In reading IELTS, you have to deal with three reading passages with some questions as a companion. These reading passages are given based on its level of difficulty. These passages show increasing difficulty.
For each reading passage, there will be about 500-900 words existed. You have total 60 minutes to answer all questions about those three passages. The passages might involve information in form of tables, diagrams, charts, etc. Therefore, you need to have enough practice to understand on how to read those forms. Don’t be afraid of a topic that is unfamiliar for you. You will not be accessed about the knowledge of any particular subjects. You will be access merely on your skill to answer questions which are based on the reading passages. You may give marks on the question paper, but you should write down the answers directly to the answer sheet. Different from listening section, this section does not give you extra time for copying your answers to the answer sheet.
In reading sections, you could find several types of questions as follows.
- Short answer
- Multiple choice
- Matching
- Classification
- Completing sentences
- Completing notes
- Completing a summary
- Completing a table
- Completing a form
- Completing a flow chart or diagram
- Selecting headings for paragraphs and sections
- Recognizing a writer’s views or claims
The same as listening section, you cannot predict which type of question you will have to answer. Reading IELTS might give you some combination of the listed types of questions to answer.
In this section your skills in the following aspects will be tested.
- Identifying the gist of a passage
- Finding detailed factual information in a passage
- Identifying relationships between ideas or information items such as cause and effects, order of events, and comparison
- Making inferences
- Distinguishing between fact, assumption, or opinion
- Understanding text organization
- Summarizing information
Source: IELTS to Success Preparation Tips and Practice Test by Eric van Bemmel and Janina Tucker (Melbourne: 1997)
