Practise under exam conditions6 questions · 10 minutes. In the real test you have about 20 minutes per passage.
In Matching Headings questions you choose the best heading for each paragraph from a list. There are always more headings than paragraphs, so some are distractors. The question tests whether you can see the main idea of a paragraph, not just its details. That makes it one of the best question types to practise, because the skill (reading for gist) helps with everything else in the Reading test.
How to match headings#
- Read the headings first and underline the key idea in each. Notice headings that look similar, since one of them is probably a distractor.
- Read each paragraph for its main idea. The first one or two sentences often introduce it, but not always: sometimes the main point comes after a However.
- Summarise the paragraph in a few words in the margin, then find the heading that matches your summary.
- Beware of headings that match a detail. A heading can contain a word from the paragraph and still be wrong. It must describe the whole paragraph.
- Do the easy paragraphs first and cross out used headings. The remaining choices become easier.
Note: unlike most question types, the answers to matching headings do not have to follow the order of the headings list.
Practice: The Four-Day Working Week#
Read the passage, answer the 6 questions, then check your answers below. Suggested time: 10 minutes.
The Four-Day Working Week#
A For most of the twentieth century, the five-day working week was taken for granted. Then, a few years ago, a small financial company decided to let its staff work four days a week for the same pay, as an experiment. The results attracted international media attention, and what had seemed an eccentric idea quickly became the subject of serious debate among employers, economists and governments.
B The model most companies follow is sometimes described as “100-80-100”. Employees receive 100 per cent of their salary for working 80 per cent of their previous hours, on the condition that they maintain 100 per cent of their productivity. Supporters argue that this is realistic because much of the traditional working week is lost to unnecessary meetings, interruptions and fatigue.
C Large-scale trials have so far produced encouraging results. In one programme involving more than sixty organisations, the great majority chose to continue with the shorter week once the trial had ended. Employees reported lower levels of stress and better sleep, and most managers said that output had remained stable or even improved.
D Nevertheless, the idea is far harder to apply in some sectors than others. Hospitals, schools, shops and public transport need to provide a service five, six or seven days a week. For these organisations, a four-day week for each employee means hiring additional staff or reorganising complex shift patterns, both of which can be expensive.
E Critics also point out that some versions of the policy are not as attractive as they sound. Where employees are asked to fit five days of work into four longer days, many report feeling more exhausted rather than less. Others complain that the pressure to remain equally productive in less time has made their working days more intense.
F Whether the four-day week becomes standard will depend on several factors. Governments in a number of countries are funding further research, and some economists believe that advances in automation and artificial intelligence could make shorter hours affordable for many more industries. For now, however, it remains the exception rather than the rule.
Questions 1–6#
The passage has six paragraphs, A–F. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. There are more headings than paragraphs.
List of headings
- i. The difficulty for organisations that must stay open every day
- ii. A simple formula behind the idea
- iii. How an unusual experiment became a mainstream topic
- iv. Why workers accept lower pay for fewer hours
- v. Positive findings from early trials
- vi. When fewer days means longer and harder days
- vii. The history of the five-day week
- viii. What could decide how widely the idea spreads
- ix. A government ban on long working hours
- Paragraph A
- Paragraph B
- Paragraph C
- Paragraph D
- Paragraph E
- Paragraph F
Check your answers
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Answer key with explanationsShowHide
- 1iiiA describes a small company’s experiment that became “the subject of serious debate”. The first sentence mentions the twentieth century, but the paragraph is not about the history of the five-day week (vii is a distractor).
- 2iiB explains the “100-80-100” model. Note that heading iv is wrong: workers keep 100% of their pay.
- 3vC reports “encouraging results”: most organisations continued, and staff felt less stressed.
- 4iD is about hospitals, schools and shops that “need to provide a service five, six or seven days a week”.
- 5viE describes working five days in four longer days and feeling “more exhausted” and working more intensely.
- 6viiiF lists factors that will decide whether the idea “becomes standard”: research and automation.
What this practice teaches#
- Heading vii (history) is a trap for paragraph A because of the first sentence. Read the whole paragraph before choosing.
- Heading iv uses words from paragraph B (“pay”, “fewer hours”) but says the opposite. Matching words ≠ matching meaning.
- Heading ix is never mentioned; governments appear only in F, funding research.
Other IELTS Reading question types#
- True / False / Not Given
- Multiple choice
- Table and note completion
- Summary completion
- Short answer questions
See all IELTS Reading question types with tips, or take a full reading practice test to practise under exam conditions.