Effective Strategies for the IELTS Reading ‘Choosing a Title’ Question

1. Overview of Choosing a Title Task:

Choosing a title is a type of task that requires candidates to select a title for an entire passage in the IELTS Reading test. To accomplish this, test-takers need to have the ability to read and grasp the main idea of the entire passage:

For example:

2. Some common issues candidates encounter & Methods to resolve when working on the ‘Choosing a Title’ type of task

When tackling the IELTS Reading task of ‘Choosing a Title,’ candidates often face challenges such as:

• Issue 1: Comprehending the text but failing to summarize the main idea, leading to difficulty in selecting the correct answer.

Reason: Candidates typically focus on skimming/scanning keywords or reading each individual sentence separately without recognizing the connection between sentences. Consequently, they fail to grasp the main idea of the entire Reading passage.

Solution: Implement the ‘Read connection’ step in Linearthinking to understand the main content of each paragraph as well as the relationships between paragraphs. This will help in comprehending the overall content of the entire passage.

• Issue 2: Spending excessive time on this type of task.

Reason: Many candidates lack a strategic approach to IELTS Reading tasks and simply tackle them in a linear top-down order.

Solution: To efficiently complete the ‘Choose a Title’ question, candidates should leave it for last because it asks for the main idea of the entire passage. Completing other question types first helps candidates gain a clearer understanding of the reading material, ultimately saving time for the ‘Choose a Title’ task.

3. How to Approach the Choosing a Title IELTS Reading Task

To efficiently complete the “Choosing a Title” task in the IELTS exam, the Essay king blog suggests a simple and effective strategy with four steps:

Step 1: Carefully read all the given options, underlining and circling key keywords. Note that:

• Each passage has a main keyword representing the entire topic.
• Answers may contain keywords, but they might be rearranged or used differently in the sentence.
• The appearance of words indicating the degree of something can alter the meaning of the keyword.

Step 2: Identify the main ideas of each small passage within the text. To do this, read the first and last sentences of each paragraph to determine the main idea of that passage.

Step 3: Connect the main ideas from the different passages into a coherent paragraph with questions like:

• What: What message does the author want to convey?
• Why: What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
• How: How does the author’s tone affect the information’s delivery?

Step 4: Select the most appropriate answer that aligns with the passage’s theme. The correct answer should:

• Not be too broad in comparison to the overall content of the passage.
• Not be too narrow compared to the passage’s content.
• Be directly related to the passage’s content.

4. Tips for Choosing a Title

• It is usually the last question for the passage
• The information for all options can usually be found in the passage
• This question is only worth 1 point so don’t spend too long on it
• Choose the option which relates to the aim of the whole passage rather than part of the passage
• This question tests your skill of understanding the difference between aims and details
• Your answer should be a letter

Remember that the key to success in the ‘Choosing a Title’ question is a deep understanding of the passage and the ability to identify its main theme accurately. With practice and the strategies outlined above, you’ll be better equipped to tackle this question type with confidence and improve your overall IELTS Reading score.