List Selection

On this page, we will learn about: What is List Selection?, Example of List Selection, Strategies to Answer the List Selection Questions, IELTS List Selection Practice Exercise, Rock Music, and Explanations and Answers of Rock Music.

What is List Selection?

List selection is the process of choosing options from a given list. In IELTS Reading, you will be given a list of ideas that are mentioned in a text, but only some of those ideas will be used to answer the question. The instruction will notify you of a topic in the text as well as the number of ideas in the list that refer to that topic.

Example of List Selection:

List Selection

Strategies to answer the list selection questions:

  1. Pay close attention to the instructions. For this question, the instructions will tell you about the topic, the number of options, and how to write the answer on the answer sheet.
  2. Skim the text to get a general idea of what it is about.
  3. Identify the topic in the instruction and paraphrase it.
  4. Read through the list of options and identify the key words.
  5. Though all options in the list are possible answers that are related to the topic, only some are relevant to the topic of the question. Make sure that you comprehend what each option means.
  6. Some words can be paraphrased, like verbs and adjectives. The synonyms are key words that are paraphrased, and look carefully for those paraphrases in the text.
  7. Once you have found a key word or idea in the text, ask yourself if it is relevant to the topic. If so, does it match any of the options in the list?

This is what the List Selection question may look like on the IELTS Reading test:

IELTS List Selection Practice Exercise:

Rock Music

There are many well-known Rock bands and musicians, such as Hall and Oates and the Beach Boys.

Rock dates back to the late 1940s, when artists like African-American musician Chuck Berry used classic Blues structures.

Rock progressed through the decades with innovative takes on the genre by groups like Pink Floyd in the 1970s and Depeche Mode in the 1980s , whose music was inspired by Punk.


Question: The text demonstrates a number of facts relating to the development of Rock music. Which two facts relate to the origin of rock music?

  1. The Beach Boys are a popular rock band
  2. Early Rock dates back to the 1940s
  3. Chuck Berry experiment with Blue music early on
  4. Punk was used to establish a new wave of rock

Explanations and answer of Rock Music:

A. The Beach Boys are a popular rock band

  • Beach Boys = name (helpful for hightlight information here)
  • popular = famous, prominent

B. Early Rock dates back to the 1940s

  • Early= first, original
  • Dates back = goes back
  • 1940 = date

C. Chuck Berry experiment with Blue music early on

  • Chuck Berry = name
  • Experiment = used, tried
  • Blue music = name

D. Punk was used to establish a new wave of rock

  • establish = create
  • Wave = style

While looking at the options relevant to the development of Rock Music, B and C options match up properly with the origin of rock music.
So the answer is B & C.