# IELTS Matching Headings: how to read a paragraph for its topic

Matching headings tests whether you can identify the general topic of a paragraph, not its details. Three worked paragraphs with the heading list, and the traps built into it.

## Exercises

Exercises marked (free) are open to everyone; a free account opens the rest.

- [Can the planet's coral reefs be saved?, questions 14-19](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/can-the-planets-coral-reefs-be-saved) (free)
- [The steam car, questions 14-20](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-steam-car) (free)
- [The Step Pyramid of Djoser, questions 14-20](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-step-pyramid-of-djoser) (free)
- [Attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence, questions 27-32](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/attitudes-towards-artificial-intelligence) (free)
- [The Desolenator: producing clean water, questions 14-20](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-desolenator-producing-clean-water) (free)
- [Why companies should welcome disorder, questions 27-34](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/why-companies-should-welcome-disorder) (free)
- [Why being bored is stimulating - and useful, too, questions 14-19](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/why-being-bored-is-stimulating-and-useful-too) (free)
- [What's the purpose of gaining knowledge?, questions 27-32](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/whats-the-purpose-of-gaining-knowledge) (free)
- [The Lost City, questions 14-20](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-lost-city) (free)
- [Flying tortoises, questions 1-7](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/flying-tortoises) (free)
- [UK companies need more effective boards of directors, questions 27-33](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/uk-companies-need-more-effective-boards-of-directors) (free)
- [What destroyed the civilisation of Easter Island?, questions 14-20](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/what-destroyed-the-civilisation-of-easter-island) (free)
- ['This Marvellous Invention', questions 27-32](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/this-marvellous-invention) (free)
- [EUROPEAN TRANSPORT SYSTEMS 1990-2010, questions 14-21](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/european-transport-systems-1990-2010) (free)
- [Tea and the Industrial Revolution, questions 1-7](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/tea-and-the-industrial-revolution) (free)
- [The Context, Meaning and Scope of Tourism, questions 1-4](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-context-meaning-and-scope-of-tourism) (free)
- [IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?, questions 14-17](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/is-there-anybody-out-there) (free)
- [The Development of Museums, questions 27-30](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-development-of-museums) (free)
- [AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL IN THE USA, questions 14-19](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/air-traffic-control-in-the-usa) (free)
- [THE LITTLE ICE AGE, questions 14-17](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-little-ice-age) (free)
- [The meaning and power of smell, questions 27-32](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-meaning-and-power-of-smell) (free)
- [HOW DOES THE BIOLOGICAL CLOCK TICK?, questions 27-32](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/how-does-the-biological-clock-tick) (free)
- [LAND OF THE RISING SUM, questions 1-5](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/land-of-the-rising-sum) (free)
- [MAKING EVERY DROP COUNT, questions 14-20](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/making-every-drop-count) (free)
- [Makete Integrated Rural Transport Project, questions 27-30](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/makete-integrated-rural-transport-project) (free)
- [Population movements and genetics, questions 14-19](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/population-movements-and-genetics) (free)
- [Climate Change and the Inuit, questions 27-32](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/climate-change-and-the-inuit) (free)
- [Advantages of public transport, questions 1-5](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/advantages-of-public-transport) (free)
- [Motivating Employees under Adverse Conditions, questions 14-18](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/motivating-employees-under-adverse-conditions) (free)
- [Doctoring sales, questions 1-7](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/doctoring-sales) (free)
- [How to Prevent Bullying, questions 27-30](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/how-to-prevent-bullying) (free)
- [Disappearing Delta, questions 14-17](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/disappearing-delta) (free)
- [The Impact of Wilderness Tourism, questions 1-3](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-impact-of-wilderness-tourism) (free)
- [Volcanoes - Earth-Shattering News, questions 14-17](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/volcanoes-earth-shattering-news) (free)
- [The Problem of Scarce Resources, questions 28-31](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-problem-of-scarce-resources) (free)
- [THE ROCKET - FROM EAST TO WEST, questions 1-4](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-rocket-from-east-to-west) (free)
- [THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD, questions 29-33](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-scientific-method) (free)
- [Governments and Environmental Management, questions 14-18](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/governments-and-environmental-management) (free)
- [Secrets of the Forest, questions 13-15](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/secrets-of-the-forest) (free)
- [Changing our Understanding of Health, questions 14-18](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/changing-our-understanding-of-health) (free)
- [What is a Port City?, questions 27-30](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/what-is-a-port-city) (free)
- [THE KEYLESS SOCIETY, questions 27-33](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-keyless-society) (free)
- [Tourism, questions 28-32](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/tourism) (free)
- [SPOKEN CORPUS COMES TO LIFE, questions 1-6](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/spoken-corpus-comes-to-life) (free)
- [Moles happy as homes go underground, questions 13-20](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/moles-happy-as-homes-go-underground) (free)
- [GLASS, questions 1-5](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/glass) (free)
- [Dawn of the robots, questions 14-19](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/dawn-of-the-robots) (free)
- [High Speed, High Rise, questions 14-18](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/high-speed-high-rise) (free)
- [Trees in trouble, questions 1-7](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/trees-in-trouble) (free)
- [Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?, questions 1-6](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/why-are-finlands-schools-successful) (free)
- [WANT TO BE FRIENDS?, questions 27-32](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/want-to-be-friends) (free)
- [The Hollywood Film Industry, questions 14-19](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-hollywood-film-industry) (free)
- [The Rise of Rooftop Farms, questions 1-4](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/the-rise-of-rooftop-farms) (free)

## The short answer

Matching headings gives you a list of headings and asks which one fits each paragraph of the passage. IELTS describes it as testing your ability to identify the general topic of a paragraph, which is the whole difficulty: the wrong headings usually name something the paragraph mentions in one line, while the right one covers what the paragraph is about from start to finish. There are always more headings than paragraphs, and each is worth one mark.

## Key facts

- **Paper:** Reading
- **Module:** Academic and General Training
- **Marks:** 1 per paragraph, out of 40
- **Heading list:** More headings than paragraphs
- **What it tests:** Identifying the general topic of a paragraph

Formats, timings and marking come from IELTS's own test-format pages, checked 27 September 2026.

## How it's scored

One mark per paragraph, with no penalty for a wrong choice, and each heading is used once at most. Because the list is longer than the number of paragraphs, some headings are there only to be rejected.

The distractors are built from details. A heading that names a fact appearing in the paragraph's second sentence will feel right when you are skimming, and it is wrong whenever the rest of the paragraph is about something else.

> Read the first and last sentence of the paragraph, then ask what the middle is doing for them. A paragraph's topic is usually announced at one end and confirmed at the other.

## Matching headings examples

Worked examples written for this page. Answer each one before you open the model response: memorizing a response is scored as an irrelevant answer in the real test.

**Example 1 -- the detail trap**

> Sea walls remain the most visible answer to coastal flooding, and the most expensive. A kilometre of wall can cost as much as the properties it protects, and it has to be maintained for as long as the sea is there. What has changed is the alternative. Marshland restored in front of a wall absorbs enough wave energy that the wall behind it can be built lower, and the saving is often larger than the cost of the restoration.

Prompt: Which heading fits this paragraph?

- A. A cheaper defence that works with the wall
- B. The cost of maintaining sea walls
- C. How waves damage coastal property
- D. Why marshland is disappearing
- E. The history of coastal engineering
Answer: A.

Model response: A cheaper defence that works with the wall. The paragraph opens on sea walls and their cost, then turns on "What has changed is the alternative" and spends the rest on marshland lowering that cost.

Why it scores: "The cost of maintaining sea walls" is the detail trap: it is in the paragraph, in one sentence, and it is not what the paragraph is about.

**Example 2 -- the heading that is too wide**

> Restoration is not automatic. Marsh plants establish only within a narrow band of tidal height, and a site that sits fifty centimetres too low will stay bare mud for years. Projects that succeeded almost all began with a survey of that band, and several that failed began with a planting schedule instead.

Prompt: Which heading fits this paragraph?

- A. What decides whether restoration works
- B. Coastal management around the world
- C. The benefits of restored marshland
- D. Why tides matter to shipping
- E. A cheaper defence that works with the wall
Answer: A.

Model response: What decides whether restoration works. The paragraph is about one condition, tidal height, and what happens when projects ignore it.

Why it scores: "Coastal management around the world" is the too-wide heading. It is not contradicted by anything, which is exactly why it is tempting, and it describes the article rather than this paragraph.

**Example 3 -- the paragraph that argues rather than describes**

> None of this makes engineering obsolete. Where a city sits behind a defence, the wall stays, because no marsh absorbs a storm surge on its own. The case for restoration is that it lowers the height, and therefore the cost, of what has to be built anyway. Presenting it as a replacement has cost several schemes their funding.

Prompt: Which heading fits this paragraph?

- A. Restoration as a complement, not a replacement
- B. Why sea walls are obsolete
- C. How storm surges form
- D. Funding for coastal schemes
- E. What decides whether restoration works
Answer: A.

Model response: Restoration as a complement, not a replacement. The paragraph exists to correct an overstatement, and its last sentence says what the overstatement cost.

Why it scores: "Why sea walls are obsolete" reverses the paragraph, and "Funding for coastal schemes" takes the final sentence for the topic. Headings that reverse the argument are the second most common distractor after details.

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## Common mistakes

| What costs marks | Do this instead |
| --- | --- |
| Choosing a heading because a word in it appears in the paragraph. | Shared vocabulary is how distractors are built. Ask what the paragraph is for, then look for the heading that says it. |
| Doing the paragraphs in order and stalling on a hard one. | Answer the easy paragraphs first. Every heading you use up shortens the list for the ones you find hard. |
| Reading the whole paragraph word by word. | First and last sentence, then the middle if it is still unclear. The topic is announced at the ends far more often than in the middle. |

**Know what the marks are worth** Reading and Listening are 40 marks each. The band calculator turns a mark out of 40 into a band, and four skill bands into your overall. [Open the IELTS band calculator](/ielts/band-score-calculator)

## How to practice

1. Take any article, cover its subheadings, and write your own for each section in five words. Compare them with the real ones.
2. Practice with the heading list first: read all of them before the passage, so you know what the paper considers a topic.
3. When you get one wrong, write down which kind of distractor caught you: a detail, a too-wide heading, or a reversal.

## Common questions

### Are there always more headings than paragraphs in IELTS?

Yes. The list is longer than the number of paragraphs, so some headings are never used and you cannot answer the last one by elimination alone.

### Should I read the headings or the passage first?

The headings. They tell you what counts as a topic in this passage, and reading them first stops you rereading paragraphs to work out what you are looking for.

### Do matching headings questions follow the order of the passage?

The paragraphs are given in order, but the headings are not. Work paragraph by paragraph and cross off each heading as you use it.

**Sources**
- [IELTS: Academic Reading test format (checked 27 September 2026)](https://ielts.org/take-a-test/test-types/ielts-academic-test/ielts-academic-format-reading)
- [IELTS: General Training Reading test format (checked 27 September 2026)](https://ielts.org/take-a-test/test-types/ielts-general-training-test/ielts-general-training-format-reading)

[Practice Matching headings free](https://testmigo.com/ielts)