The Reading test at a glance
The IELTS Reading test lasts 60 minutes and has 40 questions across three sections. On the computer-delivered test you type answers straight onto the screen; on paper you write them on the answer sheet within the same 60 minutes, with no extra transfer time.
- Academic Reading uses three long texts from books, journals and magazines, often on science, history or social topics.
- General Training Reading starts with short everyday texts such as notices and advertisements, moves to workplace documents, and ends with one longer general text.
Each correct answer earns one mark. Band 7 in Academic Reading needs roughly 30 out of 40, while General Training usually needs more correct answers for the same band.
The main question types
You will meet a mix of these in almost every test:
- TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN (or YES / NO / NOT GIVEN for opinions).
- Matching Headings for paragraphs.
- Matching Information: which paragraph contains a given detail.
- Summary completion, sometimes with a word box.
- Multiple choice, sentence completion and short answers.
Each type needs its own approach. With summary completion, for example, predict the kind of word you need (a noun? a number?) before you look at the passage. With a word box, remember that the options are often synonyms of words in the text rather than exact copies, and that some options are there only to distract you. With Matching Information, the order of answers is not the order of the passage, so scan rather than read from the top.
Two traps that cost the most marks
NOT GIVEN. FALSE means the passage says the opposite. NOT GIVEN means the passage simply doesn't say. Many careful readers choose FALSE because the statement "feels wrong" or doesn't match what they know. IELTS tests only what the text says, not your general knowledge. Medical and engineering students in Lahore fall into this trap often, precisely because they know the subject.
Matching Headings. Headings are designed so that several look right for one paragraph. A heading must match the paragraph's main idea, not one interesting sentence in it. Read the first two lines and the last line of the paragraph, decide its purpose, then choose.
A timing strategy that works
- Aim for about 17, 20 and 23 minutes for passages one, two and three. The last passage is usually the hardest.
- Don't read every word first. Skim the passage for a minute to see its structure, then go question by question.
- Never leave a blank. There is no penalty for a wrong answer.
- Flag and move on. If one question takes more than a minute and a half, flag it and come back.
- Check spelling and word limits. "NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS" means a three-word answer is wrong, however accurate.
Reading habits for Lahore students
Lahore's IELTS candidates come from very different school backgrounds. If you studied in an English-medium school and now read English textbooks every day at LUMS or King Edward, your challenge is usually speed and traps rather than vocabulary. If your schooling was mainly in Urdu, you may find yourself translating each sentence in your head, which costs precious minutes.
Either way, the fix is regular timed reading in English:
- Read one long English article a day, from science, health or economics, and summarise each paragraph in a few words.
- Stop translating line by line. Aim to understand the main idea in English first and look up only words that block meaning.
- Practise on a screen if you plan to take the computer-delivered test. Scrolling through a long passage feels different from turning pages.
Your commute can help: a short Reading set on the Orange Line is a good warm-up, though full sets are best done at a desk.
How to practise on IELTS Learning
You get 52 Academic and General Training Reading sets with explanations for every answer, so you understand why the right option is right. Each wrong answer goes to your Mistake Notebook, and over a few weeks you will see your own pattern, perhaps NOT GIVEN errors or headings questions, clearly enough to target it.
Charged sets for band 7 and above
Once you are scoring consistently around 30, move on to our Charged Reading sets. They use denser texts, closer distractors and more paraphrase, which is what separates band 7 from band 8. Use them in your final weeks, alongside full mock tests.
Try the free Reading practice sets to see where you stand, then register to unlock the full range of IELTS Reading practice.