IELTS General Training Reading - Skills and Strategies Part 1

What aspects of reading are tested in General Training Reading? Candidates are tested on their ability to identify main ideas, supporting ideas, writer’s opinions and specific information. How long should candidates spend on each section? Section 1 contains 14 questions and Sections 2 and 3 have 13 questions each. Each question carries one mark. Candidates should answer all questions. They should be reminded to leave enough time for Section 3, which is usually more difficult than Sections 1 and 2. How do candidates record their answers? All answers must be entered on an Answer Sheet during the 60-minutes allowed. Candidates may first write their answers on the Question Paper if they wish to, but no extra time is allowed to transfer answers to the Answer Sheet. How many different item types are there in General Training Reading? There are 11 basic item types, some with possible variations. A variety of item types are used in General Training Reading overall and more than one item type may be used in each Section. Some of the questions may appear before a passage and some may come after depending on the nature of the questions. When the instructions state that the candidate should answer in, for example, NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS, would they lose marks by writing an answer with more than three words, even if one is ‘a’ or ‘the’? Yes. Answers which exceed the word limit will be marked incorrect. Are candidates penalised for spelling and grammar mistakes made in their answers? Most words that candidates will need to answer the questions will be given in the passage so they should be encouraged to transfer their answers to the Answer Sheet with care. Candidates should be made aware that poor spelling and grammar are penalised. How is the band score for General Training Reading calculated? One mark is awarded for each of the 40 questions. A Band Score conversion table is produced for each version of the General Training Reading Module which translates scores out of 40 onto the IELTS 9-band scale. Scores are reported as a whole band or a half band. How does the General Training Reading score relate to the overall band score? The overall score is an average of the band scores for the four Modules; the final score may be reported as a whole band or a half band. Source: www.ielts.org