IELTS Online Practice Materials

Preparation

• Do several timed practice Reading tests before the real exam. These 'rehearsals' will give you a feel for how long you can take and will develop your skimming (reading for gist) and scanning (reading for specific information) skills.
• In the weeks before the exam, read as much English text as possible, in newspapers, comics, magazines, whatever you enjoy.
• With newspaper or magazine articles, think of a heading which summarises the main point of each paragraph. This focuses your understanding of the content and practises one type of possible reading exercise.

During the test

• You have 20 minutes per text to read and answer the questions. If you haven't finished one section after 17-18 minutes, make an intelligent guess at the remaining answers and go on to the next section. Remember, the sections get more difficult, so if possible, save time on the early ones.
• Read the questions carefully before you read the text so you know what information you are looking for. You could organise your 20 minutes per text like this:
  • Use 3-4 minutes to read the questions.
  • Then use 10-12 minutes to read the passage and to answer where you can.
  • Use the last minutes to find the answers in the text that you did not find when you first read the passage. The answers are usually in order in the text.
• Remember to read the instructions carefully. If you are asked to answer a question in three words or less, don't give an answer with more words!

On the Reading paper there are 11 different types of task: multiple choice, identifying information, identifying writers views or claims, matching information, matching headings, matching features, matching sentence endings, sentence completion, note completion, table completion, flow chart completion, diagram label completion, and short answer questions.