IELTS Reading topics

Practise IELTS Reading passages by subject. Each passage is tagged with its two or three main topics, so you can work on the subjects you find hardest and learn the vocabulary that comes with them.

Health
235 main passages · 369 in total
Medicine, disease, nutrition, sleep and public health, from early treatments to modern research.
- The Puzzle of the Placebo
- Beneath the Streets of London
- The Mould That Changed Medicine
History
198 main passages · 588 in total
Passages on how trades, empires, ideas and everyday life changed over the centuries: a staple of IELTS Part 1.
- The Roads That Silk Built
- Salt: A Humble Mineral
- The Race to the South Pole
Inventions
158 main passages · 197 in total
The story behind everyday objects and machines, such as the pencil, glass and the bicycle: one of the most frequent IELTS passage types.
- The Humble Pencil
- Two Wheels: The Evolution of the Bicycle
- The Long Journey of Paper
Technology
119 main passages · 376 in total
How machines, materials, computers and engineering systems work, often with a process or diagram to follow.
- Harvesting the Wind
- Will Machines Take Our Jobs?
- Spinning Like a Spider
Animals
93 main passages · 117 in total
Animal behaviour, migration, intelligence and survival, including birds, insects and sea creatures.
- Keeping Bees: A Partnership Thousands of Years Old
- Why Coral Reefs Turn White
- The Alien Intelligence of the Octopus
Education
78 main passages · 121 in total
Schools, teaching methods and how people learn and develop skills.
- Page Versus Screen
- Playing to Learn?
- The Pen and the Keyboard
Society
71 main passages · 431 in total
Work, family, communities, law and social change, often with a writer's opinion to identify.
- The Office and the City
- News in the Age of the Feed
- Is It Time to Stop Tipping?
Psychology
63 main passages · 137 in total
Research on how people think, feel and decide: memory, motivation, habits and personality.
- The Value of Boredom
- Sleep and Memory
- The Power and Limits of the Nudge
Archaeology
62 main passages · 89 in total
Excavations, ancient sites and artefacts, and what they reveal about the people who left them.
- The Builders of Stonehenge
- Raising the Great Pyramid
- Bodies from the Bog
Business & Economics
62 main passages · 238 in total
Companies, markets, trade, tourism and money: how economies and businesses work.
- Is the Four-Day Week the Future of Work?
- The Economics of Happiness
- Selling to Children
Science
58 main passages · 401 in total
Research findings and scientific explanations written for a general reader, often with several researchers to match.
- The Crowd in the Laboratory
- Life Without Sunlight
- The Long Road to Fusion Power
Environment
51 main passages · 122 in total
Climate change, pollution, energy and conservation: causes, effects and proposed solutions.
- The Urban Heat Island
- Turning Seawater into Drinking Water
- The Plastic in Everything
Arts & Culture
44 main passages · 116 in total
Art, music, literature, crafts and traditions from cultures around the world.
- Whose Heritage?
- Who Should Pay for Museums?
- The Walls Have Voices
Earth & Geography
42 main passages · 98 in total
Oceans, rivers, weather, volcanoes and landscapes: how the physical world works and changes.
- Reading the Ice
- Listening to Volcanoes
- Drawing the World
Architecture & Cities
41 main passages · 103 in total
Buildings, bridges and cities: how they are designed, built and planned.
- Rethinking the Open-Plan Office
- Green Cities, Healthy Citizens?
- Rethinking Urban Sprawl
Transport
38 main passages · 110 in total
Ships, railways, cars, aircraft and navigation: how people and goods have moved around the world.
- Lights on the Rocks
- Lifting Boats: Canals and Locks
- Cutting the Isthmus
Space
27 main passages · 32 in total
Astronomy, planets and space exploration, from early telescopes to satellites and space travel.
- Worlds Beyond the Sun
- Defending the Planet
- The Growing Hazard of Space Debris
Food & Farming
27 main passages · 60 in total
Farming, crops, food production and the history of what we eat and drink.
- From Bean to Bar
- Farming Upwards
- The Story of Tea
Language
22 main passages · 61 in total
How languages develop, spread and disappear, and how we learn and use them.
- Does Speaking Two Languages Make You Smarter?
- When a Language Falls Silent
- Faces on the Page
Plants & Nature
18 main passages · 44 in total
Plants, forests, fungi and ecosystems, and how living things depend on one another.
- Guardians of the Kelp
- The Story of Natural Rubber
- Forests Between the Tides
Sport & Leisure
14 main passages · 29 in total
Sport, games, toys and hobbies, and the science and history behind them.
- Games of the Sacred Truce
- Playing for the Nation
- The Rise of Competitive Gaming

IELTS Reading topics: common questions

IELTS Academic Reading passages come from books, journals, magazines and newspapers written for a general reader, so almost any subject can appear. The most frequent are the history of inventions and everyday objects, animals and the natural world, science and technology, health, psychology, education and the environment.

No. Every answer is in the passage, and the questions test reading skills rather than knowledge. In fact, background knowledge can mislead you on True/False/Not Given questions, where you must judge only what the text says. Practising across many topics helps because unfamiliar vocabulary slows you down less.

Start with topics you find hard: if science or archaeology passages slow you down, read two or three of them a week and learn the key vocabulary listed on each topic page. Then mix topics, because a real test puts three unrelated passages together.