IELTS (International English Language Testing System) Academic Reading Syllabus

Academic Reading syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Academic Reading in IELTS (International English Language Testing System), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Format and Passage Types

   5 topics

   • Three long passages from books, journals, magazines and newspapers
   • 60 minutes for 40 questions with no extra transfer time
   • Increasing difficulty across the three passages
   • Texts with diagrams, graphs, illustrations and glossaries
   • How Academic Reading differs from General Training Reading
2. 2

   Question Types

   5 topics

   • True / False / Not Given and Yes / No / Not Given
     • Distinguishing False from Not Given
     • Separating fact statements from writer's claims and views
   • Matching headings to paragraphs or sections
   • Matching information, features and sentence endings
   • Multiple choice and short-answer questions
   • Summary, note, table, flow-chart and diagram-label completion
3. 3

   Reading Strategies

   5 topics

   • Skimming for main idea and text organization
   • Scanning for names, dates, figures and keywords
   • Locating answers through paraphrase recognition
   • Identifying topic sentences and paragraph purpose
   • Inferring meaning and the writer's stance
4. 4

   Academic Vocabulary and Language

   4 topics

   • Academic Word List and discipline-neutral terminology
   • Understanding referencing words and cohesion devices
   • Guessing word meaning from context and word roots
   • Recognizing collocations and formal register
5. 5

   Time Management and Accuracy

   4 topics

   • Allocating roughly 20 minutes per passage
   • Deciding question order and skipping difficult items
   • Avoiding over-reading and the time trap
   • Raw score to band conversion for Academic Reading

Academic Reading flashcards for IELTS (International English Language Testing System)

21 of 50 cards from the Academic Reading deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is the structure of the IELTS Academic Reading test in terms of passages and questions?

   It contains three long passages with a total of 40 questions to be answered.

2. How long is the IELTS Academic Reading test and is transfer time included?

   60 minutes total, with no extra time to transfer answers to the answer sheet (unlike the Listening test).

3. Where are the texts in IELTS Academic Reading sourced from?

   From books, journals, magazines and newspapers, written for a non-specialist (general) audience.

4. How does difficulty change across the three Academic Reading passages?

   Difficulty increases progressively, so Passage 1 is the easiest and Passage 3 is the hardest.

5. What non-text visual features may Academic Reading passages include?

   Diagrams, graphs and illustrations; if a passage contains technical terms, a short glossary is provided.

6. How does Academic Reading differ from General Training Reading in source material?

   Academic uses authentic academic/journalistic texts on a single topic per passage; General Training uses everyday texts (notices, ads, workplace and general-interest material).

7. Do Academic and General Training Reading share the same band score scale?

   They use the same 0-9 band scale, but the raw-score-to-band conversion is different (Academic requires more correct answers for the same band).

8. In a True / False / Not Given task, what does each of the three answers mean?

   True = statement agrees with the information in the text; False = statement contradicts the text; Not Given = no information in the text confirms or contradicts it.

9. When is Yes / No / Not Given used instead of True / False / Not Given?

   Yes / No / Not Given is used for the writer's claims, views or opinions; True / False / Not Given is used for factual information in the text.

10. What is the key difference between 'False' and 'Not Given'?

    'False' means the text directly contradicts the statement; 'Not Given' means the text simply does not mention the information either way.

11. What does the Matching Headings task require you to do?

    Match a list of given headings to the correct paragraphs or sections; each heading expresses the main idea of a paragraph.

12. In Matching Headings, why are there usually more headings than paragraphs?

    Extra (distractor) headings are included that do not match any paragraph, so not every heading is used.

13. What does a 'heading' in the Matching Headings task represent about a paragraph?

    It captures the paragraph's main idea or overall purpose, not a minor detail mentioned in it.

14. What is tested in 'Matching Information' questions?

    You locate which paragraph contains a specific piece of information (e.g., an example, reason, comparison or description).

15. How does 'Matching Features' differ from 'Matching Information'?

    Matching Features asks you to link statements to a set of options such as people, places, dates or categories, rather than to paragraphs.

16. What does the 'Matching Sentence Endings' task require?

    Completing each sentence by choosing the correct ending from a list, so the completed sentence matches the meaning in the passage.

17. What must answers to short-answer questions in Academic Reading obey?

    A word limit (e.g., 'NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER'); exceeding it makes the answer wrong, and words must come from the passage.

18. What does a Multiple Choice question in Academic Reading typically ask you to choose?

    The one correct option (or sometimes more than one) from several choices that best answers a question or completes a statement based on the text.

19. Which completion task types appear in Academic Reading?

    Summary completion, note completion, table completion, flow-chart completion and diagram-label completion.

20. In summary completion, where do the answer words usually come from?

    Either from words taken directly from the passage, or selected from a provided box/list of words.

21. What is flow-chart completion used to test?

    Your understanding of a process or sequence of stages described in the text, filled in following the logical order.

See more Academic Reading flashcards →

Planning Academic Reading for IELTS (International English Language Testing System)

Academic Reading (IELTS (International English Language Testing System)) FAQ