IELTS General Reading Short Answer Questions

Table of Contents

1. IELTS General Reading Short Answer Questions
2. IELTS General Reading Short Answer Questions - Strategies & tips to solve
3. Skills required to solve short answer questions
4. Common challenges faced while answering short answer questions
5. Short Answer Questions Practice Exercise 1
6. Answers for Practice Exercise
7. Conclusion
   

IELTS General Reading Short Answer Questions is designed to test your scanning skills. In this task, you will be given a list of questions which are taken from the reading passages. You are required to answer those questions with the help of reading passages. Make sure you pick the words from the passages to answer the questions. Knowing several tips can speed up your answering process.  

Short answer questions ask you a list of questions which are derived from the reading passages. You need to pick appropriate words from the passages as an answer to the questions. Try to understand what type of questions listed out. It will navigate you through the reading passages. 

Short answer question is both the easiest and trickiest IELTS general reading question type. In this blog, you will get 12 IELTS general reading short answer questions tips which will boost up your performance in the IELTS general reading test. As an added benefit, we also provided 3 skill building exercises to practice the questions. 

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IELTS General Reading Short Answer Questions - Strategies & tips to solve

Below, you will find 12 IELTS general reading short answer questions tips and strategies which are preferred by hundreds of IELTS students. Read these tips carefully to crack the short answer questions better. 

• Instructions need to be read carefully. If you exceed the given word limit, then you will lose the mark. 
• Read the question and understand what type of information is asked. Consider the Wh-words such as What, Where, Which and When or a number (How much or How many). It will navigate while you are reading the passages. 
• Highlight the keywords and locate the part in the passage with the help of keywords, where the required information is present. 
• Look for the details which are specifically asked in the question. For instance, if the first question begins with ‘What’, it will denote the name of a thing, place, process, phenomenon, etc. Also, if it begins with ‘When’, it indicates time. 
• The questions will be in the same order as it is in the passage. It is referred to as “Progressive order of questions”. 
• The words must be picked up from the passages while answering the questions. 
• Do not write your own answers to the given questions. 
• Skim the passages to grasp the main ideas. It can help you locate where the information is present in the passage. 
• Identify the focus of the question. It helps you to understand which type of information is required. 
• Don’t misspell the words when you write the answers in your answer sheet. 
• Scan the passages to identify the keywords. It speeds up the answering process.
• It is possible to ask questions which contain synonyms of the words in the passage. Having a good repertoire of synonyms will be helpful. 

Help yourself with these IELTS general reading short answer questions tips and strategies to answer the questions within a minimum amount of time. 

Also read: IELTS reading tips

Skills required to solve short answer questions

• Skimming to get the main ideas of the passages.
• Scan the passages to find the specific facts or information.
• Able to identify the keywords.
• Able to paraphrase the question statement to understand it precisely. 

Common challenges faced while answering short answer questions

• You might write your own choice of words as an answer to the questions that will lose your mark. You must pick the words from the passages. 
• You could exceed the given word lime when answering the question.
• You might misspell the words while copying from the passages. 

Short Answer Questions Practice Exercise 1

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

The conquest of malaria in Italy Reading Passage

Malaria is an illness which is caused by Plasmodium parasites. It transmits to humans by the biting of mosquitoes. This horrible disease affected the life of those who have existed on the peninsula for thousands of years. In 1861, Giuseppe Garibaldi’s wife died of malaria. Italy was officially declared malaria-free by 1962. Frank Snowden considered this story as a peculiar historical event. Snowden reveals the areas which historians have not uncovered. 

Usually everyone is aware that malaria is caused by mosquitoes. Medical practitioners studied malaria for a long time. Ancient texts laid out various aspects of malaria. Early man considered that malaria is caused by supernatural powers such as evil spirits, black magic of sorcerers and deities who are angered. Most experts in medicine believe that malaria is not caused by unclean air (miasma) . In 1850, Josiah Clark Nott published an essay called “Yellow Fever Contrasted with Bilious Fever”. In that essay, he dismissed the miasma theory and claimed that malaria is infected by microscopic insects

Some experts connect swamps, water and malaria but they don’t extend their mind to the insects. These theories only helped a little to tackle the disease. It became so worse when 11 million Italians were “permanently at risk”. Land workers life expectancy is found to be 22.5 years in malarial zones. Though some of them escaped death, they have weakened bodies and suffered from painful enlargement of the spleen. This disease affects the economy immensely. Southern Italians were blamed on epidemics as it was believed that malaria was hereditary. These loose theories were diminished after it was found that mosquitoes are the real cause of malaria. 

Questions 1-7

Answer the questions below.

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

1. Which parasite causes Malaria ?
2. When was Italy officially declared as malaria-free ?
3. Who has studied malaria for a long time ?
4. Who published an essay called “Yellow Fever Contrasted with Bilious Fever” ?
5. What was the life expectancy of land workers in malarial zones ?
6. Which is the real cause of malaria ?

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. 

The conquest of malaria in Italy 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.   Plasmodium/ Plasmodium parasites

Explanation: Malaria is an illness which is caused by Plasmodium parasites.

2.   1962

Explanation: Italy was officially declared malaria-free by 1962. 

3.   Medical Practitioners

Explanation: Medical practitioners studied malaria for a long time. 

4.   Josiah Clark Nott

Explanation:  In 1850, Josiah Clark Nott published an essay called “Yellow Fever Contrasted with Bilious Fever”. 

5.   Land workers

Explanation: Land workers life expectancy is found to be 22.5 years in malarial zones.

6.   Mosquitoes

Explanation: These loose theories were diminished after it was found that mosquitoes are the real cause of malaria. 

Also check IELTS general reading note completion

Conclusion

IELTS general reading short answer questions could become easier to crack if you implement the tips and strategies that you have read now. Hopefully, the tips and skill-building exercises given in this blog will be helpful for your IELTS general reading short answer question preparation. Practice the given mock tests several times to improve your skimming, scanning, understanding, paraphrasing and answering skills.