What the Reading test looks like
The Reading test has three sections and 40 questions in 60 minutes.
- Academic Reading uses three long passages from books, journals, magazines and newspapers, written for a general but educated reader.
- General Training Reading moves from short everyday texts, such as notices and advertisements, to workplace documents, and ends with one longer general passage.
The question types are shared across both, although General Training needs more correct answers for the same band. As a rough guide, band 7 in Academic Reading needs about 30 out of 40.
The question types you will meet
- TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN (or YES / NO / NOT GIVEN for opinions)
- Matching Headings to paragraphs
- Matching Information: which paragraph contains a detail
- Matching features, such as people to statements
- Summary, sentence, table or note completion, sometimes with a word box
- Multiple choice
- Short-answer questions
- Diagram labelling
Each type rewards a different reading habit, which is why random practice is less useful than practising by type.
The two traps that cost the most marks
NOT GIVEN vs FALSE
FALSE means the passage says the opposite. NOT GIVEN means the passage simply does not say. Many students mark NOT GIVEN as FALSE because the statement "feels wrong" from general knowledge. Strong readers from engineering and science backgrounds, which describes a lot of candidates in Bengaluru (or Bangalore, as many still call it), are especially prone to this, because they reason beyond the text. The test only cares what the passage states.
Matching Headings
Headings test the main idea of a paragraph, not a detail. The trap is a heading that repeats a word from the paragraph but describes only one sentence of it. Read the first two sentences and the last sentence, decide the paragraph's purpose in your own words, then look at the list.
A timing strategy that holds up
A simple starting point for Academic Reading:
- Passage 1: about 17 minutes.
- Passage 2: about 20 minutes.
- Passage 3: about 23 minutes, because it is usually the hardest.
Do not read the whole passage carefully before looking at the questions. Skim it in two or three minutes to get the structure, then let the questions guide where you read in detail. If one question is taking more than two minutes, flag it and move on. On computer, the flag-for-review button makes this easy; on paper, put a mark in the margin.
Practising in a Bengaluru routine
IELTS Reading practice is easy to break into chunks, which helps if your days are packed with lectures, stand-ups or long drives.
- Weekday: one passage of a single question type in 20 minutes, during a lunch break or on the Metro.
- Weekend: one full timed Reading test of three passages at a desk.
- Every session: review every wrong answer and the explanation before you move on.
Reading widely outside IELTS helps too. Editorials, long-form science and technology journalism, and articles about business and the environment are all close to Academic Reading in style. If you are applying for a master's at a university in the UK or USA, reading articles in your own field builds vocabulary that will help after the test as well.
How the platform helps, including Charged sets
IELTS Learning has 52 Academic and General Training sets, matched to the track you choose. Every set includes explanations, so you see why an answer is right, not only that it is. The screens work like the computer-delivered test, with a highlighter, notes and drag-and-drop for headings and word-box summaries.
Wrong answers go automatically into your Mistake Notebook. After a few weeks, you can see which types keep catching you: perhaps Matching Information, perhaps summary completion. That is where your next practice should go.
Charged sets for band 7 and above
Once you are scoring consistently around 30, the standard sets stop stretching you. Charged Reading sets use denser passages, closer distractors and trickier paraphrasing. They are meant for students targeting band 7 or more, which is common for competitive master's programmes and some professional registrations.
Getting started
Try a free sample Reading set on Practice Tests and time yourself honestly. Your result tells you whether to start with question-type practice or go straight to full timed tests. When you are ready for the complete library, IELTS Reading practice in Bengaluru is available on Full Access, ₹999 for 2 months.