This study, building on CRELLA’s 2006/07 IELTS funded research (Weir et al this volume), clarifies further the links between what is measured by IELTS and the construct of academic reading as practised by students in a UK university by eliciting from IELTS candidates, by means of a retrospective protocol, the reading processes they engage in when tackling IELTS Reading tasks. The study provides grounded insight into the congruence between the construct measured by IELTS and that of academic reading in the target domain.