IELTSFever Computer Based General Reading Test 7: Citywide Power Company

Everyday information can become surprisingly demanding when several choices look almost identical. IELTSFever Computer Based General Reading Test 7 begins with that exact challenge. Citywide Power Company presents different ways to pay an energy bill, along with discounts and conditions. The vocabulary is familiar, but one word such as automatically, before, most or full can completely change an answer.

The test does not remain in one style for long. You will move from a customer notice to instructions for using flat irons, then to workplace pay structures and career planning. The final section explores keeping chickens as pets and useful garden animals. Across these texts, you must decide whether statements agree with the passage, match headings with instructions, complete notes and follow a process through a flowchart.

This post is an original preparation guide rather than a copy of the test. It will help you understand what each question group demands, control your time on screen and review your mistakes productively. It does not reveal the answers, so you can use it before your first attempt without spoiling the practice experience.

Start IELTSFever Computer Based General Reading Test 7

Test 7 Route Map

Before starting, it helps to see where the task changes. The complete test has 40 questions, but those questions ask you to perform five different reading jobs.

Questions	Reading text	Task	Main challenge
1–9	Citywide Power Company	True, False or Not Given	Comparing payment conditions without transferring a rule from one method to another
10–14	How to Use Your New Flemings Flat Irons	Matching headings	Identifying the central action of each instruction section
15–23	Setting Up Pay Structures in Your Workplace	Note completion	Compressing a comparison into answers of no more than two words
24–27	Career-planning text	Flowchart completion	Following the order of a decision process and entering one word only
28–35	Chickens—As Pets and Useful Garden Animals	True, False or Not Given	Tracking regulations, behaviour, shelter and safety across a longer text
36–40	Same chickens passage	Sentence completion	Locating exact cause-and-effect details within a two-word limit

The question groups are connected by one principle: the answer must fit both the text and the instruction. However, the most efficient reading behaviour changes. A payment notice requires comparison, a set of instructions requires main-action recognition, and a flowchart requires sequence.

The Four-Desk Method for Test 7

Imagine that each part of this test arrives at a different desk. At the customer desk, you compare choices and conditions. At the instruction desk, you identify what each step mainly does. At the workplace desk, you compress detailed information into short notes. At the garden desk, you follow claims, examples and results across a longer article.

Before each question group, name the desk mentally. This small reset prevents you from carrying the wrong habit into a new task. Looking for individual facts works well in a payment notice but may cause trouble in matching headings, where the whole section matters. Reading for the broad message helps with headings but is not precise enough for a two-word completion answer.

For every desk, prepare a tiny task card:

• required response: word, phrase, number or option;
• evidence unit: line, instruction section, paragraph or passage stage;
• danger point: condition, heading overlap, word limit or scope.

The task card takes only a few seconds to build and gives your search a clear purpose.

Citywide Power Company: Compare Options, Not Keywords

The first passage resembles the kind of notice a customer might receive with a bill. It outlines several payment routes, including direct debit, internet banking, automatic instalments, telephone transfer, credit card, cheque and payment in person. It also refers to discounts and the conditions attached to them.

The central danger is rule migration: finding a correct fact under one payment method and mistakenly applying it to another. A discount may be available only when the whole bill is paid by a deadline. One method may move funds automatically, while another requires the customer to initiate a transfer. A facility accepting most major cards does not necessarily claim to accept every card.

Build a Payment-Method Matrix

Do not try to memorise every paragraph. Give each method four columns:

Method	Who starts the payment?	When or how often?	Special condition or benefit
Method A	customer, bank or company	monthly, on receipt, weekly or another interval	deadline, available funds, discount or registration

You do not need to write a large table during the test. A compact mental version is enough. When a statement mentions automatic transfer, return to the method that actually describes automation. When it refers to smaller regular amounts, search for the instalment option rather than every paragraph containing the word payment.

Headings inside the notice are navigation tools. Use them to restrict the search area before you compare meaning.

Use the Boundary Question for True, False and Not Given

For Questions 1–9, ask one boundary question: What is the strongest claim the passage actually makes? Then compare it with the statement.

• Choose True when the full statement stays within the passage’s boundary.
• Choose False when the statement crosses the boundary and the passage supplies contrary information.
• Choose Not Given when the statement introduces an issue the passage does not settle.

Consider this original example:

Customers who register a bank card can schedule a monthly payment. A 3% reduction is available when the full balance reaches the company before the deadline.

“All registered customers receive a 3% reduction” crosses the boundary because registration alone is not the stated condition. “The reduction is available for paying the full balance early” stays within it. “The company sends a reminder three days before payment” is unresolved because the example says nothing about reminders.

Watch Quantities, Frequency and Responsibility

Several small language features deserve special attention:

• all is stronger than most;
• every month is different from whenever a bill arrives;
• the bank transfers is different from the customer instructs the bank;
• paid before the deadline is different from paid in several parts; and
• free to call concerns the cost of the call, not the cost of electricity.

If a statement combines two claims, both must be supported before you select True. One correct half cannot rescue an unsupported or contradictory half.

Flat-Iron Instructions: Match the Main Verb

Questions 10–14 present five short sections about using flat irons and a longer list of possible headings. Since all the sections belong to one process, several headings may sound relevant. The safest way to separate them is to find the main verb of each section.

One section may protect, another may dry, another may move the irons, another may add shine and another may warn against excessive moisture. Details such as a brush, a spray or a glossy finish support those actions, but the object itself is not always the central idea.

Reduce Each Section to an Action Label

Read a section and finish this sentence: “This part mainly tells the reader to…” Keep your answer to three or four words.

For example:

• apply protection before heat;
• remove remaining moisture;
• guide the tool steadily;
• finish the surface; or
• preserve the result.

Next, paraphrase the headings in the same plain language. Match idea to idea rather than repeating a visible noun.

Separate an Action from Its Result

A heading may name what the reader does, while another names what happens afterwards. Suppose an invented instruction says, “Rub a small amount of oil onto the wooden handle to create a smooth finish.” The action is applying oil; the result is a smooth finish. If the paragraph spends its attention on the application step, a heading about polishing may fit better than one about appearance. The entire section decides the answer.

In the flat-irons text, notice whether a section focuses on preventing damage, preparing the hair, moving the device, creating shine or protecting the style from too much moisture. Do not let one vivid result hide the instruction’s primary purpose.

Eliminate Headings Only After a Secure Match

There are more headings than sections, which means some will remain unused. Do not force every heading into the passage. Once a match is strongly supported, cross that heading out mentally and compare the remaining choices.

If two headings still seem possible, ask:

1. Which one covers the complete section?
2. Which one depends on only a single phrase?
3. Which one fits another section more naturally?

The best heading acts like a label for the whole box, not a caption for one object inside it.

Pay Structures: Read the Comparison on Two Rails

The workplace section compares an internal equity approach with market pricing. Both methods concern pay, so broad keywords will not distinguish them. Picture two parallel rails and place every feature on the correct side.

Internal equity rail	Market pricing rail
Organises roles into levels or grades	Relates compensation to the outside value of a job
Considers position within the organisation	Responds to demand for a particular role or skill set
Uses movement within and between pay ranges	Can produce a different order from internal seniority
Can support controlled growth and internal cohesion	Can suit faster-moving organisations seeking particular talent

This table is a reading map, not a source of answers. The test passage must still supply the exact words you enter.

Treat Note Completion as Controlled Compression

Questions 15–23 turn full paragraphs into short notes. Your job is to compress information without changing it. Each blank has three controls:

1. location: which method or paragraph the note summarises;
2. grammar: what kind of word or phrase the sentence needs; and
3. limit: no more than two words from the text.

Read the complete note before scanning. If the sentence says “a range of ___,” the blank probably requires a plural countable noun. If it says an approach is unsuitable for a type of organisation, the blank needs that organisation category, not the reason that follows.

Once you locate the matching passage sentence, copy the shortest wording that completes the note. Adding a helpful extra word can break the limit.

Track the Direction of Comparisons

Notes often reverse the grammar used in the passage. The original may say, “Small firms do not always benefit because they use mixed roles.” The note might say, “Not suitable for ___ that often have ___.” The meaning stays the same, but the order of the two ideas changes.

Draw a quick relationship in your mind:

organisation type → characteristic → effect on method

This stops you from putting the characteristic into the first blank or the business type into the second.

Original Note-Completion Practice

Read this fictional paragraph:

The studio groups roles into four bands. Each band contains a salary range, allowing experienced staff to progress without immediately changing jobs. Small creative teams prefer flexible rates because one person may perform several functions.

Complete these notes with no more than two words:

• Roles are placed in four ______.
• A salary ______ exists within each one.
• Flexible rates may suit small teams where people perform several ______.

Predict the grammar first, then copy the exact evidence. Do not replace passage language with a synonym, even when your synonym sounds natural.

Career Flowchart: Follow the Arrows

Questions 24–27 use a second workplace text about finding motivating work, changing direction or developing a small business. The format is a flowchart, so the order is part of the evidence.

The passage moves through a process: recognise what matters to you, understand your abilities and working style, investigate the possibilities, let ideas develop and arrive at a suitable form of work. A flowchart may paraphrase those stages and remove the connective sentences.

Read One Box Before and One Box After

For each gap, inspect the neighbouring boxes. The previous box tells you what has already happened; the next box tells you what the missing stage must lead towards. This two-sided context is more useful than reading only the words beside the blank.

Because the instruction requires one word only, grammar becomes a powerful filter. A possessive phrase may need a noun. A command after an arrow may need a verb. A phrase such as “develop a new ___” needs a singular countable noun that matches the final outcome.

Do Not Improve the Author’s Wording

Flowcharts tempt students to summarise in their own language. Resist that impulse when the instruction requires words from the text. Find the passage expression that matches the stage, copy the permitted word and check spelling.

An answer can be conceptually sensible but still wrong if it is not the word requested by the task.

Chickens as Pets and Garden Animals: Build a Paragraph Neighbourhood

The final passage is longer and covers several connected topics: local rules, ornamental varieties, protection from predators, suitable shelter, benefits in a garden, weather and health, taming, breeding, incubation and the rewards of keeping chickens.

Instead of remembering every detail, divide the text into a paragraph neighbourhood:

• rules neighbourhood: cities, rural areas and local restrictions;
• appearance neighbourhood: ornamental varieties and distinctive feathers;
• safety neighbourhood: predators, cages, roosting and night-time protection;
• garden neighbourhood: insects, weeds, soil and scraps;
• health neighbourhood: sunshine, rain, disease and dust baths;
• relationship neighbourhood: hand feeding, foraging and human presence;
• breeding neighbourhood: courtship, brooding, incubation and new chicks.

When a question mentions a household animal, go to safety. When it mentions regulations, begin in the rules neighbourhood. When it asks about constant warmth or moisture, move towards incubation. This map reduces unnecessary scrolling.

For Statements, Compare Scale as Well as Fact

Questions 28–35 use True, False and Not Given. In a long factual passage, errors often come from scale:

• some communities becomes all cities;
• a practice is permitted becomes a practice is common;
• chickens return to a roost becomes chickens sleep in one exact place; or
• many birds cannot escape well becomes no bird can fly.

Match the statement’s size and strength with the text. A passage may confirm that something is allowed without saying how frequently people do it. That missing frequency can change the answer.

Separate an Example from the General Category

The passage gives examples of both domestic and wild predators. If a statement uses the wider category, one named example may support it. But do not reverse the relationship: the fact that one animal belongs to a category does not mean every animal in that category behaves identically.

Likewise, examples of ornamental breeds support a claim about appearance only when the feature in the question matches the feature described. “Attractive feathers” is not automatically equivalent to “better egg production.”

Sentence Completion: Follow the Cause Chain

Questions 36–40 require no more than two words from the passage. Most gaps sit inside a cause-and-effect chain:

chicken behaviour → garden or health effect

For instance, roaming may lead to one useful form of control; scratching may produce another garden result; human feeding builds an association; and incubation requires stable conditions. Identify the action first, then find its stated outcome.

Before copying, ask what the grammar requires:

• a form of what?
• gets rid of what?
• prefers which condition?
• associates people with what?
• warmth and what second noun?

These question frames point towards the correct evidence type.

Keep Outside Knowledge Outside

You may know something about poultry, gardening or animal care. That knowledge cannot fill a gap or decide a statement unless the passage provides it. The test is measuring comprehension of this particular article, not your experience with pets or farms.

The same rule applies to the payment and workplace texts. Real companies and employment systems may operate differently; your evidence source is the test page.

Use a Split-Screen Compass

On a computer, the passage and questions may move independently. The main risk is not only losing time but losing the link between an answer and its evidence. Use a split-screen compass with two coordinates:

• question coordinate: the number and the exact issue being tested;
• text coordinate: the heading, section letter or paragraph neighbourhood containing the evidence.

Before scrolling away, remember a pair such as “Q7—credit card” or “Q32—safety paragraph.” If you return later, this coordinate is much faster than starting from the top.

Highlight only language with decision value: negatives, deadlines, quantities, comparison words, option conditions and exact completion phrases. A fully coloured paragraph has no hierarchy and is difficult to scan.

For doubtful answers, use mark, park and move:

1. mark the question for review;
2. park a provisional response; and
3. move to the next answerable question.

The provisional response prevents an accidental blank, while the mark reminds you to return if time remains.

Spend Time According to the Reading Job

Test 7 contains 40 questions in 60 minutes. A useful practice budget is:

Clock time	Goal
0–14 minutes	Citywide Power Company, Questions 1–9
14–21 minutes	Flat-irons headings, Questions 10–14
21–39 minutes	Pay structures and career flowchart, Questions 15–27
39–56 minutes	Chickens passage, Questions 28–40
56–60 minutes	Final answer-format check

The smaller headings group receives fewer minutes because its sections are brief. The workplace and final reading groups receive more time because they combine paraphrasing, completion and longer evidence searches.

Use this as a baseline, then adjust from your results. Do not repeatedly check the clock after individual questions. Check at the end of a group, decide whether you are on route and continue.

Finish with the CASE Audit

Reserve the final minutes for CASE rather than rereading the whole test.

• C — Category: Did you use True, False or Not Given where required and heading numbers where required?
• A — Amount: Did you obey “one word” and “no more than two words” limits?
• S — Spelling: Are copied words complete and accurately typed?
• E — Evidence: For flagged questions, can you identify the exact line or paragraph idea supporting the answer?

Start with mechanical errors because they are quick to fix. Check blank boxes, accidental spaces, singular or plural forms and heading numerals. Then revisit only the questions you deliberately marked.

Common Mistakes Specific to Test 7

Assuming Every Discount Works the Same Way

Payment options can share a percentage while having different conditions. Match method, deadline, amount and action as a complete package.

Matching a Heading to One Familiar Word

All flat-iron sections refer to hair or styling. The correct heading expresses the section’s dominant action, not the most noticeable shared noun.

Putting the Right Idea in the Wrong Gap

In notes, two answers may come from the same sentence. Use the grammar and relationship of each blank to decide their order.

Breaking the Word Limit with an Article

If the answer is two words, adding a, an or the can create three. Copy only what the completed sentence needs.

Treating Permission as Popularity

A regulation may allow an activity without showing that many people practise it. Do not manufacture frequency from permission.

Using a Nearby Detail Instead of the Requested Result

A sentence may mention insects, soil and weeds together. The gap’s grammar tells you which result it requests.

Review with a One-Question Replay

After the test, do not begin by reading every passage again. Replay each error as a short scene.

1. Read only the question and instruction.
2. State what evidence type was needed.
3. Return to the smallest relevant text area.
4. Identify the wording that makes one response better than the others.
5. Write a six-word lesson for the next test.

Useful six-word lessons might be:

• “Discount needs amount, deadline and method.”
• “Heading covers the complete instruction section.”
• “Blank order follows grammar, not proximity.”
• “Allowed does not automatically mean common.”

These compact lessons are easier to apply than a long collection of corrections.

The 20-20-20 Repair Session

On your next study day, use one focused hour instead of immediately repeating all 40 questions.

First 20 Minutes: Boundaries and Comparisons

Revisit difficult Citywide and pay-structure questions. For each one, underline the condition that limits the statement or separates the two methods. Practise explaining the difference without looking at the answer key.

Second 20 Minutes: Main Ideas and Sequence

Return to the flat-irons sections and career flowchart. Give every instruction a verb-first label and every flowchart box a stage name. Check whether you can explain why the order is logical.

Final 20 Minutes: Exact Answer Production

Redo only the completion questions you missed or guessed. Predict the grammar, locate the phrase and type it within the limit. Finish by checking spelling and reading the completed sentence naturally.

After this repair session, move to unfamiliar material. The IELTSFever General Reading test collection provides additional practice, while the IELTSFever collection of 30 General Reading practice tests can help you test whether the method transfers to new passages.

For more preparation advice, read IELTSFever Reading Test Tips and Information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1:- Where can I take IELTSFever Computer Based General Reading Test 7?

Open the IELTSFever CBT General Reading Test 7 page. Use a laptop or desktop if possible and choose a time when you can work without interruption.

Question 2:- What is the first passage about?

Citywide Power Company explains several energy-bill payment options and conditions. Its questions test whether you can distinguish supported facts, contradictions and information that the notice does not provide.

Question 3:- Which question types are included?

The test includes True, False and Not Given, matching headings, note completion, flowchart completion and sentence completion. Instructions and word limits change between groups, so check them every time.

Question 4:- How can I avoid confusing False and Not Given?

False requires conflicting information. Not Given means an essential part of the statement is not resolved. If you cannot find confirmation, do not automatically select False; look for a clear opposite.

Question 5:- What is the fastest way to solve the flat-irons heading task?

Reduce each section to its main action, preferably beginning with a verb. Paraphrase the available headings and choose the one that covers the complete section rather than one supporting detail.

Question 6:- Do completion answers have to come from the passage?

Yes, follow the displayed instruction. The note and sentence tasks require words from the text, and the flowchart has a one-word limit. Avoid substituting your own synonym.

Question  7:- Why should I map the pay passage as a comparison?

Both approaches discuss compensation, but they use different organising principles. A two-rail comparison helps you attach details to internal equity or market pricing instead of mixing them together.

Question 8:- Is knowledge about power bills, salaries or chickens useful?

Background knowledge may help you understand the topic, but it cannot decide an answer. Use only the relationships and details established by the test passage.

Question 9:- Why is the answer archive numbered Test 8?

The older IELTSFever archive and the current CBT collection follow different numbering sequences. Match the passage titles rather than relying on the test number alone.

Question 10:- Should I repeat Test 7 immediately after checking it?

Not as your only review. First replay wrong answers, identify the failed reasoning step and practise that skill on fresh material. An immediate higher score may simply reflect memory.

Question 11:- Where can I find earlier computer-based reading guides?

You can practise with IELTSFever Computer Based General Reading Test 1, Computer Based General Reading Test 2 and Computer Based General Reading Test 3.

Take IELTSFever Computer Based General Reading Test 7

This test rewards accurate switching. Compare rules in the power-company notice, identify the main action in the flat-iron instructions, compress workplace information into exact notes and organise the chickens passage into clear topic neighbourhoods.

Do not chase a perfect feeling before choosing an answer. Find the smallest sufficient evidence, respect the response format and keep moving. Your review afterwards will show whether the difficulty came from vocabulary, reasoning, navigation or answer entry—and that diagnosis gives you a practical target for the next test.

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