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IELTS Reading Multiple Choice and Sentence Completion: Step-by-Step Strategy

How to answer IELTS Reading multiple choice and sentence completion questions accurately: locating answers, avoiding distractors and respecting word limits.

By IELTSora teaching team · Updated · 2 min read

Why these questions feel difficult

Multiple choice options are written so that several of them contain words from the passage. Only one matches the meaning. Sentence completion looks easier, but marks are lost through word limits, grammar mismatches and copying the wrong form of a word.

Both question types usually follow the order of the passage, which is your biggest advantage: once you find answer 3, answer 4 is normally further down.

Multiple choice method

Work through each question in four steps:

  • Read the question stem only and underline the key idea, not the options.
  • Scan for names, numbers or unusual words from the stem to find the right paragraph.
  • Read that part of the text carefully and decide the answer in your own words.
  • Now read the options and choose the one that matches your meaning. Reject options that are true but do not answer the question, or that say 'all' or 'always' when the text is more cautious.

Sentence completion method

Read the instruction first: 'NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS' means one or two words, and a number counts as a word. Predict the type of word you need, for example a plural noun or an adjective, from the grammar of the gap.

Copy the word exactly as it appears in the passage. Check spelling, and make sure the completed sentence is grammatical and means the same as the text.

Example of a word-limit trap

Text: 'The bridge was built using locally quarried stone.'

Sentence: The bridge was made from ______ stone. (ONE WORD ONLY)

Wrong: locally quarried. Right: quarried (or local if the text used that word). Always count.

Frequently asked questions

Do IELTS Reading answers follow the passage order?
Multiple choice and sentence completion answers usually follow passage order. Matching headings and matching information questions often do not.
Does a number count as a word in IELTS?
Yes. A number written in figures counts as one word. Hyphenated words also count as one word.
What if two multiple choice options both look correct?
Go back to the exact sentence in the text. Usually one option goes too far or answers a slightly different question.

Put this tip into practice

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