Lesson 7 – How to tackle Headings

By Berni | August 23, 2012

cartoon footballer heading a ball

You will learn some techniques for approaching headings and find out why they are a really good exercise to get in the reading exam!

Headings are global questions – this means that they are looking at an overview rather than detailed information.
Headings are the ONLY questions that give you a real birds-eye view of the whole passage
Because of this then you can get a complete sense of the topic
Headings also allow you to get a good sense of the ‘geography’ of the whole passage (where the ideas are located)
Because of this they are a great exercise to have as they will help you with all the other questions on that passage The headings will give you an overview of the whole content and how it flows logically
Headings can also be useful when organising your own writing – look at how they are organised and how the writing in the passage unfolds
It might be a good idea to do the headings first even if they are not the first question (some students do this but MAKE SURE YOU PRACTISE THIS FIRST!).
Don’t ignore the example heading seeing where it sits in the order will help you to predict what happens next (or before). If it’s and introduction then you can see the progression and if it’s a conclusion then it tells you about how the passage gets to that point so there is something to learn from this heading
Make sure you know if you can use a heading more than once.
Finally see how many headings there are and how many you actually need

Follow this step-by-step approach:

Look at the main title and any other sub-headings in the passage and then check the first couple of sentences to get a sense of the topic (I would always do this for each passage – don’t read any more yet)

Now go to the headings and go through them with your pencil underlining the key words. Look at words that give you information on the topic but also look at the other words – conjunctions, negatives etc.., words that give you important information like causes, effects, advantages etc.. these can also tell you a lot about the heading and how you can match it

Now go back to the text and begin to read – one or two sentences should start to give you the answer – if you can’t choose between two headings then keep them both for the time being (you’ll probably find that another one fits better with another paragraph)

If you can’t find a match then leave it and move to the next – don’t spend too long on one heading you have to work fast and as you work down the paragraphs you’ll get a better sense of what goes where.

If a match looks possible but you can’t quite decide go further in the paragraph – a word like however might turn the paragraph on it’s head and mean that the answer is actually at the end!

Be careful of very specific headings these might be ‘distracters’ i.e. headings that match easily with a paragraph but don’t actually capture the essence of what is being said. Ask yourself questions about these headings and make sure that they are really a good fit..

Look for headings that are related e.g. cause/effect or problem/solution these paragraphs may be adjacent to each other.

Make sure the paragraph fits all aspects of the headings not just one or two words or part of it.

Learn about the relationship of heading to paragraph

take a short reading passage and make up your own headings for each paragraph
give these to a friend (or post them on the site and get others to see if they can match them)
take a list of headings and arrange them in a logical order before you read the passage – then look at the passage and see if you were right

Don’t forget, if there is anything you don’t understand or can’t find send a message via Contact us

Here are two exercises for you.

The first is a general exercise on approaching headings (This is from Sam McCarter’s book A Book for IELTS – Intelligence).

The second is an IELTS heading exercise – try to use the techniques above when you do it.

Don’t forget, if there is anything you don’t understand or can’t find send a message via Contact us

Now you’re done!