Short Answer Questions: Where Spelling Costs the Mark

Short-answer questions ask about factual details in the text. You type your answers in words or numbers source: ielts.org.

The type tests your ability to find and understand specific information in the text source: ielts.org. There is no option list. You write the answer yourself.

What you may write

You are not asked to answer in your own words. You are asked to find the words that already answer the question. A right answer with one extra word scores nothing.

Numbers can be entered using figures (1, 2) or words (one, two). Contracted words such as "they're" will not be tested. Hyphenated words such as "check-in" count as single words source: ielts.org.

Spelling

In Reading, a word with a spelling error is marked as incorrect source: IDP. On General Training, you also lose marks for incorrect grammar source: ielts.org.

There is no list to choose from, so you must spell the answer yourself. The word is printed in front of you, so copy it. Keep your eyes on the word while you type it. Do not read it, look away, and write it from memory.

Three more ways to lose a mark

Do not repeat a word that is already in the question. In one example, the question reads "children responded more positively to generous ______". The answer "giving family members" is marked incorrect, and "family members" is correct source: IDP. The question has "generous" and the wrong answer has "giving". They mean the same, so the answer repeats the question.

An answer can also be too broad. In a different example, the text separates immediate family from distant relatives. There, "immediate family members" is correct and "family members" is not source: IDP.

Punctuation matters on numbers. In English a comma separates thousands and a full stop marks a decimal. So 3,000 is correct for three thousand, and 6.5 is correct for six and a half source: IDP.

The question word shows the shape

This is a method, not a published rule. It is a quick check on this type.

"Who" wants a person or an organisation. "When" wants a time or a date. "How many" or "how much" wants a number. "Where" wants a place. "Which document" wants the name of a document. "What" is less clear. Use the rest of the question to decide.

If your answer does not match the shape the question asked for, you have found the right area and taken the wrong words from it. That is a quick fix. A wrong search is not.

The order rule

General Training has the same rule for this type source: ielts.org. On Academic, multiple choice, matching sentence endings and sentence completion follow the order of the text too source: ielts.org.

So work forward. Answer question 1, then start reading for question 2 from where you stopped.

The answers to summary completion and diagram label completion may not follow the text source: ielts.org. Those types share this type's word limit, but not its order.

A worked example

Here is a short passage written for this page, with three questions. The limit is two words and/or a number.

The answers are 3,500, county council and transport plan. They appear in the text in that order.

Question 1 is "3,500". Keep the comma. Writing "3.500" would mean three and a half in English, and it would be marked wrong.

Question 2 is "county council". The text names the university too, but only as the team that did the fieldwork. The answer is two words, at the limit. Writing "the county council" would be three words and would score nothing.

Question 3 is "transport plan". The text says "the county's transport plan", which is four words with "the". Keep the two that name the document. Do not swap in "council document". It describes the plan, but the words are not in the text.

Marks and scoring

The number of questions is "variable", and each correct answer receives one mark source: ielts.org. On average, band 7 takes 30 marks out of 40 on Academic Reading and 35 on General Training source: ielts.org.

On General Training you can, on average, lose about five marks and still reach band 7. Three wrong short answers use most of them. Write something for every question.

IELTS Reading raw score to band score works through the conversion. The Reading band score converter turns a practice raw score into a band.

This type is on both papers. IELTS Reading question types lists all eleven types and what each one tests.

The Reading improvement plan lists this type in its band 5 to 6 step.

The task description, the requirement that answers come from words in the text, the word limit rules, the note that numbers may be figures or words and the order rule come from the IELTS Academic and General Training Reading format pages on ielts.org, last checked on 29 September 2026. The average marks for band 7 come from its IELTS scoring in detail page, checked the same day. The statements on spelling, repeated words, broad answers and number punctuation come from IDP, one of the three organisations that own IELTS, in its spelling guide and its guide to avoiding zero scores, both checked the same day. The example passage and its questions were written for this page and are not from any test.