IELTS Academic · Reading
IELTS Reading Practice Tests — Free Mock Tests with Answers
Sit a complete IELTS Academic Reading test under real conditions: three original passages, 40 questions, a 60-minute countdown. Submit to get your raw score out of 40, an estimated band, and a full answer key that explains every question — so you learn from the ones you miss.
⏱️ 60-minute timer
✅ Auto-scored
🎯 Estimated band
📖 Full answer key
Original passages
How scoring works: your raw score (correct answers out of 40) is converted to an approximate IELTS Academic band. The passages and questions are original, written to Band 7.5–9.0 difficulty. New to a question type? Brush up in the Reading lessons first.
01Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 1
The history of beekeeping · The second-hand clothing economy · Theories of consciousness
40 questionsStart test →
02Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 2
The history and technology of lighthouses · The four-day working week debate · Linguistic relativity
40 questionsStart test →
03Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 3
The science and history of adhesives · Rewilding and its critics · The psychology of flow and expertise
40 questionsStart test →
04Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 4
The history and social role of public libraries · Vertical farming · Game theory and the evolution of cooperation
40 questionsStart test →
05Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 5
How coral reefs form and why they matter · The gig economy · Why we find things beautiful
40 questionsStart test →
06Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 6
The printing press and the spread of information · Nudge theory in public policy · Dark matter and the limits of scientific models
40 questionsStart test →
07Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 7
How migratory birds navigate · The ethics of self-driving vehicles · The reconstructive nature of memory
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08Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 8
The history of the global tea trade · Microplastics and the limits of what we know · The economics of attention
40 questionsStart test →
09Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 9
Ancient Roman concrete and its longevity · Bilingualism and the brain · Emergence and complex systems
40 questionsStart test →
10Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 10
The domestication of dogs · Storing renewable energy · Moral intuition and reasoning
40 questionsStart test →
11Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 11
The history of cartography · Urban heat islands · The placebo effect
40 questionsStart test →
12Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 12
Predicting volcanic eruptions · The sharing economy and cities · The problem of induction
40 questionsStart test →
13Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 13
The history of the bicycle · Deforestation and carbon accounting · Animal cognition and tool use
40 questionsStart test →
14Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 14
Salt and the shaping of civilisation · Genome editing and its governance · Trust in institutions
40 questionsStart test →
15Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 15
The science of lightning · Museums and the repatriation debate · The economics of wellbeing
40 questionsStart test →
16Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 16
The history of vaccination · Smart cities and urban data · Free will and neuroscience
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17Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 17
How whales communicate across the ocean · The circular economy and the obstacles to it · How history is written and why interpretations change
40 questionsStart test →
18Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 18
The history of timekeeping · Antibiotic resistance · The evolution of culture
40 questionsStart test →
19Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 19
The early history of photography · Water scarcity and desalination · The philosophy of artificial general intelligence
40 questionsStart test →
20Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 20
How songbirds learn their songs · The behavioural economics of saving · Chaos theory and the limits of prediction
40 questionsStart test →
21Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 21
The history of paper and papermaking · Overtourism: benefits and costs of mass tourism · Personal identity over a lifetime
40 questionsStart test →
22Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 22
The domestication of maize · Traffic congestion and road pricing · Infinity in mathematics
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23Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 23
The remarkable intelligence of the octopus · Planned obsolescence: are products designed not to last? · Thomas Kuhn and the structure of scientific revolutions
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24Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 24
The history and craft of glassmaking · Urban green spaces and health · Theories of humour
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25Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 25
The migration of the monarch butterfly · The economics of higher education · The philosophy of time
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26Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 26
The engineering of bridges and tunnels · Plastic recycling: promise and reality · The wisdom of crowds
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27Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 27
How animals survive winter through hibernation · The rise of remote work · Metacognition and learning
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28Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 28
The invention and development of writing systems · Food security and the future of agriculture · The economics of inequality
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29Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 29
Bioluminescence · Social media and public discourse · Entropy and the arrow of time
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30Band 7.5–9.0
Practice Test 30
The history of chocolate · Carbon capture technology · The philosophy of mathematics
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IELTS Reading practice tests — FAQs
Are these IELTS Reading practice tests free?
Yes — all 30 full-length IELTS Academic Reading practice tests on Vidaara are completely free, with answers, explanations and an instant band score. No sign-up is needed to take a test.
How is the IELTS Reading test scored?
You get one mark for each of the 40 questions, and the raw score converts to a band from 0 to 9. On the Academic test, roughly 30 correct answers gives Band 7 and 35 gives Band 8. These tests convert your score automatically when you submit.
How many passages are in the IELTS Reading test?
Three passages with 40 questions in total, completed in 60 minutes with no extra transfer time. Every practice test here follows that exact format, with difficulty rising from Passage 1 to Passage 3.
Do these tests cover all IELTS Reading question types?
Yes — Matching Headings, True/False/Not Given, Yes/No/Not Given, multiple choice, matching information and features, and sentence, summary, note and table completion all appear across the 30 tests.