Free to start — no card
IELTS Reading practice test
Three passages on the real 60-minute clock, every Academic Reading question type, and never the same paper twice.
Format checked against IELTS on .
The paper we run, and where it differs
IELTS Academic Reading is three passages, 40 questions, 60 minutes. The real paper usually splits them 13, 13 and 14.
Ours is 39 questions — three passages of 13. That difference moves no band, because the score is scaled as a percentage of the paper rather than counted out of a fixed 40, and it is the sort of thing a prep tool normally rounds up and says nothing about. We would rather you knew.
The clock is the published one and is not scaled with it: 60 minutes for the paper, which is about 92 seconds a question. Practising at the real pace is most of what the section tests.
Every question type, not the easy four
Most free practice is multiple choice, because multiple choice is the cheapest thing to write. The types that actually cost candidates marks are the matching ones and True/False/Not Given, and those are the ones a generated paper has to get right.
- True / False / Not Given and Yes / No / Not Given — the distinction between contradicted and simply absent, which is where most band 6 candidates lose the marks that would have made 7.
- Matching headings, matching information and matching features — three different tasks that look alike and are not.
- Matching sentence endings and multiple choice, including choose TWO letters, where over-selecting scores zero.
- Sentence and note completion, summary completion and short answer — the word-limit tasks, marked on the exact words the passage uses.
- Diagram label completion — a labelled process diagram whose labels are words from the passage. It is the one type that needs a figure, and it is drawn from the passage rather than picked from a stock library.
Every type on the board’s list, diagram label completion included since 4 September 2026. Nothing on the list above is a stand-in for something we have not built.
The band comes from the raw-score table, not from a feeling
Your marks out of the paper are converted with the table printed in the Cambridge IELTS official practice test books — the one every candidate, teacher and competitor uses. It agrees with ielts.org at every point ielts.org publishes.
| Correct (of 40) | Band |
|---|---|
| 39 | 9 |
| 35 | 8 |
| 30 | 7 |
| 23 | 6 |
| 15 | 5 |
IELTS itself says the marks needed “vary slightly from test version to test version”, so this is a close guide rather than a promise. Nobody publishes a fixed conversion, and a tool claiming to have one is claiming an authority that does not exist.
The full table, both sections, is on the IELTS band score calculator.
Academic only, and here is exactly why
This page is Academic Reading. General Training Reading is a different paper on a harder scale — 30 correct is band 6 there against band 7 here.
Handing a General Training candidate the Academic table would tell them they are a band and a half better than they are, three weeks before they sit the real thing. So we do not build that one paper rather than build it wrong. Listening and Speaking are identical on both tracks, and Writing gives you the track you choose.
Questions, answered
How many questions are in IELTS Academic Reading?
The real paper is 40 questions across three passages in 60 minutes, usually split 13, 13 and 14. Our generated paper is 39, because all three passages carry 13 questions. It does not change the band you are shown, because the score is scaled as a percentage, but it is a difference and we would rather print it than let you count.
How many correct answers do I need for band 7 in IELTS Reading?
On Academic Reading, 30 correct out of 40 is band 7. Band 8 needs 35 and band 6 needs 23. Those are the figures from the conversion printed in the Cambridge IELTS official practice test books, and they agree with every point ielts.org publishes. IELTS itself says the marks needed vary slightly from version to version, so treat any table as a close guide rather than a guarantee.
Does this cover IELTS General Training Reading?
No, and that is deliberate. General Training Reading is marked on a harder scale: 30 correct is band 6 there against band 7 on Academic. Applying the Academic table to a General Training paper would tell a candidate they are a band and a half better than they are, so rather than get it wrong we leave that one paper out. Listening and Speaking are the same on both tracks, and Writing gives you the track you pick.
Which IELTS Reading question types does this practise?
Every Academic Reading type the board lists: True/False/Not Given, Yes/No/Not Given, multiple choice, choose TWO letters, matching headings, matching information, matching features, matching sentence endings, sentence and note completion, summary completion, short answer, and diagram label completion — a labelled process diagram whose labels are words from the passage. Each one is written for this product, so no answer key is published for the paper you are about to sit.
Are these real past IELTS Reading papers?
No, deliberately. Every passage and every question is written for this product. That means we reproduce nobody's copyrighted material, and you are never served a question you have already met, which is what makes a practice band worth anything.
Free to start — one section practice a day, no card.
The rest of the paper
Reading is one of four sections. The full IELTS practice test covers all of them, and IELTS Listening practice has its own page.
Sitting a different exam? TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic and the Duolingo English Test are all on the same subscription.