Matching headings

How to choose the right heading for each paragraph in IELTS Reading - finding the main idea, avoiding detail traps and managing extra headings.

In this task you see a list of headings, numbered i, ii, iii and so on, and you choose the one that best summarises each paragraph or section of the passage. There are always more headings than paragraphs, so some will not be used, and no heading is used twice.

Matching headings tests one skill: can you tell the main idea of a paragraph from its details? That sounds simple, but the wrong headings are cleverly designed, and this task has a reputation for stealing time. A good method solves both problems.

What the task looks like

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A–G. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i–x.

The headings appear before the passage, which is a hint: this is the one task you should begin before, or while, you read.

What a heading really is

A heading answers the question: what is this paragraph doing? Paragraphs in IELTS passages have typical jobs:

• describing how something works
• giving the history or origin of something
• explaining a cause, or a result
• presenting a problem, or a solution
• comparing two things
• reporting a criticism or a doubt
• predicting the future

Headings are usually written in this ‘job’ language: The origins of…, Why … failed, A possible solution, Doubts about…, Unexpected benefits. When you can name the job of a paragraph, you are most of the way to its heading.

The method

Step 1 – Read the headings and underline their key idea. Do this quickly. Notice which ones are similar to each other, because those are the ones you will have to separate carefully.

Step 2 – Take the paragraphs one at a time. Read the first two sentences, skim the middle and read the last sentence. Ask: what is the one thing this paragraph is about? Say it in three or four words of your own before you look at the list.

Step 3 – Find the heading that matches your summary. If one clearly fits, choose it and cross it out. If two seem possible, write both down and move on. Do not agonise.

Step 4 – Return to the doubtful ones at the end. With several headings already used, the choice is narrower.

Step 5 – Check the leftovers. The unused headings should each be clearly wrong for every paragraph. If an unused heading seems to fit a paragraph perfectly, re-examine your answer for that paragraph.

Where the main idea lives

In about two-thirds of paragraphs, the first one or two sentences state the topic. But be careful with three common patterns:

1. The turn. The paragraph opens with one idea and then changes direction with however, but, yet, in fact. The main idea is what comes after the turn.

   It is often assumed that city foxes live on rubbish. In fact, analysis of their diet shows that…

   Main idea: what they really eat, not the common assumption.

2. The question. The first sentence asks a question; the rest answers it. The heading reflects the answer.

3. The example first. The paragraph opens with a story or a case, and the general point comes at the end.

So if the first sentence does not give you a confident summary, read the last sentence before deciding.

The four types of wrong heading

1. The detail heading

It refers to something that really is in the paragraph, but only as a minor point or example. This is the commonest trap. Ask: is the whole paragraph about this, or only one sentence?

2. The word-match heading

It repeats a word or phrase from the paragraph, but the idea is different. If a heading shares an unusual word with a paragraph, be suspicious, not relieved. Correct headings are normally paraphrases.

3. The too-wide heading

It describes the topic of the whole passage, not this paragraph.

4. The neighbour heading

It fits the paragraph before or after. Make sure you know where each paragraph starts and ends.

Worked example

Here are six headings and three paragraphs.

List of headings i. A solution borrowed from nature ii. The economic cost of delays iii. Why an obvious remedy does not work iv. Early attempts to measure traffic v. A cause of congestion that involves no obstacle vi. The growth of car ownership

A Drivers stuck in a motorway queue naturally assume that something ahead is blocking the road: an accident, perhaps, or roadworks. Very often there is nothing. When Japanese researchers asked volunteers to drive at a steady speed around a circular track, the cars at first flowed smoothly. Then one driver slowed slightly, the car behind braked a little harder, and within minutes a wave of stationary vehicles was travelling backwards around the circle. Such ‘phantom jams’ arise from nothing more than the small variations in the way people drive.

Your own summary first: jams that happen with nothing blocking the road. Now the list: v matches (a cause of congestion that involves no obstacle). Check the tempting alternatives. Heading iv mentions measuring traffic, and there is an experiment here, but it is not an ‘early attempt to measure’ anything; the experiment is a detail supporting the main idea. → A = v

B The response that most people favour is to build more road space. Experience suggests otherwise. When a major route is widened, journeys become quicker for a time, and this very improvement persuades people who used to travel by train, or at a different hour, or not at all, to take their cars. Within a few years the new lanes are as crowded as the old ones were. Transport planners call the effect ‘induced demand’, and it has been documented in cities on every continent.

Summary: building more roads doesn’t fix it – more people drive. The paragraph has a turn in its second sentence (‘Experience suggests otherwise’). Heading iii fits: the ‘obvious remedy’ is more road space, and the paragraph explains why it fails. Heading vi (growth of car ownership) is a word-match trap: cars and growth are mentioned, but the paragraph is not about how many people own cars. → B = iii

C A more promising approach has come from the study of ants. Columns of ants moving between nest and food almost never jam, even when the trail is crowded, because each insect keeps a constant distance from the one in front and none tries to overtake. Engineers have applied the same principle to vehicles equipped with adaptive cruise control, which adjusts speed automatically to maintain a fixed gap. Simulations indicate that if even one car in five were fitted with such a system, phantom jams would largely disappear.

Summary: copying ants to stop jams. Heading i, a solution borrowed from nature, is a clean paraphrase: solution = promising approach; nature = ants. → C = i

Headings ii, iv and vi are not used. Check them: is any paragraph mainly about economic cost, early measurement or car ownership? No. Good.

Do this task first or last?

If matching headings is the first task for a passage (which is usual), do it as you make your first skim. You have to read each paragraph for its main idea anyway, so you are doing two jobs at once, and by the end you have a labelled map of the passage for the remaining questions.

Some teachers recommend doing it last, after the other questions have made you familiar with the passage. That can work, but it wastes the map-making benefit. Try both in practice and keep the one that gives you more correct answers.

Tips

• Do the easiest paragraphs first. Each heading you remove makes the others easier.
• Short paragraphs are not easier. They often have subtle main ideas.
• If two headings both seem to fit one paragraph, look for the difference between the headings, then look for that exact difference in the paragraph.
• Watch the example. If an example is given (e.g. Paragraph A – iv), cross that heading out immediately.
• Write the numeral, not the words: iv, not The price of replacing the sun.

Key points

• A heading states the main idea or job of a paragraph, not a detail.
• Summarise the paragraph in your own words before looking at the list.
• Read the last sentence when the first is not enough; watch for a turn after however or in fact.
• Distrust headings that repeat the paragraph’s exact words.
• Check that every unused heading is clearly wrong.

IELTS is a registered trademark of the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge University Press & Assessment. PrepFreely is not affiliated with, approved or endorsed by them.