Introduction to IELTS GENERAL READING MODULE

Introduction

The General Reading Test spreads over 3 sections containing 40 questions in total. You are given a total of 60 minutes to answer these questions. Unlike IELTS listening, you are not provided with additional time to transfer your answers to a separate answer sheet. So your answering will be an on-going process. Once you have found an answer it’s always wise to transfer them immediately in order to save time. Some candidates prefer to do this in the last five or ten minutes but most of them end hardly ever succeeded. They are also prone to make a plenty of mistakes in spelling, grammar and capitalization. So beware of these mistakes as you will always be penalized for doing so.

So, how are each section organized?

In section 1 you will be answering 13-15 questions based on two or three short factual texts such as advertisements, manuals etc.

In section 2 another 13-15 questions are followed by two or three work related information texts. E.g., notices, leaflets, etc.

In section 3 the last 13-15 questions are raised from a long text on any general topic.

What type of questions will I get?

Well, you will be getting variety of question types such as , matching headings with paragraphs, matching information with paragraphs, multiple choice questions, yes/no/not given questions, true/false/not given questions, fill in the blanks, labeling a diagram etc.

What’s the difference between IELTS Academic Reading Test and IELTS General Reading Test?

The difference generally relies on the type of texts that general candidates get and the way the marks are scaled. Check out the band score scaling for General Reading Test.

For your information, IELTS general reading test takers need to score more out of 40 questions in order to receive a higher band score. This is due to the questions which are generally based on short, day-to-day authentic materials such as, journals, advertisements, periodicals, magazines, official documents, and newspapers etc. which are commonly considered to be easier in vocabulary and complexity than the academic reading passages.

Any queries on the General Reading Module can be dealt with in the Discussion room.