Matching information and matching features

Strategies for 'Which paragraph contains…?' and for matching statements to people, places or theories in IELTS Reading, with worked examples.

These two tasks look similar: in both you connect a list of statements to something in the passage. But they ask for different kinds of reading, and each has its own most efficient method. Recent official practice tests suggest that both are being used more often than in the past, so they deserve careful preparation.

Part 1: Matching information

What the task looks like

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A–G. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A–G. NB You may use any letter more than once.

14 a reference to a mistaken idea about the beaver’s diet 15 examples of ways in which the harm done by beavers can be limited

How it differs from matching headings

A heading describes the main idea of a whole paragraph. A matching-information statement describes one specific thing that appears somewhere in a paragraph, sometimes in a single sentence. A paragraph mainly about the benefits of beaver dams might also contain, in passing, ‘a reference to a mistaken idea’. So you cannot answer from a skim; you need to find the particular sentence.

Other facts about the task:

• The statements are not in the order of the passage.
• Some paragraphs may contain no answer; some may contain two (when the ‘NB’ note appears).
• The statements are written in abstract ‘label’ language.

Decoding the label language

Each statement begins with a noun that tells you what kind of thing to look for. Learn to translate these:

So for ‘a reference to how long plants and fungi have worked together’, you are looking for a length of time, probably a large number, connected with cooperation. That is something you can scan for.

The method

1. Skim the passage first and label each paragraph (you may already have done this for an earlier task).
2. Read all the statements and underline the type-word (reason, example, comparison) and the topic.
3. Start with the statements that have scannable features: numbers, time, names, examples, quotations.
4. For each statement, use your paragraph labels to predict one or two likely paragraphs, go there and look for the specific sentence. When you find it, check it against the whole statement.
5. Leave the vaguest statements until last. By then you will know the passage much better.

Worked example

Imagine a passage about noise in the ocean with these paragraph labels:

Statement: a reason why companies are unwilling to spend money on reducing noise

Type-word: reason why. Topic: companies, money, reducing noise. Which paragraphs discuss solutions and rules? F and G. In G we read: ‘few shipowners will pay for quieter propellers unless their competitors must do the same’. That is a reason for unwillingness to pay. → G

Statement: an everyday comparison that illustrates the difficulty animals have in hearing each other

Type-word: comparison, and it is ‘everyday’, so expect something from ordinary human life. Topic: difficulty hearing → paragraph D. There: ‘in the position of a person attempting to hold a conversation beside a motorway’. → D

Notice how the paragraph labels cut the search from seven paragraphs to one or two.

Part 2: Matching features

What the task looks like

Look at the following statements (Questions 19–22) and the list of people below. Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, C or D.

19 Most disagreements involving beavers occur very close to the water. 20 The cost of living alongside beavers is not being shared fairly.

List of People A Helen Coyle B Martin Dreyer C Ruth Pelham D Jakob Lenz

The ‘features’ are usually researchers, but they can also be countries, time periods, companies, species or theories. The statements are findings, opinions or facts connected with them.

The method: start from the names, not the statements

The names are capitalised and never paraphrased, so they are easy to scan for. The statements are heavily paraphrased, so they are hard to find. Therefore:

1. Scan the passage for every name in the list and highlight each one. A person may appear more than once, sometimes later as just a surname or ‘she’.
2. Read what is said by or about the first person. Summarise it in a few words.
3. Look down the list of statements for one that paraphrases it. Write the letter.
4. Repeat for each person.
5. Check whether the instructions say NB You may use any letter more than once. If they do, one person may match two statements, and another may match none.

This is far quicker than taking statement 19 and searching the whole passage for it.

Worked example

‘People imagine a dam as a wall, but these are leaky structures,’ explains the hydrologist Martin Dreyer. ‘Water is always seeping through, and that is exactly why they work.’

Your summary of Dreyer: dams leak – that’s why they are effective. Now look at the statements:

22 Beaver dams are effective precisely because they do not stop water completely.

do not stop water completely = leaky / water is always seeping through; effective precisely because = that is exactly why they work. → 22 = B

Watch out for

• Reported views. ‘Smith rejects the idea, proposed by Jones, that…’ The idea belongs to Jones, the rejection to Smith.
• Pronouns. ‘She found that…’ – make sure you know who ‘she’ is.
• Two people who agree. If the passage says both A and B hold a view, read on: usually only one of them is linked to the exact detail in the statement.
• Same person, different paragraph. Scan the whole passage for each name before you answer.

Try it

The idea that plants respond to sound has a long and not always respectable history. In the 1970s a popular book claimed that houseplants flourished when played classical music, a suggestion that botanists such as Karen Aldous dismissed as wishful thinking, pointing out that none of the experiments had been properly controlled. More recently, Daniel Forti has shown that the roots of young maize plants bend towards the source of a continuous low hum, although he admits he cannot yet explain why. And Mina Okafor recorded the vibrations made by a caterpillar chewing a leaf, played them to undamaged plants, and found that they increased their production of defensive chemicals.

List of researchers: A Karen Aldous · B Daniel Forti · C Mina Okafor

1. demonstrated that a plant can react to a sound associated with being eaten
2. criticised the methods used in earlier research
3. is unable to give a reason for the behaviour observed

Answers: 1 C (caterpillar chewing → defensive chemicals) · 2 A (experiments not properly controlled) · 3 B (cannot yet explain why)

Key points

• Matching information: find one specific sentence, not the main idea; statements are not in order.
• Translate the type-word (reason, example, comparison, reference) into what it looks like in a text.
• Use your paragraph map to narrow the search.
• Matching features: scan for the names first, summarise what each says, then match to the statements.
• Always check whether letters can be used more than once.

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.