4.3. Table Completion
Fill the empty cells of a table from the passage, one row at a time, without letting a later figure land in an earlier row.
Complete the table below. Choose ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.
| Harbour | Pools built | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Falmouth | 9 | species count up by 40 per cent |
| Whitby | 12 | 10 recorded within two seasons |
| Oban | 11 | pools emptied by 12 on every tide |
The short version
You fill empty cells in a table with words or numbers from the passage.
Each row is about one thing, named in its first cell. The answer comes from the part of the passage about that thing.
The word limit applies to every cell, and a cell that shows % wants only a number.
Rows often follow the order of the passage, but not always. Column headings tell you what kind of word each cell holds.
What you have to do
The test shows a table with a heading on each column and a name, date or place in the first cell of each row. Some cells are empty and numbered. You type a word or number from the passage in each, inside the word limit shown above the table. Read across a row: the first cell says what the row is about, and the column heading says what kind of fact the cell holds. Rows usually follow passage order, but not always.
Why the row matters
Most marks lost on tables are right words in the wrong cell. A figure from later in the passage will fit the grammar of an earlier cell and still be wrong. It belongs to a different row. The first cell of the row, such as a year or a harbour name, is the boundary. The answer sits in the part of the passage about that year or that harbour, and nowhere else.
Step by step
- 1Read the table before the passage
Read the column headings and the first cell of every row. Say what each row is about and what each column holds: a year, a figure, a place, a result. Check the word limit shown above the table. It applies to every cell.
- 2Decide what kind of word each empty cell needs
Read across the row to the empty cell. The column heading tells you the kind: under Cost a figure, under Material a noun. A cell that shows % or per cent wants only a number. Say the kind to yourself before you open the passage.
- 3Scan for the row's label, then read that part
Take the name or date from the first cell and find it in the passage. Read from there until the passage moves on to the next row's label. The words around the fact will be reworded, so counted may appear as recorded. The fact itself is not reworded.
- 4Rule out what belongs to another row
Before you type, ask whether the word or figure you found sits in the part of the passage about this row. A number from the next paragraph fits the grammar and is still wrong. Reject any word already in the cell, and any answer over the limit.
- 5If you cannot find it
Re-read the part of the passage for this row only, looking for a word of the kind the column needs. If nothing fits after a minute, type the closest word of that kind from that part, and move on. Never leave a cell empty.
Quiz time5 questions
Each question gives you a table row and the one or two sentences it is answered from. Practise the judgement, not the searching.
Read across the row
ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER. Row: Library, planted 2016. Column: Plant used.
Read thisThe library roof was planted in 2016 with sedum, a low plant that survives on rain alone, and in its first summer it cut the temperature of the top floor by four degrees.
Library (2016): planted with , which needs no watering.
Write no more than 1 word.
The later figure
ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER. Row: Library. Column: Rainwater run-off. Two figures sit in one sentence. Take the one for this row.
Read thisOn the school roof, planted a year later, the same plant lowered the classrooms below by two degrees. Rainwater running off the school roof fell by 60 per cent, against 45 per cent at the library.
Library: rainwater run-off down by %.
Write no more than 1 word.
Right word, too long
ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER. Row: Swimming baths, 2020. Column: Laid over. The passage gives you three words.
Read thisThe third roof, on the swimming baths, was laid in 2020 over a waterproof rubber membrane, because the concrete beneath had cracked.
Swimming baths (2020): laid over a .
Write no more than 1 word.
The word is already there
ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER. Row: All three roofs. Column: Inspected by. Look at the word just before the gap.
Read thisEach roof is inspected twice a year by a volunteer team trained by the council, and the team also clears the drains after the autumn leaves fall.
All three roofs: checked twice a year by a volunteer .
Write no more than 1 word.
When you cannot find it
ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER. Row: Library and school. Column: Slope. You have a minute left and the word slope is nowhere in the passage. Look for a number of the kind the column needs.
Read thisA roof laid on a flat surface drains slowly, so the library and school roofs sit on a slight fall of about three centimetres across their width.
Library and school: roof laid on a slope of roughly cm.
Write no more than 1 word.
Try a full set
Below is a three-paragraph passage and a table with four empty cells, set as the test sets them. Work the five steps in order: read the table, decide what each cell needs, find the row's part of the passage, reject anything from another row, then type. Two rows share the label 2019, so read the whole of that paragraph for both.
Sea walls built only as smooth concrete leave little habitat when the tide drops. In the last decade, engineers have begun to cast shallow pools into new walls so that water and small animals remain between tides. A 2019 survey of 18 walls on the south-west coast of England found that species counts were about 40 per cent higher in the pooled sections than on matched stretches of bare concrete. Pools next to a slipway were used most by children and by people collecting seaweed; pools behind a locked gate were barely visited. A 2022 follow-up counted people rather than species. Just over 60 per cent of recorded visits were at weekends. About a fifth were school groups booked in advance. The researchers argue that a pool only adds public value if it can be reached without a key. City authorities sometimes treat these findings as a request to cut every new wall with pools. The researchers do not. They recommend pools where the public can walk at low tide, and plain concrete where waves would empty a pool on every tide. The open question is scale. All six harbours in the study already had a wildlife group that recorded species. The team cannot say that a first pool in a harbour with no such group would produce the same 40 per cent rise.
| Heading | Finding |
|---|---|
| 2019 | The pooled sections held about ______% more species than bare concrete |
| 2019 | The pools that got the most use were beside a ______ |
| 2022 | Weekend trips accounted for just over ______% of the visits counted |
| Limit | A wildlife ______ was already recording species in every one of the six harbours |
ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER. Stay in the row.
The full set4 questions
The 2019 rise
ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER. Use the passage above.
The pooled sections held about % more species than bare concrete
Write no more than 1 word.
Which pools were used
ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER.
The pools that got the most use were beside a
Write no more than 1 word.
When they visited
ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER.
Weekend trips accounted for just over % of the visits counted
Write no more than 1 word.
The limitation
ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER.
A wildlife was already recording species in every one of the six harbours
Write no more than 1 word.
Tips
- Read along the row, not down the column
The first cell of the row tells you which part of the passage you are in. Everything in that row comes from the same place.
- Treat the row label as a wall
A date or a name in the first cell marks where that row starts and stops in the passage. Do not take an answer from beyond it.
- Let the column heading choose the kind of word
Under Cost you want a figure, under Material a noun. Deciding the kind first stops a wrong word looking right.
Recap
Read the table first: the first cell names the row, the column heading names the kind of word.
Find the row's part of the passage and take the answer from there, inside the limit.
Reject any figure from another row, however well it fits the grammar.
Next: answering a direct question in a few words from the passage.