IELTS Reading Matching Information
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Matching information questions require you to identify the paragraph in an IELTS reading text that contains a particular piece of information.
The questions are NOT in the same order as the text.
Strategy
The questions are likely to be paraphrased from the text. It is unlikely that you will find key words. You will need a different strategy for this type of question.
For matching information questions a better strategy is to skim read the text.
Step 1: Read the Title and Subtitle
The first step is to read the title of the article and any strapline (sub-title). This will give you some information about the topic of the text.
Step 2: Skim the First Paragraph
Skim reading is a strategy we can use to read a text quickly. In your first language you probably do this quite naturally. Essentially, we group words together as we read into thought units or chunks. The more we are able to do this, the faster we are able to read.
With some practice you can become just as skillful at this in English.
Try skim reading the following paragraph. What thought units or chunks are there in the text?
Skimming — getting the essence from reading material without reading all the words — boils down to knowing what parts to read and what parts to pass by. Following are some tips and techniques for recognizing what is important to read in the act of skimming.
(from www.dummies.com)
(Try reading the parts between the slashes quickly)
Skimming / getting the essence from reading material / without reading all the words / boils down to knowing / what parts to read / and what parts to pass by / Following / are some tips and techniques / for recognizing what is important to read / in the act of skimming.
Step 3: Read the Questions
The next step is to read the questions and decide if any of them reflect what you read in the first paragraph.
Try with the paragraph below. Skim read the paragraph and then read the questions. Does the paragraph include any of the information mentioned?
A The original idea for an urban bike-sharing scheme dates back to a summer’s day in Amsterdam in 1965. Provo, the organisation that came up with the idea, was group of Dutch activists who wanted to change society. They believed the scheme, which was known as the Witte Fietsenplan, was an answer to the perceived threats of air pollution and consumerism. In the centre of Amsterdam, they painted a small number of used bikes white. They also distributed leaflets describing the dangers of cars and inviting people to use the white bikes. The bikes were then left unlocked at various locations around the city, to be used by anyone in need of transport.
14 a description of how people misused a bike-sharing scheme
15 an explanation of why a proposed bike-sharing scheme was turned down
16 a reference to a person being unable to profit from their work
17 an explanation of the potential savings a bike-sharing scheme would bring
18 a reference to the problems a bike-sharing scheme was intended to solve
18
The paragraph refers to the perceived threats of air pollution and consumerism. These are the problems the scheme was intended to solve.
Notice that the words in the question will share some parallel expressions in the text. If you can spot these, they are a very good indicator that you are right.
If you don’t find a question that matches the paragraph, go on to the next. You don’t need to use all of the paragraphs here. Do cross out the question once you have matched it however as it can only refer to one paragraph.
Generally in this type of question you should only use each paragraph once. If you can use a paragraph more than once this should be made clear in the instructions.
Step 4: Read the Other Paragraphs and Repeat
You now need to continue with the remainder of the text. Remember to move on if none of the descriptions seem to fit.
Try with the remainder of the text below.
The growth of bike-sharing schemes around the world
How Dutch engineer Luud Schimmelpennink helped to devise urban bike-sharing schemes
A The original idea for an urban bike-sharing scheme dates back to a summer’s day in Amsterdam in 1965. Provo, the organisation that came up with the idea, was group of Dutch activists who wanted to change society. They believed the scheme, which was known as the Witte Fietsenplan, was an answer to the perceived threats of air pollution and consumerism. In the centre of Amsterdam, they painted a small number of used bikes white. They also distributed leaflets describing the dangers of cars and inviting people to use the white bikes. The bikes were then left unlocked at various locations around the city, to be used by anyone in need of transport.
B Luud Schimmelpennink, a Dutch industrial engineer who still lives and cycles in Amsterdam, was heavily involved in the original scheme. He recalls how the scheme succeeded in attracting a great deal of attention – particularly when it came to publicising Provo’s aims – but struggled to get off the ground. The police were opposed to Provo’s initiatives and almost as soon as the white bikes were distributed around the city, they removed them. However for Schimmelpennink and for bike-sharing schemes in general, this was just the beginning. ‘The first Witte Fietsenplan was just a symbolic thing,’ he says. ‘We painted a few bikes white, that was all. Things got more serious when I became a member of the Amsterdam city council two years later.’
C Schimmelpennink seized the opportunity to present a more elaborate Witte Fietsenplan to the city council. ‘My ideas was that the municipality of Amsterdam would distribute 10,000 white bikes over the city, for everyone to use,’ he explains. ‘I made serious calculations. It turned out that white bicycle – per person, per kilometre – would cost the municipality only 10% of what it contributed to public transport per person per kilometre.’ Nevertheless, the council unanimously rejected the plan. ‘They said the bicycle belongs to the past. They saw a glorious future for the car,’ says Schimmelpennink. But he was not in the least discouraged.
D Schimmelpennink never stopped believing in bike-sharing, and in the mid-90s, two Danes asked for his help to set up a system in Copenhagen. The result was the world’s first large-scale bike-share programme. It worked on a deposit: ‘You dropped a coin in the bike and when you returned it, you got your money back.’ After setting up the Danish system, Schimmelpennink decided to try his luck again in the Netherlands – and this time he succeeded in arousing the interest of the Dutch Ministry of Transport. ‘Times had changed,’ he recalls. ‘People had become more environmentally-conscious, and the Danish experiment had proved that bike-sharing was a real possibility.’ A new Witte Fietsenplan was launched in 1999 in Amsterdam. However, riding a white bike was no longer free; it cost one guilder per trip and payment was made with a chip card developed by the Dutch bank Postbank. Schimmelpennink designed conspicuous, sturdy white bikes locked in special racks which could be opened with the chip card – the plan started with 250 bikes, distributed over five stations.
E Theo Molenaar, who was a system designer for the project, worked alongside Schimmelpennink. ‘I remember when we were testing the bike racks, he announced that he had already designed better ones. But of course, we had to go through with the ones we had.’ The system, however, was prone to vandalism and theft. ‘After every weekend there would always be a couple of bikes missing,’ Molenaar says. ‘I really have no idea what people did with them, because they could instantly be recognised as white bikes.’ But the biggest blow came when Postbank decided to abolish the chip card, because it wasn’t profitable. ‘That chip card was pivotal to the system,’ Molenaar says. ‘To continue the project we would have needed to set up another system, but the business partner had lost interest.’
F Schimmelpennink was disappointed, but – characteristically – not for long. In 2002 he got a call from the French advertising corporation JC Decaux, who wanted to set up his bike-sharing scheme in Vienna. ‘That went really well. After Vienna, they set up a system in Lyon. Then in 2007, Paris followed. That was a decisive moment in the history of bike-sharing.’ The huge and unexpected success of the Parisian bike-sharing programme, which now boasts more than 20,000 bicycles, inspired cities all over the world to set up their own schemes, all modelled on Schimmelpennink’s. ‘It’s wonderful that this happened,’ he says. ‘But financially I didn’t really benefit from it, because I never filed for a patent.’
G In Amsterdam today, 38% of all trips are made by bike and, along with Copenhagen, it is regarded as one of the two most cycle-friendly capitals in the world – but the city never got another Witte Fietsenplan. Molenaar believes this may be because everybody in Amsterdam already has a bike. Schimmelpennink, however, cannot see that this changes Amsterdam’s need for a bike-sharing scheme. ‘People who travel on the underground don’t carry their bikes around. But often they need additional transport to reach their final destination.’ Although he thinks it is strange that a city like Amsterdam does not have a successful bike-sharing scheme, he is optimistic about the future. ‘In the ‘60s we didn’t stand a chance because people were prepared to give their lives to keep cars in the city. But that mentality has totally changed. Today everybody longs for cities that are not dominated by cars.’
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
14 a description of how people misused a bike-sharing scheme
15 an explanation of why a proposed bike-sharing scheme was turned down
16 a reference to a person being unable to profit from their work
17 an explanation of the potential savings a bike-sharing scheme would bring
18 a reference to the problems a bike-sharing scheme was intended to solve
14 E
15 C
16 F
17 C
18 A
Step 5: Write your Answers
The last step is to write your answers on the answer sheet.
