Choosing a title for IELTS reading is quite a common question type. This is a practise lesson for choosing headings in IELTS. You will be given a list of possible titles for the whole passage you must choose the one that you think most appropriate.
IELTS READING CHOOSING A TITLE QUESTION
This reading question is usually the last question you might get in a reading passage. It would come after all the other questions. Why?
The answer is because this question requires you to have insight into the whole passage, not just locate answers in part of the passage. So, by giving this question as the last question, you will have had time already to look at the passage and know the contents of the passage. So, it is given last as a way to help you.
Choosing a Title: Reading Instructions
Here is an example of what that question would look like in your test:
You will be given a list of possible titles for the passage. You need to select the best one.
IELTS Reading Choosing a Title Question – Techniques
Read this list of tips to that you approach this type of question with the right techniques.
- Never try this type of question first.
- You need a depth of understanding of the whole passage to get the answer right so tackle it last.
- Read though the possible titles and pay attention to similarities and differences.
- Look at specific words that stand out.
- For example, is the title referring to a city or an entire continent. Look at each word individually.
- Don’t skim read the possible titles. Analyse them carefully.
- Nearly all possible titles will seem appropriate at first because they will all relate to aspects of the passage.
- This question is NOT about matching an answer option to part of the passage or specific information found in the passage.
- This is about choosing a title that reflects the aims of the whole passage.
- This doesn’t mean that the title matches the start, middle and end – but that it is about the aims of the whole passage.
- You need to think carefully about what the role of a paragraph is to the whole passage.
- Always look at the introduction sentence and concluding sentence of paragraphs to see if there is a similar message or whether the aim of the paragraph is different to the opening line.
- Your answer must be a letter, not the words. If you write the words, your answer will be marked wrong.
Choosing a Title Reading Passage
Note: to make this more realistic to an IELTS reading given in your test, I’ve added some Matching Paragraph Information Questions to this lesson.
A Babies learn to see over a period of time, much like they learn to walk and talk. They are not born with all the visual abilities they need in life. The ability to focus their eyes, move them accurately, and use them together as a team must be learned. Also, they need to learn how to use the visual information the eyes send to their brain in order to understand the world around them and interact with it appropriately.
B From birth, babies begin exploring the wonders of the world with their eyes. Even before they learn to reach and grab with their hands or crawl and sit-up, their eyes are providing information and stimulation important for their development. Healthy eyes and good vision play a critical role in how infants learn to see. This is why it is important that parents take this into consideration when preparing a new born baby’s room. Providing interesting visual stimulus is crucial for a baby’s visual development. This can include the use of colours, mobile toys and images.
C Babies as young as two to three months have shown that they have some form of depth perception. One method researchers have used to study babies and depth perception is through using a “visual cliff”. A visual cliff consists of a glass platform that is raised a few feet off the floor. One half of the cliff has a shallow side, where there is a checkerboard pattern directly underneath glass. The “deep end” of the cliff shows the pattern several feet below, creating the impression of a drop-off. Researchers found that infants as young as two months showed changed in heart rate when lowered face down over the shallow and deep ends of the visual cliff. Specifically, the infants’ heart rates decreased when they were lowered over the deep end, and were changed when over the shallow end. Note that this experiment does not show that infants this young are afraid of the deep side. Usually, a decrease in heart rate indicates interest, while fear leads to an increase in heart rate. The experimental differences in heart rate indicate the infants could perceive a difference between the deep and shallow ends of the visual cliff.
Questions 1- 4
Which paragraph contains the following information. Choose the right letter from the paragraphs above (A-C). Letters might be used more than once.
- Babies should have a room containing a lot of interesting things to look at.
- Infants have different physical responses to downward visual distances.
- Having moving visual stimulus and a range of hues is good for a baby’s vision development.
- Babies are not born with the visual ability of an adult.
Question 5
Which is the best title for the reading passage above? Choose the best title from the options below (A-D).
- A The importance of vision in babies
- B The role of vision to human development
- C The development of perception in babies
- D Research into visual cliffs
VOCABULARY AND ANSWER
Click below:
Vocabulary- grab (vb) = clutch / grasp / seize
- crawl = move on their hands and knees
- depth perception = able to see downward
- shallow = thin / not deep
- pattern = design
- infant = child / pre-school toddler
- B
- C
- B
- A
- C
.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
- CHOOSING A TITLE: More Practice
- Matching Paragraph Information Reading
- ALL READING PRACTICE LESSONS & TIPS
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Hi Liz,
Thank you for your great effort, why the answer for Question 5 is C instead of A?
Regards,
Abby
Option C is about the development of perception and this passage does take us through details of this development to then focus on one type of perception (depth perception). The aim of the third, main paragraph is actually about testing this development. But title option A is about the importance of vision so for this title to be correct, it would need to include the dangers of not developing certain types of vision and why these types of vision are critical. With choosing a title, options can be similar so it is particularly essential to pay attention to the differences in each word given in the title – think about what the difference is between “the development of” and “the importance of”. It is common for people to develop a narrow focus with these types of questions and get stuck on comparing “vision” and “perception” – when people do this, they ignore the critical words which were “development” or “importance”.
I almost chose vision in babies but on looking closely realized that, it centered more on depth perception about babies, which also ruled out depth perception of humans. Thanks Liz.
Well done 🙂
I got it right at first pick, i’m so happy, Thank you Liz.
Good 🙂
Thanks Liz, I finally got a title question right
Well done 🙂
Hi
The correct answer is C
I got the answer right, but spent 3 mins on this. Is 3mins too long for a single point question?
In the real test, you must decide how to use your time. Each answer is worth one point. You decide when to move on to the next question. Choosing a title usually comes as the last question. This means you will have already scanned the passage a few times to find answers to other questions. So, in that case, you might choose the title quicker. But just remember to keep your eye on the clock in the real test.
Hi,
The title should be : The development of visions in babies .
Any suggestion ?
Thanks
The development of vision must be about different kinds of vision. This article gives a background with an aim to focus on depth perception. Always look at the aim of the article.
Mam ,thank you very much.I got full score.God bless you
I got it right.
Why the answer is B ????? I think it should be C because the whole passage is just about babies vision ; whereas option B is a general title for depth perception…..
Can u plzzzzz clarify ??????? Thanks
The title is not about which words are used most. It is about the aims of the passage. The information about general vision is a background to the main aim of the paragraph which is depth perception.
Many Thanks Liz
Hi Liz,
First two, paragraphs of the passage talk about how babies develop the abilities to understand their vision. Last paragraph adds value to the argument they are trying to make. So the title should be that one which satisfies the whole text right? option B is the only the subset of whole idea right ? Can you please explain
The title is about the aims of the passage. It’s about recognising background information and the aims.
I love the passage! It is very interesting! 🙂
I am improving my reading skills now ..thanks a lot…
Liz, you’re God-sent. That’s all I have to say. Oh, by the way, I chose ‘B’ as the answer by a process of elimination. Skimmed through the passage, absorbed 70-80% of what it was all about and voila, the answer was literally screaming at me!
Can’t thank you enough. My GT exam will come up in April 29, 2017. Practicing these exercises on your blog and Youtube is really good for building confidence.
1,000,000 likes for you.
I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for you 🙂
First time i gave the right answer
Well done!
I hit the no B because A is mentioned human. There is no word about human. vision of babies not much discussed and visual cliffs merely an experiment.
You are not matching words, you are matching meaning. This entire article is about human babies, not animal babies. Try to match meaning and also the general aim of the entire article. What is the article leading to? What part of background and what part is the main point?
Can we use masses as a synonymous of people
It depends on the topic. Synonyms depend on context.
THANK YOU VERY NICE EXAMPLE TO FIND THE TITLE ..
I READ THE QUESTIONS FIRST THEN I SKIMMED THE WHOLE PASSAGE QUICKLY , THEN I FOUND THE RIGHT ANSWER ‘B’
One of the techniques I obtained by reading your blog is that we need to check first paragraph and last paragraph. If the information is repeated then the answer is definitely that piece of information. About this test, although I selected B as the answer, solely because 60% of the article was focusing on depth perception. So what is the technique to identify B as the answer but not A.
I have the following ambiguity as well. Depth perception is part of perception. 100% of the article is focusing on perception, 60% on depth, why A isn’t the best answer for this? Thanks,
Sanone
Any tip I give for reading is for specific question types. Checking the first and last paragraph will not help you with choosing a title because it is based on the whole passage. This reading exercise is not a practice test. You need to buy the IELTS Cambridge test books for that. Choosing a title is about choosing that is most appropriate for the aim of the passage not just repeated information. In this passage, information about perception in general is only background reading towards the real goal of depth perception in babies and experiments on that.
Please don’t forget that while I am happy to answer odd messages and questions, I do not provide free personal training in IELTS. Please try to limit your questions so I can help other students as well.
Thanks
Liz
depth perception is the visual ability to perceive the world in 3d dimension and the distance of an object is what the first paragraph shows so obviously answer is B but you know i too answered C.
Hi Liz
Thank you very much for your incredible and great effort……
Why the answer is not c
Hi Liz,
why not A ? in the first part of the passage, it talks about development of perception but the depth of perception isnt mentioned until the last paragraph
thank you,
Rasha.
This is about the aim of the passage not about matching words in paragraphs. The whole aim is about the development of depth perception and the testing of it. The first paragraphs lead into the testing of depth perception.
All the best
Liz