IELTS General Training Reading: section timing and how to review errors

General Training Reading is still 40 questions in 60 minutes, but it is not three long academic passages. Section 1 is usually two or three short everyday texts, such as notices or adverts. Section 2 is usually two workplace texts, such as a staff guide or a training note. Section 3 is one longer text on a general topic. A plan built for Academic Reading, with about 20 minutes per passage, does not match that shape.

There is no official minute-by-minute split, and there is no extra transfer time at the end. The split below is a practice routine, not a rule from the test. Use it until you know your own pace, then adjust it. Confirm with the organisation that asked for your score whether you need General Training at all; that choice is covered in the Academic versus General Training guide, and this article stays with timing and review.

Write the finish time for each section at the top of your notes before you start. If the test begins at 10:00, the checkpoints below land at 10:15, 10:35 and 10:57, with three minutes left to check blanks.

Short texts look easy, and that is why they cost marks. Questions often turn on a number, a time, a price, a name, or a condition such as "only" or "except". Read the question, pick the detail, and scan for it. Then read the sentence on either side before you choose True, False or Not Given.

Not Given means the text is silent. It does not mean the statement is unlikely. If a community-centre notice lists weekday hours and never mentions public holidays, "The centre is closed on public holidays" is Not Given, even if that would be a sensible rule in real life.

Workplace texts are full of obligations: must, should, may only, unless, before. Match the strength of the question to the strength of the text. "Staff must attend on Tuesdays" is a requirement. "Staff are encouraged to attend" is not the same claim, and marking it as a requirement is a False, not a near miss.

The words in the question will usually differ from the words in the text. If you only hunt for an exact phrase, you will skip the sentence that answers the question. Note the idea, then scan for a synonym or a rephrasing.

Give yourself about two minutes to see how the text is organised: title, first paragraph, and the first line of each later paragraph. Then answer in order. Completion and True/False/Not Given items usually follow the text. If one question takes more than two minutes, choose the best option you can, mark it, and continue.

Do not start Section 3 by reading every word. The point of the earlier sections is to arrive here with time left. If you often reach Section 3 with under ten minutes, the problem is earlier: you are rereading Section 1 or refusing to leave a hard Section 2 item.

A raw score tells you very little on its own. For every wrong answer, write four things: the section, the question type, the sentence in the text that settles it, and a cause. Use only these causes, so the list stays useful.

Count the causes. The largest pile is next week's focus. Do three short sessions on that cause and one lighter session on something else, so the other sections do not go cold. End the week with one timed General Training Reading set, then fill in the same error log. The aim is a cleaner log, not a promise of a higher band.

If most losses are detail slips in Sections 1 and 2, slow those sections down rather than hunting harder Section 3 texts. General Training often needs more correct answers than Academic for a similar band, because the early texts are more familiar. Accuracy on the short texts is the practical response to that. It is not a conversion table, and it is not a prediction of an official result.