Abstarct: Teaching reading in IELTS preparatory courses is driven by the findings of theory-driven studies rather than by experienced practitioner’s insights, to fill in this gap, this study aimed at exploring the techniques and materials experienced practitioners use in teaching reading in IELTS preparatory courses. Following purposive sampling procedure and in line with grounded theory, this study theoretically sampled the perspectives of twelve practitioners teaching in private language schools of Mashhad, the capital city of Central Khorasan Province, Iran. Iterative data collection and analysis yielded determining keywords, paraphrasing, reading depth, mood adjustment, test wiseness, time management, and some task-oriented techniques as commonly techniques utilized by the participants. In addition, some of the beneficial materials employed by these instructors were introduced. Definitely this study have clear implications for language teaching and learning. Previous studies gave some strategies for reading comprehension, but they never referred to the techniques which were used by the most professional IELTS instructors. Previous researches focused mostly on theories of reading strategies that they were not as useful as the techniques which were used by professional IELTS instructors in real learning situations. By conducting this research some actual and authentic techniques and guidelines, which are utilized by the best IELTS instructors, are added to the previous studies.