The reading component of the IELTS test

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.

Read the sample reading text which is about the Titanic. This reading text is used as the basis for all the practice questions.

Click a blue heading to try the practice test questions:

• 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

Download a copy of the reading booklet

You need Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to print the document.
Click on the button to download the Acrobat Reader program from the Adobe Acrobat web site.