IELTS Academic Reading practice test

A full-length paper: three passages, forty questions, sixty minutes. The passages grow harder as you work through them, as they do on the day, and the hour includes the time you spend writing your answers.

What this test covers

Eight question types appear, which is what a real paper draws on:

• Matching information — which paragraph contains a given fact, with letters that may repeat
• Matching headings — a heading for each paragraph, each used once at most
• Matching features — statements attached to the right item from a list
• True, False and Not Given — whether the passage supports a statement, contradicts it, or is silent
• Yes, No and Not Given — the same three answers applied to the writer’s opinions rather than to facts
• Multiple choice — one option from four
• Sentence and summary completion — words taken from the passage, within a stated limit

Each type is grouped under its own instruction, as on the real paper. Read the instruction rather than skimming it: the word limit and the rule about repeating letters are both stated there, and both decide marks.

IELTS Reading questions written from scratch

The three passages were written for this test. Nothing is taken from Cambridge practice material or from a past paper, and no question is an official question with the wording changed. Real papers were used to calibrate length, difficulty and the mix of question types, and for nothing else.

The wrong answers are built from mistakes candidates actually make. A paragraph that contains the vocabulary of the question but not its answer. A heading that names something a paragraph mentions without summarising it. A statement that follows reasonably from the passage without being stated in it, which is Not Given rather than True.

How your answers are marked

One mark for each correct answer, with nothing deducted for a wrong one, so there is never a reason to leave anything blank. Your raw score out of forty is converted using the published band table for Academic Reading, which is the same table for every paper: thirty correct is band 7 wherever it was earned.

Written answers are marked the way a marker marks them. Capitalisation is ignored. Singular and plural count as the same answer, and an article may be included or left out. Spelling is marked, and both British and American forms are accepted where they differ. An answer longer than the stated limit is wrong however correct its content, which is the most avoidable way to lose a mark in this paper.

Before you start

Set aside a clear hour. Twenty minutes a passage is the usual division and is worth treating as a limit rather than a target, since the third passage is the hardest and its questions are worth the same single mark as the first.

Answers to the completion questions must come from the passage itself. No dictionary, and nothing to look up.

If you close the tab, the session is kept and you can return to it at the same address, but the clock keeps running, exactly as it would in the exam room.