This lesson is about how to answer matching headings questions in the Reading section of the test.

What does this type of question look like?

Example:

Questions 1 –

Sample Passage 6 has six sections A-F.
Choose the correct heading for sections A-D and F from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number i-ix in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

List of headings

  • i - The probable effects of the new international trade agreement
  • ii - The environmental impact of modern farming
  • iii - Farming and soil erosion
  • iv - The effects of government policy in rich countries
  • v - Governments and management of the environment
  • vi - The effects of government policy in poor countries
  • vii - Farming and food output
  • viii - The effects of government policy on food output
  • ix - The new prospects for world trade

Example:

Section E - vi

Activity

Discuss with your partner how you would approach this type of question.

Each paragraph or section (sometimes a section will contain more than one paragraph) of the text has been given a letter. The headings describe the main idea of the paragraphs/sections. You have to match the correct main idea with the paragraph/section. There will always be more headings than there are paragraphs or sections, so that some headings will not be used. It is also possible that some paragraphs or sections may not be included in the task. One or more paragraphs or sections may already be matched with a heading as an example.

Note that Section E has been matched with a heading as an example, so you don’t have to do that one.

What do I have to write in the answer sheet?

You will write the Roman numeral (for example vii) of the heading which best matches the paragraph/section. Your answers will be in the same order as the paragraphs/sections. So here the order of your answers would be:

  1. A
  2. B
  3. C
  4. D
  5. F

What am I being tested on?

This type of question tests your ability to recognise the main idea in a paragraph, and to distinguish main ideas from supporting details. This is very good practice for your own writing.

How should I approach this question?

  • This type of question often appears as the very first question in Passage 1. However, it asks you to do a complex task: to match up a letter, a Roman numeral, and a question number. Inexperienced candidates can be confused by this, so make sure that you practice this question type.
  • The headings explain the most important point in the paragraph or section, so you must identify this point in each paragraph.
  • Often, the main point - or topic sentence - appears in the first or second sentence of a paragraph, so skim through the text concentrating on these sentences.
  • However, the main point might also appear at the end of the paragraph, or even in the middle, so you may have to read some paragraphs more closely.
  • Once you think you have found the main point go back to the list of headings to see which one best matches. Pay attention to keywords in the headings, which may be synonyms of words in the text.
    • For example, the answer to Question 1, Section A, is heading v: ‘Governments and management of the environment’. The first sentence of the paragraph tells us: ‘The role of governments in environmental management is difficult but inescapable.’ The keyword ‘government’ is repeated.
    • Note that the verb ‘management’ in the heading, appears as a noun in the text, in the phrase ‘environmental management’, modified by the adjective ‘environmental’. It is common that the structure of phrases is changed in this way.

Exercise

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