Outline of IELTS Reading test Sections

The essential information below will help you with your IELTS Reading test preparation. Below is information about the organization of the IELTS Reading test.

What is the IELTS Reading test?

The IELTS Reading test is an evaluation of your ability to find and understand information in various types of texts.

The General IELTS Reading test focuses on everyday texts, business texts, and academic texts.

The Academic IELTS Reading test focuses only on academic texts.

There are 40 questions in both types of IELTS Reading tests.

General IELTS Reading

(5 texts in total)

2 texts related to “everyday situations & activities”

(14 questions total)

2 texts related to “business or workplace situations & activities“

(13 questions total)

1 academic passage

(13 questions)

Academic IELTS Reading

(3 texts in total)

1 academic passage

(13 questions)

1 academic passage

(13 questions)

1 academic passage

(14 questions)

How long is the IELTS Reading test?

The IELTS Reading test lasts a total of 60 minutes.

Unlike in the paper IELTS Listening test, there is no extra time to transfer your answers to a paper answer sheet in the IELTS Reading test.

So, if you take the paper IELTS test, you need to make sure you give yourself time transfer your answers!

Some students will transfer their answers after they complete most or all of a single passage.
Some students will transfer their answers after they complete most or all of all 3 passages.

However, if you take the computer (CD) IELTS test, you should type your answers while you are answering questions.

How is the IELTS Reading test scored?

After your IELTS test, your IELTS Listening and Reading tests will be either

marked by a staff person at the test center you took your tests at, or
sent to a central IELTS test where someone will mark your tests there.

Below is a table which gives the approximate number of correct answers you need to get a certain IELTS Band Score in the Reading test. However, it is important to understand that IELTS tests can vary in difficulty!

Therefore, in some test, you may need a few less correct answers to get a certain IELTS Band score. So, if you feel like your test is harder than expected, that might mean you don’t need as many correct answers to get a good score.

IELTS Band Scores

IELTS Band score	APPROXIMATE number of CORRECT answers needed in the Academic Reading test (40 questions total)	APPROXIMATE number of CORRECT answers needed in the General Reading test (40 questions total)
*2.0*	2 to 3 correct answers	3 to 5 correct answers
*2.5*	*4 to 5* correct answers	*6 to 8* correct answers
*3.0*	*6 to 7* correct answers	*9 to 11* correct answers
*3.5*	*8 to 9* correct answers	*12 to 14* correct answers
*4.0*	*10 to 12* correct answers	*15 to 18* correct answers
*4.5*	*13 to 14* correct answers	*19 to 22* correct answers
*5.0*	*15 to 18* correct answers	*23 to 26* correct answers
*5.5*	*19 to 22* correct answers	*27 to 29* correct answers
*6.0*	*23 to 26* correct answers	*30 to 31* correct answers
*6.5*	*27 to 29* correct answers	*32 to 33* correct answers
*7.0*	*30 to 32* correct answers	*34 to 35* correct answers
*7.5*	*33 to 34* correct answers	36 correct answers
*8.0*	*35 to 36* correct answers	*37 to 38* correct answers
*8.5*	*37 to 38* correct answers	39 correct answers
*9.0*	*39 to 40* correct answers	40 correct answers

What if I think the IELTS Reading band score I received is too low?

Remember, if you feel that you did not get the IELTS Reading score you deserved, you can request a ‘re-evaluation’ of your test. However, it is very unlikely that your Reading score will be changed. As a result, there is a slightly better chance of improving your band scores in IELTS Writing and Speaking tests because their evaluation is more subjective.

Outline of the IELTS Reading test

For paper IELTS test:

Because the IELTS Listening test is before the IELTS Reading test, you will already have an IELTS Answer Sheet.
The IELTS staff person will hand you an IELTS Reading Test Booklet. DO NOT open the Test Booklet until the IELTS staff person tells you.
You will then be given directions on filling out the top part of your IELTS Reading Answer Sheet.
Then, the staff person will tell you to open the Test Booklet and begin the Reading test. From time to time, the staff person will notify you of how much time remains.

IMPORTANT: If you accidentally write your answers on the wrong side, don’t worry! Just tell the IELTS staff person and they will give you an extra answer sheet (you will hand in both answer sheets). DO NOT erase your answers and transfer them to the other side!

Summary

So, as part of your preparation for the IELTS, it is very important to understand the organization of the IELTS Reading test. Therefore, you need to understand how to use questions and answer choices to help you search passages for information, as well as how the IELTS tries to hide information using vocabulary and grammatical tricks. Look at sample question sets for different types of IELTS Reading questions, build your knowledge of vocabulary for common IELTS topics, and become familiar with different types of Reading questions. The more you understand the outline of the test, the better prepared you will be for IELTS test day!

More IELTS exam tips!

Want to know how to start IELTS preparation at home? Learn the best way to prepare IELTS Listening questions with the Portland English Language Academy. You can learn many IELTS preparation tips for how to improve your IELTS score with PELA Online’s Academic IELTS Preparation course, with Modules to help you with listening, reading, writing, and speaking test questions.

Learn more IELTS Listening skills by watching Lesson 1, Module 1 for IELTS Reading for FREE!

Want to learn more IELTS Reading tips? Learn how to answer Fill-in-the-Blank questions in the IELTS Reading section!

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