How to Answer ANY IELTS Reading Question

Also known as matching sentence endings, this involves linking the beginning of a sentence with its correct ending from a list. A common mistake is using personal logic or grammar instead of consulting the text. The strategy suggests reading sentence beginnings, predicting endings, then reading the provided endings, matching obvious ones, eliminating incorrect ones, locating the text, and confirming the correct match.

These questions ask which paragraph contains specific information. The main challenge is the vast amount of text to process. The advice is to do this question last, as other questions will familiarize you with the text. The strategy includes reading questions, thinking of synonyms, skimming the text, then revisiting questions, identifying obvious locations, and if a match isn't quickly found, moving to another paragraph.

This type requires matching names (often of researchers or scientists) to their statements or findings mentioned in the text. A problem encountered is prematurely matching names without detailed text consideration. The strategy involves scanning and underlining names in the text, prioritizing names mentioned only once, reading their associated information in detail, matching with question statements, and deleting matched statements to simplify the remaining choices.

The video introduces 12 main types of IELTS reading questions. The goal is to show what these questions look like, discuss common problems students face, and provide strategies to solve them, drawing from the instructor's own experience of getting a band nine in just 20 minutes.

Sentence completion questions require filling in incomplete sentences with words from the text. Common problems include not reading instructions carefully (especially word limits) and poor spelling. The strategy involves reading incomplete sentences first, predicting answers and synonyms, then scanning for location, reading carefully, and checking spelling.

Summary completion questions involve filling in missing information in a given summary. Similar to sentence completion, problems arise from not following instructions and poor spelling, but grammar also plays a crucial role. The strategy includes reading instructions, reading the summary first, predicting not only content but also word type (noun, verb, adjective), scanning for location, and checking if the answer makes grammatical sense.

Multiple-choice questions present a direct question with several options. The main problem is differentiating between the subtle meanings of the options. The strategy involves reading questions and options carefully, skimming the text for general meaning, then focusing on locating the specific section for each question, eliminating obviously wrong answers, and finally making a selection.

Short answer questions are direct comprehension questions, similar to those found in school. Problems often stem from not truly understanding the question or unfamiliar words/phrases in the text. The strategy advises reading and understanding questions first, underlining keywords, thinking about synonyms, scanning for location ('where before what'), reading the relevant section carefully, and then formulating the answer.

These questions require labeling parts of a diagram or map using words from the text. A key problem is unfamiliarity with the diagram's subject matter. The strategy involves reading instructions, examining the diagram without panic, highlighting keywords, predicting answers, scanning for location, reading in detail, choosing the answer, and being careful with spelling.

This common question type asks whether statements are true, false, or not given in the text. Problems include misinformation, misunderstanding 'not given', focusing only on keywords, and failing to comprehend the whole sentence. The strategy emphasizes reading entire statements, thinking of synonyms, matching statements to text locations, reading sections carefully, and deciding if the meaning matches, contradicts, or is unknown.

Similar to True/False/Not Given, but these questions focus on the writer's opinion. Problems include confusing them with factual statements and not understanding the writer's perspective. The advice is to follow the same strategy as True/False/Not Given, but specifically look for the writer's agreement, contradiction, or absence of opinion.

These involve completing a table or flowchart with missing information, often with word limits. Not reading instructions carefully is a common issue. The strategy is to read instructions, scan to locate the correct paragraph, read that section carefully, transfer words exactly, and double-check spelling meticulously.

Considered challenging, these questions require matching paragraphs to a list of headings. Problems include processing vast information, focusing on keywords instead of overall meaning, and not spending enough time on heading options. The recommended strategy is to do this question first, read each paragraph and write your own heading, then compare these with the provided headings, matching obvious ones, and then carefully re-reading paragraphs for less obvious matches.