You may ask yourself, “How can I practice reading IELTS passages and questions?” Look no further, my friend. This post is a great place to start if you want to take an IELTS Reading practice test!
In the sections below, I’m going to give you links to full IELTS Reading sections for both IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training. These practice materials come from reputable sources: official IELTS websites, and Magoosh itself. Then after that, I’ll give you some bonus resources as well.
IELTS Reading Practice Tests From Magoosh
Magoosh offers two free full-length IELTS Reading sections: an IELTS Academic Reading practice test and an IELTS General Reading practice test.
IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test
Magoosh’s IELTS Academic Reading practice section comes in video format, as a simulated timed test with all of the questions displaying onscreen. You can pause the video if you need more time, or leave the video running if you want to practice under timed conditions.
IELTS General Reading Practice Test
Our practice section for IELTS General Training Reading (PDF) mimics the paper format of the exam rather than the onscreen one. But this PDF practice test does have a video component. When you get to the answer key at the end of the test, you can click for video explanations of the answers.
Official IELTS Reading Practice Tests
British Council
The British Council website offers both an IELTS Academic and IELTS General Reading practice test… two of each in fact. Note that these Reading practice sections are part of larger full-length free IELTS practice tests from the BC.
- Click here for full-length IELTS exams
- Click here to access two Academic Reading practice tests
- Click here to access two General Reading practice tests
Cambridge IELTS
Cambridge, the company that publishes the official IELTS preparation books, offers some free PDF excerpts of their print tests online.
- Click here for the Academic Reading practice test PDF from Cambridge (PDF)
- Click here for Cambridge’s IELTS General Reading Practice Test (PDF)
- Answer key to both sections (provided by Magoosh)
IELTS.org
- Click here for the IELTS.org Academic Reading Practice Test (PDF)
- Click here for the IELTS.org Academic Reading Test answer key (PDF)
- Click here for the IELTS.org General Reading Practice Test (PDF)
- Click here for the IELTS.org General Reading Practice Test Answer Key (PDF)
IELTS IDP
IELTS IDP, one of the other official sponsors of the IELTS, offers an IELTS Academic Reading Practice test for the IELTS CDT (computer delivered test).
- Click here for IDP’s full IELTS CDT practice test.
- Click here for the IDP’s IELTS Academic Reading practice test
- Click here for the IDP practice test answer key (PDF)
Additional IELTS Reading Practice
In addition to the full IELTS practice reading tests I linked above, here are some sources for extra practice. Most of these sources are not full Reading practice tests, but rather smaller sets of questions.
- IELTS IDP’s Reading practice sets (paper-based IELTS)
- IELTS IDP’s CDT Reading practice sets
- IELTS.org’s sample question page for the IELTS paper test (includes sample questions for both Academic and GT Reading).
- IELTS-on-Computer sample test questions from IELTS.org (also includes Reading).
- Magoosh’s guide to finding resources for Reading and the other sections on the four official IELTS websites.
- Magoosh practice sets for each of the twelve IELTS Reading question types .
- Magoosh’s free IELTS Practice Tests for Academic and General (includes full Reading practice tests).
- Magoosh IELTS Premium (includes video lessons, practice questions, and full-length tests for all four sections)!
Quality Reading Materials for Daily Practice
It’s important to build a broader base of English Reading skills. Don’t just focus on IELTS Reading passages alone!
For other quality reading materials, we’ll want to read newspapers and magazines to focus on cultivating our general reading skills. In particular, we’ll want to focus on publications with high editorial standards. These resources are excellent sources for growing our vocabulary, learning the grammatical ropes, and increasing our reading pace. Plus, unlike practice materials, it’s nigh impossible to exhaust all available reading materials.
Here’s a great set of reading resources that you can use:
- New Scientist: New Scientist is an international science magazine from the UK. In fact, some New Scientist articles can be found in Cambridge IELTS books and past IELTS exams.
- Scientific American and American Scientist: Scientific American and American Scientist are two popular American science magazines. They also include health and education articles, which are very similar to IELTS Academic Reading passages. What is more, Scientific American offers hundreds of 60-second science podcasts, which are great for IELTS Listening practice!
- BBC News: Get the latest news from different parts of the world in English. There are many kinds of reading materials on BBC News that work great for IELTS prep.
- The Economist: The Economist is another common source for IELTS reading passages. Many articles from past exams were taken from this magazine.
- National Geographic: National Geographic contains articles about geography, animals, culture, the environment, travel and adventure, which are common topics for both the Academic and General Training Reading exams.
- History Extra and History Net: History Extra and History Net are two great history magazine websites with podcasts, articles and reviews on a variety of events.
Frequently reading from these sorts of quality reading materials will build out the foundations of your reading skills on which you can effectively build in test strategies.
The IELTS Reading “Big Picture”
Instruction, tips and tricks are as important as practice. To learn about all of the finer points of the IELTS Reading section, check out Magoosh’s Complete Guide to IELTS Reading. Happy studying!
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