How many questions are in IELTS Reading?
Quick answer
IELTS Reading has 40 questions in three sections, and each correct answer receives 1 mark. IELTS.org lists 11 question types for Academic Reading, including multiple choice, True, False, Not given, matching headings and several completion tasks. For General Training Reading it lists eight types, and Yes, No, Not given is not among them.
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iOS and Android
The count is 40 in both versions of the test. The types of question you meet along the way are where the two versions differ.
Three sections, 40 questions
IELTS.org states that both Academic and General Training Reading have three sections and 40 questions, and that each correct answer receives 1 mark. The time is 60 minutes.
Academic question types
IELTS.org lists 11 types for Academic Reading:
- multiple choice
- identifying information (True, False, Not given)
- identifying the writer’s views or claims (Yes, No, Not given)
- matching information
- matching headings
- matching features
- matching sentence endings
- sentence completion
- summary, note, table or flow chart completion
- diagram label completion
- short-answer questions
Where a task asks for written answers, it sets a limit such as “no more than two words and/or a number”. IELTS.org states that hyphenated words count as single words.
General Training question types
IELTS.org lists eight types: multiple choice, identifying information (True, False, Not given), matching information, matching headings, matching features, summary, note, sentence, table or flow chart completion, diagram label completion, and short-answer questions. It adds that you lose marks for incorrect spelling and grammar in your answers.
From 40 marks to a band
The raw score out of 40 is converted to a band, and Academic and General Training use different conversion points. IELTS.org’s example points are about 23 for Academic band 6 and about 30 for General Training band 6. The band score calculator helps you see what an overall band needs.
What is not published
IELTS does not state how many questions of each type appear, or how the 40 questions split between the three sections. A page that gives you a fixed number per section is describing past papers, not an official rule.
Using the number
Practise the types by name. If you know which types you lose marks on, you can work on those specifically instead of doing more Reading in general.
What this means for your score
All 40 questions are worth the same single mark, so a difficult question is worth no more than an easy one. Your raw score is the number you get right, and it is converted to a band.
Frequently asked questions
Is the number of Reading questions the same for Academic and General Training?
Yes. IELTS.org gives 40 questions and 60 minutes for both. The texts differ, and so do the lists of question types, with 11 for Academic and eight for General Training.
Are the questions in order of difficulty?
IELTS.org states that General Training Reading has three sections of increasing difficulty. Its Academic Reading page makes no such statement, so do not assume the Academic passages are ordered by difficulty.
What do the True, False, Not given questions test?
IELTS.org lists them as identifying information: you decide whether a statement agrees with the information in the text. The Yes, No, Not given type, listed as identifying the writer's views or claims, appears in the Academic list only.
What raw score is band 6 in Reading?
IELTS.org gives example points that differ by test type. In Academic Reading about 23 out of 40 is band 6, and in General Training about 30 out of 40 is band 6. It states that the exact figure varies slightly from test version to test version.
Sources
- IELTS Academic: Reading test format — IELTS.org
- IELTS General Training: Reading test format — IELTS.org
- IELTS scoring in detail: band scores explained — IELTS.org
Last verified 30 Sep 2026
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