IELTS Reading tests are different for Academic and General IELTS. As you may know, you should take IELTS Academic module if you’re going to study abroad. And if you’re intending to work abroad, then you should take IELTS General module. IELTS Academic reading is more challenging than IELTS General reading.
Both General and Academic IELTS Reading tests have 3 sections with 40 questions in total. IELTS Reading test lasts 1 hour.
| Time | 60 minutes |
| Questions | 40 |
| Sections | 3 |
This module takes 60 minutes and has 3 sections. Each section has from 10 to 17 questions, making 40 questions in total. Questions become more difficult throughout the test.
– Texts are taken from books, journals, newspapers, magazines and web-sites that cover academic topics for non-specialist audience.
– All three sections contain 2,150-2,750 words in total.
– One of the sections may contain graphs, charts, illustrations or other non-verbal material.
– If text contains some unknown or special vocabulary, the glossary will be given in the end of the text.
Each of the 40 questions is worth 1 point. Depending on how many points you gain, you can receive a score from 0 to 9 points for the Reading Section. To determine your IELTS Academic Reading score, the following conversion table applies:
| Raw score (out of 40) | 39-40 | 37-38 | 35-36 | 33-34 | 30-32 | 27-29 | 23-26 | 19-22 | 15-18 | 13-14 | 10-12 | 8-9 | 6-7 | 4-5 |
| Band score | 9 | 8.5 | 8 | 7.5 | 7 | 6.5 | 6 | 5.5 | 5 | 4.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 2.5 |
This module takes 60 minutes and has 3 sections. Each section is divided into several subsections and has from 10 to 17 questions, making 40 questions in total.
Section 1: 2-3 short texts about dealing with everyday topics, such as timetables, announcements, booklets, newspapers, advertisements. This section is the easiest, it tests your ability to understand the most common types of texts while living in English-speaking environment.
Section 2: 2 texts about work, for example job descriptions, job application, work contracts, wage and working conditions, training courses.
Section 3: 1 text on a topic of general interest from a book, newspaper, magazine or online resource.
– All texts deal with topics that a person needs to know when living in an English-speaking environment.
– All texts contain 2,150-2,750 words in total, getting increasingly difficult through the test.
Each of the 40 questions is worth 1 point. Depending on how many points you gain, you can receive a score from 0 to 9 points for the Reading Section. To calculate your IELTS General Reading score, the following conversion table applies:
| Raw score (out of 40) | 40 | 39 | 37-38 | 36 | 34-35 | 32-33 | 30-31 | 27-29 | 23-26 | 19-22 | 15-18 | 12-14 | 9-11 | 6-8 |
| Band score | 9 | 8.5 | 8 | 7.5 | 7 | 6.5 | 6 | 5.5 | 5 | 4.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 2.5 |