IELTS Academic Reading

Students aspiring for getting admissions to the top QS universities have to appear for the IELTS academic test. This IELTS test is used to check their language proficiency to see how well they can manage their studies. In this test, IELTS academic reading is one of the important sections where your reading, understanding and answering skills are assessed.

The IELTS academic reading section is used to check how well you can understand an argument, identify the main points from the writer’s perspective and your ability to follow the instructions given in the questions. To excel in the IELTS academic reading section you must have the following skills namely, skimming, scanning, paraphrasing, time management and keyword identification. In this article, you will get all the information you need to prepare for your IELTS academic reading test.

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Table of Content

1. IELTS academic reading 
2. IELTS academic reading exam pattern 
3. IELTS academic reading sections 
4. IELTS academic reading band descriptors 
5. IELTS academic reading question types 
6. IELTS academic reading essential preparation tips 
7. How do I get a good score in the IELTS academic reading? 
8. Learn more about the IELTS academic reading 
9. FAQ
   

IELTS Academic Reading Exam Pattern

The IELTS academic reading exam pattern is structured by the British Council, Cambridge and the IDP to assess your overall reading skills. The passages given include descriptive content, factual information, analytical data like diagrams, bar graphs, charts, etc from academic sources. 

IELTS reading section duration	Number of sections	Number of questions	Number of question type	Band score
60 minutes	3	40	14	1-9

For more details, check IELTS exam pattern.

IELTS Academic reading sections

There are 3 IELTS academic reading sections. You will be given 60 minutes to complete all the 40 questions. The test takers have to read the passages and answer all the questions under each section within the stipulated time limit.

IELTS academic reading section 1

The IELTS academic reading section 1 will contain a passage and 3-4 types of questions. You have to read the passage and answer the question based on the question type. Try solving this section in 20 minutes so that you will be able to save time for other sections.

Practice Test 1
Practice Test 2
Practice Test 3

IELTS academic reading section 2

The IELTS academic reading section 2 has passages that are taken from the academic related journals and publications. The 3-4 types of questions given will be assessing your language skills and your understanding capabilities. Your answers must be given using the words from the reading passage.

Practice Test 1
Practice Test 2
Practice Test 3

IELTS academic reading section 3

In IELTS academic reading section 3 you will be reading the given reading passage to answer the given questions. You must read the instructions to identify the question type and answer the questions with the required number of words.

Practice Test 1
Practice Test 2
Practice Test 3

IELTS Academic Reading Band Descriptors

The IELTS academic reading band descriptors vary between 9-1 band. The band scores are given based on the number of correct answers given by you. The band scores distribution is explained below.

S no	Number of correct answers	Band score
1	39-40	9
2	37-38	8.5
3	35-36	8
4	33-34	7.5
5	30-32	7
6	27-29	6.5
7	23-26	6
8	19-22	5.5
9	15-18	5
10	13-14	4.5
11	10-12	4
12	8-9	3.5
13	6-7	3
14	4-5	2.5
15	3-4	2

Get a detailed explanation about the band scores in IELTS academic reading score 

IELTS Academic reading question types

There are 14 IELTS academic reading question types. Each reading question type is designed in a way to assess your overall reading ability. In the final exam, you will be answering 3-4 question type questions by reading a single reading passage. The IELTS academic reading question types are mentioned below for your reference. 

• IELTS academic reading matching headings questions
• IELTS academic reading locating information questions
• IELTS academic reading true false not given questions
• IELTS academic reading multiple choice questions
• IELTS academic reading summary completion
• IELTS academic reading diagram labelling questions
• IELTS academic reading matching sentence endings questions
• IELTS academic reading matching features questions
• IELTS academic reading sentence completion
• IELTS academic reading short answer questions
• IELTS academic reading flow chart completion questions
• IELTS academic reading note completion questions
• IELTS academic reading yes no not given questions
• IELTS academic reading table completion questions

IELTS Academic Reading essential preparation Tips

These IELTS academic reading essential preparation tips will be helping you to excel in the reading sections. The tips are as follows.

1. Enhance your reading skills by investing more time in reading articles, journals, etc published by native language writers.
2. Focus on understanding the question types and the ways to solve them at ease.
3. Maintaining your time during the test is very important as all the modules are separately timed. 
4. From the start of your preparation, take as many tests as possible to evaluate your preparation.
5. Put more focus on the topics that you are not familiar with or find it difficult to answer.
6. Try increasing your reading skills to save time during the exam.
7. Vocabulary is very important when it comes to the reading section. Thus pay more attention in improving your vocabulary.
8. Learn how to identify the keywords when you are reading the passages.
9. Grammar also plays an important role in the reading section. Thus concentrate on grammatical skills while you are preparing for the reading section.
10. Plan your preparation in advance so that you have ample time to cover all the topics and to revise the module.

For detailed reading preparation tips, visit IELTS reading tips and strategies 

How do I get a good score in the IELTS Academic Reading?

To get a good score in the IELTS academic reading, you must have a clear understanding of all the question types and the ways to answer them. For this, you have to keep on practicing the question types till you feel confident in answering the questions. While reading the passage, you must be able to identify the main idea of the passage and try skimming the passage to get the whole concept and then start answering. Follow the given instructions to answer the questions. The answers must be given from the reading passage.

FAQ

1. How can I practice for the  IELTS academic reading section?

As the IELTS academic reading section assesses your reading and understanding skills, practising for this section requires few skills like skimming, scanning, understanding, strong vocabulary, etc. These skills will help in saving your time during the exam. To enhance these skills you must attempt a lot of practice tests and make yourself familiar with the question types.

2. Which is the best book for IELTS academic reading?

The best books for IELTS academic reading are,

• The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS 
• Barron’s IELTS  Superpack 
• Simone Braverman’s Target Band 7 
• IELTS Practice Tests Plus 2 with Key and CD Pack
• Cambridge IELTS 15 Academic Student’s Book with Answers
• Road to IELTS
• IELTS Trainer
• Mometrix IELTS Book for General Training and Academic 2021 – 2022 
• Check Your English Vocabulary for IELTS 
• Focus on IELTS Foundation: Foundation Coursebook 
• Official IELTS Practice Materials

3. Why is the IELTS reading section considered difficult?

The reading section is one of the challenging modules in the IELTS academic test because, here you have to read, understand the main concept of the passage, and answer the question with their respective answer. Here answer for one question type may require you to skim the passage where others may go for detailed reading. Thus you have to be skilled in reading as well be familiarized with the question type to give the correct answer within the time limit. 

4. How can I get an 8+ band score in the IELTS academic reading section?

Scoring above band 8 in the reading section is easy if you are able to read the passage and understand the main idea of the passage. You have to follow the instructions to answer the questions within the word limit. The answers must be given only from the reading passage and not on your own.

5. How much time do you have for the IELTS academic reading section?

The time allocated for the reading section is 60 minutes. Since there are three sections in the reading test, you can use 20 minutes to answer each section.

6. Are the IELTS academic reading and IELTS general training reading sections similar?

The IELTS academic reading and the IELTS general training reading sections are different as the passage used in the tests will be different. For academic tests, passages from educational journals, scientific articles, research papers, etc will be taken. For the General reading test, passages regarding day-to-day activities, social activities, and common topics will be used. 

7. How can I improve my IELTS academic reading performance?

Your reading performance can be increased by reading more journals, articles, publications, etc in the English language. You have to try skimming, scanning, paraphrasing, etc. with all the materials you are reading to improve your reading skills.