Reading
Which paragraph contains a given piece of information. The slowest question type in the reading test, and how to speed it up.
Matching information gives you a set of statements and asks which paragraph each one is found in. The instruction usually says you may use any letter more than once, which tells you immediately that some paragraphs hold two answers and some hold none.
It is not the same as matching headings. Headings ask for the main idea of a paragraph. Matching information asks for a specific detail buried anywhere inside it, which is why scanning for the main idea fails here.
What is being tested
Four things that make this type different.
The information may be one clause in the middle of a long paragraph. A paragraph about transport funding can hold the answer about staff training.
Unlike most reading question types, these do not follow the order of the passage. Position gives you no help at all.
One paragraph may contain two of the answers, and several paragraphs may contain none. Do not assume one each.
The statement will not use the words of the passage. Matching on a shared word is how the wrong paragraph gets chosen.
Method
Six steps, and the order is the whole technique.
If the passage has other question types, answer those first. They walk you through the passage in order and you will already know roughly where things are.
Note the concrete, findable thing in each one: a number, a name, a comparison, an example. That is what you are hunting for, not the whole sentence.
Statements containing a date, a proper noun or a figure are the fastest to find. Do those first and cross off the paragraphs as you use them.
You are looking for one idea in one clause. Reading each paragraph properly costs you the reading test.
Even though letters can repeat, tracking where each answer came from stops you rechecking the same paragraph five times.
Statements with no concrete anchor are the slowest. Once the others are placed, the remaining paragraphs are a much smaller field to search.
No. They can appear anywhere in the passage in any order, which is what makes this the slowest question type.
Yes, when the instruction says you may use any letter more than once. Some paragraphs also contain no answer at all.
Headings ask for the main idea of each paragraph. Matching information asks where a specific detail appears, which may be a single clause.
No. Read the statements, then scan for each one. Reading the passage in full costs time you do not have.
Leave it, place the others, then look again. The paragraphs you have already used narrow the search considerably.
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