Matching Paragraph Information: IELTS Reading Exercise

Matching paragraph information question in IELTS reading requires you to match the sentences given with information that is contained in different paragraphs. You must have strong skills of paraphrasing for this type of question. See if you can complete this practise lesson which I have written for you.

You will need to prepare lots of paraphrases for the statements in order to locate the right paragraph which contains that information. Answers do not come in order in the passage.

Tips for IELTS Paragraph Matching

• read though the questions
• think of ways to paraphrase key words
• try to locate the key words or the paraphrases in the paragraphs
• the answers do not come in order
• your answer should be a letter not words
• start with the easiest questions first

IELTS Matching Paragraph Information Practice

Amundsen’s Expedition to the South Pole

A ) The first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as part of the Terra Nova Expedition. Amundsen and his team returned safely to their base, and later learned that Scott and his four companions had died on their return journey.

B ) Amundsen’s plans had focused on the Arctic and the conquest of the North Pole by means of an extended drift in an icebound ship. He obtained the use of Fridtjof Nansen’s polar exploration ship Fram, and undertook extensive fundraising. Preparations for this expedition were disrupted when, in 1909, the rival American explorers Frederick Cook and Robert E. Peary each claimed to have reached the North Pole. Amundsen then changed his plan and began to prepare for a conquest of the South Pole; uncertain of the extent to which the public and his backers would support him, he kept this revised objective secret. When he set out in June 1910, even most of his crew believed they were embarking on an Arctic drift.

C ) The expedition’s success was widely applauded. The story of Scott’s heroic failure overshadowed its achievement in the United Kingdom, unable to accept that a Norwegian had been the first person to set foot in the South Pole, but not in the rest of the world. Amundsen’s decision to keep his true plans secret until the last moment was criticised by some. Recent polar historians have more fully recognised the skill and courage of Amundsen’s party; the permanent scientific base at the pole bears his name, together with that of Scott.

Questions 1-5

In which paragraph (A-C) is the following information found.

1. The success of Roald Amundsen was celebrated worldwide, except in one country.
2. Amundsen only heard about the death of Scott after he had reached the South Pole.
3. The base at the South Pole bears both Amundsen’s name and Scott’s.
4. Amundsen had originally planned an expedition to the North Pole.
5. When Amundsen decided to aim for the South Pole he did not reveal his intentions.
6. The British did not celebrate Amundsen’s success as did other countries due to the death of Scott.

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