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Course

IELTS Reading

Courses for both IELTS Academic and General Training. Start with Lessons 1 and 2 to learn the six core reading skills. General Training students should then go to the General Training lessons.

  • 12 lessons
  • 11 question types
  • 40 questions in the test
  • 60 minutes in the test

Before you start

What is the Academic Reading test?

Time60 minutes. There is no extra time to transfer your answers, so write them on the answer sheet (or type them) as you go.
Texts3 long texts, 2,150–2,750 words in total. They come from books, journals, magazines and newspapers, and are written for a non-specialist reader. They get harder from text 1 to text 3.
Questions40 questions, 1 mark each, using a mix of the 11 question types below.
What it testsReading for gist, main ideas and detail, skimming, understanding logical argument, and recognising writers' opinions, attitudes and purpose.

Source: the official IELTS Academic Reading test format (ielts.org).

Time tip: 40 questions in 60 minutes is about 20 minutes per text. You cannot read every word carefully. That is why every lesson in this course practises surveying, skimming and scanning first.

Lessons

Academic Reading lessons

Your progress is saved in this browser when you mark a lesson as complete.

The reading skills

Learn these first. Every question type uses them.

  1. 1

    Developing reading skills

    Surveying, skimming and scanning: the skills every question type depends on.

    ✓ Completed
    45–60 min
  2. 2

    Developing reading skills 2: detail, opinion and inference

    Reading in detail, recognising the writer’s opinion and reading for inference.

    ✓ Completed
    60–75 min

Skimming for main ideas

Questions about what a paragraph is mainly about.

  1. 3

    Matching headings

    Use topic sentences to match each paragraph to its main idea.

    ✓ Completed
    45–60 min

Scanning and reading in detail

Find the right place quickly, then read it carefully.

  1. 4

    Matching information

    Find which paragraph contains a specific piece of information.

    ✓ Completed
    45–60 min
  2. 5

    Sentence completion

    Predict the missing word, copy it exactly and never break the word limit.

    ✓ Completed
    40–50 min
  3. 6

    Summary, note, table and flow-chart completion

    Summary, notes, table and flow chart: four formats, one strategy.

    ✓ Completed
    50–70 min
  4. 7

    Diagram label completion

    Read the diagram first, then follow the language of location and position.

    ✓ Completed
    30–40 min
  5. 8

    Short-answer questions

    Margin notes, key words and synonyms for fast, precise answers.

    ✓ Completed
    45–60 min
  6. 9

    Matching sentence endings

    Choose endings by meaning, not just grammar, and work backwards from distractors.

    ✓ Completed
    30–40 min
  7. 10

    Multiple choice

    Spot the four kinds of distractor and prove your answer from the text.

    ✓ Completed
    40–50 min

Understanding the writer's opinion and reading for inference

Separate facts from opinions, and work out what the writer really thinks.

  1. 11

    True / False / Not Given and Yes / No / Not Given

    The exact difference between False and Not Given, with a seven-step strategy.

    ✓ Completed
    60–75 min
  2. 12

    Matching features

    Match statements to people or categories, and tell findings from opinions.

    ✓ Completed
    60–90 min

General Training

General Training Reading lessons

These lessons cover the texts you will meet in the General Training test. They use the same reading skills and question strategies as the Academic lessons above.

  1. 1

    General Training Reading: how the test works

    How the test works, and how it differs from the Academic test.

    ✓ Completed
    30–40 min
  2. 2

    Section 1: everyday texts

    Advertisements, notices and timetables.

    ✓ Completed
    45–60 min
  3. 3

    Section 2: workplace texts

    Handbooks, contracts and job advertisements.

    ✓ Completed
    45–60 min
  4. 4

    Section 3: the longer text

    One longer text with several question types.

    ✓ Completed
    50–60 min

Quick reference

The 11 question types

Find a question type you are finding difficult and go straight to its lesson.

1. Multiple choiceLesson 10: Multiple choice 2. Identifying information (True / False / Not Given)Lesson 11: True / False / Not Given and Yes / No / Not Given 3. Identifying the writer's views or claims (Yes / No / Not Given)Lesson 11: True / False / Not Given and Yes / No / Not Given 4. Matching informationLesson 4: Matching information 5. Matching headingsLesson 3: Matching headings 6. Matching featuresLesson 12: Matching features 7. Matching sentence endingsLesson 9: Matching sentence endings 8. Sentence completionLesson 5: Sentence completion 9. Summary, note, table and flow-chart completionLesson 6: Summary, note, table and flow-chart completion 10. Diagram label completionLesson 7: Diagram label completion 11. Short-answer questionsLesson 8: Short-answer questions