In this post
we will look at:
- Common problems
- Tips
- Strategy
- Practice
1. Example question
Headings are short sentences that summarise the information in a paragraph. You have to pick the one that best summarises the information in a paragraph.
You will be given between 7 and 10 headings and asked to match each paragraph in the reading text to one heading. There are always more headings than paragraphs.
2. Common Problems
1. There is too much information to get through and not enough time.
2. Trying to match a word or words from the headings to a word in the text.
3. Some of the headings may appear to have the same meaning.
4. Some students only read the first sentence of each paragraph and do not understand the main idea of the paragraph.
5. Spending too much time on one paragraph or heading.
6. Headings (Answers) are not in the same order as the text.
3. Tips and Solutions
1. Do this question first. By doing this you will be able to get the general meaning of the text as a whole and this will help you with the rest of the question that requires you to take a more detailed look at the text.
2. You are not
expected to read every word of the text. This will take too long and you don’t
have time for this. In this kind of question you are only expected to
understand the main idea of each paragraph. A good way to do this is to read
the first one or two sentences and the last sentence of the paragraphs. You can
also briefly look at the rest of the paragraph but you don’t have to read every
word.
3. If there are
words you don’t understand, don’t worry about this. Again, you should only
worry about the general meaning of the paragraph as a whole, not individual
words. Even native speakers will fail to understand every word in the IELTS
reading test.
4. Be aware of
synonyms. Many students look for words that match exactly with words in the
text and ignore synonyms. For example, a keyword in the heading might be
‘Beautiful’, however the word you’re looking for could be many different
synonyms of ‘beautiful’ like ‘attractive’, ‘pretty’, ‘lovely’ or ‘stunning’.
5. If there are
two or three headings that are similar, write them beside the paragraph and try
to find out the difference between the two headings. What are the keywords? How
does this change the meaning? Which one matches the paragraph best?
If you still
can’t decide which one suits best, move on and come back to it later. The
answer will normally be easier to find after you have matched some more
headings.
6. Don’t read too quickly. Some teachers advise that students should just ‘skim’ the text because you don’t have much time. In my experience, this leads to students not understanding most of the text and making mistakes. It is better to do this a little slower and actually understand what is in front of you.
7. Don’t look at
the headings first. This will automatically make you look for specific words in
the text rather than the main idea. Remember it is your ability to find
the main idea that is being tested, not your ability to find specific
information. Instead of reading the headings first, ignore them and get the
general meaning of each paragraph first by reading the first and last
sentences.
4. Strategy
1. If this type of question is on the test, do it first.
2. Don’t look at the headings. Read the first one or two sentences and the last sentence of each paragraph to understand the general meaning of the paragraph. Don’t worry about highlighting keywords in the test.
3. Try to sum up the general meaning of each paragraph in one or two words.
4. Look at the headings and identify keywords within each heading.
5. Match any headings that are very obvious and you are sure about.
6. For the others, write 2 or 3 headings beside the paragraph. Identify the difference between each of the headings. Establish if there are any synonyms in the paragraph to keywords in the headings.
Summary
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Task type and format
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Test takers are given a list of headings, usually identified with
lower-case Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, etc,). A heading will refer to the
main idea of the paragraph or section of the text. Test takers must match the
heading to the correct paragraphs or sections, which are marked
alphabetically.
Test takers write the appropriate Roman numerals in the boxes on their
answer sheets. There will always be more headings than there are paragraphs
or sections, so that some headings will not be used. It is also possible that
some paragraphs or sections may not be included in the task. One or more
paragraphs or sections may already be matched with a heading as an example
for test takers. This task type is used with texts that contain paragraphs or
sections with clearly defined themes.
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Task focus
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Matching headers tests the test takers’ ability to recognise the main
idea or theme in the paragraphs or sections of a text, and to distinguish
main ideas from supporting ones.
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No. of questions
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Variable
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I hope the tips and strategies in this post helps you. Try them with some past paper IELTS writing questions.
If you have
any comments or questions, please feel free to comment below.
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