Do you want to listen as you read? Click here to listen to the audio.
Why do I miss this question when it looks so easy? An IELTS student asked me this after trying to match the right headings to the paragraphs. If you are a student who feels that matching headings to the IELTS reading is confusing, then let’s work on this together.
Important strategies to remember:
- Do this question first.
- This question is not usually the first question, but do it first.
- Finishing this question will help you understand the general idea of each paragraph and the entire passage.
- Don’t use too much time for this question.
- This question can use up your time if you try to read everything.
- Don’t read everything. Read carefully the first 2-3 lines of the paragraph and the last 2-3 lines of the paragraph. Only skim the middle of the paragraph to get the connection.
- Underline key words in the beginning and ending of the paragraph.
- Use the key words to tell yourself what you think the main idea of the paragraph is.
- Your goal for this type of question is to understand the gist or main idea of the paragraph, not the details, so work quickly.
- Eliminate the headings that don’t match.
- Go to the list of headings and start from the first one.
- The words in the heading are important. Think about what the words mean.
- Look for synonyms or paraphrases to the key words in the paragraph.
- If the first heading is clearly not a match, eliminate it right away and go to the next heading.
- Repeat this process with the next heading.
- When you find a match, choose it and move to the next paragraph.
- Repeat the same pattern for the next paragraph.
If you have taken the IELTS test, what did you think about this type of question? Were you successful? What strategies and tips would you suggest for choosing the correct headings? Please share your comments with me below.
Here is a good sample for practicing this question about matching headings. This sample was taken from https://www.ielts.org/en-us/about-the-test/sample-test-questions. There are more sample exercises available for you at this site.