The Reading and Comprehension section of the IELTS General Exam assesses the reading skills of examinees and tests them for basic skills required on a day-to-day basis in an English-speaking environment.
Skills assessed include understanding instructions; ability to identify information; general reading speed; ability to analyse quickly and identify the core concepts; interpreting the author’s opinion and points of view; and gauging the tonal quality of the passage.
In the exam, there will be three sections and a total 40 questions designed to test basic reading and comprehension skills. Section 1 comprises two or more short texts; Section 2 comprises two passages; and Section 3 will have a long passage.
Thematically, these passages could be either analytical or descriptive or discursive, and are taken from a variety of sources, such as magazines, journals, newspapers, or books.
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The three passages in the test could be from advertisements, journals, notices, guidelines, company handbooks, magazines, books or newspapers. These passages are chosen for a general/neutral audience with no specialised knowledge required to write about them.
The passage will generally deal with commonly known topics, which are interesting and should also require some basic knowledge to understand and respond to.
The theme of the first section is ‘social survival’, with content taken from notices, advertisements and timetables containing basic factual information in simple language that tests the ability for basic linguistic survival in English.
The theme of the second section is 'workplace survival’ and the passages deal with matter related to common professional life such as contracts, job descriptions, employee development and training documents.
The theme of the third section is ‘general reading’ and deals with reading elaborated texts that have a slightly complex structure.
The passages are descriptive and instructive and not argumentative. They are chosen to be of general contextual relevance to a wide range of examinees from across the globe. They are picked mostly from magazines, newspapers, fictional and non-fictional book extracts.
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Section/Question | Description | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
1. Multiple choice | Examinees need to pick the right answer from: Four options (A, B, C, or D), or two of the closest options from five alternatives (A, B, C, D, or E), or three of the closest options from seven alternatives (A, B, C, D, E, F, or G). | To assess a number of reading skills, such as overall understanding of the main points, and detailed understanding of some specific points of the passage. |
2. Identify Information | A number of statements associated with the given text will be provided for evaluating “True” or “False.” In these questions, subtle differences should be observed; for example, the difference between ‘false' and ‘not given'. ‘False’ refers to the given statement being completely the opposite of what is mentioned in the text, whereas 'not given' indicates that the given statement is neither confirmed nor contradicted by it. | To assess the examinees’ ability to identify and understand factual information. |
3. Identify Writer’s Views or Claims | Examinees will be required to read a number of statements about the author’s point of view or opinion. They will have to respond with ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘not given’ to questions like, ‘Do the following statements agree with the views/claims of the writer?’ In these questions, it is vital to note the difference between ‘no' and 'not given'. 'No' implies that the writer’s opinions are clearly different from or opposite to that expressed in the statement, while 'not given' indicates that the view or claim can neither be confirmed nor contradicted. | To test the examinees’ capacity to recognise opinions or ideas. They are usually asked in case of discursive or argumentative passages. |
4. Match Information | These questions require examinees to find specific information from paragraphs or sections of the text that are marked with letters. The information required to be found may be an example, a summary, an explanation, a reason, a description, or any specific details or a comparison. | To test the examinees’ skills to scan bulk text for specific information. These questions are associated with identifying specific information, not the key idea. |
5. Match Headings | Examinees have to read the passage and identify the main idea. They are then required to select suitable titles or headings for the passage(s) from a list of options. Test takers have to match the headings to correct paragraphs or sections marked alphabetically. | To evaluate the examinees' ability to identify the theme of a given paragraph or section of the passage. They are also required to distinguish main ideas from supporting ones. |
6. Match Features | In these question types, there will be two sets of information. Examinees need to match the information with the right option. The nature of the information could vary, i.e. it could be a finding, or an inference, or characteristics, or any particular event described in the main passage. Similarly the nature of options to match them will vary. | To assess the ability to identify relationships and connections between facts in the passage with opinions and inferences listed under options. These questions can be asked with factual information and opinion-based discursive texts. The key is to be able to scan the passage and locate the required information or read for detail. |
7. Match Sentence Endings | Examinees get the first part of a sentence based upon the passage and they have to choose a suitable, grammatically correct option from a list of several options to end it. | To check both the grammar and vocabulary knowledge, and understanding of the main idea from an incomplete sentence. |
8. Sentence Completion | In these questions, examinees need to complete sentences by adding a specified number of words taken from a specified portion of the passage. These could also be taken from the full passage if instructed. Instructions may be: ‘NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage’; ‘ONE WORD ONLY’; or ‘NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS’. | To test the ability to find information and also to use appropriate vocabulary. |
9. Completions:
| An incomplete summary or inference is to be completed by the examinees using their understanding of the passage. This could be taken from a part of the passage or the full passage. The incomplete part could also be a note or a table or a flow chart. | To check the understanding of the main idea of the long passage. For writing a summary or notes, or table, etc., one must know the variations in the type of word(s) that are appropriate for the given gap (for example, whether a noun is needed, or a verb, etc.). Articulating appropriate vocabulary in correct form is critical. |
10. Diagram Label Completion | Examinees need to complete labels on diagrams taking cue from the passage. Instructions may be: ‘NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage’, ‘ONE WORD ONLY’ or ‘NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS’. | To test the knowledge of logic and flow. Locating and understanding the right words in context and use of proper vocabulary is also important. |
11. Short-Answer Questions | Questions generally regarding some factual information or details are asked for a short reply. | To test the ability to find and understand precise information in the passage. |