Below are examples of the IELTS Reading question types you will see on test day. To get a high IELTS Reading score, it is important to know what kind of questions might appear in the IELTS Reading test.
Below each of these IELTS Reading question types is tips that will help you to improve your IELTS Reading score!
Matching Ideas to Paragraphs or Names
For these kinds of ‘matching’ questions, you need to find the location of information for each question. There are two types of questions:
- determining which paragraph is providing the information
- determining who mentions the information in the passage
Matching Ideas to Paragraphs
With “Matching Ideas to Paragraphs”, one difficulty is that you will not find the questions in the order in the passage. For example, you may find the ideas from Question #1 near the end of the passage and the ideas from Question #5 in the first sentence of the passage! So, many students feel it takes a long time to answer these kinds of questions.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
The Reading Passage has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraph mentions the following?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
1 How the albatross can locate food from far away
2 The energy an albatross expends in flight compared to when it is resting on land
3 The total distance an albatross could possibly fly in its lifetime
4 How an albatross is able to fly even while it sleeps
5 Albatross glide distances compared to other birds
Tip: When answering these questions, focus on looking in one paragraph for each question in the group. Search the shortest paragraphs first.
Matching Ideas to Names
Interestingly, when you are answering questions where you need to match an idea with a person referred to in the passage, you will find the people mentioned in the order in the passage. However, you will find some of these people in more than one place, so if you find the names of these people, keep scanning the passage to the end. Their second mention in the passage may help with an answer!
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Match each action to the correct person, A-C.
Write the correct letter, A-C, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once
|
1 Learned of a connection between the speed and absorption rates of neutrons 2 Came up with an explanation for an unusual phenomenon seen by another scientist 3 Received a message from another scientist regarding a scientific discovery 4 Was the first to recognize that a single fission reaction could lead a to a series of them |
People
A Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch B Leo Szilard C Enrico Fermi |
Tip: Don’t worry about finding every little idea in each question. If you can find a location where half or more of the ideas are near each other, that is the likely location (either paragraph or person) for the answer!
True-False-Not Given or Yes-No-Not Given
For True-False-Not Given questions, you need to determine whether or not the passage gives similar or conflicting information to each question. Often, one word in a question is enough to make the entire answer ‘False’ or ‘Not Given’. Thus, you need to check that you can find every idea in a question before deciding what your answer will be.
“True-False-Not Given” and “Yes-No-Not Given” questions are not different from each other. “True-False-Not Given” focus on whether a question statement is factual based on the passage, while “Yes-No-Not Given” questions focus on whether the author of the passage would agree with the question statement.
You will always find clues in the passage to help you answer True-False-Not Given and Yes-No-Not Given questions in the same order as the questions.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1 Technology is a bigger factor than regulations in determining where self-driving cars will first become common.
2 Current levels of public funding may not be enough to ensure self-driving cars become commonplace.
3 The majority of roads in the United States have not yet been paved.
4 There have been multiple studies on the effects of self-driving cars on congestion.
5 Who is legally responsible for crashes involving self-driving cars has not been clearly determined.
Tip: In the Academic IELTS test, inside every “True-False-Not Given” and “Yes-No-Not Given” question group, at least one answer will be “True”, one will be “False”, and one will be “Not Given”!
Fill-in-the-blank
For Fill-in-the-blank questions, you need to find words from the passage that can complete each question statement. You need to use the exact words from the passage–you should NOT change words from the passage to fit the grammar of the question statements.
Pay special attention to the format of Fill-in-the-blank questions.
- If blanks are in SINGLE SENTENCES, answers will ALWAYS be in the SAME ORDER as in the Passage.
- If blanks are in a PARAGRAPH, TABLE, FLOW-CHART, or DIAGRAM, answers MIGHT be in the SAME ORDER as in the Passage.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Complete the sentences below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
1 The first currency made of …………………………….. is believed to be the Mesopotamian shekel.
2 To help build armies, people could be forced to pay ………………………………
3 Recently, …………………………….. money has begun to be used instead of paper or coinage.
4 The use of animals as currency suffered from the danger of ………………………………
5 During the reign of Emperor Yongle, a coin was made that could be attached to a ………………………………
Tip: Always double-check how many words you are allowed to use. Even words like “an” and “the” are words!
Matching Headings to Paragraphs
For Matching Heading questions, you need to determine which Heading would be most appropriate for each paragraph in the passage. This kind of question is NOT asking whether the ideas in a particular heading are in a paragraph. Instead, you need to decide if the paragraph ‘focuses‘ on a particular heading. Thus, the correct heading will almost always be one that is talked about more than once in the paragraph.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
The Reading Passage has six paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph, A-F, from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
|
List of Headings i What should happen going forward ii How shade affects the human body iii Seasonal effects on city temperatures iv A discrepancy between theory and practice v Differences in how city surfaces and trees process solar heat vi Alternatives to trees for keeping cities cool vii How trees can affect our homes viii Factors affecting the efficiency of evapotranspiration ix A drawback of too many trees |
1 Paragraph A 2 Paragraph B 3 Paragraph C 4 Paragraph D 5 Paragraph E 6 Paragraph F |
Tip: Don’t try to answer Matching Heading questions in order of paragraphs. Start by finding headings for the shortest paragraphs, or paragraphs that you have already examined for other questions.
Multiple-Choice
For Multiple-Choice questions, you need to choose 1 or 2 answers that correctly answer a question. These kinds of questions can be difficult because it can take a long time to check every answer choice before you can decide which one is correct.
Multiple-Choice (4 answer choices)
For Multiple-Choice questions with only 4 answer choices (and ONE correct answer), clues for each question will be found in the passage in the same order as the questions are listed. So, you will find clues for Question #1 earlier in the passage than Question #2. However, these questions can take time to answer, because you need to figure out why each answer choice is wrong before you can be confident about which answer is correct.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
1 According to first paragraph, why did Otto Hahn write to Meitner and Frisch?
A He noticed a phenomena that did not agree with what was then known about nuclei.
B He was able to discover how dense the nuclei of certain types of atoms were.
C He had received unusual scientific information about a nuclear process.
D He figured out why a uranium nucleus could be divided into halves.
2 According to the third paragraph why did scientists use cadmium rods in their experiments?
A They needed to create a chain of connecting sheets in order to control the nuclear emissions.
B Removing the rods enabled the scientists to quicken the process of nuclear fission.
C They could be used to calculate when the first neutron would begin the fission process.
D The rods helped them regulate the speed at which nuclear fission occurred.
3 According to the fourth paragraph, why was it important for scientists to understand “delayed neutrons”?
A They released more energy than other neutrons and were therefore more dangerous.
B They do not emit as much radiation as other kinds of neutrons.
C If they didn’t include them in their calculations they might lose control of the fission process.
D They were the primaries method by which to control nuclear chain reactions.
Tip: Check that your answer is actually answering the question. Ideas inside wrong answers are often found in the passage, but may not be answer the question itself.
Multiple-Choice (5 answer choices)
For Multiple-Choice questions, you need to choose TWO correct answers from the list of 5 answer choices. This kind of question can be even more difficult than other types of Multiple-Choice questions because the clues for the correct answers could be located anywhere in the passage–they will not all be located near each other! Also, you may NOT find these questions in the same order in the passage as they are listed in the question group.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
For Questions 1-2, choose TWO answers, A-E.
Which TWO of these drawbacks of self-driving cars are mentioned in the passage?
A More accidents are likely to happen.
B Taxi drivers will lose their jobs.
C Roads will require more maintenance.
D Government funding will be diverted by more important needs.
E They are less able to adapt to environmental conditions.
Tip: It is useful to look at the question and answer choices for this type of question before starting your search for other questions. Note answer choices that have clear or strong ideas, and keep your eyes open for them while answering other questions.
Multiple-Choice + Fill-in-the-blank
There is one type of question which is a combination of a Fill-in-the-blank question, but you pick your answers from a list of possible words to complete the sentences. This kind of question focuses on testing your ability to paraphrase. Usually, you will find these questions in the same order in the passage. However, they may be spread across several paragraphs in the passage.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Complete the paragraph using the list of words, A-I, below
Local governments are typically more 1 ……………in changing policies, which is why autonomous cars are now seen in some cities. Because the process for changing or adding national laws is not 2 ……………, these kinds of cars will probably not be seen on highways until later. On top of that, designing cars that can 3 ……………with each other, as well as the road network, will be quite expensive.
One question that is still unanswered is how self-driving cars will deal with 4 ……………road or weather conditions. Another uncertainty is who is 5 …………… for crashes where autonomous cars are involved?
|
A poor D responsible G interact |
B flexible
E confident H drive |
C share
F simple I experimental |
Tip: If the Fill-in-the-Blank questions are organized into different paragraphs (such as in the sample questions above), clues for the answers to those questions are usually located in the same part of the passage.
Sentence Completion
Sentence Completion questions are very similar to Matching Ideas to Names questions. This is because you need to connect the beginning of a sentence (which contains either the ‘subject’ or the ‘subject and main verb’ of a sentence) to the end of a sentence. You will find these questions in the same order in passage as the question group lists them.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-E, below.
1 The Mesopotamian shekel
2 Tally sticks from Europe
3 A recent finding in Kenya
A offers proof that the earliest mints were located in Asia Minor.
B show that people used all kinds of objects to keep track of wealth.
C were used by governments to as a means of political control.
D is believed to be the earliest money made from metal.
E provide proof that distant countries were interacting with each other centuries ago.
Tip: You can often eliminate some answer choices because they don’t work grammatically with the beginning of a sentence or because they don’t make sense when combined with the beginning of a sentence.
Summary
So, to prepare for test day, it is very important to know about and understand each of these different IELTS Reading question types. You need to think about how you would prepare and search for answers for the various types of Fill-in-the-blank, Multiple-Choice, Matching, and True-False-Not Given questions because each of them is testing your reading skills in different ways. Even if you have to prepare at home, the more you practice answering each of these types of Reading questions for the IELTS, the more you can improve your IELTS band score!
More IELTS exam tips!
- Top 5 IELTS Reading Tips
- Tips for IELTS Cloze (Fill-in-the-blank) Questions
- How the IELTS Reading tricks you with ‘Logic Flips’
- Top 5 tips to Improve IELTS Reading Skills
Want to know how to start IELTS preparation at home? Learn the best way to prepare IELTS Reading questions with the Portland English Language Academy. You can learn many IELTS Reading tips for how to improve your IELTS scor e with PELA Online’s Academic IELTS Preparation course, with Modules to help you with listening, reading, writing, and speaking test questions.
Watch Lesson 1, Module 1 for IELTS Reading for FREE!
Want to learn more IELTS Reading tips? Learn how to answer Fill-in-the-blank Reading questions!
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