Answer the question that is actually asked
A short-answer question does not require a complete sentence. It requires a precise piece of information from the passage, within the stated word limit. First identify the question word: who asks for a person or group, where asks for a location, and what may ask for an object, a material or an action. Then use the rest of the question to narrow the search.
Find the evidence before deciding how many words to copy. A phrase may contain both essential information and unnecessary surrounding words. If the question already supplies “the”, do not automatically include another article. Equally, do not remove a word that distinguishes the answer from a similar object. “Box” may be too vague when the passage contrasts a collection box with a drying box.
The six questions below follow the order of the passage. Treat this as a useful search route, not a reason to stop checking meaning. A sentence can contain a date, a location and an object together. The answer is whichever one matches the question, not whichever one you recognise first. Avoid paraphrasing when the instructions say to use words from the text.
Original passage: Saving the town’s textile samples
A. When the last weaving workshop in Millford closed, its owner offered a collection of fabric samples to the town museum. Each sample showed a pattern once made in the workshop. Many were still attached to paper cards bearing order numbers. The museum accepted the collection because it documented everyday production that was poorly represented in its existing displays.
B. Staff first placed the samples on cotton sheets in a clean workroom. They used soft brushes to remove loose dust, avoiding water because several dyes had not been tested for stability. Fragile cards were supported on thin boards before anyone attempted to read the handwritten notes. The cleaning process was deliberately slow, as the aim was to preserve information rather than make every piece look new.
C. Volunteers photographed each card beside a ruler so the size of the sample could be recovered from the image. A textile specialist then examined the fabrics and identified several weaving techniques. When a pattern could not be identified confidently, it received a temporary code instead of a guessed name. The specialist explained that leaving uncertainty visible was more useful than adding an impressive but unreliable description.
D. For storage, the samples were placed in shallow drawers, with plain tissue separating overlapping pieces. Copies of the photographs were made available in the reading room. Visitors could search by pattern or order number, but the originals were brought out only for supervised appointments. Before the first exhibition, staff invited former workers to discuss the samples; their recorded comments added details about how particular fabrics had been produced.
Original fictional learning text. The passage and questions were created for this lesson, not copied from an IELTS test.
Six direct questions
Answer using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each question. You do not need to write complete sentences.
Answers and the evidence behind them
Compare your reason as well as your answer. Each explanation identifies the decisive detail and the tempting mistake.
1. Reveal answer and explanation
order numbers. Paragraph A says the cards bore order numbers. The question asks which numbers were present, not how many samples existed. Copy the complete two-word phrase so the kind of number is clear.
2. Reveal answer and explanation
soft brushes. Paragraph B identifies the tools used to remove dust. Cotton sheets are the surface supporting the samples; water is explicitly avoided. Both words in “soft brushes” describe the stated tools.
3. Reveal answer and explanation
ruler. Paragraph C places a ruler beside each card in the photograph. It supplies the scale information. The card carries notes, while the ruler helps a viewer recover size from the image.
4. Reveal answer and explanation
temporary code. Unidentified patterns receive a temporary code in paragraph C. The text contrasts this with a guessed name. That contrast matters: do not supply the rejected approach as the answer.
5. Reveal answer and explanation
shallow drawers. Paragraph D names the storage place. Plain tissue separates pieces inside storage, while the reading room is where photographs are available to visitors. Neither is the requested storage container.
6. Reveal answer and explanation
former workers. The final sentence identifies the invited group. Volunteers help with photographs and a textile specialist examines techniques earlier in the passage; they are different people with different tasks.
Trim without losing the answer
Consider this overlong response to Question 3: “beside a ruler”. The answer contains three words and includes a preposition that does not answer “What object?” Trimming it to “ruler” keeps all the required meaning. Now compare Question 4: trimming “temporary code” to “temporary” loses the object itself. Shortening is useful only when the result remains a complete answer to the question.
Make an error log with two columns: finding the evidence and recording the answer. If you found “shallow drawers” but wrote “in shallow drawers”, the search worked and the recording failed. If you wrote “reading room”, the answer-entry length may be fine but you confused photograph access with original storage. These mistakes need different practice.
For a diagnostic extension, answer “Why was water avoided?” in your own words without a limit: the dye stability had not been tested. This is a comprehension check, not one of the six scored-style items, and it reminds you that understanding comes before extracting a phrase. Continue with sentence-completion practice for grammar around a gap, or table completion for category-based extraction.
Question-format reference: official IELTS Academic Reading guidance, checked 15 October 2026. All teaching examples and practice material on this page are original.