Summary Completion Question in IELTS reading. You should skim read the passage and then spend time reading through the summary to predict answers and prepare paraphrases.

IELTS Reading Summary Completion Questions

Below you will find some useful tips and techniques for tackling Summary Completion questions in IELTS Reading. You’ll also find a great practice lesson to test out your skills.

IELTS Reading Summary Completion Tips

This type of question is similar to sentence completion questions that are very common in IELTS Reading. However, the difference is that sentence completion questions give you a list of separate sentences relating to different parts of the passage with missing words. But for Summary Completion questions, you are given a short paragraph (not separate sentences) with missing words.

There are two kinds of summary completion questions in IELTS Reading.

1. Type 1: With a Word List
   • This means you are given a summary paragraph with missing words and below that summary is a box with a collection of words. Each word is represented by a letter.
   • You will use the given words in the box to fill in the gaps.
   • There might be more words that you need in the box.
   • Your answer will be a letter, not a word.
   • For this practice summary reading, see the practice reading lesson below.
2. Type 2: Without a Word List
   • This means you are given a summary paragraph with missing words and you must find the missing words in the passage. The word should be written precisely as it is shown in the passage.
   • You will be given instructions about how many words can be used to fill the gaps. Pay close attention and don’t go over the word limit.
   • There is a link to a reading exercise for Type 2 at the bottom of the page.

Below you will find a practice reading summary completion lesson Type 1.

How to Tackle Summary Completion Questions

1. The answers will almost always come in order. But do be ready for the occasional time when they don’t.
2. Start with the first gap and then progress step by step to the other gaps.
3. Although this is a paragraph, you can tackle each sentence separately.
4. Pay attention to keywords in the sentence you are tackling.
   • One type of keyword is a name or technical word that will be the same in the question and the passage.
   • Another type of keyword is one that will most likely be paraphrased. Not all paraphrases mean the use of synonyms. Sometimes it just means the meaning is rewritten in a different way and you can’t match it word for word.
5. If you are asked for choose a word from a list, your answer will be a letter (not a word). Your answer would be marked wrong if you wrote the word.
6. If you are asked for take the word from the passage, you must spell it correctly or your answer will be marked wrong.

IELTS Reading Summary Completion Practice Lesson

Reading Passage: Fermented Foods

Fermentation is a process in which an agent [typically bacteria and yeast] cause an organic substance to break down into simpler substances; especially, the anaerobic [no oxygen] breakdown of sugar into alcohol, i.e. the making of beer or wine. Fermentation in food processing is the conversion of carbohydrates (plant foods) to alcohols and carbon dioxide, or organic acids, using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic (no oxygen) conditions. Fermentation usually implies that the action of microorganisms is desirable, and the process is used to produce alcoholic beverages such as wine, beer, and cider. Fermentation is also employed in the leavening of bread, and for preservation techniques to create lactic acid in sour foods such as sauerkraut, dry sausages, kimchi and yogurt, or vinegar (acetic acid) for use in pickling foods.

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Elie Metchnikoff was one of the first scientists to recognize the benefits of eating fermented foods. His research in the early 1900’s focused on the Bulgarians. He believed the daily ingestion of yogurt was a major contribution to their superior health and longevity.

Bulgarians perfected the art of detoxifying and preserving milk (removing the lactose and predigesting the proteins) and transforming it into yogurt and cheese. For centuries, Europeans used wine as a source of clean, durable water. The Caucasians used Kefir grains for the same purpose: detoxify milk products to make Kefir. A range of vegetables were also fermented to preserve them from spoilage in many countries by individual households, such as kimchi in Korea and sauerkraut in Germany, both being predominantly made from cabbage. However, the fermentation process was too lengthy and not uniform so for wide scale food production manufacturers turned to pickling instead. Most of the pickled products found on our supermarket shelves today were at one time a fermented product, including kimchi, sauerkraut, catsup (Chinese  word for pickled fish brine) and English pickles made from either vegetables or fruit.

Questions 1-6

Complete the summary below by selecting the right word from the list (A-J) below. Write the correct letter for your answer.

 International Uses for Fermentation

At the start of the 20^th century, Dr. Elie Metchnikoff put forward his belief that the  1 ……………… and good health of Bulgarians could be attributed to eating fermented food each day. By  2……………. and preserving milk, they were able to convert it into  3……………… and  4…………………. In other parts of Europe, fermented  5……………… was consumed as a replacement for clean water. People used to ferment  6……………….. which gave them a longer lifespan but nowadays mass production favours pickling.

ANSWERS

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Answers

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RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

• SUMMARY COMPLETION: TYPE 2 PRACTICE
• ALL READING PRACTICE LESSONS & TIPS

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