IELTS Reading Diagram Completion with Tips & Practice Tests

While going through previous IELTS Reading practice tests or mock tests, test-takers often find images, or rather diagrams in some of them. Many of them get confused about the need of that diagram in a language test as the IELTS exam and begin to get nervous. Well, it is just an IELTS Reading Diagram Completion question!

To drive away your doubts, in this article, we will have a thorough discussion on Diagram Completion questions IELTS Reading and get the IELTS reading diagram completion practice PDF to make the most of the IELTS preparation.

What is Diagram Completion IELTS Reading?

We normally use diagrams, a visual representation of a concept, when a text makes it difficult to understand it in words. So, a diagram makes the process more apparent and understandable.

In IELTS Reading, test-takers are provided with a passage, which they have to go through to fill in the gaps of a diagram that could be a technical illustration, an explanation of a natural phenomenon, a flowchart, or a design for anything. The blank labels or a phrase or sentence with missing words are to be filled using words taken directly from a descriptive text or, in some cases, synonyms provided in a table.

Example of IELTS Reading Diagram Completion

A Diagram Completion question looks like this:

Skills Required to Answer IELTS Reading Diagram Completion

There are four important skills that are evaluated through the Diagram completion questions IELTS Reading. They are listed below.

• Knowledge of IELTS reading keyword techniques, such as skimming and scanning, are very essential to find out the answer within the time limit.
• Test-takers should be able to get an idea of the diagram at a quick glance and identify the part of the passage that contains the appropriate information.
• It is of utmost importance that examinees go through the instructions carefully and mind the word limit or other vital data given within the box.
• Besides understanding the diagram, examinees need to have an improved IELTS vocabulary to identify the keywords/type of word/ synonyms that should fill in the blank. It will help to find the answer quickly.

Steps to Solve IELTS Reading Diagram Completion Questions

The IELTS Academic Reading test will have 40 questions in total. So, test-takers cannot spend a lot of time on a few questions and leave out the rest. Therefore, they have to plan on how to complete IELTS Reading in less than an hour.

To do so, we have provided some quick steps to follow to solve the IELTS Reading Diagram Completion questions below.

• Step 1 - Study the diagram

Pay attention to the various components in the diagram and how they are arranged in the diagram. If it's a flowchart or a process diagram, pay attention to the arrows to comprehend the flow.

The diagram above is about ‘The Orbit of a Comet’, but the passage has a lot of information on comets. In the diagram, you will see the keywords ‘tail’ for all three gaps.

• Step 2 - Identify the type of words/keywords

Consider the parts in the diagram that need to be labeled and choose the type of information that should go in the blank. They will assist you find the keywords.

Considering the gaps, the keywords might be related to “tail”, two of which show the tail in two different directions. So, the first two blanks will be adjectives, representing the two types of tail of the comet that goes in two directions. The third one will be a verb as the sentence is ‘The tails of the comet (26)........ as they go further from the sun.’

• Step 3 - Scan the passage

Once you have identified the keywords or the supposed answer, scan the passage. Keywords or the answers are either taken directly from the text or reworded using simple synonyms.

Click here for the passage!

• Step 4 - Read the portion of the passage carefully

Now that you have identified the section of the passage where you will get the information, read it carefully. Do not waste your time reading the text line by line. This is where your skimming and scanning ability will come in handy.

After going through this portion, you will understand that “dust” is the answer for Q. 24. Therefore, go through the remaining paragraph to identify the rest of the answers.

Note: The paragraph doesn't always have the answers in order, but they typically originate from one section rather than being dispersed throughout the whole thing.

• Step 5 - Check the spelling and the word limit

Once you have found the answer, ensure that you have used the correct spelling of the word and followed the word limit given in the instructions. Here, the word limit given in the instructions is “NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS”. So, the answers are ‘dust’ (24), ‘gas (ion) / ion’ (25) and ‘dissipate’ (26), all of which are within the mentioned limit.

Have a look at the video below to learn more about solving IELTS Reading diagram completion questions.

Common Problems While Solving IELTS Reading Diagram Completion

Every type of question, small or big, creates certain complications for the candidates. It is to test whether test-takers, as a language speaker, is capable enough to comprehend the meaning and deliver a response that is necessary.

So, here are some of the common problems that they might encounter while solving the IELTS Reading Diagram Completion questions.

• The most common issue is that test-takers strive to comprehend every detail of the diagram by concentrating too much on it as unfamiliar diagrams can make them nervous and waste time. So, remember that this is a reading comprehension test rather than a technical knowledge test and time management in IELTS Reading is crucial.

• Another significant issue is taking too long to read the entire material rather than swiftly identify the paragraphs that contain the answers.

• Even though there is no negative scoring, if test-takers misspell words in this section, they will lose points. So, be aware of the common spelling errors in IELTSand how to avoid them.

• It has been noted that many test-takers overlook this word limit and write their answers using more words than required. It will also lead to loss of marks.

Tips to Solve IELTS Reading Diagram Completion Topics

Given below are some IELTS Reading tips and techniques to help examinees taking the IELTS General Reading or Academic Reading an extra boost to solve the IELTS Reading diagram completion questions.

• Always underline the keywords in the diagram. They will help you to complete it.
• You should start by locating the passage's relevant section.
• Keep in mind that the passage doesn't always present the solutions in chronological sequence. So, instead of focusing on just one question, try to figure out the answer that comes first using the keywords.
• Always bear in mind that the answer/s will be words from the passage.
• Take note that hyphenated terms like "face-to-face" and numbers count as one word each.
• Determine the word type you require (noun, verb, adjective). You can locate the right response with the help of this.

Practice Tests on IELTS Reading Diagram Completion

Test out how helpful the info was by taking the practice tests on IELTS Reading diagram completion questions and answers below. Don't forget to grab the diagram completion IELTS reading PDF for practice.

Test 1

Migratory Beekeeping

To eke out a full-time living from their honeybees, about half the nation’s 2,000 commercial beekeepers pull up stakes each spring, migrating north to find more flowers for their bees. Besides turning floral nectar into honey, these hardworking insects also pollinate crops for farmers -for a fee. As autumn approaches, the beekeepers pack up their hives and go south, scrambling for pollination contracts in hot spots like California’s fertile Central Valley.

Of the 2,000 commercial beekeepers in the United States about half migrates. This pays off in two ways Moving north in the summer and south in the winter lets bees work a longer blooming season, making more honey — and money — for their keepers. Second, beekeepers can carry their hives to farmers who need bees to pollinate their crops. Every spring a migratory beekeeper in California may move up to 160 million bees to flowering fields in Minnesota and every winter his family may haul the hives back to California, where farmers will rent the bees to pollinate almond and cherry trees.

Migratory beekeeping is nothing new. The ancient Egyptians moved clay hives, probably on rafts, down the Nile to follow the bloom and nectar flow as it moved toward Cairo. In the 1880s North American beekeepers experimented with the same idea, moving bees on barges along the Mississippi and on waterways in Florida, but their lighter, wooden hives kept falling into the water. Other keepers tried the railroad and horse- drawn wagons, but that didn’t prove practical. Not until the 1920s when cars and trucks became affordable and roads improved, did migratory beekeeping begin to catch on.

For the Californian beekeeper, the pollination season begins in February. At this time, the beehives are in particular demand by farmers who have almond groves; they need two hives an acre. For the three-week long bloom, beekeepers can hire out their hives for $32 each. It’s a bonanza for the bees too. Most people consider almond honey too bitter to eat so the bees get to keep it for themselves.

By early March it is time to move the bees. It can take up to seven nights to pack the 4,000 or so hives that a beekeeper may own. These are not moved in the middle of the day because too many of the bees would end up homeless. But at night, the hives are stacked onto wooden pallets, back-to-back in sets of four, and lifted onto a truck. It is not necessary to wear gloves or a beekeeper’s veil because the hives are not being opened and the bees should remain relatively quiet. Just in case some are still lively, bees can be pacified with a few puffs of smoke blown into each hive’s narrow entrance.

In their new location, the beekeeper will pay the farmer to allow his bees to feed in such places as orange groves. The honey produced here is fragrant and sweet and can be sold by the beekeepers. To encourage the bees to produce as much honey as possible during this period, the beekeepers open the hives and stack extra boxes called supers on top. These temporary hive extensions contain frames of empty comb for the bees to fill with honey. In the brood chamber below, the bees will stash honey to eat later. To prevent the queen from crawling up to the top and laying eggs, a screen can be inserted between the brood chamber and the supers. Three weeks later the honey can be gathered.

Foul smelling chemicals are often used to irritate the bees and drive them down into the hive’s bottom boxes, leaving the honey- filled supers more or less bee free. These can then be pulled off the hive. They are heavy with honey and may weigh up to 90 pounds each. The supers are taken to a warehouse. In the extracting room, the frames are lilted out and lowered into an “uncapper” where rotating blades shave away the wax that covers each cell. The uncapped frames are put in a carousel that sits on the bottom of a large stainless steel drum. The carousel is filled to capacity with 72 frames. A switch is flipped and the frames begin to whirl at 300 revolutions per minute; centrifugal force throws the honey out of the combs. Finally the honey is poured into barrels for shipment.

After this, approximately a quarter of the hives weakened by disease, mites, or an ageing or dead queen, will have to be replaced. To create new colonies, a healthy double hive, teeming with bees, can be separated into two boxes. One half will hold the queen and a young, already mated queen can be put in the other half, to make two hives from one. By the time the flowers bloom, the new queens will be laying eggs, filling each hive with young worker bees. The beekeeper’s family will then migrate with them to their summer location.

Check out the Migratory Beekeeping Reading Answersfor the answers and explanations!

Test 2

Electroreception

A Open your eyes in sea water and it is difficult to see much more than a murky, bleary green colour. Sounds, too, are garbled and difficult to comprehend. Without specialised equipment humans would be lost in these deep sea habitats, so how do fish make it seem so easy? Much of this is due to a biological phenomenon known as electroreception – the ability to perceive and act upon electrical stimuli as part of the overall senses. This ability is only found in aquatic or amphibian species because water is an efficient conductor of electricity.

B Electroreception comes in two variants. While all animals (including humans) generate electric signals, because they are emitted by the nervous system, some animals have the ability – known as passive electroreception – to receive and decode electric signals generated by other animals in order to sense their location.

C Other creatures can go further still. However, animals with active electroreception possess bodily organs that generate special electric signals on cue. These can be used for mating signals and territorial displays as well as locating objects in the water. Active electroreceptors can differentiate between the various resistances that their electrical currents encounter. This can help them identify whether another creature is prey, predator or something that is best left alone. Active electroreception has a range of about one body length – usually just enough to give its host time to get out of the way or go in for the kill.

D One fascinating use of active electroreception – known as the Jamming Avoidance Response mechanism – has been observed between members of some species known as the weakly electric fish. When two such electric fish meet in the ocean using the same frequency, each fish will then shift the frequency of its discharge so that they are transmitting on different frequencies. Doing so prevents their electroreception faculties from becoming jammed. Long before citizens’ band radio users first had to yell “Get off my frequency!” At hapless novices cluttering the air waves, at least one species had found a way to peacefully and quickly resolve this type of dispute.

E Electroreception can also play an important role in animal defences. Rays are one such example. Young ray embryos develop inside egg cases that are attached to the sea bed. The embryos keep their tails in constant motion so as to pump water and allow them to breathe through the egg’s casing. If the embryo’s electroreceptors detect the presence of a predatory fish in the vicinity, however, the embryo stops moving (and in so doing ceases transmitting electric currents) until the fish has moved on. Because marine life of various types is often travelling past, the embryo has evolved only to react to signals that are characteristic of the respiratory movements of potential predators such as sharks.

F Many people fear swimming in the ocean because of sharks. In some respects, this concern is well grounded – humans are poorly equipped when it comes to electroreceptive defence mechanisms. Sharks, meanwhile, hunt with extraordinary precision. They initially lock onto their prey through a keen sense of smell (two thirds of a shark’s brain is devoted entirely to its olfactory organs). As the shark reaches proximity to its prey, it tunes into electric signals that ensure a precise strike on its target; this sense is so strong that the shark even attacks blind by letting its eyes recede for protection.

G Normally, when humans are attacked it is purely by accident. Since sharks cannot detect from electroreception whether or not something will satisfy their tastes, they tend to “try before they buy”, taking one or two bites and then assessing the results (our sinewy muscle does not compare well with plumper, softer prey such as seals). Repeat attacks are highly likely once a human is bleeding, however; the force of the electric field is heightened by salt in the blood which creates the perfect setting for a feeding frenzy. In areas where shark attacks on humans are likely to occur, scientists are exploring ways to create artificial electroreceptors that would disorient the sharks and repel them from swimming beaches.

H There is much that we do not yet know concerning how electroreception functions. Although researchers have documented how electroreception alters hunting, defence and communication systems through observation, the exact neurological processes that encode and decode this information are unclear. Scientists are also exploring the role electroreception plays in navigation. Some have proposed that salt water and magnetic fields from the Earth’s core may interact to form electrical currents that sharks use for migratory purposes.

• Shark’s 7………………… alert the young ray to its presence
• Embryo moves its 8………………… in order to breathe
• Embryo stops sending 9………………… when predator close by

Check out Electroreception - IELTS Reading Answers for answers.

IELTS Reading diagram completion can be challenging, but with the right approach and plenty of practice, it becomes manageable. By refining the reading skills and developing a systematic approach to tackling these tasks, it will become easier to score well in the IELTS Reading section. Remember, each diagram is an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding and ability to apply information effectively.

Keep practicing, stay focused, and you’ll be well on your way to IELTS success. In case you need help with this question type, sign up for free IELTS webinars or talk to IELTS experts through a free demo session.

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