IELTS Reading Question Types
IELTS Reading is divided into 3 sections and consists of 40 questions. The time allotted to complete the test is 1 hour.
There are 14 different types of questions. Each passage has about 3 or 4 different kinds of questions to answer.
Even though the question formats are the same, the text types/lengths are different for Academic and General. Below are lists of all the 14 IELTS Reading Question types in both Academic and General IELTS tests.
- Matching Heading Questions
In this type of question, there is a list of headings in roman numerals, and each heading tells you the main idea of a paragraph in the passage. You are required to match the titles with each paragraph or section in the passage.
2. True/False Given/Not Given Questions
In this kind of question, you have to decide if you can find the information or writer’s opinion in the passage. You will be given a list of statements. You need to find out if they are true or false by reading the passage.
3. Matching Paragraph Information Questions
In this type of question, you are asked to match the statement to paragraphs in the passage. The paragraph will be labelled using the letters A, B, C, D, etc. There will be some statements, and you are required to find the paragraph in which the information is found.
4. Labeling a Diagram Question
In this kind of question, you will be asked to label a diagram based on information from the text. For example, a diagram will be given to you, and you have to mark it.
Note: Some of the labellings may already be done for you.
5. Sentence Completion Questions
In sentence completion questions, you are required to complete the sentences with words from the reading passage. You have to fill the sentence gaps with a word or two using the text from the reading passage. You also have to ensure that the completed sentence is grammatically correct.
6. Matching Sentence Ending Questions
In this question, you will be given a list of incomplete sentences and no endings. It will also include another list of possible endings.
For example, you will be given the first half of the sentence. You must analyse the reading passage and find out the right ending for the same.
7. Summary Completion Question
In the Summary Completion question, a summary of the information from the passage will be given, and you will be asked to fill the gaps in the summary. You do not have to use any prior knowledge to answer the questions. Instead, you have to fill the gaps with the information given in the passage or a wordlist.
Note: Beware!! When the wordlist is provided, you have to fill in the gaps using the word list only and not from the text.
8. Multiple-choice Questions
In this kind of question, you are required to choose the correct answer from the given options. You are asked to select the correct answer from four alternatives or sometimes five or seven.
9. Short Answer Questions
In Short Answer questions, you are required to answer the questions in not more than two words, and it can be in the form of numbers too. You will have to find the words in the passage to answer all the questions listed in this question type.
10. Matching features Questions
In this kind of question, you will be asked to find the details or information about a person, place, or thing. You will give a list of names, and you have to match them with the correct statements, which include the details of that person, place, or thing.
11. Writer’s View/Claims Questions
In this question, you are required to identify the writer’s view or claim. You will be provided with a list of statements and asked if the statement agrees with the writer’s claim. You will then have to choose ‘Yes,’ ‘No,’ or ‘Not given.’ Where ‘No’ means the writer disagrees with the statement and ‘Not given’ means the writer has not given any information on it.
12. Note/Table/ Flow Chart Questions
For this type of question, you must complete the Note/Table/Flow Chart with correct answers from the text. The questions usually come in two forms — Either you are asked to select the answer from the list of options, or you are asked to choose the words from the passage.
13. Categorize information Questions
In Categories information, you are asked to categorize the data from the reading passage. You will be given a list of options [A, B, C, D format] and you have to match the statement with the correct option.
14. List selection Questions
In this question, you have to select the correct answer from the list of words, names, or information. It is different from multiple choice questions because you have to select the answers from a long list of possible solutions.
