IELTS Reading Multiple Choice: Strategy, Traps and Practice

Multiple-choice questions give you a question or an unfinished sentence and a list of options, usually A to D. You choose the one option that best fits the passage. Some versions ask you to choose two or three answers from a longer list, such as five options A to E.

They appear in both Academic and General Training Reading. In Academic Reading, the final passage often includes one multiple-choice question about the writer's purpose or attitude.

What it tests

• Understanding specific detail: what the passage says about one point.
• Understanding the main idea of a paragraph or the whole passage.
• Recognising the writer's purpose or opinion: why a paragraph was written, or what the writer thinks.
• Telling apart options that are true but irrelevant, true but only partly correct, and fully correct.

Step-by-step strategy

1. Check how many answers you need. One letter, or two or three? Choosing too many cannot earn the mark.
2. Read the question stem only and underline its key words. Turn it into a question in your head if it is an unfinished sentence.
3. Locate the matching part of the passage. Questions normally follow passage order, so use the previous answer as your starting point.
4. Read that part closely, including the sentence before and after.
5. Predict the answer in your own words before you look at the options.
6. Test every option against the text. For each one ask: does the passage say this, and does it answer this question?
7. Eliminate, then choose. Cross out options that are contradicted, not mentioned, or true but about something else.
8. For purpose or attitude questions, look at the passage as a whole: the title, the first and last paragraphs, and the writer's evaluative words (unfortunately, rightly, questionable).

Common traps

• Word matching. An option repeats a striking word or phrase from the passage, but says something different about it.
• True but not the answer. The option is a fact from the passage, but it does not answer the question asked, or it comes from a different paragraph.
• Too broad or too narrow. For main-idea questions, one option describes a single example from the paragraph, and another is so general it could describe the whole passage.
• An extra claim. The option starts correctly but adds a cause, a comparison or a word like always that the passage does not support.
• The common belief, not the writer's view. The passage mentions what many people think, then argues against it. A decoy option states the popular belief.
• Half right in choose-two questions. Two options may come from the same sentence, but only one of them matches what the sentence actually says.

Try it: mini-example

This passage is original practice material written for Bee English.

The return of the library

Twenty years ago, many commentators predicted that public libraries would disappear once books could be downloaded. Visitor numbers did fall for a time. In the past decade, however, several cities have reported more visits than ever, even though fewer books are borrowed. Librarians explain that people now come for quiet study space, free internet access and events such as language clubs. Some councils have responded by removing shelves to create meeting rooms. This worries critics, who argue that a library without a strong book collection is simply a community centre with a different name. Yet the most successful branches seem to be those that have kept their collections while adding new services, which suggests the choice between books and space may be a false one.

1. According to the passage, why are more people visiting some libraries?
   • A. Borrowing books has become cheaper.
   • B. They use libraries for purposes other than borrowing.
   • C. Downloaded books are harder to find.
   • D. Councils have built new libraries.
2. What is the writer's main point in the final sentence?
   • A. Libraries should remove more shelves.
   • B. Critics are right to be worried.
   • C. Libraries can offer both books and new services.
   • D. Community centres are more popular than libraries.

Answers and explanations

1. B. Visitors "now come for quiet study space, free internet access and events", which are purposes other than borrowing. In fact, fewer books are borrowed.
   • A is an extra claim: cost is never mentioned.
   • C uses the word-matching trap: downloaded appears in the passage, but in the old prediction, not as a reason for visits.
   • D is not mentioned: councils changed existing libraries, not built new ones.
2. C. The most successful branches "kept their collections while adding new services", and the writer calls the choice between books and space "a false one".
   • A is the opposite of the writer's conclusion.
   • B gives the critics' view, not the writer's. The word Yet signals that the writer is moving away from it.
   • D borrows community centre from the critics' argument, but the passage makes no comparison of popularity.

Related guides

• IELTS Reading: complete guide
• True / False / Not Given
• Yes / No / Not Given
• Listening multiple choice

Sources

• IELTS, Academic Reading format and question types
• IELTS, General Training Reading format