IELTS Academic Format: Reading
"All the essential information you need for your IELTS Academic Reading test."
What does the IELTS Reading test encompass?
The IELTS Reading test evaluates reading skills across three sections within a 60-minute period, comprising a total of 40 questions. It features texts on everyday topics, workplace materials, and academic subjects, with various question formats, including multiple choice and True/False/Not Given. Test takers must be attentive to spelling and grammar, as mistakes can result in lost marks.
- Part 1: This section typically includes two or three short texts focused on everyday topics. Examples can be advertisements, brochures, or informational materials like instructions and notices.
- Part 2: It consists of texts that are workplace-related. This could include job descriptions, training materials, or company policies.
- Part 3: This part features a longer, more complex academic text, often drawn from educational sources such as textbooks, articles, or research papers. Topics can range across various subjects relevant to higher education, including science, humanities, and social sciences.
Highlights:
IELTS Reading Test Overview:
- Timing: 60 minutes
- 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 writer’s views/claims
- Matching information
- Matching headings
- Matching features
- Matching sentence endings
- Sentence completion
- Summary, note, table, flow-chart completion
- Diagram label completion
- Short-answer questions