IELTS General Reading Note Completion

Table of Contents

1. IELTS General Reading Note Completion
2. IELTS General Reading Note Completion - Strategies & Tips to Solve
3. Skills required to solve note completion
4. Common challenges faced while answering note completion
5. Note Completion Practice Exercise 1
6. Answers for practice exercise
7. Conclusion
   

IELTS general reading note completion is considered as a complex question type to answer. In this task, you will be given both reading passages and a list of notes with blanks. You are required to fill in the blanks by reading the passages. You should pick the words from the passages to answer the questions. 

Note completion consists of a set of incomplete notes which are taken from the reading passages. You are required to complete the notes by choosing the appropriate words from the passages or from the list of options. Remember, hyphenated words will be counted as a single word. It will mostly deal with the descriptive passages. 

Note completion is regarded as one of the crucial IELTS general reading question types. You will be able to get all the information required for answering IELTS general reading note completion questions by reading this article. You can attain your desired IELTS general reading score. 

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IELTS General Reading Note Completion - Strategies & Tips to Solve

You can get 13 IELTS general reading note completion tips and strategies to crack the questions effectively. IELTS trainers recommended these tips for the benefit of IELTS students.  

1. In the note completion question type, you will be given some important points or information from the given passage that are presented in the form of notes.
2. You are asked to fill the blanks in the notes by choosing the words from the passages.
3. Note completion question type has similarities to the table and flowchart completion question type. So, the approach to finding the answers will be the same.
4. The incomplete notes you see at the bottom of the paragraph are usually in order. But, sometimes, it may not be in sequence with the intention of making the task more difficult.
5. Read the instructions properly to avoid the primary mistakes. 
6. You must not exceed the word limit while answering the questions. 
7. Take note of the headings and subheadings, it helps you to navigate through the passages. 
8. Read the passage and question precisely to understand the in-depth meaning which helps you to fill in the answers quickly. 
9. Identify the keywords in the incomplete notes to spot the right portion in the passage. 
10. Remember, you should not change the form of the word. It must be the same as in the passage. 
11. Check your answer whether it is grammatically correct or not. You will lose your marks if your answer is grammatically wrong. 
12. Most likely, you will not find exact words in the passages, which you have found in the question notes. So, think of possible synonyms of the keywords in the passages and look for the related portion in the passage. 
13. Try to predict the word which could complete the sentence. 

These IELTS general reading notes completion tips and strategies could help you to sharpen your answering skill. So, you can answer the note completion questions with a minimum effort. 

Also read: IELTS reading tips

Skills required to solve note completion

• You must be attentive while reading the instructions. 
• You need to have clarity while reading the questions. It will prevent misunderstanding. 
• Time management skills are needed to complete the task on time. 
• Able to identify the appropriate portion of the passage where you can find the answers.

Common challenges faced while answering note completion

• You might skip the given instructions. 
• Being hurried while answering the questions. 
• You may not be able to identify the proper keywords. 
• You might have changed the word form. 
• You may not have a knowledge of synonyms. 

Note Completion Practice Exercise 1

Answer Questions 1-7 which are based on the reading passage below.

A spark, a flint: How fire leapt to life Reading Passage

Early man thought fire as a divine gift, which randomly comes in the form of lightning, burning lava or forest fire. The earliest people most likely stored fire by maintaining slow burning logs or by keeping charcoal in pots because they cannot be able to make flame for themselves. 

It is still a mystery how men learnt to produce flame by themselves. Probably, they have found fire when making tool operations with wood or stone. Studies based on primitive societies suggest that the early man made fire through friction. The method of fire making of European peasants is inserting a wooden drill in a round hole and rotating it fastly between their palms. To speed up the process, they wrapped a cord around the drill and pulled on each end. The Ancient Greeks made a fire with the help of lenses or concave mirrors by concentrating sun rays and the Chinese and Mexican Aztecs used burning glasses. 

In Palaeolithic times, when several Stone Age tool-makers found that chipping flints produced sparks, percussion methods of fire-lighting emerged. The discovery of iron made this technique more efficient. Eskimos produced a slow-burning spark by striking the quartz against iron pyrites, which contains sulphur, in Arctic North America. The Chinese produced fire by striking porcelain against bamboo. Europe’s main method of fire-lighting is combining the steel, flint and tinder till the mid 19th Century. 

When German alchemists transmute the silver into gold, they discovered phosphorus which revolutionised the fire-lighting. The combustible quality of phosphorus made the 17th century chemists manufactured fire-lighting devices, which burns easily. Phosphorus costs equivalent to several hundred pounds per ounce, so the first matches were really costly. 

In 1781, a group of French chemists came up with Ethereal match or Phosphoric candle, which is in the form of a sealed glass tube consisting of a twist of paper tipped with phosphorus. After this, the exploration of practical matches began. If the tube brakes,then the air comes in and the self-combustion of phosphorus will occur.  In America, Instantaneous light boxes have been used which are even more hazardous devices. It is a bottle containing sulphuric acid into which splints treated with chemicals were dipped. 

The first matches have a resemblance to the matches which we are using today, were made by an English pharmacist named John Walker who borrowed the formula from the Congreve, in 1827. Congreves were coated with sulphur and tipped with potassium chlorate, which costs about shilling a box. Users need to draw them quickly with folded glass paper to light them. Samuel Jones copied this model and marketed it as a product named Lucifer, as Walker did not patent his invention. Simultaneously, Charles Sauria, a French chemistry student substituted white phosphorus in the place of potassium chlorate in the Walker formula. As the white phosphorus is a deadly poison, it was banned because the matchmakers are exposed to fumes which causes necrosis, a disease that eats away jaw bones. And, it was eventually banned. 

Questions 1- 7

Complete the notes below.

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Early man and fire

• Early man conceived fire as a 1_______
• The earliest people most probably stored fire by carrying a 2_____ in pots
• Studies based on primitive societies suggest that the early man made fire through 3_____
• The Ancient Greeks made a fire with the help of lenses or 4_____ by concentrating sun rays 
• Chinese used 5_____ glasses to produce a fire
• In 6______ times, when several 7______ Age tool-makers found that chipping flints produced sparks, percussion methods of fire-lighting emerged. 

Check answer for this exercise

Answers for Practice Exercise

Find the answers with explanations given below for the above practice exercise and check your answers. 

A spark, a flint: How fire leapt to life Reading Answers

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1.   Divine gift

Explanation: Early man thought fire as a divine gift, which randomly comes in the form of lightning, burning lava or forest fire.

2.   Charcoal

Explanation: The earliest people most likely stored fire by maintaining slow burning logs or by keeping charcoal in pots because they cannot be able to make flame for themselves. 

3.   Friction

Explanation: Studies based on primitive societies suggest that the early man made fire through friction.

4.   Concave mirrors

Explanation: The Ancient Greeks made a fire with the help of lenses or concave mirrors by concentrating sun rays and the Chinese and Mexican Aztecs used burning glasses. 

5.   Burning

Explanation: The Ancient Greeks made a fire with the help of lenses or concave mirrors by concentrating sun rays and the Chinese and Mexican Aztecs used burning glasses. 

6.   Palaeolithic

Explanation: In Palaeolithic times, when several Stone Age tool-makers found that chipping flints produced sparks, percussion methods of fire-lighting emerged.

7.   Stone Age

Explanation: In Palaeolithic times, when several Stone Age tool-makers found that chipping flints produced sparks, percussion methods of fire-lighting emerged.

Also check IELTS general reading flow chart completion

Conclusion

Boost your IELTS exam preparation with the information and resources provided in this article. Your answering skills and reading skills will be improved with the help of IELTS general reading note completion tips and skill building exercises. Practice multiple mock tests to score high band score in the final IELTS exam.