hi there it's asiya what questions do you find most difficult in ielts reading
when i asked this question on telegram most people voted for matching headings and i fully agree so
before filming this video i took the most recent official ielts practice tests and completed all
the questions of this type and i'd love to tell you what i've discovered okay let's get started
first of all let me show you the task choose the correct heading for each
paragraph from the list of headings below and then you see a box with your headings
in the ielts test you will always see roman numerals next to them
and then your questions at the bottom from 14 to 20 and each question represents one paragraph or
one section you will always find more options than questions for example six questions with
eight options or seven questions with nine options and matching headings is usually
located in the second or third section of your test where questions are already more difficult
in a paper-based exam you can actually find this task before the passage and this is the most
intuitive way to approach it to match headings as you're reading the passage for the first time
so here are the steps i follow whenever i see matching headings first of all read the passage
title to figure out what this text is about then read all the headings highlight keywords
then quickly read the first paragraph don't try to understand everything just read to get the general
idea of what it's about and then try to find the answer read all the headings again and choose
the one that matches the first paragraph it's quite likely that you won't be able to find all
the matches straight away this task takes time so here are a few tips that will help you get through
if you are hesitating between two options write down both answers on your question sheet not on
your answer sheet of course if you're not certain about an answer put a question mark
if you can't find the answer move on you return to this question later
once you're done with the first paragraph read the second try to find the matching heading
and so on and by the way cross out any headings that you've already used
you should go through all the questions and then come back to those you couldn't answer or are not
certain about not spending too much time on any single question and instead coming back to them
is key to success in this task why well if you were hesitating between two options before now
there is a good chance that one of them is taken and the answer becomes obvious or
if you have a couple of unanswered questions but far fewer options to choose from you may be
able to find answers you couldn't see before also remember i told you to put a question mark next to
any answers you're not certain about here's why if you've chosen an incorrect answer to one of
the questions it will prevent you from answering another question correctly so if you can't find
the answer check among the headings you've already used particularly those you are not certain about
and finally match all the headings on the question sheet and then transfer your answers to the answer
sheet if you are taking a computer-based exam and you know that you usually struggle with this
task you may wish to match all the headings on the sheet of paper you're given and then select
your answers on your computer there are also a couple of things you should be careful about
in this task don't read only the first sentence or the first and last sentence of each paragraph
reading them can give you a general idea of what this paragraph is about but it won't help you
match headings this task is built in such a way that you must read everything to find correct
answers don't look for exact words either look for the main idea if the option is correct then the
main keywords will be paraphrased that's the way ies test writers create these tests and if you can
see some matching keywords probably this option is wrong so they didn't bother changing them now
let me show you several questions from an official test and let's use them to practice ready
okay here is the first question please go ahead pause the video and find the answer
ready to continue the answer is a proposal to take control away from the driver why i think
the answer is mainly at the end of the paragraph when we are reading about the radical idea that
has been suggested well that's a proposal then directly regulating the speed and spacing of
individual cars with central computers and sensors that communicate with each car's engine and brake
controls so computers communicate with the engine and brakes not the driver so to take control
away from the driver that's the answer ready for the next question please pause the video now
okay the answer is areas of doubt and disagreement between experts here is why this whole paragraph
is about the differences of opinion between civil engineers and physicists or experts
and it describes how they have very different views so some key words are skepticism or they
questioned so we have doubt and disagreement here is the next question please pause the video now
ready to continue the answer is the impact of driver behavior on traffic speed let's read this
bit when a driver in a fast lane breaks a little the shock wave travels back much more rapidly
each following driver has to react more quickly consequently or as a result
as the road becomes congested or full of cars the faster moving traffic is the first to slow down
so this is a description of the impact of driver behavior on traffic speed or what happens when one
driver breaks a little so how many questions could you answer correctly let me know in the comments
if you'd like to see the full text and a couple more questions i'll link the idp website where
i found this task in the description magic headings are among the questions that do not
come in order but most ielts reading questions do this means that you can read the first question
then start reading the passage until you find your answer then read the next question
continue reading the passage find your next answer and so on
this strategy can save you a lot of time during your exam and help you answer more questions
i have a detailed video about my ielts reading strategy right here
and a video about the second toughest type of questions true false note given is available to
thank you so much for watching me today good luck with your preparation and your exam bye