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Meet the Question Types
Core skillsHow to read for IELTS· 4 min · 2 exercises

3.5. Meet the Question Types

Get the map of every question type before you study any one of them.

The short version

  • The 40 questions come in groups, not one by one.

  • Each group has one type and its own instructions.

  • Most types follow the order of the text.

  • Matching types do not, so your skim map matters most there.

Questions come in groups

You never meet forty separate questions. You meet five or six groups, and every question in a group works the same way. Read the instructions at the top of a group once, and they cover every question underneath.

Completion

Fill a gap in a sentence, note, table, summary or flow-chart, using words from the text.

Matching

Match headings to paragraphs, facts to paragraphs, or opinions to the people who held them.

True, False, Not Given

Decide whether a statement agrees with the text, contradicts it, or is simply absent.

Multiple choice

Pick the right option, or sometimes two options, from a list.

Diagram and flow-chart labels

Label a picture or the stages of a process using words from the text.

Short answer

Answer a direct question in a few words taken from the text.

What each one looks like in the test

You may not know the names yet, but you will know the shapes. Here is each type as the test shows it, with the lesson that teaches it. Nothing here needs answering.

In the testSentence completion
Questions 7-9

Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

  1. 7
    Beavers were hunted partly for 7, a substance produced by their scent glands.
  2. 8
    The peak flow leaving the dams was on average about 8 lower than the flow arriving.

Completion. Taught in Sentence and Note Completion, Summary Completion and Table Completion.

In the testMatching headings
Questions 14-17

Reading Passage 2 has four paragraphs, A-D. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-vii, for questions 14-17.

List of Headings
  1. iTwo proposals from across the Atlantic
  2. iiThe cost of running a railway network
  3. iiiA world in which noon was a local matter
  1. 14
    Paragraph A14
  2. 15
    Paragraph B15

Matching. Taught in Matching Headings, Matching Information and Features, and Matching Sentence Endings.

In the testTrue, False, Not Given
Questions 10-13

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? For questions 10-13, choose 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. 10
    Beaver meat could be eaten at a time of year when the church forbade the eating of meat.10
  2. 11
    The Devon dams were built by a team of volunteers.11

Judgement. Taught in True, False, Not Given and Yes, No, Not Given.

In the testMultiple choice
Questions 27-28

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

  1. 27
    Which fault in the popular form of the ten-thousand-hour rule does the writer consider the more serious?
    1. AIt treats a group's mean total as a target each individual has to reach.
    2. BIt rests on evidence gathered at a single institution.
    3. CIt ignores how narrowly the kind of practice being counted was defined.
    4. DIt assumes that musicians can accurately recall their childhood routines.

Choice. Taught in Multiple Choice and Choosing from a List.

In the testFlow-chart completion
Questions 3-6

Complete the flow-chart below. Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.

Returned packets are logged in a register

Pods are dried on a 3

Diagrams and flow-charts. Taught in Diagram Label Completion and Flow-chart Completion.

In the testShort-answer questions
Questions 11-13

Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

  1. 11
    What was the largest fall in afternoon temperature measured under a plane tree?11
  2. 12
    Which material did the Hartog study use for its condenser blocks?12

Short answer. Taught in Short-Answer Questions.

Do the answers follow the text?

This one fact changes how you search. For most types, once you have found the answer to question 5, question 6 is somewhere below it. You scan forwards, never back to the top.

Side by side

In text order

Sentence completion, True, False, Not Given, multiple choice, short answer. Question 6 sits below question 5.

Not in text order

Matching information and matching features: question 6 can be in any paragraph. Summary, note, table, flow-chart and diagram answers may be out of order too, but usually sit in one part of the text.

Quiz time2 questions

Two questions on how the types behave.

Where is the next answer?

Choose the type whose answers do not follow the order of the text.

You have just answered question 5. For which type could question 6 be anywhere?

Reading the instructions

Choose how often the instructions change.

How often do the instructions change in the Reading paper?

Recap

  • Questions come in groups, and each group has one type.

  • Most types follow the order of the text, so scan forwards.

  • Matching information and matching features can send you anywhere.

Next: the most common type of all, where you fill a gap with words from the text.

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3.4. Answer Rules for Every Question
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4.1. Sentence and Note Completion