IELTS Reading: every question type, and how each one is marked
IELTS Reading gives you 40 questions and 60 minutes, and unlike Listening there is no extra time at the end to copy answers across — the hour includes writing them on the answer sheet. Across that hour you will meet several of eleven official question types, and they do not reward the same skill: some test whether you can find a fact, others whether you can tell a fact from an opinion.
The format at a glance
| IELTS Academic | IELTS General Training | |
|---|---|---|
| Time | 60 minutes | 60 minutes |
| Questions | 40 | 40 |
| Texts | Three long passages | Three sections, several shorter texts |
| Where the texts come from | Books, journals, magazines, newspapers | Notices, adverts, handbooks, company material |
| Transfer time | None — the 60 minutes includes it | None — the 60 minutes includes it |
The single most expensive habit in IELTS Reading is leaving the answer sheet until the end. Listening gives you time to transfer answers; Reading does not. Write each answer as you decide it.
Why the question type decides the method
Every type below is answered from the passage and nothing else. What changes is where in the passage the answer lives and how it is worded. Matching headings asks what a paragraph is mainly about, so skimming works and close reading wastes the clock. Sentence completion asks for words lifted from one line, so skimming misses it. Using one method on all eleven is the most common reason a confident reader stalls at band 6.5.
The three rules that hold across every type: the answer order generally follows the passage order (the main exception is Matching headings and Matching information), you are never asked for outside knowledge, and there is no penalty for a wrong answer — so an unanswered question is the only guaranteed zero.
Every Reading question type
IELTS Reading — FAQs
3 questions
The format is the same — 40 questions in 60 minutes, the same eleven question types — but the texts differ. Academic uses long passages from books and journals; General Training uses shorter workplace and everyday texts. The two are marked on different raw-score-to-band tables.
No. The 60 minutes includes writing your answers on the answer sheet. This is the clearest difference from the Listening test, which does allow transfer time on paper.
Yes. A misspelled answer is marked wrong, even when the word is clearly the right one and is printed in the passage in front of you. British and American spellings are both accepted.
Practise IELTS Reading
4 free IELTS reading questions, with an explanation on every answer. No sign-up — the scorecard is offered at the end, and only then.
Start the reading drillReading on the other exams
Sources
Written from the test board's own published material and checked on 1 October 2026.