IELTS reading

The reading component

The IELTS reading test takes one hour. In this time you are required to
read three texts of between 500 and 900 words each. The texts and
questions increase in difficulty. There will be around 40 questions to
answer and record on the answer sheet within the 60 minutes.
Most students come out of the reading test feeling that there wasn’t
enough time to complete the exam paper. For this reason it is very
important that you take a number of timed practice reading tests before the
actual exam day to develop the skills of skimming and scanning and other
timesaving strategies.
In the following pages you will find information and practice questions to
prepare you to answer some of the most common types of question in the
reading test:

♦= Summary completion
♦= Matching headings to paragraphs
♦= Identifying the writer’s views
♦= Multiple choice
♦= Selecting factors
♦= Table completion
♦= Matching causes and effects
♦= Sentence completion
♦= Short answer questions