IntheIELTSAcademicReadingmodule,youwillbegiven3readingpassageswithapproximately40questions.

Eachreading
passageisapproximately6501400wordslongandwouldhave1214accompanyingquestions.Thepassagesareusuallytaken
frombooks,newspapers,journalsormagazines.Youwillhavetoanswerallthequestions.WhenyouwillstudyinaUniversity
wherethemediumofstudyinstructionisEnglish,youwillnothaveenoughtimetoreadallthebooksonthereadinglists.Soyou
mustbeabletoreadquicklyandtofindimportantandnecessaryinformationquicklyandaccuratelyfromdifferentsourceslike
books,theInternet,referencebooks,lecturesheetsetc.

TheoriginalAcademicIELTSreadingmoduleassesseshowwellyouaretodothesamething.IELTSisnotdesignedtoassess
yourspecialisedknowledgeaboutaparticulartopic.Soyoushouldbeabletounderstandandanswerallthereadingquestions
accuratelyifyouprepareyourselfproperly.TohelpyoupreparefortheIELTSAcademicReadingmodule,thissectionofthe
websitehasbeendesignedinachronologicalorder.Followthestepspresentedhereandmakesureyouarepreparedenoughto
sitfortheoriginalIELTSexam.

FollowingisthesummaryoftheIELTSAcademicReadingTest:

ExamLength:60minutes/1hour.

TotalReadingPassage:3(Thetotaltextlengthis2,1502,750words).

Sources:ReadingPassagesaretakenfrombooks,magazines,newspapers,journalsetc.

PassageStyle:AcademicReadingPassagescomeswithavarietyofstylesandformatsincludingdescriptive,narrativeand
discussion/argumentative.Somereadingpassagescomewithdiagrams,pictures,graphsorotherillustrations.Glossaryis
providedforthetechnicaltermsusedinthesepassages.

TotalQuestions:3942.Ineachreadingpassage,therewillbeapproximately1214questionswith23differentquestionssets.

Marking:1markforeachcorrectanswer.Thereisnonegativemarkingforwronganswers.

Followingisthechartofestimatedscoreforthetotalnumberofcorrectanswer:

CorrectAnswerBandScore
39409
36388
29357
23286
16225
10154
493
232
11

Note:Completetheexamwithin1hour.Noextratimewouldbegivenfortransferringtheanswertotheanswersheet.Usea
penciltoanswerthequestions.

DownloadAcademicReadingAnswerSheet

ProcedureoftheAcademicReadingtest:
YouusuallysitfortheListeningexamfirstandthenforthereadingexam.Soreadingisthesecondpartoftheexamonthetest
day.Youwillbeprovidedwiththequestionpapersandanswersheet.Specificinstructionsareprovidedinthequestionbooklet
andyouwillbeinstructedwhentostarttheexam.Pleasenotethatyouaregiven10minutestimeforyourLISTENINGexamfor
transferringyouranswertotheanswersheet.Butforthereadingmodule,NOEXTRATIMEISGIVENfortransferringthe
answerstotheanswersheet.Soyoumustwriteyouranswersdirectlyontheanswersheetusingapencil.Youaregiven60
minutes(1hour)fortheentirereadingtest.Thetestinstructionsindicatehowmuchtimeyoushouldspendoneachsectionofthe
testanditisusually20minutesperreadingpassage.However,youarefreetoallocateyourtimeamongthethreereading
passagesandthereisnorestrictiononthat.Forinstance,youcanspend15minutesonacomparativelyeasierreadingpassage
whileutilising25minutesforacomparativelydifficultandlengthyreadingpassage.

AcademicReadingTestQuestiontypes:

1.MultipleChoice.
2.Shortanswerquestions.
3.Sentencecompletion.
4.Notes/table/summary/flowchart/diagramcompletion.
5.Yes,No,NotGivenorTrue,False,Notgiven.
6.Classification.
7.Matchinglists/phrases.
8.Choosingheadingsforparagraphs/sectionsofatext.
9.Scanningandidentifyingthelocationofinformation.
10.Labellingadiagramwhichhasnumberedparts.

Note:Thereare40questionsintotal.Eachofthethreesectionshasaround1114questionsandthereareatleasttwotypesof
questionsineachsection.

ThingsyoushouldknowabouttheAcademicIELTSreadingtest:
Youmustidentifytherequirementtoanswerthequestions.Findtheinformationasquicklyaspossibleandansweraccurately.

Youwillnothavetimetoreadeverywordofeverypassage.Sodon'ttrytoreadthefullpassageslowlyorreadthewhole
passagelinebyline.

Thefirstthingtodoistoquicklyskimthroughthepassagetofindoutwhatitisaboutinaverygeneralsense.

Youmustunderstandthewholepassagewithin78minutesandthenlookforthequestions.Thiswillhelpyoutounderstand
whattolookforandwheretolookfor.

Donotspendtoolongononepassageorquestionsofonereadingpassage.Bespecificaboutthe
timing.Ifyoucan'tansweraparticularquestion,leaveitandgotothenextquestionandlatercomeback
totheunansweredquestions.

IELTSreadingpassagesdonottestyourtechnicalorsubjectspecificskills.Ittestsyourreadingskill.
Soifyoufindareadingpassageonaverytechnicalorsubjectspecifictopic,donotworry.Evenifa
readingpassagecomesfromatechnicalsubjectlikerobotics,genetics,physics,economicsorsoon,
keepinmindthatthathasbeendesignedfornontechnicalreaders.

ThereisnonegativemarkinginIELTSexamsoanswerallofthequestions.Sometimeswiseguessing
oreliminationprocesswouldhelpyouansweraquestioncorrectly.Butdonotgofortheguessingor
eliminationprocessuntilyoureachatthelastmomentoftheexam.

ThingsyoushouldrememberabouttheAcademicIELTSreadingmodule:

Rememberthatyouarereadingforapurpose,notforpleasure.Don'tpaniciftherearewordsyoudonotunderstand.Youmay
notneedtoknowthisword(s)toanswerthequestionsprovided.

Alwayslookatthepassagetitleandheadingswhenyousurveythetext,aswellasspecialprintlikeCAPITAL,Bold,italic,
"quotation",underlinedwords.Sometimesthesespecialmarkingtextscontainimportantinformationthatwouldbehelpfuldirectly
orindirectlyforansweringquestions.

Remember,thereisnopenaltyforanincorrectanswerinIELTS.Ifyouarenotcertainaboutananswertoaquestion,tryto
omitthewronganswersfirstandthenmakeawisedecisiontoanswerthequestion.

Checkthatyouhaveunderstoodexactlywhatthequestionwantsandthatyouhavefollowedtheinstructionscarefully.

Somequestionsexpecttheoppositeanswersandyoushouldalwaysbecarefulwhileansweringthesetypesofquestions.For
instance,thereadingpassagemightcontaininformationregardingthestepstakentoimproveemployeeperformancewhilethe
questionwouldaskforthestepwhichisnottakenbytheorganisationtoimproveemployeeperformance.

Followtheinstructionverycarefully.Failingtoconformtotheinstructionswouldmakeyouranswerincorrect.Forexample,ifa
questionasksyoutowrite"True"ifthestatementistrueandyouwrite'Yes',youranswerwouldbetreatedasawronganswer.
 NowyouknowthebasicofAcademicIELTSreadingandshouldbereadytostartmorecomprehensivepreparationlesson
stepbystep.

Step1:
Surveythewholepassage:

Lookat:
Thetitleofthepassage.
Sectionheadings.
Specialprints(CAPITAL,Bold,italic,"quotation",underlinedwords.)
Anydiagram/table/picture/tableetc.

SampleReadingPassage.....
Fromanumberofrecentstudies,ithasbecomeclearthatblindpeoplecanappreciatetheuseofoutlinesandperspectivesto
describethearrangementofobjectsandothersurfacesinspace.Butpicturesaremorethanliteralrepresentations.Thisfactwas
drawntomyattentiondramaticallywhenablindwomaninoneofmyinvestigationsdecidedonherowninitiativetodrawawheel
asitwasspinning.Toshowthismotion,shetracedacurveinsidethecircle(Fig.1).Iwastakenaback.Linesofmotion,such
astheonesheused,areaveryrecentinventioninthehistoryofillustration.Indeed,asartscholarDavidKunzlenotes,
WilhelmBusch,atrendsettingnineteenthcenturycartoonist,usedvirtuallynomotionlinesinhispopularfigureuntilabout
1877.

Nowyoucanextractthefollowinginformationfromtheaboveparagraphofthepassage:

Thetitleofthepassage:VisualSymbolsandtheblind
Sectionheadings:Notprovided.
Specialprints:DavidKunzle,WilhelmBusch,
Anydiagram/table/picture/tableetc.:Year1877,andapicture.

Tips#1:PayspecialattentiontotheYears,dateandtime.InIELTSreadingtherearemanyquestionsthosesimplyaskthetime
ordate.Andthesetypesofquestionsareveryeasytoanswerifyoupayattentiontotheprovidedyear,name,dateandtime.

Step2:
Donotreadthewholepassagefirst:
Itisamistaketobeginreadingapassagewithoutfirsthavingareasontoread.Thereare3partstotheReadingTest,andmany
candidatesbegineachpartinthesamewaybyreadingthepassage.Theymightreaditindetail,orscanitquicklytofindout
whatthetopicofthepassageisandtogetageneralideaofthecontents.However,candidateswhodothisfirsthaveforgotten
theneedtopredictinformation.Theydonothaveagoodenoughreasontoreadthepassagesosoon.Alwayshaveareasonto
readapassagebeforeyoubegintodoso.Haveaquestioninyourmindsomethingyouarelookingforotherwise,youwillnot
bemanagingyourtimewell.

Step3:
ReadThePassageinaLogicalOrder:
 TheTitleofthereadingpassageshouldgiveyouaroughideaaboutthemaintopicofthepassage.Ifyoudonot
understandthemeaningofthetitleorsomeofthewordsitcontains,itdoesnotmatter.

Tryandworkoutthemeaningofthetitlewhileyoucontinuetoread.

TheHeadingsforeachsectionofthepassagerefertowhatiscontainedineachsection,andwhereinformationcanbe
located.Theyalsohelpyoutopredictwhatthepassageisabout.

Boldprintedwordsindicatethatthosewordsareofsomeimportance.Theycanalsohelpyoutopredictinformation
containedinthepassage.

ItissaidthataPictureisworthathousandwords.Alwayslookatillustrations,figures,tables,graphsanddiagramsthat
accompanyareadingpassage.Theyoftensummarise,addimportantdetail,ormakeinformationinthepassageclear.

TheInstructionscontainimportantinformationthatyoumustread.Ifyoudonotreadtheinstructions,youwillalmost
certainlyanswersomeofthequestionsinthewrongmanner.Theinstructionsmayalsocontaincluesaboutthe
informationcontainedinthepassage.

WhatkindofAnswersdoyouneedtogive?Theinstructionswilltellyou.Thekindsofanswersthatarerequired,alsotell
youmoreabouttheinformationwithinthepassage.Istheansweraname?adate?anumber?

TheExamplenotonlyprovidesyouwiththecorrectwaytoanswerthequestions,ittellsyou,insummarisedform,more
aboutthepassageitself.Youarenotwastingtimebyexaminingtheexampleandtheansweritgives.

Finally,theQuestionsthemselvesprovidevaluablehintsabouttheideascontainedinthepassageaswellasspecific
informationtolookforonyourfirstreading.

Alloftheaboveshouldbequicklyexaminedbeforeyoureadthepassageinanydetail.Itwillmakescanningthepassagemuch
easier,andwillhelpyoutopredictalargeamountofinformation.