General Training Reading

Victor BarreraJeancarlos VillamilFernanda Beltrán

IELTS, the International English Language Testing System, is designed to assess the language ability of candidates who need to study or work where English

is the language of communication. 

The IELTS Reading module consists of three reading passages taken from:

You have 60 minutes to complete the test. There is NO extra time at the end of the test to transfer your answers to the answer paper (you get 10 extra minutes in the listening test only)17 minutes on section 1.20 minutes on section 2.23 minutes on section 3.

The test has 40 questions based on a series of texts. 

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 1

•It has two or three short texts with 13 or 14 questions to answer in 2 or 3 sets of differing formats. •Texts in section 1 are relatively short and there may be a number of “mini texts’ to look through.

Topics

•Advertisements•Timetables• Instruction manuals

Different Questions types

• True – False• Short Answer•Multiple choice

Example

Tips and Strategies • Step 1:     Survey the text

Tips and Strategies • Step 2:       Read the instructions and the questions

Tips and Strategies • Step 3:     Find the answer Use: Guessing from context technic

Section 2•  It has 2 texts with 13 or maybe 14 questions to answer.• The texts here will be more complicated using more intricate

language and structure.

Questions typesQuestions about specific information• Completing sentences • True – False• Matching pieces of specific informationQuestions about main ideas• Matching headings with paragraphs• Identifying where to find information

Tips and Strategies  

• Step 1: Survey the text• Step 2: Read the questions• Step 3: Answer the questions by Scanning for

specific information or identifying main ideas

by skimming

Section 3•It has  1 text with 13 or maybe 14 questions to answer.•Section 3 tests candidates’ ability to deal with longer pieces of writing. The reading passage will again involve more complex language than the 2 previous sections.

Marking

Marking

Rubric to Assess