candidates primarily struggle to complete the Reading and Writing modules because they approach the tasks with wrong priorities.

In IELTS Reading

The most common complaints of candidate after moving out of the exam hall is about IELTS Reading; they'll say the time was not enough. That shouldn't be your problem, provided you prepare thoroughly and develop this most important skill for IELTS success. Here are three reasons why students struggle to manage their time effectively for IELTS Reading:

• The Detailed Reading Trap: Many test-takers attempt to read and understand every word of the lengthy passages. This is a time-wasting adventure that one should not embark on for any reason. You don't get good scores for understanding every word in the passage; you get good scores for answering questions correctly. The truth is this: you can actually answer all the questions correctly without understanding every word in the passage. IELTS Reading designed to reward candidates who can quickly skim for the main idea and scan for specific answers. That is what you need to train yourself to do

• Weak or Inadequate Vocabulary: The test relies heavily on synonyms and paraphrasing. Candidates who do not have a robust vocabulary struggle to quickly match keywords in the questions to the appropriate sentences or phrases in the passage, and this forces them to re-read and double-check, resulting in poor time management.

• Progressive Difficulty: The reading passages are designed to become progressively more difficult (especially in the Academic module). Failing to manage time in the easier Passage 1 means severely sacrificing time needed for the denser Passage 3. As a rule, you need to train yourself to quickly deal with Passage 1, so that you can have more time for passage 2 and 3.

In IELTS Writing

The challenge is producing two complex, well-structured pieces of writing that meet minimum word counts (150 words for Task 1, 250 words for Task 2) in a single hour.

• Incorrect Allocation: Candidates often treat Task 1 and Task 2 equally, perhaps spending 30 minutes on each. Since Task 2 contributes twice as much to the final score, spending equal time on Task 1 is a critical strategic error. Thus it makes more sense to spend more time on Task 2. Also, it's better to start with Task 2 than to start with Task 1.

• Writing While Thinking: Starting to write without a clear plan means the candidate spends time backtracking, reorganizing, or staring at the screen/paper, which slows down the flow and often results in disorganized, incoherent paragraphs.

• Neglecting Review: Running out of time means the candidate cannot perform a final check for grammar, spelling, and coherence, leaving avoidable errors that damage the final band score.

Signs Your Time Management is Weak

During your preparation phase, these are key signs that indicate you need to drastically adjust your time management strategy:

1. You Consistently Fail to Meet the Writing Word Counts (150/250) on Timed Practice: This shows your speed of thought, planning, or physical writing/typing is too slow.

2. You Spend More Than 20 Minutes on Any Single Reading Passage: The recommended average is 20 minutes per passage. If you are frequently spending 20+ minutes on one passage, you are sacrificing the time needed for the other two.

3. You Find Yourself Re-reading Sentences or Paragraphs Multiple Times: This reveals a struggle with comprehension or concentration, causing you to read inefficiently. In the exam, this habit will cost you minutes.

4. You Start Your Writing Tasks Immediately, Without a Plan: If your first draft is written without a dedicated 3-5 minute outline, you are effectively using up writing time on disorganized brainstorming.

5. You Know Why You Got an Answer Wrong (Reading), and the Reason is "I Ran Out of Time": If your technique is sound but you simply couldn't find the answer due to time pressure, your problem is not English proficiency; it is time management strategy (locating speed).

6. Unnecessary worry: You get worried about time, and you let that prevent you from focusing on locating the answer to the question that you're currently trying to solve.

How do I improve?

To improve IELTS time management, you should work on improving your accuracy first. Learn how to locate the sentences or paragraphs that contain your answers, how and how how to analyse the information in that part of the passage so that you can accurately figure out the answer that you need. Once you've mastered your accuracy, you can now work on improving your speed. What are the other things that can help?

1. Adopt the Strict Timing: Whenever you do Exam Drills, commit to spending exactly 10 minutes on Reading Passage 1, 15 minutes on Passage 2, and 25 minutes on passage 4. This approach gives you more time at the end to crosscheck your answers. This approach is also ideal because Passage 1 is usually the easiest, and Passage 3 is the most difficult. So, you shouldn't think of spending equal time on both. For your Writing, prioritize and start with Task 2. Allocate 40 minutes for Task 2 and 20 minutes for Task 1. Practice with this timing multiple times before the exam day.

2. Plan Before Writing: Dedicate 3-5 minutes before starting any writing task to create a quick outline. This ensures coherence and prevents wasting valuable time brainstorming during the writing phase.

3. Learn to Scan QUICKLY and Skim read rapidly: In the Reading module, read the questions first, and identify important keywords. Then, scan the passage only for those keywords (or their paraphrases), dates, and names. Avoid reading every word for deep comprehension.

4. Practice under Pressure: Consistently take full, timed mock tests (50 - 55 minutes per module) to build stamina and internalize the required pace. This helps you to get used to finishing on time so that you can have some extra time at the end to review your work