IELTS – Academic – Reading
The Reading test is divided into three sections, each of which contains a long text. Forty questions are based on these three texts and they are to be completed within sixty minutes. These Reading texts or passages are picked up from varied sources.
Question Modeling & Structure
- The sources of texts for the Reading section include newspapers, magazines, journals, periodicals, etc.
- All of them have some academic value but are based on topics that can be easily understood by even an average (non academic) reader.
- On the basis of reading these passages, candidates are expected to answer questions of various types. These include Yes/No/Not Given questions (affirming or denying claims made), multiple-choice questions, True/Fall/Not Given questions (identifying information correctly), sentence completion questions, matching headings questions, matching information questions, etc.
How to Improve Your Skills
A candidate’s reading skills are tested; such as his ability to synthesize information he has read. Other major skills include identifying the main idea or theme of the text, judging which information is important and which isn’t, being able to make out the author’s opinion, understanding which statements help in the making of an argument, and being able to understand implicit meaning.
- Rigorous reading habit helps you come across various kinds of passages and texts that will help you be prepared for this test. Practicing questions is more necessary since you are required to answer questions based on passages.
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