International English Language Testing System (IELTS) General Training Reading Syllabus

General Training Reading syllabus — full chapter and topic list

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

1. 1

   General Training Reading Structure

   3 topics

   • Section 1: social survival texts
     • Notices, advertisements, timetables
     • Multiple short texts
   • Section 2: workplace texts
     • Job descriptions and contracts
     • Staff handbooks and training materials
   • Section 3: a longer general-interest text
2. 2

   Question Types and Skills

   4 topics

   • True/False/Not Given and matching tasks
   • Completion and short-answer questions
   • Scanning practical documents efficiently
   • Understanding instructions and conditions
3. 3

   Everyday and Workplace Vocabulary

   3 topics

   • Functional and transactional language
   • Terms in adverts, forms and notices
   • Workplace and employment terminology

General Training Reading flashcards for International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

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

1. How many sections and questions does the IELTS General Training Reading test contain, and how long is it?

   It has 3 sections with a total of 40 questions, completed in 60 minutes (no extra transfer time, unlike the Listening test).

2. What type of texts appear in Section 1 of IELTS General Training Reading?

   Section 1 contains 'social survival' texts — short, everyday texts such as advertisements, notices, timetables and leaflets, often with two or three short texts grouped together.

3. What type of texts appear in Section 2 of IELTS General Training Reading?

   Section 2 contains 'workplace survival' texts — work-related material such as job descriptions, contracts, staff handbooks, training documents and company policies.

4. What type of text appears in Section 3 of IELTS General Training Reading?

   Section 3 contains one longer, more complex text of general interest — descriptive, instructive or analytical prose taken from sources like newspapers, magazines or books.

5. How does text difficulty change across the three Reading sections?

   Difficulty increases progressively: Section 1 is the easiest (short everyday texts), Section 2 is moderate (workplace texts), and Section 3 is the hardest (one long general-interest passage).

6. In a True/False/Not Given task, what does 'True' mean?

   'True' means the statement agrees with (matches) the information given in the passage.

7. In a True/False/Not Given task, what does 'False' mean?

   'False' means the statement contradicts or is the opposite of the information in the passage.

8. In a True/False/Not Given task, what does 'Not Given' mean?

   'Not Given' means there is no information in the passage to confirm or deny the statement — it is neither stated nor implied.

9. What is the key difference between True/False/Not Given and Yes/No/Not Given tasks?

   True/False/Not Given deals with factual information in the text, while Yes/No/Not Given deals with the writer's opinions, views or claims.

10. A statement says 'The museum is the oldest in the city,' but the passage only says it is 'a very old museum.' What is the correct answer?

    Not Given — the passage never states it is the oldest, so the claim can be neither confirmed nor denied.

11. In Matching Headings tasks, what should each heading represent?

    Each heading should capture the main idea or central theme of a paragraph or section, not just a minor detail mentioned within it.

12. What is a common feature of the list of headings in a Matching Headings task?

    There are usually more headings than paragraphs, so some headings are distractors that are never used.

13. In 'Matching Information' tasks, can a paragraph be used more than once?

    Yes — if the instructions say so, a single paragraph may contain more than one piece of required information, so letters can be reused.

14. What is the difference between 'Matching Headings' and 'Matching Information' tasks?

    Matching Headings asks for the main idea of each paragraph, while Matching Information asks you to locate specific details (e.g. an example, reason or description) within paragraphs.

15. What is the golden rule about word limits in completion and short-answer questions?

    Always obey the stated limit (e.g. 'NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER'); exceeding it makes the answer wrong even if the content is correct.

16. In sentence/summary completion, how should the words you write be taken?

    They must be taken exactly from the passage, with correct spelling — you must not change the form or paraphrase them.

17. How is a hyphenated word (e.g. 'check-in') counted in IELTS word-limit instructions?

    A hyphenated word is normally counted as a single word.

18. How is a contraction (e.g. "don't") counted toward the word limit?

    A contraction such as "don't" is counted as one word; in formal answers it is safer to avoid contractions where possible.

19. In short-answer questions, where do the answers come from?

    Answers come directly from the passage using its exact words, and must respect the word limit given in the instructions.

20. What is the difference between 'skimming' and 'scanning' as reading strategies?

    Skimming is reading quickly to get the general idea/gist of a text, while scanning is searching quickly to locate specific information such as a name, date or number.

21. Which reading technique is most useful for the practical documents in Section 1 (timetables, adverts, notices)?

    Scanning — quickly locating specific details like times, prices, dates or conditions without reading every word.

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