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IELTS guides
Every guide on the site, written around the official band descriptors. Narrow the list by skill or by test type, or search for a word.
Improvement planReading
How to Improve Your IELTS Reading Score
Academic and General Training Reading turn the same marks into different bands. This plan gives the gap for each step up that IELTS publishes marks for. It links the guide for each type that costs you marks.
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Reading
Short Answer Questions: Where Spelling Costs the Mark
Answer each question with words taken from the text, inside the word limit. The questions follow the order of the text, and a spelling error costs you the mark.
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Reading
Multiple Choice in IELTS Reading: Four Options, and the Variant That Wants Several
Reading multiple choice gives four options and asks for one answer. The Academic paper also has a form where you choose more than one. The question tells you how many.
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Reading
Diagram Label Completion: Turning a Description Into a Picture
You complete the labels on a diagram using a description in the text. The answers may not follow the text's order. They usually come from one part of it.
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Reading
Summary, Note, Table and Flow Chart Completion: One Type, Four Shapes
A summary, notes, a table and a flow chart are one question type. Fill the gaps with words from the text, inside the word limit. The answers may not follow the order of the text.
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Reading
Sentence Completion: Words From the Text, Inside the Word Limit
Fill a gap in each sentence with words from the text, inside the word limit. On the Academic paper the questions follow the order of the text. On General Training the answers may not.
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Reading
Matching Information: How It Differs From Matching Headings
This type asks where in the text a fact or detail is, not what a paragraph is about. One paragraph can be the answer to more than one question.
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ReadingAcademic
Matching Sentence Endings: An Academic-Only Type That Follows the Text
This type is on the Academic paper only. The sentence beginnings follow the order of the text, so you can work forward through the passage and never search backwards.
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Reading
Matching Features: When an Option Repeats and When It Is Not Used
Some options are never used, and others are used more than once. The answer is the person who makes the claim, not the name nearest the words you know.
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Reading
Matching Headings: Finding the Main Idea, Not a Supporting One
A heading must match what the whole paragraph is about, not one detail in it. A wrong heading is often true of just one part of the paragraph.
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ReadingAcademic
Yes, No, Not Given: How It Differs From True, False, Not Given
Yes, No, Not Given asks if a statement agrees with what the writer thinks, not with the facts. A fact the writer reports is not the writer's view. A view the writer reports from someone else is not the writer's view either.
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Reading
IELTS Reading Question Types: What Each One Tests and Which Paper Uses It
Every Reading question is worth one mark, but the types test different skills. Find the type that costs you the most marks, and start there.
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Reading
True, False, Not Given: How to Tell False From Not Given
False means the passage contradicts the statement. Not Given means the passage does not say either way. Only the passage counts as evidence, not what you already know.
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Reading
IELTS Reading Raw Score to Band Score: Academic and General Training
How many correct answers out of 40 you need for each IELTS Reading band. This guide gives the published marks for both tests. It also explains why Academic and General Training differ.
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