IELTS Reading: Academic and General Training

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A 60-minute reading test

Both main IELTS Reading tests last 60 minutes and contain 40 questions. You will work with several texts and answer questions that check skills such as finding detail, understanding the main idea, and following an argument.

Academic Reading

Academic Reading uses texts from sources such as books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and online publications. The subjects are intended for a general academic audience, not a specialist reader.

General Training Reading

General Training Reading starts with everyday material, moves into work-related texts, and includes a longer text on a general-interest topic. That makes it more closely connected with reading people may do in daily life or at work.

Use the right practice materials

The two versions do not use identical passages. Practise with materials for the test you plan to take, and follow the answer word limits shown in each task.

Official IELTS sources