Where the ten marks are
Mark your last three practice tests by question type and by passage. The usual band 6 profile: passage 1 near full marks, passage 2 losing three or four on matching headings or matching information, passage 3 losing five or six because only 12 minutes were left. Two or three more go to true/false/not given answered by keyword. The official anchors (band 6 at 23, band 7 at 30, band 8 at 35 for Academic; General Training needs more) are on ielts.org.
Fix the order, not the reading
Give each passage 20 minutes and do not borrow from the next. Inside a passage, do the ordered question types first (true/false/not given, sentence and summary completion, multiple choice), because they walk you through the text in sequence. Do matching headings and matching information last, when you already know what each paragraph contains. This alone typically returns three or four marks from passage 3.
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Stop keyword matching
The two most-missed types are built on paraphrase. For true/false/not given, locate the statement, then compare it with the passage sentence word by word, watching qualifiers (all, only, first, more than). False means the passage contradicts it; Not Given means no evidence either way. For matching headings, read the first two sentences and the last sentence of a paragraph and ask what it is doing, not what words it contains. The true/false/not given guide and matching headings guide drill both.
A three-week plan
Week 1: one passage a day, timed at 20 minutes, ordered question types first. Log marks by type. Week 2: only matching headings and true/false/not given sets, untimed, checking every answer against the text until the reason for each is clear; then re-time. Week 3: full tests every other day. Expect passage 3 to move first and the total to cross 30 by the end of the week.
Frequently asked questions
How many correct answers is band 7.5 in IELTS reading?+
About 33 out of 40 in Academic reading, between the official anchors of 30 for band 7 and 35 for band 8. General Training needs more correct answers for the same band.
Which reading question type is hardest?+
Matching information and matching headings, because the answers are paraphrased and, for matching information, out of order. Do them after the ordered types.
Should I read the passage first or the questions?+
Questions first for the ordered types, then read the passage in the order the questions take you. Reading the whole passage first costs time you need for passage 3.
Keep reading
Related
- IELTS matching headings
- IELTS true / false / not given
- IELTS score calculator with raw-score tables
- All 1066 guides
Verified against the linked official sources on 22 September 2026. Rules change: confirm on the official page before you book or apply.
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