IELTS Reading Exam

IELTS Reading Exam: An overview

IELTS Reading 1 hour

• 3 passages

• Common topics: Leisure and Education / The News and the Media / Travel and Transport / Business and Work / Festivals and Traditions

• Time dedication to each text: 20 minutes

IELTS Reading 1 hour

• Skills necessary to complete the tasks: Skimming and Scanning

• To skim: read the passage for gist - an overall idea of main ideas. Ignore unknown vocabulary at this stage.

• To scan: read to locate specific information

IELTS Reading 1 hour

Skimming or Scanning?

• Looking up a word in the dictionary.

• Browsing the Internet for the latest news stories.

• Choosing a book from a library or bookshop.

• Finding a particular news story in a newspaper.
• Finding the price of a product in a catalogue.
• Looking through a magazine for an interesting article.

IELTS Reading 1 hour

Passage 1 Questions 1 - 13 20 minutes Questions 1 - 5 True or False Questions 6 - 8 One word only from the passage Questions 9 -13 Table completion choosing one word and / or a number from the passage

IELTS Reading 1 hour

Passage 2 Questions 14 - 26 20 minutesThere are 9 paragraphs in this passage Questions 14 - 21 Matching headings to paragraphs Questions 22 - 26 True / False / Not Given True - the statement agrees with the information False - the statement contradicts the information NG - the information is not given

IELTS Reading 1 hour

Passage 2 ApproachLabel the paragraphs before answering the questions Examples of types of information you may be asked to find: account / cause and effect / description / opinion / reaction / summary / factual / reason

IELTS Reading 1 hour

Passage 2 Approach The headings The headings summarise the main idea of the paragraph. Paraphrasing: repeating something using different words in a simpler, shorter form. Key to paraphrasing: understanding synonyms, words, phrases with similar meaning.

IELTS Reading 1 hour

Passage 3 Questions 27 - 40 20 minutesQuestions 27 - 30 Multiple choice (A,B,C,D) The answers are in the same order as the text Two types of question - factual / writer's opinion

Passage 3 Questions 27 - 40 20 minutes Questions 31 - 35 Complete the sentence with the correct ending. The sentence beginnings are in the same order as the text.There are more sentence endings than beginnings.

IELTS Reading 1 hour

IELTS Reading 1 hour

Passage 3 Complete the sentence with the correct ending: Approaching the question Focus on sentence beginnings Look for similar words Scan for relevant section. Read the completed sentences and check meaning and grammar.

Passage 3 Sentence completion: Approaching the question instructions / understand / key / questions / scan / wrong Read the _____ and _____ carefully. Read the text to _____ the general meaning. Read the questions again and underline _____ words, dates, numbers. _____ the text for the key words or synonyms. Read around the key words in the text.

IELTS Reading 1 hour

Passage 3 Sentence completion: Approaching the question instructions / understand / key / questions / scan / wrong Read the _____ and _____ carefully. Read the text to _____ the general meaning. Read the questions again and underline _____ words, dates, numbers. _____ the text for the key words or synonyms. Read around the key words in the text.

IELTS Reading 1 hour

Passage 3 Questions 36 - 40 Do the following statements agree with the claims? Yes / No / NG (not given)

IELTS Reading 1 hour