Summary, Note, Table and Flow Chart Completion: One Type, Four Shapes

You are given a summary of one part of the text, with gaps in it. You complete the gaps using words taken from the text. The summary is not normally of the whole text source: ielts.org.

The four forms

The summary can take four forms. The instructions name the form you have: a summary (continuous text), notes, a table, or a flow chart. A flow chart is a series of boxes or steps linked by arrows to show the order of events source: ielts.org.

On General Training, a fifth form is added: several sentences, called "sentences" in the instructions source: ielts.org. So a General Training candidate meets sentence completion inside this type.

The task is the same in every form. Only the layout of the gaps changes.

The summary covers part of the text

That gives you two jobs. First, find the part of the text the summary retells. Then fill the gaps from that part only.

The title of the summary and its first sentence can point to the right part. If they do not, the first gap you are sure of will.

Do not assume gap 4 comes after gap 3. The summary may reorder the ideas. Work by meaning, not by position.

On the Academic paper, sentence completion is a separate type, and its questions do follow the order of the text source: ielts.org.

Two variations

On the Academic paper, the type has two variations. In the first, you select words from the text to fit the gaps. In the second, you choose from a list of words to fill the gaps source: ielts.org.

The General Training format page describes only the first: completing the summary with words taken from the text.

With a list, the words are given, so you cannot misspell them. The risk is choosing a word that fits the grammar but not the meaning of the text.

Think about the kind of word

Read the words on both sides of the gap. A gap after "the" needs a noun or an adjective. A gap after "to" often needs a verb. Look in your part of the text for a word of that kind.

This check catches one common slip. You find the right sentence, but you lift the wrong word out of it.

What you may write

The limit changes from task to task source: ielts.org. Read it every time. An answer with the right words plus one extra word scores nothing. A gap you understood can still cost you the mark.

The words must be taken from the text. So a synonym you thought of yourself cannot be right, even if it means the same thing.

Spelling counts. 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. The word is printed in front of you, so copy it letter by letter.

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 already says "generous", and "giving" means the same, so the first answer repeats it.

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. Inside the limit, use the most specific words the text gives you.

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.

A worked example

Here is a short passage written for this page. It is followed by a gapped summary with a limit of two words and/or a number.

The answers are blowing, thin and casting sheds. Here they happen to appear in the same order as in the text. Do not count on that.

Gap 1 is "blowing". The summary says "cheap" where the text says the glass "stayed expensive". The question is reworded, but your answer keeps the text's word.

Gap 2 is "thin". The gap sits between "too" and "to last", so it needs an adjective. "Fragile" and "weak" would fit the grammar, but neither is in the text.

Gap 3 is "casting sheds". The word "the" is already printed before the gap, so "the casting sheds" would repeat it and run to three words. "Sheds" alone does not say which sheds.

How to work a summary

Answer every gap. Each correct answer earns one mark, and a blank earns nothing.

Marks and scoring

The number of questions of each type 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.

So to reach band 7 on Academic Reading you can, on average, lose about ten marks. A summary with six gaps can use up six of them. 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. Diagram label completion shares its order rule, and short-answer questions share its word limit. 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 four forms, the note on the part of the text, the two variations, the word limit and the advice on word type 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 summary were written for this page and are not from any test.