IELTS Online: Course

1. Overview questions

Overview questions test your understanding of the main ideas of the whole reading passage or paragraphs in the passage.

The Overview question types used in the IELTS Reading test are:

• Matching Paragraph Headings questions
• Multiple Choice Paragraph Headings questions

Let's start by looking at the most common Overview question type - Matching Paragraph Headings.

Matching Paragraph Headings questions

Matching Paragraph Headings questions test your understanding of the main idea of paragraphs. Let's look at an example question, based on the reading passage Culture and Learning.

Example

Questions 1-8 The reading passage has eight paragraphs labelled A-H. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Cultural differences in writing styles Primary and secondary school education Implications for overseas students Academic writing styles International languages Variation within cultures Variations in subjects taught Tertiary education Cultural variation in learning between cultures Changes in the British education system 1 Paragraph A 2 Paragraph B 3 Paragraph C 4 Paragraph D 5 Paragraph E 6 Paragraph F 7 Paragraph G 8 Paragraph H

Note that you are given ten possible headings (i-x) for the eight paragraphs (A-H) in the passage. It is common in the IELTS Reading test to have more paragraph headings than questions.

Note also that it is common that not all of the paragraphs of the passage will require headings. Look at the example below. Here you are asked to match paragraph headings with only four of the eight paragraphs in the passage.

Example

Questions 1-4 The reading passage has eight paragraphs labelled A-H. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Cultural differences in writing styles Primary and secondary school education Implications for overseas students Academic writing styles International languages Variation within cultures Variations in subjects taught Tertiary education Cultural variation in learning between cultures Changes in the British education system 1 Paragraph B 2 Paragraph C 3 Paragraph E 4 Paragraph G

Now let's practise answering Matching Paragraph Headings questions.