Manoj from Udaipur’s short answers were all correct in meaning. Three of them were five words long when the limit was three.

Both types ask you to find a short piece of information and write it within a word limit. For sentence completion, the words must complete the sentence grammatically; for short-answer questions, write only the words that answer the question.

How Sentence Completion and Short-Answer Questions Work

In sentence completion, you fill a gap in each sentence with words chosen from the text. In short-answer questions, you answer questions about factual details, in words or numbers, using words from the text.

Both come with a word limit, for example NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER, and you lose the mark for writing more. Hyphenated words such as “check-in” count as single words, and contracted words such as “they’re” will not be tested.

For Academic Reading, the official page says both types follow the order of the information in the text. The General Training page says so for short answers only. For gaps in summaries, notes, tables and flow charts, see our completion questions guide.

A 5-Step Method for Text Completion Tasks

This method is our advice, not an IELTS rule:

  1. Read the instructions: note the word limit before you read the first question.
  2. Analyse the stem: mark the keywords and predict the kind of answer needed: a noun, a number, a name.
  3. Locate the text: scan for synonyms of the keywords, using the techniques in our skimming and scanning guide.
  4. Copy the words: take them from the text without changing their form or spelling.
  5. Check the limit and the grammar: count your words, then read the finished sentence back.

Stems can reword the text, so our paraphrase spotting guide is useful practice.

Practice passage (written for this post)

In 2024, a private company launched SpokeShare, a bicycle-sharing scheme in Mysuru. Riders release a bicycle from a docking station using a smart card or a mobile app, and can return it to any docking station in the city. The first thirty minutes of each trip are free, and longer trips are charged by the minute. On busy roads, cycle lanes are separated from traffic by rubber bollards. A local cooperative services the bicycles, using repair vans that carry digital diagnostic tools. Helmets are available at the larger stations. In its first year, SpokeShare recorded an average of four thousand trips a day. The company now plans to extend the network to the northern suburbs, beginning with the area around the railway station.

Questions

Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

  1. Riders pay nothing for the first … of each trip.
  2. Cycle lanes are separated from traffic by rubber … .
  3. The bicycles are serviced by a local … .

Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

  1. What is the name of the bicycle-sharing scheme?
  2. How many trips a day did the scheme record on average in its first year?
Show answers
  1. thirty minutes — “The first thirty minutes of each trip are free”; “thirty” alone would leave the unit out of the sentence.
  2. bollards — “separated from traffic by rubber bollards”; the plural is needed after “rubber”, so “bollard” does not fit.
  3. cooperative — “A local cooperative services the bicycles”; copy the spelling exactly as the text has it.
  4. SpokeShare — “launched SpokeShare, a bicycle-sharing scheme”; a short answer needs the name only, not a sentence.
  5. four thousand — “an average of four thousand trips a day”; “four thousand trips” is also copied from the passage and within the limit, so it counts too.

Common Traps to Avoid

Incorrect: “I should write my short answer as a complete sentence with a subject and verb.”

Correct: The limit covers everything you type, and the official page says answers must be taken from words in the text, so write only the words that answer the question.

Tip

If a stem could match two places in the text, choose the place whose surrounding words match the stem, not the first one you see.

Try It

Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

  1. Where will the extension to the northern suburbs begin?
  2. How are longer trips charged?
Show answers
  1. railway station — “beginning with the area around the railway station”; copying all six words of that phrase would break the limit, while “railway station” or “the railway station” stays within it.
  2. by the minute — “longer trips are charged by the minute”; three words, so it is within the limit.

Key Takeaways

  • Both types take their answers from words in the text, within a word limit.
  • Writing more than the limit loses the mark, even if the meaning is right.
  • Sentence completion must also fit the sentence grammatically.
  • The official Academic page says both types follow the order of the text.

The bottom line: Both tasks reward exact copying: the right words, in the right form, at the right length.