Frequently asked questions

Is the IELTS Reading test a speeded test?
A distinction is sometimes made between ‘speed’ tests and ‘power’ tests. Speed tests are tests that provide too little time for candidates to answer all the questions. Power tests allow enough time for most candidates to answer all the questions.
As both the Academic and General Training Reading tests involve reading a substantial volume of material in the allotted sixty minutes, there is clearly an element of time pressure involved in the test. However, realistic time constraints can be regarded as an important element in testing Reading skills and candidates need effective reading strategies to find the answers in the time available. This means that although the test involves an element of time pressure, it is nevertheless a power test rather than a speed test because the primary focus is on the ability of candidates to answer the questions (within realistic time constraints) rather than on their rate of response.

Language testers sometimes determine whether a test is a speed test or a power test based on the proportion of ‘omitted responses’, i.e. test items which candidates fail to answer:

80 percent of candidates ought to be able to respond to almost every item in each section

75 percent of the items in a section ought to be completed by almost the entire group.

By these criteria, analysis of test response data shows that the IELTS Reading tests are not speeded.