How to solve Short Answer Questions in IELTS Reading Module
An Overview
The Question
There are two types of short answer questions in the IELTS reading exam.
Type 1: Questions
Type 2: Lists
These questions will usually tell you to write your answers in NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS. So you can answer with one word, two words or three words but no more. However, this is not always the case, so check the rubric carefully.
For these questions, like the multiple choice questions, you have to apply both skimming and scanning techniques.
Also note that the answers should not require a hyphenated word (e.g. non-smoker) or a contraction (e.g. they’ve).
If the answer requires a number, you can write it as a numeral (e.g. 6) or a word (e.g. six) or a combination of a numeral and a word (e.g. 6 million).
Let us see some useful tips about solving short answer type of questions.
Read the given instructions carefully and understand how many words you can write.
Don’t forget to recognize the main idea behind the IELTS exam. Being in a hasty mindset, a test taker might forget the main idea of the exam like how the examiners are planning to test the proficiency levels of the test taker.
Remember that comprehension passages maintain a question order. You are prone to lose valuable time if you are not concerned about the question order.
Keywords are important things to answer the given questions. But the most common mistakes done by the test takers in IELTS reading short answer questions are neglecting ‘negations and transition words’.
Pay attention to the question words (who, what, who, when, where, which and how).
– who = person or group
– what = thing
– why = reason
– when = time
– where = place
– which = thing
– how = way of doing something
Make sure that your answer doesn’t exceed the word limit. It’s super-important.
The super important tip for IELTS Reading short answer questions is maintaining the word limit.
The order of questions can help you. Answer for question 4 will be between answers for questions 3 and 5 in the text.
Some answers are likely to be among them if text introduces new terms.
Getting trapped in this unknown vocabulary is one of the biggest problems. Answering questions is more important than the word. Otherwise, it will consume all your precious time. Therefore you don’t need to understand the meaning of every word used in the passage.
Strategy
1. Read the instructions carefully and note the word limit.
2. Read and understand the questions. Think about the information you will need to find.
3. Underline any keywords in the questions.
4. Think about synonyms or paraphrases for these keywords.
5. Find part of the text question 1 relates to.
6. Read question again.
7. Read the section containing the answer carefully and identify answer.
Continue with next question and repeat until finished.
Thank You 🙂
