How to Answer Matching Heading Questions in IELTS Reading?

As an IELTS aspirant, you must be acquainted with the techniques and the structure to attempt a particular question in reading. The Reading section generally involves 11 types of questions, whereby you need to identify the type and answer it using the best of your comprehending abilities.

Achieving the desired IELTS score is possible if you are thorough with the techniques. So, if you are scrolling the net for getting the best answer to this question then you can go through the article. In this article, we’ll discuss what the matching headings questions are and how to answer them to score above 7 in the Reading section.

ILETS Matching Heading Questions

This section of ILETS asked you to match the headings to the paragraphs.  You will be given 5-6 paragraphs and 7-8 headlines in the question and you will be required to match the headings to the paragraph that describes it best.

The twist here is the headings will always be more in numbers than the paragraphs.

Interesting, no?

The Matching Heading Questions in IELTS tests your ability to understand the context and choose the right heading according to it.

Struggles Associated with Matching Heading Questions

As discussed above, the matching heading questions involve more headings than the paragraphs and thus it becomes more of a complicated task to match the right heading with the paragraph.

The inexperienced IELTS test aspirants invest much of their time in reading the paragraphs tally the headings and go back to reading the paragraph.  This practice is a waste of time and creates more confusion.

Time-Saving Tips for Matching Heading Questions

Whether it is the Reading, writing, or speaking section, the students should always focus on the planning first.  Remember, you only have 1.5 minutes per question! Make the best of it with these tips!

• What type of question is it?
• What are the instructions?
• How you can use your skills to save time?
• Are you aware of the right techniques to solve the question?
• What should be the strategy?
• What is the time limit?

If you walk by these tips, you will be able to solve the question quickly and accurately.

In the case of matching headings, instead of reading the complete paragraph, just go through the first and the last line of the paragraph. It will help you have a slight idea of what the paragraph discusses and then you can match the heading to the paragraph easily.

In general, the paragraph only includes specific details rather than talking about the idea behind it. This is done to make things complicated for the students and test their ability to sail through the roughest storm. 

Do not get webbed in the similar words that you find in the paragraph as well as the headings. It is the bait! Yes, it is done on purpose. Therefore, focus on understanding the context of the paragraph and connect it with the right heading. 

By now, you must have got what matching headings are and what complications it involves.

Now, let’s begin with the most awaited thing, yes, tips to answer these types of questions.

How to Answer Matching Heading Questions in IELTS Reading?

 For the IELTS Reading section, you roughly have 1.5 minutes per question. Therefore, you need to master these skills to answer quickly.

• Skills to Master for Matching Headings Questions
• Skimming reading the whole passage
• Highlight the keywords while skimming the passage
• Reading the instructions carefully
• Removing the headings once you find its matching paragraph
• Locating the specific information
• Understanding the right meaning of a specific question

Concrete Strategies to solve these types of questions

• Under matching headings, you should always begin with the first paragraph. If you do not find any suitable heading to it, move on to the next one.
• Think about all the possible synonyms, words, and phrases for the highlighted keywords
• Identify the aim of the passage. What is the main idea?
• Don’t spend much time finding the answer.  Focus on relevancy for matching the correct heading to the paragraph. 
• Find the main idea and the supporting idea in the text.
• The First line is not always the main idea.
• You can repeat a similar thing for the rest of the paragraphs.
• The trick for scoring well lies in clearly identifying the main idea and the supporting idea.

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 I hope these tips and strategies will help you find answers to your curiosities related to the matching heading questions in the reading section. Unlock IELTS aims at dissipating the best of the experience and the knowledge and create a firm foundation of excellence for the aspiring students to master and qualify IELTS in flying colors.