One task that is often included in the IELTS reading test is the ‘Matching Information to a Paragraph’ question. In this task, you will be presented with a passage with labeled paragraphs and a list of statements.
Each statement is something to do with the text, for example the statement could be a fact – you do not need any specialist knowledge of the topic in question.
What you need to do is find the specific information in the paragraph and match them to a statement from one of the questions. The answer will usually be found as a whole phrase rather than one word.
So let’s get started…we’ll do all this by:
- seeing an example
- having a look at three crucial reading skills for this question
- highlighting common challenges students face
- giving you some great tips
- giving a step by step strategy you can actually use
The question below is taken from a sample academic reading exam paper. What you have to do is match the statements to the right paragraphs in the article.
General Training Reading sample task – Matching information
in the link above you can see the statements for each question. The actual text of the article is split up into paragraphs with each one being labeled in alphabetical order A, B, C, D, etc. and so you will write the letter of the paragraph for your answer and NOT any words, phrases or sentences from the article itself.
There are usually more paragraphs than questions, so don’t worry if the paragraph doesn’t contain the information you’re looking for.
It is also possible to find two answers or more in the same paragraph, so be ready for this as well.
Answers are not found in the same order as the actual questions, otherwise this question would be too easy for everybody!
Skills for Matching Information to a Paragraph ”In the IELTS reading exam”
– Skimming
The first thing you can do is skim each paragraph in the article with the aim of understanding the general idea of each paragraph. This is not reading for detail, you need to save time.
– Scanning
Scan for specific words within paragraphs. Usually you will need to use synonyms or paraphrases as opposed to the actual keywords from the questions, although sometimes you will be lucky and the keyword will appear in the text.
When you’re looking for the right answer, you have to read carefully so that you can fully understand how the words and phrases are used. This way you’ll be able to correctly identify the answer when you find it.
Students’ typical problems while performing the IELTS reading test:
- The most pressing challenge is that you have to read through all of the passage text since the answers can be in any paragraph and they don’t come in any specific order. What this means is that it may take you time to get the answer, which of course you are short of in the exam but with practice you will get faster.
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- You can often quickly get the main idea of a paragraph by reading the first and / or last sentence of each paragraph, because the paragraph normally contains 1 main idea. However, in this question the answer could be anywhere in the paragraph and so skimming alone is not enough, you need to combine it with other strategies as well.
- Some information in the paragraph is not relevant to the question you are trying to answer so you need to have a strategy to make sure you are focused on the information that you need.
- And remember not all paragraphs have an answer.
Here are some tips to consider for IELTS Reading:
One way you can make this type of question easier is to do this question last, this will allow you to get to know the text better. Once you are more familiar with it, finding your way around is going to be much easier.
Look for names, place names and numbers in questions; these are much easier to find in long text-heavy articles – simply because they stand out from the other text. So use them!
Depending on which section the question appears in, the keywords will often be synonyms so you need to make sure you realize this when you are looking through the text – if you don’t you will miss the answer or waste a lot of time trying to locate it.
Key Steps
Of course there are many different strategies you can use, in the use the one you feel most comfortable with – but make sure it gives you the results you want. Below is an overall strategy that you can use as a start point, then you use what works for you.
Read the instructions carefully. Then read the title.
- Go straight to the questions. Try to come up with synonyms, or paraphrase if you can think of another way to say it. You can try to say each statement in your own words to help your paraphrasing.
- Use skimming, to quickly get an idea of the topic and meaning of the paragraph
- Now, read the question statements again and see in which paragraph the answer might be.
- For the paragraph you think the answer might be in scan the text for possible synonyms and underline them if you think any of them might be the answer
- If you think you found the answer go back to the question and write or enter the answer. Skip to the next paragraph if you didn’t find the answer.
Read more about “What should you do to improve your IELTS score?”.
Up to this point, I hope you have benefited from the article. I wish you all the best.