IELTS Reading Table & Flowchart Completion Tips

4 real blanks — a table from Test 11, a flowchart from Test 1

This question type shows up two ways: sometimes as a table, sometimes as a flowchart with arrows — but the skill is identical either time. Read the row or box labels around the blank, then find the matching words in the passage. Two real examples, one of each layout.

Table Completion — Q27

STUDY DESIGN SUMMARY

  Stage          Detail
  -----          ------
  Participants   29 expert birders and 29 novices,
                 recruited from Canadian organisations
                 focused on 27__________ and outdoor
                 activities

The passage says the organisations were “focused on ornithology as well as related outdoor pursuits” — the row label “Participants” tells you exactly which paragraph to scan.

Answer: ornithology

Table Completion — Q29

STUDY DESIGN SUMMARY

  Stage    Detail
  -----    ------
  Trials   72 trials using images representing
           29__________ bird species in total

The passage says the trials used “images representing eighteen different bird species in total” — the row label “Trials” narrows the search before you even start reading.

Answer: eighteen

Flowchart Completion — Q27

CONVENTIONAL APPROACH

  Use a 27__________-based
  poverty threshold
        |
        v
  Calculate income gap
  to reach target country

The passage describes the conventional approach as relying on “purchasing power parity,” or PPP, to compare incomes across countries — the box directly below confirms it: this threshold feeds into “calculate income gap.”

Answer: purchasing power parity (PPP)

Flowchart Completion — Q29

        |
        v
  Conclusion: global output
  must rise by a factor
  of approximately 29__________

Following the arrow down from the income-gap box, the passage says “global economic output would need to increase by a factor of roughly four” — the flowchart’s arrows tell you which sentence in the passage comes next, the same way a table row does.

Answer: four

Table Q27 → Q29 → Flowchart Q27 → Q29, revealed in order

DEB

0:00 0:00

4 blanks — one table, one flowchart, both from real tests

The table’s Q27 blank sits in the “Participants” row — what goes in it?Ornithology — named directly beside “outdoor activities” in the passage.
The table’s Q29 blank sits in the “Trials” row — what goes in it?Eighteen — the number of bird species used across all trials.
The flowchart’s Q27 blank sits in the top box of the conventional approach — what goes in it?Purchasing power parity, or PPP — the threshold type the approach relies on.
The flowchart’s Q29 blank sits at the bottom of the conventional-approach branch — what goes in it?Four — the factor by which output would need to rise.

Table & Flowchart Completion — two looks, one skill