R32: Paraphrase spotting: the core Reading skill

If you remember only one idea from all these lessons, remember this. IELTS Reading is a paraphrase test. The questions almost never use the same words as the passage. They say the same thing in a different way. Students who match words get stuck around band 6. Students who match meaning move up.

Why this matters

Every question type depends on paraphrase. True/False/Not Given, matching headings, sentence completion, multiple choice: all of them. When you get better at spotting paraphrase, every question type gets easier at once.

Five ways IELTS paraphrases

1. Synonyms (different word, same meaning)

• rapid becomes fast
• children becomes young people
• expensive becomes costly

2. Different word form

• The economy grew becomes economic growth
• They decided becomes the decision
• It is important becomes the importance of

3. Active to passive (or the opposite)

• Scientists discovered the virus becomes The virus was discovered by scientists

4. Opposite plus negative

• The test was difficult becomes The test was not easy
• Few people agreed becomes Most people did not agree

5. General and specific

• dogs, cats and rabbits becomes pets
• Monday to Friday becomes weekdays
• a 50% rise becomes a significant increase

A worked example

Passage: "The number of students choosing to study abroad has risen sharply over the past decade, largely because online applications have made the process simpler."

Question: "International study has become more popular in recent years, mainly due to an easier application system."

Match the parts:

Almost every word is different. The meaning is identical. This is TRUE.

How to train paraphrase spotting

1. After every practice test, take five questions and find the matching passage words. Write them side by side, like the table above.
2. Build a paraphrase notebook. Add every new pair you find.
3. Practise in reverse. Take a sentence from a news article and rewrite it in your own words. This makes you think like the test writer, and it helps your Writing too.

Try it yourself

Find the passage phrase that matches each question phrase.

Passage: "Elderly residents were the group least likely to use the new online service."

1. older people = ?
2. used it the least = ?

Honest note

Paraphrase spotting improves slowly, through lots of practice. There's no shortcut. But every passage you study carefully makes the next one easier.

Your task today

Take one True/False/Not Given block you've already done. For every TRUE answer, make a table matching question words to passage words.