The IELTS examination tests your ability to read between 1500 and 2500 words in a fairly short period of time in order to find out certain information. In both the Academic and the General Training modules, you are given 60 minutes to answer a total of 40 questions. The texts and items are graded in terms of difficulty. if you can identify the reading skills being tested in each of questions, and if you have some mastery of these skills, you will have a better chance of completing the Reading test successfully.
ACADEMIC Reading Module:
The test has three reading passages and each of the passage is accompanied by a set of questions. There may be more than one type of question in each set. For example, you may be asked to find detailed information in a text in order to complete sentences; you may have to identify views and attitudes within a text; you may have to understand how something works and complete a diagram or chart. The passages may be written in a variety of different styles, such as argumentative, descriptive, narrative, discursive, etc.
GENERAL Training Reading Module:
The test has three sections. Section 1 contains two or more texts which are based on social situations. Section 2 contains two texts based on course-related situations and Section 3 contains one text that tests general reading comprehensions. The question types are similar to those in the Academic module. The texts in the first two sections are most likely to be descriptive and factual. The text in the third section may contain some argument.
