IELTS Short-Answer Questions: word limits, order and how to find the answer

Short-answer questions ask for a fact (a name, a date, a number, a term) in a few words from the passage. They look easy, and the marks go on small things: one word too many, the wrong number from the right paragraph, a word you changed. This guide covers the official rules, a five-step method and three practice sets.

What are short-answer questions in IELTS Reading?

Each question asks about a factual detail in the text, and you write the answer, not choose it. IELTS fixes three things: the answer must be words from the text, there is a word limit, and the questions run in the same order as the information in the passage.

That order is the biggest help in the task. If you found question 2 in paragraph 3, question 3 is in paragraph 3 or later.

How do word limits work in short-answer questions?

The limit is printed with the question or the instruction, and it can differ from one question to the next. In the practice items below the limits run from one word to three.

• Count what you write against the limit, including any unit or article.
• The example limit "NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER" allows a number as part of the answer. "80 million" is a number and a word.
• A hyphenated word counts as one word, and contractions are not tested.
• Going over loses the mark even if the answer is correct.

How do you find the answer?

1. Read the question word first. What, which, how many, when and who each tell you what kind of answer to look for: a thing, a choice, a number, a date, a person.
2. Start where your last answer ended. The questions follow the text order, so you never need to search the whole passage.
3. Find the sentence that answers it and take the words from it. IELTS says answers "must be taken from words in the text", so do not rewrite.
4. Check that it answers this question. A paragraph can hold several numbers or dates. Item 3 has two years in one paragraph.
5. Count the words. Trim to the limit. Drop articles and units the question does not need.

Which mistakes cost the most marks?

• Writing a sentence. A sentence usually breaks the limit. Write only the key words.
• Taking the wrong figure. In item 2 the question asks for the number a swarm may contain "at most", so the answer is the upper figure, not the lower one.
• Taking the wrong date. In item 3 the paragraph names 1752 for Britain and 1918 for Russia. The question names Britain.
• Changing the word. The answer has to be words from the text, so do not swap in a synonym.
• Using your own knowledge. If you know the answer but the passage words it differently, use the passage's words.

Do the passages differ between IELTS Academic and General Training?

Short-answer questions are shared by both versions, but the passages differ. Academic Reading texts come from “books, journals, magazines, newspapers and online resources”, with 2150–2750 words in total. General Training has three sections of increasing difficulty: everyday texts such as notices, advertisements and timetables; work texts such as job descriptions, contracts and training materials; and one long general-interest text, with 2150–2375 words in total. Sources: the Academic and General Training Reading format pages, checked 15 and 16 October 2026. Not sure which version you need? Start at the IELTS hub.

Practice items from the ScoreFluent bank (not real exam questions)

These are ScoreFluent bank items written to the published format, not real IELTS questions. Each shows the paragraphs that hold the answers and only the questions those paragraphs settle. Try each one before opening the answers.

Practice item 1: fireflies

Excerpt: paragraphs 2 and 4 of 7. The other five paragraphs and two of the five questions are left out.

The glow is produced by a chemical reaction inside a specialised organ in the abdomen. A substance called luciferin combines with oxygen in the presence of an enzyme, luciferase, and the reaction releases energy as light. Remarkably, almost none of the energy is lost as heat, which is why the light is often called cold light. A normal electric bulb, by contrast, wastes most of its energy as warmth. The insects control the flashing by regulating the supply of oxygen to the light organ, though the exact mechanism is still being studied.

Not every signal is honest. In North America, females of a genus named Photuris have learned to copy the flash patterns of females of other species. A male of the species they imitate approaches, expecting a mate, and is captured and eaten instead. The meal provides more than food: it also supplies chemicals that make the predator unpalatable to spiders and other enemies. Biologists regard this behaviour as a striking example of deception in nature.

Answer each question using words from the text.

1. What enzyme is needed for the light-producing reaction in fireflies? (no more than one word)
2. What is the light made by fireflies often called, because little energy is lost as heat? (no more than two words)
3. Which genus of fireflies copies the flash patterns of other species? (no more than one word)

Show the answers and reasons

1. luciferase. The second paragraph says luciferin combines with oxygen in the presence of luciferase.
2. cold light. The second paragraph says the light is often called cold light.
3. Photuris. The fourth paragraph says females of the genus Photuris copy the flash patterns.

Practice item 2: desert locusts

Excerpt: paragraphs 4 and 7 of 7. The other five paragraphs and three of the five questions are left out.

The scale of a swarm is difficult to imagine. A single square kilometre of swarm may contain between forty and eighty million adults, and a large swarm can cover hundreds of square kilometres. Each locust can eat roughly its own weight in food every day, so that a swarm of a modest size can consume as much as thousands of people in the same period. Swarms can travel up to a hundred and fifty kilometres in a day, carried by the wind, and some have crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

Because chemical pesticides can harm other wildlife and contaminate water, scientists are developing alternatives. One promising option is a fungus that infects locusts and kills them over a period of days, without damaging birds or mammals. Another is to use the chemical signals that locusts themselves release, in order to lure them into traps. These methods are still being refined, and their success will depend on how quickly they can be produced and distributed across vast and often inaccessible terrain.

Answer each question using words from the text.

1. How many adult locusts may a single square kilometre of swarm contain at most? (no more than three words)
2. What kind of organism, which infects and kills locusts, is a promising alternative to pesticides? (no more than one word)

Show the answers and reasons

1. eighty million / 80 million. The fourth paragraph says a square kilometre may contain between forty and eighty million adults.
2. fungus. The seventh paragraph names a fungus that infects locusts and kills them.

Practice item 3: calendars

Excerpt: paragraphs 4 and 6 of 7. The other five paragraphs and three of the five questions are left out.

Acceptance of the Gregorian calendar was slow and followed religious and political lines. Catholic countries such as Spain and Italy switched at once, while Protestant and Orthodox states resisted for years because they distrusted a papal decree. Britain and its colonies did not change until 1752, by which time eleven days had to be omitted, and there were reports of public unrest, although the stories of people demanding their lost days are probably exaggerated. Russia did not adopt the system until 1918, after the revolution.

There have also been radical experiments. After the French Revolution, a new calendar was introduced in 1793 with twelve months of thirty days, each divided into three ten-day weeks, in an effort to break with religion and the monarchy. Workers disliked it because they received a day of rest only once every ten days, and Napoleon abandoned it in 1805.

Answer each question using words from the text.

1. In which year did Britain and its colonies adopt the Gregorian calendar? (no more than one word)
2. In which year did Napoleon abandon the French revolutionary calendar? (no more than one word)

Show the answers and reasons

1. 1752. The fourth paragraph states that Britain changed in 1752.
2. 1805. The sixth paragraph says Napoleon abandoned the calendar in 1805.

How are short-answer questions marked?

Reading is marked against an answer key, and IELTS says: "The IELTS Reading test contains 40 questions. Each correct answer is awarded 1 mark." Each question is worth one mark, and an answer over the word limit scores nothing. For raw-mark-to-band figures see the table on the True/False/Not Given guide and IELTS scoring. Source: IELTS scoring in detail, checked 15 and 16 October 2026.

Reading practice on ScoreFluent is free with a daily limit (see pricing), and new accounts also get 40 free credits that never expire. Practise this task free → More Reading guides: sentence and summary completion, diagram label completion and True/False/Not Given. For the Listening equivalent, see form and note completion. The section guide is IELTS Reading and the exam overview is the IELTS hub.

Sources

The official sources are linked above and were checked on 15 and 16 October 2026. ScoreFluent is an independent practice platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to IELTS, IDP, the British Council or Cambridge University Press & Assessment. The practice items are ScoreFluent bank items, not real exam questions, and any score we show is a practice estimate, not an official result.