The Academic Reading test gives you 60 minutes for three passages and 40 questions. The passages get longer and harder as you go, and each one uses two or three different question formats. Knowing what each format tests, and whether its answers follow the order of the passage, saves several minutes of searching per passage. That time often decides whether you finish.
How the test is built
- Academic Reading: three long passages from books, journals, magazines and newspapers, written for a general audience. Passage 1 is usually the most factual and easiest; Passage 3 is often argumentative and the hardest.
- General Training Reading: three sections with shorter, everyday texts in Sections 1 and 2 (notices, advertisements, workplace documents) and one longer text in Section 3.
Both have 40 questions, 60 minutes, and no extra time for transferring answers.
The question types
1. Multiple choice. Choose the correct option from A–D, or choose two or three options from a longer list. The wrong options are usually mentioned in the passage but do not answer the question. Answers follow passage order.
2. True / False / Not Given. Decide whether statements agree with the information in the passage. Answers follow passage order. This format needs its own method, covered in our True, False, Not Given guide.
3. Yes / No / Not Given. The same format applied to the writer’s opinions rather than facts. Common in Passage 3.
4. Matching information. Find which paragraph contains a given piece of information, such as “a reference to a failed experiment”. Answers do not follow passage order, and the same paragraph letter can be used more than once. It is often faster to answer these after the other questions on that passage, once you know the text well.
5. Matching headings. Choose the best heading for each paragraph from a list that contains more headings than paragraphs. A heading summarises the main idea of the whole paragraph, not one detail in it. Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph first; they usually carry the main idea.
6. Matching features. Match statements to a list of people, places, dates or theories, for example which researcher made which claim. Answers do not follow order. Underline every name in the passage before you start.
7. Matching sentence endings. Complete a sentence by choosing the correct ending from a list. The ending must be right in meaning and in grammar. Answers usually follow passage order.
8. Sentence completion. Fill a gap with words from the passage within a word limit. Answers follow passage order.
9. Summary, note, table and flow-chart completion. Fill gaps in a summary of part of the passage, either with words from the passage or from a box of options. Answers usually come from one section of the passage and usually follow its order. With a box of options, predict the type of word first (noun, adjective, number) to rule out half the choices.
10. Diagram label completion. Label a diagram of a machine, process or building using words from the passage. The relevant description is usually in one or two paragraphs.
11. Short-answer questions. Answer questions with words from the passage within a word limit. Answers follow passage order.
For completion and short-answer formats, the word-limit and spelling rules in our answer-writing guide apply exactly as they do in Listening.
Which types follow passage order?
This is worth memorising because it tells you where to search:
- In order: multiple choice, True/False/Not Given, Yes/No/Not Given, sentence completion, sentence endings, short answers, and usually summary and note completion.
- Not in order: matching information, matching headings, matching features.
When answers follow order and you find answers 3 and 5, answer 4 must lie between them.
A 60-minute time plan
Splitting the time evenly (20, 20, 20) usually fails, because Passage 3 is longer and harder. A better starting plan:
| Passage | Time | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| Passage 1 | 17 minutes | 17 |
| Passage 2 | 20 minutes | 37 |
| Passage 3 | 23 minutes | 60 |
On paper, write answers straight onto the answer sheet as you go. If you save the transfer for the end, you will run out of time.
Two rules make any time plan work:
- Move on when your time is up. An unanswered question in Passage 1 is worth exactly the same as one in Passage 3. Guess, mark the question, and move on.
- Never leave a blank. There is no penalty for wrong answers.
Practising with this plan
Use a timer and a full Cambridge test, not single passages, so you practise the pacing as well as the questions. Then mark it with the matching answer key. As you review, note which question types you lost marks on. That tells you what to practise next. How to review a practice test shows you a simple way to track this.