IELTS PracticeIELTS Academic
IELTS Academic Reading
Three long passages, forty questions, sixty minutes - texts from books, journals, magazines and newspapers.
- Time
- 60 min
- Questions
- 40
- Passages
- 3
- Total length
- Up to 2,750 words
The passages
Three passages
Each a long text written for a general reader, ranging from descriptive and factual to argued and analytical. One may include a diagram or illustration.
Rising difficulty
The passages generally get harder as you go, so leave more than twenty minutes for the last one if you can.
Question types
- Multiple choice
- Identifying information (TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN)
- Identifying the writer's views (YES / NO / NOT GIVEN)
- Matching headings, information, features and sentence endings
- Sentence, summary, note, table and flow-chart completion
- Diagram label completion
- Short-answer questions
How it's marked
One mark per question. Your score out of 40 is converted to a band - around 30 correct answers is usually a 7 on Academic Reading.
Practise it here
Reading practice that feels like the exam
- Passage and questions side by side, or as tabs on a phone
- A timer, as in the exam
- Marked instantly, with the correct answer to every question and explanations
Tips
Quick wins
- Skim the whole text for a minute before the questions, so you know where things are.
- NOT GIVEN means the text doesn't say - not that it says the opposite.
- Copy words exactly from the text for completion questions, and keep to the word limit.
- Spend about twenty minutes per section and never leave a blank: there is no penalty for a wrong answer.
Academic Reading FAQ
Do I need subject knowledge?
No. The passages are written for a non-specialist reader, and every answer is in the text.
Is there extra time to transfer answers?
No - the 60 minutes include writing your answers, on paper or on computer.
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