IELTS Reading Band Score: How Many Correct Answers Do You Need?

IELTS Reading converts the number of questions you answer correctly out of 40 into a band. In Academic Reading, band 7.0 needs about 30 correct answers and band 6.0 about 23. General Training texts are easier, so the same band needs more: about 34 for 7.0 and 30 for 6.0.

This guide gives the full conversion tables for both versions, the format, and where Reading marks are most often lost.

What is the format of IELTS Reading?

	Academic	General Training
Time	60 minutes	60 minutes
Questions	40	40
Texts	Three long texts from books, journals and newspapers	Shorter and longer texts from everyday life and work, in three sections of increasing difficulty
Transfer time	None	None

There is no extra transfer time in Reading. The 10 minutes given at the end of paper-based Listening does not exist here; your answers must be written within the 60 minutes. That makes Reading largely a test of time management.

How many correct answers make each IELTS Reading band?

The tables below are approximate and can move by a question or so between test versions.

Band	Academic (out of 40)	General Training (out of 40)
9.0	39-40	40
8.5	37-38	39
8.0	35-36	37-38
7.5	33-34	36
7.0	30-32	34-35
6.5	27-29	32-33
6.0	23-26	30-31
5.5	19-22	27-29
5.0	15-18	23-26

In General Training, the top bands are tightly packed: only a handful of questions separate 7.0 from 8.0. In Academic, the range between 5.5 and 6.5 is comparatively wide, so every extra correct answer there is real progress.

For the Listening table and how the four sections combine into an overall band, see what IELTS is scored out of.

Where do candidates lose marks in IELTS Reading?

Most wrong answers in Reading come from four sources.

Source	What happens
Timing	You do not reach the last text; the final 10-13 questions are guessed or left blank
Not Given	You mark something "False" when the text simply does not mention it
Paraphrase	The question words appear in the text in different words, and you cannot find them
Spelling and word limit	You found the right answer but wrote it incorrectly or exceeded the word limit

Put each wrong answer into one of these four boxes and you will see what to practise.

How should you manage time in IELTS Reading?

Give each text about 20 minutes and watch the clock. The third text is usually the hardest, and every extra minute spent on the first two comes out of it.

Do not get stuck on one question. If you cannot find an answer, write a guess, mark it and move on. Wrong answers cost nothing; a blank is a guaranteed loss.

Do not try to read the whole text first. Read the questions, identify key words (names, dates, numbers, technical terms), then scan the text for those words or their synonyms. Save detailed reading for the paragraph where the answer is.

How do you tell True, False and Not Given apart?

This is the question type that costs the most marks, and the problem is almost always the same: confusing False with Not Given.

• True: The text confirms the statement.
• False: The text clearly states the opposite.
• Not Given: The text says nothing about it, or not enough to confirm or contradict it.

Ask yourself: "Can I point to a sentence in the text that contradicts this statement?" If you can, it is False. If you cannot, it is Not Given — however wrong the statement seems. Do not use your own general knowledge; use only the text.

Yes/No/Not Given works the same way, except that it asks about the writer's views rather than facts.

How do you spot paraphrase in IELTS Reading?

As in Listening, the question rarely repeats the wording of the text. A question about "the population increased sharply" may be answered in the text by "the number of residents rose dramatically".

Be careful when you find the exact word from the question in the text: in multiple-choice and matching questions, the option that repeats a word from the text is often the trap. Building synonym families for common ideas trains Listening and Reading at the same time; the method is explained in how many correct answers you need for band 8 in Listening.

How do you make sure your answers are written correctly?

• Read the word limit. If the instruction says "NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS", a three-word answer is wrong.
• Copy words from the text. In sentence and note completion, the answer uses words from the passage; do not change their form to fit your own sentence.
• Check singular, plural and spelling. If the text says "solutions" and the gap needs a plural, "solution" is wrong.

How should you practise IELTS Reading each week?

Take one full, timed Reading test a week, sort every wrong answer into the four boxes above, and spend short daily sessions on the two fullest boxes. At the end of the week, take a new test and compare using the same table. For the same loop across all four sections, see how to prepare for IELTS on your own.

Praktis provides unlimited full and section practice tests, each with a band estimate. You can see the plans here.