How the Reading test works
You get 60 minutes for 40 questions across three passages, and there is no extra time to transfer answers. Each correct answer earns one mark, and your raw score is converted to a band. For band 7 in Academic Reading you typically need around 30 correct out of 40. General Training Reading needs more correct answers for the same band, because the texts are less demanding.
- Academic passages are long texts of the kind you might find in journals, magazines or textbooks, often on science, history or social topics.
- General Training starts with short everyday texts such as notices and adverts, moves to workplace texts like job descriptions and policies, and ends with one longer general text.
The question types you will meet
Our 52 practice sets cover all the main types, each with explanations:
- TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN and YES / NO / NOT GIVEN
- Matching Headings
- Matching Information (which paragraph contains...)
- Matching Features and sentence endings
- Summary, note and table completion, with or without a word box
- Multiple choice and short answers
Two traps that cost the most marks
NOT GIVEN
The most common mistake is answering FALSE when the passage simply does not say. FALSE means the passage states the opposite. NOT GIVEN means you cannot tell from the text. If you find yourself reasoning, "Well, it would make sense that...", you are probably using your own knowledge, and the answer is likely NOT GIVEN. The same logic applies to YES/NO/NOT GIVEN, which asks about the writer's views rather than facts.
Matching Headings
Students often match a heading to a paragraph because the same word appears in both. Headings describe the main idea of the whole paragraph, not one detail. Read the first two sentences and the last one, decide what the paragraph is mostly about, then look at the headings. Cross off each one as you use it, though be careful, as some lists contain extra headings you will never need.
A timing plan that works
A simple split is about 17 minutes for Passage 1, 20 for Passage 2 and 23 for Passage 3, which is usually the hardest. Practise this rule: if a single question takes more than a minute and a half, flag it, move on and come back. On the computer-delivered test, the flag for review button and the question navigator make this easy, and our practice screens work the same way.
Do not read the whole passage slowly first. Skim for structure in two or three minutes, then read closely only where the questions send you.
Reading habits of Delhi students
Many Delhi students, especially those from DU, JNU or Jamia, are used to long reading lists and dense academic English. That is a real advantage in Academic Reading. The habit that hurts is reading every word carefully, as you would for a semester exam, which leaves no time for Passage 3.
Engineering and commerce graduates often have the opposite problem: they read quickly but rely on keywords, which is exactly what TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN questions are designed to punish.
If you commute by metro, it is a good time for informal IELTS Reading practice: read a long English article on your phone and summarise each paragraph in five words in your head. That is Matching Headings practice without opening a test. Then do your timed sets at home, where you can focus.
How to plan your IELTS Reading practice
- Start untimed with a few sets of a question type you find hard, reading every explanation.
- Add time pressure once your accuracy improves: one passage in 20 minutes.
- Review in your Mistake Notebook. For each wrong answer, find the exact line in the passage that gives the right one.
- Build vocabulary for paraphrase. The test rarely uses the same words as the question. Flashcards and Daily Vocabulary help you spot synonyms.
- Sit full Reading sections inside a mock every week or two.
- Read outside your comfort zone. If you studied commerce, try science passages; if you studied engineering, try history and social science.
Charged sets for 7 and above
When you are scoring 30 or more fairly consistently, ordinary sets stop stretching you. Our Charged Reading sets use harder passages, closer distractors and more paraphrase, which is the level you need to feel at home with for band 7.5 or 8. Use them in the last four to six weeks, one or two a week, alongside full mocks.
You can try free sample Reading sets without a card. Start practising here, or create a free account to save your mistakes and track your progress.