80 Days to Conquer IELTS Reading (Revised Edition)

Author: Jiang Tao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Many people ask me where the secret of my reading skills lies, and countless letters inquire about the passing techniques for IELTS reading. My usual response to these questions has been to evade them. As a result, some have questioned my abilities, while others, after several failed attempts to seek guidance, have written to gently ask if I'm just famous for nothing. I replied that I was. Because I truly don’t know how to help these high school-level students have a breakthrough after listening to me for a moment and achieve IELTS Band 7. So, do IELTS reading have reading techniques? The answer is yes, but the key lies in the fact that for any English exam, your true level of proficiency is always the most important. The so-called techniques and problem-solving approaches are merely weapons. If your innate abilities are strong and long enough, you can wield these weapons with great skill. But if your abilities are as weak as a reed, even the most legendary weapons like the mythical Dragon-Slaying Sword would be nothing but scrap metal. Everyone knows that when they were in high school, they were still learning Chinese, finding the main idea of paragraphs, but everyone dreams of reaching the level of reading speed where they can take an enemy’s head from a thousand miles away overnight. It’s laughable, pitiful, but true. The guiding philosophy of this reading workbook is to first build strength and then discuss techniques. Otherwise, it’s just talk! As for the authority of the reading materials, you can rest assured that most of them are sourced from mainstream media in the U.S. and the U.K. The questions are carefully selected and refined based on the topics of past IELTS exams. I don’t advocate memorizing the so-called "" (exam tips) that are popular online. For reading, without the original text, "" is useless. Knowing the background and questions but being unable to understand the original text still leaves you clueless. As for the skill training in the next 60 days, it is entirely built upon the solid foundation laid in the first 60 days. For the summary of techniques, we dare to say it is currently the most comprehensive and persuasive. Moreover, when arranging the questions, we fully considered the learning capacity of the students, adopting a step-by-step approach with a combination of instruction and practice, which is more conducive to absorption and digestion.
The process of writing this book was a happy one. As I wrote it, I was constantly immersed in the joy of creation, but this sense of success was built upon the destruction of my biological clock and body. My esteemed father, who would wake up early to fry eggs for me, and my mother, who was far away but occasionally sent me vitamins, if heaven were to give me another chance to start over, I would still desperately wish to be their child and say four words: "I love you," plus a time limit—forever! Someday, when I become famous, please don’t be surprised. The reason is simple: I am just a little more honest, a little more diligent, and a little more caring than most people.