IELTS Reading - Question types
1. Matching information involves looking for a specific piece of information in the text. The paragraphs are usually marked by letters A, B, C and so on. You might not need to use all the paragraphs. If any paragraph can be used more than once, it will be stated so in a clear way.
2. Matching headings has a number headings that sum up the idea of a text section or paragraph. You have to match paragraphs/text parts with headings. There will always be more headings than paragraphs, so you won’t be using all of them.
It is likely that one matching will be done for you as an example – pay attention to that not to use the example headings again. No heading and no paragraph can be used twice. NB: this is one of the tasks that deviates from the pattern described
3. Matching sentence endings task provides you with the beginnings of sentences which you have to match with their endings. There will be more endings than beginnings. The order of beginnings is the same as one in the text.
The idea of the sentence you end up with shouldn’t be different from the source text. Don’t expect to find the same phrases in the suggested endings, they are likely to be paraphrased.
4. Matching features required to match a pieces of information or statements to a number of options. An example would be attributing famous sayings or opinions to their authors. Some options might not be used, others can be used more than once – this will be mentioned in the task description.
5. Multiple choice is simple choosing the correct answer out of many. Sometimes you have to choose more than one answer.
6. True/False/Not given questions provide you with a statement. You have to decide if the statement is true or false according to the text. “True” means that the statement agrees with the information in the text. “False” means that it contradicts it – the statement is the exact opposite of what is in the text.
“Not given” means that the statement neither agrees nor disagrees the text, or that there is no relevant information in it.
7. Yes/No/Not given questions is the same as the previous type of questions.
8. Sentence completion is a task where you are given a sentence with a gap in it. You have to fill the gap choosing word (or words) from the text. The task clearly states the world limit. Usually it’s up to three words and/or a number, meaning that you can use up to three words plus a digit.
It doesn’t mean that your answer has to be no shorter than three words, the answer can be one word only. It means that you shouldn’t exceed the word limit provided. Articles and prepositions are counted as words too. Words that are written through a hyphen (Afro-American, good-looking) are counted as one word.
9. Short-answer questions require you to respond to factual questions on the text. You have to write the answer with the word limit rules similar to the previous question type.
10. Diagram completion involves diagram label completion. This diagram is based on the information provided in the text. It can be an illustration of a mechanism, a process, a building and so on.
You have to write the words in the gaps that the diagram has. For your convenience each gap has a number. The word limit requirement is similar to the previous tasks
