How it works
- The options are a short list (A, B, C…); the statements are paraphrased ideas.
- The statements are not in the order of the text.
- An option can often be used more than once, and some may not be used at all.
- Names can reappear later in the text, sometimes only by surname or as “she” or “the researcher”.
A 4-step method
- Scan for every mention of each option first, and mark them in the text. Names are easy to find; this takes a minute and makes everything else faster.
- Read what the text says around each mention, including the sentences after it, which often continue that person's argument.
- Match each statement by meaning. Statements paraphrase the text; the same idea will be in different words.
- Check for a second mention before you finalise. A person who appears early can say something important at the end (question 4 below).
Worked example
Remembering dreams
Why do some people remember their dreams and others almost never do? Dr Anna Reyes argues that the answer lies in how often we wake during the night: people who wake briefly several times have more chances to store a dream in memory before it fades.
Professor Kenji Mori is not convinced that waking is the whole story. In his studies, frequent dream recallers also showed more activity in parts of the brain linked to attention during the day, which suggests to him that interest in one's own thoughts plays a part.
Dr Leila Hassan takes a more practical view. Whatever the cause, she says, recall can be trained: in her trials, volunteers who kept a notebook by the bed and wrote down anything they remembered on waking reported twice as many dreams within a month. Reyes agrees that notebooks help, but suggests they work mainly because the effort of writing wakes people up for longer.
Match each statement with the correct person. You may use any letter more than once.
| Person | |
|---|---|
| A | Anna Reyes |
| B | Kenji Mori |
| C | Leila Hassan |
- Remembering dreams is a skill that people can improve.
- Waking up during the night gives dreams a chance to be remembered.
- The way someone's mind works while awake may affect dream recall.
- A method that improves recall may work for a different reason than people think.
Answers and why
| Answer | Why | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | C | Hassan: recall “can be trained”, with the notebook trial as evidence. |
| 2 | A | Reyes's main argument in the first paragraph. |
| 3 | B | Mori links daytime attention and interest in one's own thoughts to recall. |
| 4 | A | Reyes, at the end of the third paragraph: notebooks work because writing keeps people awake longer. |
The second mention
Question 4 is in Hassan's paragraph, and many readers answer C. But the sentence belongs to Reyes. This is why step 1, marking every mention, matters.
Questions
Can one person be the answer to more than one statement?+
Often, yes. The instructions will say if you may use any letter more than once. Some options may not be used at all.
Are matching features questions in order?+
No. The statements do not follow the order of the text, which is why finding and marking every mention of each option first saves time.