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General English

Free English reading tests

Twelve reading tests from B2 to C2, with answers. Marked as you go, no signup.

Taking IELTS? Writing and speaking marked by a former examiner

These free English reading tests each give you a passage and a set of questions, and mark your answers as you go. There are passages at every CEFR level from A1 to C2, so you can pick something at or slightly above where you are working.

Reading is the skill that improves fastest with practice, because you can check every answer yourself. Nothing here needs an account.

How to use a reading test

Six things that make a reading test worth the time.

Time yourself

Give yourself about twenty minutes per passage. Untimed reading measures comprehension but not whether you would finish.

Read the questions first

Knowing what you are looking for turns reading into searching, which is much faster.

Do not stop at unknown words

You are not expected to know every word. Read to the end of the sentence before deciding a word matters.

Answer from the text

Not from what you already know. A statement can be true in the world and still not be in the passage.

Review every wrong answer

Work out whether it was vocabulary, a paraphrase you missed, or reading too fast. Those need different fixes.

Pick the right level

If you get almost everything right, move up a level. If you get under half, move down.

The reading tests

Thirty passages, graded by level from A1 to C2.

Gifu CastleCEFR level B2 · reading test with answers Internet safetyCEFR level B2 · reading test with answers The home officeCEFR level B2 · reading test with answers What is culture?CEFR level B2 · reading test with answers DyslexiaCEFR level C1 · reading test with answers Maori tattooingCEFR level C1 · reading test with answers Mark InglisCEFR level C1 · reading test with answers National airlinesCEFR level C1 · reading test with answers The GM controversyCEFR level C1 · reading test with answers The OlympicsCEFR level C1 · reading test with answers ADHDCEFR level C2 · reading test with answers AucklandCEFR level C2 · reading test with answers The Saturday marketCEFR level A1 · reading test with answers Anna's new flatCEFR level A1 · reading test with answers The school busCEFR level A1 · reading test with answers A weekend in WellingtonCEFR level A2 · reading test with answers Learning to swimCEFR level A2 · reading test with answers The lost phoneCEFR level A2 · reading test with answers Working from homeCEFR level B1 · reading test with answers The night marketCEFR level B1 · reading test with answers Bees in the cityCEFR level B1 · reading test with answers The four day weekCEFR level B2 · reading test with answers What happens to recyclingCEFR level B2 · reading test with answers Teenagers and sleepCEFR level B2 · reading test with answers The price of coffeeCEFR level C1 · reading test with answers Urban heat islandsCEFR level C1 · reading test with answers Saving a languageCEFR level C1 · reading test with answers Attention and the algorithmCEFR level C2 · reading test with answers Antibiotic resistanceCEFR level C2 · reading test with answers The value of wildernessCEFR level C2 · reading test with answers

Questions about free English reading tests

Are these real exam papers?

No. They are practice passages written to the same level descriptors, with the question types the exams use.

What level should I choose?

Start one level below where you think you are. If you score above about 80 per cent, move up.

Do the answers get explained?

Yes. Each question shows the accepted answers, including alternative wordings where more than one is correct.

Reading in official tests

Reading is tested in the four-skill exams used for study and skilled work, but not in the speaking-and-listening tests used on UK family and settlement routes. Which applies to you depends entirely on the route.

Where free stops

Reading and listening you can mark. Writing and speaking you cannot.

Everything here is open, and for reading, listening, grammar and vocabulary that is enough: they have right answers, so you can check them yourself.

Writing and speaking are judged against criteria rather than checked against a key. If you are taking IELTS, IELTStestONLINE assesses both against the four IELTS criteria, using a system built by a former examiner and examiner trainer.

See how that works