Keyword is a word that you might be familiar with. Though you might hear this word for several times, have you got the clear idea on this subject? In this context, keyword is word in the text that has similar meaning to words in the question.

Keyword is commonly used to get the answer in reading section. But, it can also be a distracter as well which is made to fool test taker. Test takers who are only merely look at the same wording, as the keyword will not be able to get the essence of keyword that can help them finding the answer in a shorter time. It is important to note that time is also a sensitive matter in IELTS. So, the thing that you should learn is how to maximize the use of keyword which can be found both in the question and in the reading passage.

For example when you find the word “due to” in the question, you are going to find the same wording in the passage or in another word such as ‘because of’. By finding the word with similar meaning, it means that you have got the keyword. Finding the keyword will enlighten your job as you need only to read for the detail after getting the exact location for the answer. Another example is in the word ‘tremendous’. When you find no similar word, try to look at some similar meaning word such as ‘very great’ or ‘very big’.

When you are dealing with vocabulary problem, then you can use ‘context clues’ as a strategy to keep being in the right track to find the keyword. You can get help from the surrounding vocabulary that can help you to guess the meaning of the related word correctly.

Above all, the most important thing to highlight here is that the use of keyword in this context does not only cover word matching. You need to be wise to manage it as a helpful word that need to get a follow up strategies to lead you to the answer. Some test takers are drawn in avoidable error because they only try to match word in the question and in the reading passages. You should be focus that you need to look at the meaning as well.

If you want to reach your best score, give yourself one until three months to focus in learning IELTS. During that time, assist yourself with a teacher and keep practice every day. Another option is to come to TEST English School, and practice with us 🙂 You sure will get your best score!