Matching information gives you a fact, a definition or an example and asks which paragraph contains it. It is the slowest task in IELTS Academic reading, because the questions jump around the passage and a paragraph can hold the answer to two of them. This page shows how to order the work so it does not eat your twenty minutes, and drills it with forty original items.
By the time you have done the other task types you will already know roughly where several subjects sit, which turns a whole-passage search into a check.
Write a one-word label beside each: reason, example, definition, comparison, figure, prediction. You are then searching for a type of sentence, not a topic.
Read paragraph A with the first four questions in your head, then B, and so on. One pass through the passage beats four separate searches.
A definition usually sits next to 'is known as' or 'refers to'. An example follows 'such as' or 'for instance'. A comparison uses 'whereas', 'unlike' or a comparative form.
Questions containing names, years or numbers can be found by scanning. Clear those before you start reading paragraphs properly.
Unlike matching headings, a letter can be used more than once, so eliminating used paragraphs will cost you marks.
If a paragraph half fits a question, write its letter lightly. If nothing better appears, that guess becomes your answer.
Two minutes on one item is too much. Note the number, finish the set, then return with whatever time is left.
Transfer the paragraph letters carefully; on a long set it is easy to shift every answer down by one line.
Not thisAssuming the questions follow the order of the passage.
ThisTreating the order as random.
This task deliberately scatters the answers, so reading downwards from your last answer wastes time.
Not thisUsing each paragraph letter once only.
ThisReusing a letter when two questions point at the same paragraph.
The instructions normally state that a letter may be used more than once, and candidates who ignore that lose the second mark.
Not thisSearching for the exact words of the question.
ThisSearching for the idea in reworded form.
The question is a paraphrase by design; matching words leads you to the paragraph the examiner planted.
Not thisAnswering with the paragraph that discusses the topic generally.
ThisAnswering with the paragraph that contains the specific information asked for.
A whole paragraph can be about a subject without containing the one detail the question names.
Not thisDoing this task before matching headings or the completion tasks.
ThisLeaving it until the end of the passage.
The other tasks map the passage for you, so the search shrinks.
Not thisLeaving items blank because the search failed.
ThisWriting the letter of the most plausible paragraph.
There is no penalty for a wrong letter and a blank scores nothing.
Not thisReading each paragraph once per question.
ThisReading each paragraph once with several questions in mind.
Six questions and eight paragraphs means forty-eight reads the slow way and eight the fast way.
Not thisIgnoring the phrase 'a reference to' in the question.
ThisTreating it as an instruction that the passage may mention the thing only briefly.
A reference can be half a clause, so you are looking for a mention, not a discussion.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
1Complete the sentence.
3Complete the sentence.
6Complete the sentence.
7Why is labelling each question by type — reason, example, figure — worth thirty seconds?
One good answer
Because it turns a search for a topic into a search for a kind of sentence, and the passage signals kinds of sentence with phrases like because, such as and unlike that you can scan for.
9Complete the sentence.
11Complete the sentence.
14Complete the sentence.
15A question asks for 'the reason a project was abandoned'. What are you scanning for?
One good answer
Cause language near the project: because, owing to, as a result of, this led to, or a sentence that states what went wrong immediately before the abandonment is mentioned.
17Complete the sentence.
19Complete the sentence.
21Complete the sentence.
23Complete the sentence.
24How do you stop this task from eating the rest of your twenty minutes on a passage?
One good answer
Set a limit of about a minute per item, answer the scannable questions first, do one pass of the passage holding several questions at once, and guess anything still unplaced rather than rereading.
26Complete the sentence.
29Complete the sentence.
31Complete the sentence.
32Give two search phrases you would scan for if a question asked about 'the consequences of a decision'.
One good answer
Phrases such as 'as a result' and 'this led to', plus 'consequently' and 'meant that', because the passage will state the outcome immediately after the decision is mentioned.
34Complete the sentence.
37Complete the sentence.
39Complete the sentence.
40Summarise your working order for a matching information task in one sentence.
One good answer
Do it last on the passage, label each question by type, clear the ones containing names or numbers by scanning, read the remaining paragraphs once while holding several questions in mind, and guess a plausible letter for anything still unplaced.
Note
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No, and mixing them up is expensive. Headings ask for the main idea of a paragraph and each heading is used once. Matching information asks which paragraph contains one specific detail, and a paragraph letter can be the answer more than once.
Skim it for structure, then do the other task types on the passage before this one. By then you will know where most subjects sit and the search becomes a check rather than a hunt.
Take it as a warning that at least one letter probably is repeated. Do not reject an answer simply because you have already written that letter.
A reference can be a clause in passing; a description needs at least a sentence devoted to the thing. Match the size of the passage's treatment to the size the question asks for.
Sometimes a few happen to fall that way, but you cannot rely on it, and assuming it is one of the commonest ways candidates lose marks on this task.
Usually a set of four to six, alongside other task types. That is why a one-minute limit per item matters: the set should take around five or six minutes, not fifteen.