Getting Familiar with the IELTS Reading Test

(Format & Questions)

The question types used in the IELTS Reading test evaluate a variety of reading skills.
These include:

 skimming - reading for gist and to understand the main idea

 scanning - reading quickly to locate a specific piece of information
 reading for detail – reading to understand a logical argument, opinions,
attitudes, and writer’s purpose.

You will get similar question types in both the IELTS General Training and Academic tests;
however, the topics of the reading texts will be different.

IELTS Academic Reading

The Academic Reading test evaluates a variety of reading skills, including
your ability to follow an argument and identify the opinion, attitude, or intent
of a writer. It assesses your ability to understand ideas, details, opinions,
and implicit meanings when reading. Skimming, scanning, and detailed
reading are all included in the evaluation of your reading comprehension
skills.

Three sections, each of which contains a long text taken from current
books, journals, magazines, and newspapers make up the Academic
Reading test. The texts are based on issues you would encounter in an
educational or professional context in an English-speaking setting.

The Academic Reading test consists of 40 questions that you must answer.
These can include short-answer questions, matching headings or sentence
endings, identifying information, and completion tasks such as sentence,
summary, note, table, and flow-chart completions.
Question types (Academic and General Training)
You can expect a variety of question types in the General and Academic Reading tests
such as:

 Multiple choice
 Identifying information
 Identifying a writer's views/claims
 Matching information
 Matching headings
 Matching features
 Matching sentence endings
 Sentence completion
 Summary, note, table, flow-chart completion
 Diagram label completion
 Short-answer questions

1. The answer is always paraphrased

It’s always paraphrased and the text can tell you if your answer is right 100% .
What does it mean and how does it work?
It means that for ANY correct answer will need to choose from the options, there is
ALWAYS a paraphrased fragment in the text that says absolutely the same.
The IELTS reading test is designed to test your understanding of language
complexities.
It will assess your ability to understand the same (or similar) ideas hidden behind
different wordings and expressions.

Learn to skim and scan. These reading techniques use rapid eye movement and
keywords so that you are able to move fast through text.

2. Skimming is reading rapidly in order to get a general overview of the material. Here
is an overview:
1. Read the first paragraph attentively to get an idea of what the text is about.
2. Pay attention to the first few sentences of every paragraph, this will give
you the main idea of the text.
3. Always read the last paragraph thoroughly as this normally contains the
summary.

3.Scanning - is reading rapidly in order to find specific facts.

The questions in the IELTS reading test will often include dates, names, numbers, and
new terms that are part of your answers.
When you are scanning be sure to :
1. Always underline important specific information and numbers. You do not
need to read every word. Look out for information like names, dates, figure,
statistics etc
2. From the question, identify the keyword and then scan the text for it, and
possible synonyms. This will help you find the answer more quickly.
It is important to be fast, focused and alert. You can’t allow yourself to be slow and
relaxed.
You should spend no more than 3 minutes skimming the passage for your test.

4. Focus on the ideas, not the words.

 Re-read, and then rephrase it in your own words.
 Explain to yourself what you have just read.
 This mini-analysis helps you to focus on the ideas, and the message rather
than the words in front of you.
 This is extremely important because the answer you are looking for has
definitely been rephrased too.

5. Find proof in the text, underline and number

 Find the exact location of the rephrased answer in the reading
passage. Compare it to the keywords in your answer and rest assured that
it is the ONE. That is the proof.
 Then underline that rephrased line in the passage.
  Then write the number on top of the question that is answered by that line.
As simple as that.

6. Don’t panic over unknown words. Use context

Try to look around at the new word. Maybe the content of the sentence can help you
deduce whether it’s positive or negative, a person or a job, an animal or a feature.

Prefixes can help, un- means cancel an action, re- means repeat, or -wise means
referring to something.

Grammar will also help, if it comes before a noun, it might be describing how this noun
is.
Remember to do background work on expanding your vocabulary and understanding of
prefixes and suffixes for your reading test.

If this doesn’t help either just don’t panic. Move on to the next question, and later
return to the confusing part.