IELTS Reading Test
IELTS Academic Format: Reading
All the essential information you need for your IELTS Reading test.
The IELTS Reading test evaluates reading skills across three sections within a 60-minute period, comprising a total of 40 questions. Test takers must be attentive to spelling and grammar, as mistakes can result in lost marks.
The Reading paper is the one part of IELTS where Academic and General Training differ most. Both run for 60 minutes and both carry 40 questions, but the texts are drawn from different places.
Time allowed: 60 minutes (including transfer time)
Academic and General Training Reading compared
Academic Reading
- Three long passages
- Three texts of increasing difficulty, drawn from books, journals, magazines and newspapers, all tailored for a non-specialist audience.
- Academic subject matter
- Topics range across subjects relevant to higher education, including science, the humanities and the social sciences. At least one text sets out a detailed logical argument.
- Who takes it
- Candidates applying to universities and to professional registration bodies.
General Training Reading
- Section 1 — everyday topics
- Two or three short texts focused on everyday topics. Examples can be advertisements, brochures, or informational materials like instructions and notices.
- Section 2 — the workplace
- Texts that are workplace-related. This could include job descriptions, training materials, or company policies.
- Section 3 — general interest
- One longer, more complex text of general interest, drawn from sources such as newspapers, magazines and books.
Reading at a glance
| Timing | 60 minutes, with no extra time to transfer answers. |
|---|---|
| Number of questions | 40 |
| Passages | 3 |
| Task types | A diverse array of question formats is employed, encompassing 11 distinct types. |
| Sources | Texts are drawn from books, journals, magazines and newspapers, all tailored for a non-specialist audience. |
| Answering | Candidates must record their answers on an answer sheet within the allocated time, as no extra time is allowed for this transfer. |
| Marks | Each question is scored at 1 mark. |
Question formats
- Multiple choice
- Identifying information
- Identifying the writer’s views and claims
- Matching information
- Matching headings
- Matching features
- Matching sentence endings
- Sentence completion
- Summary, note, table, flow-chart completion
- Diagram label completion
- Short-answer questions
Sit a full IELTS mock test, free
Practise the reading paper under real timing, then get your answers reviewed against the band descriptors.