IGCSE English as a Second Language 0510: question types explained

Short-answer questions start with a question word. Each one asks for a different kind of answer. Before you look in the text, decide what your answer must be.

• Who: a person or group. Where: a place. When: a time or date.
• Why: a reason. Look for because, so, as a result, due to.
• How: a method or way. How many / how much: a number or amount.
• What … two / three things: give exactly that many separate points.

Free lessons: Question words: what is being asked · Reading the question: what is being asked

You read a text of about 400–450 words and answer short questions with a word or phrase. The first five need one answer each; the last needs three. Keep answers short and take them from the text.

Free lessons: Exercise 1: short answers · Scanning for specific information

A text of about 600–650 words is split into sections, or there are up to five short texts. You match nine statements to the right section. The statements use different words from the text, so you must match meaning, not words.

Free lessons: Exercise 2: multiple matching · Paraphrase: same meaning, different words

You read a text of about 400–500 words and complete notes under headings. Each note is one point, worth one mark. Notes are short: no full sentences, and every note must fit its heading.

Free lesson: Exercise 3: note-making

A text of about 550–600 words with six questions, each with options A, B and C. Some test details, others test the writer's opinion or attitude. Wrong options often use words from the text but change the meaning.

Free lessons: Exercise 4: three-option multiple choice · The writer's attitude and tone

Both ask for 120–160 words. Exercise 5 is an informal email. Exercise 6 is a more formal article, report, essay or review, written for someone like a teacher or event organiser. The task tells you the purpose, the reader and the prompts to cover.

Free lessons: Informal email · Formal and semi-formal email · Article · Report · Review · Essay: discursive and argumentative

• Exercise 1: eight short extracts, each with four picture options.
• Exercise 2: five short extracts, two questions each, three written options.
• Exercise 3: a talk; complete eight sentences by choosing A, B or C.
• Exercise 4: six short monologues; match each speaker to one of eight statements.
• Exercise 5: an interview with eight multiple-choice questions.

Free lessons: Exercise 1: short extracts with pictures · Exercises 2 and 3: short extracts and a talk · Exercise 4: matching speakers · Exercise 5: the interview