IELTS Reading

Purpose of the IELTS Reading Test

Designed to evaluate your reading skills, requiring you to show your ability to understand and evaluate the provided passages.

Sections and Questions

Has 3 sections, with a total of 40 questions.

Duration

60 minutes. It is advised not to spend more than 20 minutes on each passage.

Scoring

Each of the 40 questions carries 1 point, and there is no negative marking for wrong answers.

IELTS Reading Question Types

1. Short Answer Type Question
2. True/False/Not Given
3. Matching Headings
4. Matching Features
5. Sentence Completion
6. Matching Information
7. Multiple-choice Questions
8. Matching Sentence Endings
9. Summary Completion/Note Completion/Table Completion
10. Flowchart Completion/Diagram Completion
11. Yes, No, Not Given

IELTS Multiple-choice questions

• It has about 3-4 options from which you have to choose your answer.
• This might be in the form of a question & answer type or a choose a correct ending to a sentence type.
• These answers appear in chronological order according to the passage.

IELTS True/False/Not Given

• These questions are very tricky as they consist of several statements: If the statement is present in the article as it is then you need to mark it as true.
• If the statement is found to be the opposite of the sentence which is there then it should be marked as false.
• If the statement given in the question is not at all present in the article then it should be marked as not given.
• Do not spend a lot of time finding the sentence which is not there.

IELTS Yes, No, Not Given

• Similar to the True/False/Not given questions, these also have various statements.
• But here you are asked to agree or disagree with the statement based on the opinion of the author.

IELTS Matching Headings

• Here, a list of headings will be given and you are asked to match these headings with a paragraph in the passage.
• You should read the headings before you begin reading the text.
• To get the correct answer, you have to read the complete paragraph and not just stop with the first few lines of the paragraph.
• There will also be many other headings that are not related to any of the paragraphs given in the passage, in such cases, try to identify those types of headings too.

IELTS Matching information

• Here, you have a list which contains information taken from the paragraphs.
• You are asked to find out the paragraph from which the information is taken.
• Sometimes the question may be tricky because the information given might not be in exact words as given in the paragraph instead it will be paraphrased.
• So you need to read the paragraph to understand the meaning/idea behind it to answer these questions.

IELTS Matching Features

• Here, there will be a list of items in the box and you need to match these items by reading and understanding some sentences in the passages.
• The list may be of the name of people or cities. For example, If there is a name of a person in the box of items then the question may be to match the sentence with the person who said them.
• Like other types of match questions, some of the items mentioned may not be available in the passage.
• So, to save time, read the passage before answering each question.

IELTS Matching Sentence Endings

• In this, you need to connect two halves of the sentences.
• The first half of the sentence will be already given and you need to find out which is the appropriate ending for the sentence from the list given.
• While choosing from the list you need to keep the following things in mind: There should not be any grammatical errors in the sentence.
• The ending sentence chosen by you should make sense.
• The sentence should have the same meaning as the sentence in the passage.

IELTS Sentence Completion and IELTS Short Answer Type

• These are almost similar. In sentence completion, you’ll be asked to fill in the blank spaces using the words given in the text.
• Whereas, in short answers, you’ll have to take words from the given text to write the short answers.
• It is important to pay close attention to the instructions that are given in the question because in some instructions there will be a word limit mentioned and you may lose marks if you don’t follow it.

• IELTS Summary Completion
• IELTS Reading Note Completion
• IELTS Reading Table Completion
• IELTS Reading Diagram Completion
• IELTS Reading Flowchart Completion

• All of these question types come under the Completion questions.
• In these, you will be asked to complete a set of notes, tables, diagrams or a summary based on the information given in the text.
• Sometimes the question will be to write a short answer and sometimes you’ll have to choose from the list of answers given.
• Usually, these kinds of questions will only be based on one part of the passage, so you won’t have to read the whole passage to fill in the important information.

1. Skim the passage

Skim the passage to understand the general idea.

2. Read the question and identify the type

Identify the question type after reading it.

3. Remember the technique behind the question type

Use the strategy specific to the question type to find the answer.

4. Find the keyword

Locate the keyword in the question and find it in the passage.

5. Read around the keyword

Read sentences before and after the keyword to find the answer.

6. Learn to guess the meaning

Use context clues in the passage to infer the meaning.

7. Write the answer

Write down the answer and move on to the next question quickly.

Then, repeat all the steps!

1. Misinterpretation of questions

Read instructions and questions carefully to avoid incorrect answers due to misinterpretation.

2. Disregarding instructions

Follow instructions closely, especially regarding word limits for each question type, to ensure your answers are correct.

3. Overlooking details

While skimming, ensure you don't miss crucial details that could be essential for accurate answers.

4. Ineffective Time Management

Avoid spending too much time on a single question or passage, as it could prevent you from completing the entire section.