ielts-reading-question-types-completion

6 Types of IELTS Reading Completion Questions and How to Answer them

Previously, I have mentioned that in IELTS Reading, there are 14 types of questions, which can be grouped into only five. One of them is Completion questions. Below are the 6 types of questions that belong to the Completion group and where you can find the official sample questions (Cambridge IELTS book series):

Type of CompletionCambridge IELTS Books
Note completionBook 11 Test 3 Passage 1 Number 1-9
Table completionBook 11 Test 1 Passage 3 Number 30-36
Flow-chart completionBook 9 Test 1 Passage 3 Number 34-39
Diagram label completionBook 11 Test 1 Passage 2 Number 20-26
Sentence completionBook 11 Test 1 Passage 1 Number 1-7
Short-answer questionsBook 9 Test 1 Passage 1 Number 8-13

Strategies to Answer Completion questions

The Completion group, I think, is the easiest type of questions in IELTS Reading, but some people tend to overthink or overcomplicate the questions and they end up giving wrong answers. Remember the following key points about the Completion group:

  • The questions test your ability to find specific or precise information (details), not main ideas or points.
  • The questions follow the order of the passage: the answer to the first question will be found before the answer to the second question, and so on.
  • The questions ask you to write a certain number of word and/or number for your answers, so make sure you read the instruction carefully.
  • The word and/or number must be taken directly from the passage without any modification at all (100% copy).
  • Contracted words (e.g. don’t, won’t, shouldn’t, etc.) will not be tested.
  • Hyphenated words (e.g. over-complicate, full-time, etc.) count as single words.

Here is the strategies to answer the Completion questions:

  • Skim the question to identify the focus (what kind of information is being asked)
  • Scan the question and underline keywords
  • Scan the passage carefully and quickly to find the keywords (the keywords may have been changed with synonyms or into phrases, so be careful)
  • Skim the whole sentence or parts that contain the keywords and compare the information with the question

Leave a comment if you have any question. Good luck with your IELTS Preparation.

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