What are Short Answer Questions in IELTS Reading?

You answer a question using words copied directly from the passage, within a stated word limit. The question is usually a Wh-question: What, Which, When, Where, How many, How much. You do not write in full sentences — just the key words that answer the question.

Do I need to write in full sentences?

No. Write only the words that answer the question, within the word limit. If the question asks 'What material was used?' and the answer is 'carbon fibre reinforced polymer,' you write exactly that — not 'The material used was carbon fibre reinforced polymer.'

Can I paraphrase in Short Answer Questions?

No. Copy exact words from the passage. The answer must come directly from the text. If you paraphrase, the answer will be marked wrong even if the meaning is correct.

Do Short Answer Question answers follow the passage order?

Yes. Like Sentence Completion, answers appear in the same order as the passage. Question 1's answer comes before Question 2's answer in the text. Use sequential scanning.

What is the word limit for Short Answer Questions?

Usually 'NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER' or 'NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS.' Check the instruction before starting. Exceeding the limit scores zero, even if the content is correct.

Reading9 min read·Updated June 5, 2026

IELTS Reading Short Answer Questions: Rules and Practice

Short Answer Questions reward precision, not length. Learn the 3 rules, the question-word strategy, and practise 6 questions with full answer explanations.

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IELTS Reading Short Answer Questions strategy with question word table and practice

Written by mockDe Editorial Team· IELTS preparation specialists

Last Updated June 5, 2026

9 min read

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IELTS Reading Practice

Key Takeaways

Copy exact words from the passage. Never paraphrase.
Do not write full sentences — just the words that answer the question.
Check the word limit before starting. Numbers count as one unit when the instruction says 'AND/OR A NUMBER.'
Answers follow passage order — scan forward from the previous answer.
Question words (What, Where, When, How many) predict the answer type before you scan.

How do I answer Short Answer Questions in IELTS Reading?

Find the passage section using keywords from the question, then copy the exact words that answer it within the word limit. Never write full sentences. Never paraphrase. The answer type is predicted by the question word: 'What' needs a noun, 'When' needs a time, 'How many' needs a number.

Read the question word first — it tells you what type of answer to look for
Scan the passage for the key noun in the question
Answers follow passage order — sequential scanning works
Count your words before writing

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Part of the IELTS Reading cluster

IELTS Reading: The Complete Blueprint

What is Short Answer Questions?

You answer a Wh-question (What, Which, When, Where, How many) using words copied directly from the passage, within a word limit. No full sentences. No paraphrase.

Short Answer Questions are one of the fastest question types to answer correctly. The question word tells you exactly what to look for. The answers are always specific, locatable facts.

What Are Short Answer Questions?

The question asks: What caused the temperature increase? / Which country introduced the policy first? / How many participants were in the study?

You scan the passage, find the answer, and write the exact words. That is it. No full sentences. No rephrasing. Just the words.

Short Answer Questions are one of the friendlier question types — the question word almost always tells you exactly what type of information to look for. Answers are almost never abstract. They are concrete facts: a number, a name, a place, a material, a process.

The 3 Rules You Cannot Break

1. Copy exact words from the passage

If the passage says 'photosynthesis' and you write 'light-based food production,' that is wrong — even though the meaning is the same. Short Answer Questions require verbatim copying.

2. Do not write full sentences

Writing 'The answer is lithium-ion batteries' scores zero. Write only 'lithium-ion batteries.' The instruction says to answer the question — not to construct a grammatical response.

3. Never exceed the word limit

Read the instruction before you start. Count your answer before writing. Exceeding the limit by even one word scores zero — there is no partial credit.

The Method

1. Read the word limit instruction

Check for 'AND/OR A NUMBER' — this means a number written as a digit counts as one word. Know this before you start.

2. Read the question and identify the question word

'What' = noun/thing. 'When' = time/date. 'Where' = place. 'How many/much' = number/quantity. 'Which' = a specific named option. This predicts your answer before you scan.

3. Identify the strongest keyword in the question

The main noun or proper name. This is your scanning anchor in the passage.

4. Scan forward from the previous answer

Answers follow passage order. Start your scan from where you found the previous question's answer. This saves significant time across a 6-question set.

5. Read the surrounding sentences and extract the answer

Find your keyword. Read the sentence it is in and the sentence before. Extract the specific piece of information the question asks for. Copy it exactly.

6. Count your words

Count before writing. If over the limit, check whether any word can be removed without making the answer factually incomplete.

Question Word Strategy

Each question word predicts the type of answer. Use this to narrow your scan before you start:

Question word	Type of answer	Scan for
What	A thing, concept, material, or process	Nouns — especially technical or capitalised ones
Which	A specific named option from alternatives	Names, proper nouns, labelled items
When	A time, date, or year	Years (e.g. 1977), dates, time expressions (after, by, since)
Where	A place or location	Country names, city names, geographic terms
How many / How much	A number or quantity	Digits, percentages, fractions, units of measurement
Who	A person or organisation	Proper names, titles, institution names
Why	A reason or cause	Causal language: because, due to, as a result of, since

Practice: 6 Questions With Reveal

Answer each question using words from the passage. Do not write full sentences. Respect the word limit shown for each question.

Passage

Solar energy storage

The intermittency of solar power — the fact that panels only generate electricity when the sun is shining — has historically been its greatest practical limitation. On an individual household level, surplus energy generated during the day must either be fed into the grid or stored for use at night. Battery storage systems are the most common solution, with lithium-ion batteries currently dominating the residential market due to their high energy density, long cycle life of up to 10,000 charge cycles, and rapidly falling costs.

At a grid scale, the challenge is more complex. Pumped-storage hydropower is currently the most widely deployed large-scale electricity storage technology globally, accounting for more than 90 percent of total installed grid storage capacity. It works by pumping water uphill into a reservoir when electricity is cheap and abundant, then releasing it through turbines when demand peaks. The efficiency of round-trip energy conversion typically reaches 70–85 percent.

Emerging storage technologies include flow batteries — which store energy in liquid electrolytes held in external tanks — and compressed air energy storage, which uses surplus electricity to compress air into underground caverns for later release through turbines. Neither technology has yet achieved the cost or performance levels needed for widespread deployment, but both are considered promising candidates for multi-day grid storage — a capability that lithium-ion batteries currently lack.

Thermal energy storage offers a different approach. Concentrated solar power plants focus sunlight to heat a molten salt mixture to temperatures exceeding 550°C. This heat can be retained for up to 15 hours and used to generate steam for turbines after sunset, effectively decoupling electricity generation from sunlight availability. Spain and the United States host the largest operational concentrated solar power facilities in the world.

Q1.NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS

What type of battery currently dominates the residential storage market?

Q2.NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

How many charge cycles can residential batteries typically last?

Q3.NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

What percentage of global grid storage capacity does pumped-storage hydropower represent?

Q4.NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

What is stored in external tanks in flow battery systems?

Q5.NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS

What storage capability do flow batteries and compressed air systems have that lithium-ion batteries lack?

Q6.NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER

For how long can heat be retained in thermal energy storage systems?

Short answers reward precision — not length

Take a timed reading test. On every short answer question, write no more words than the question asks for. Track your accuracy against the answer key.

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