What are candidates required to do?
There are two types of summary completion task. In both types the candidate is required to fill gaps in a summary with a word or words. In the first type the candidate is required to choose a word or phrase from words and phrases provided in a box. There are always more words or phrases in the box than there are gaps in the summary. In the second type there is no box with words. The candidate is required to choose a word or phrase from the text to fill the gap.

How many words can be used to fill the gap?
If the candidates are required to choose words and/or numbers from the passage to complete the gaps, the instructions will indicate clearly whether they should choose one word only, no more than two, or three, four etc.

Do the answers occur in order in the passage?
Not necessarily. However, the answers will sometimes come from one section rather than the entire passage.

What type of text is this item type used with?
In IELTS General Training Reading, summary completion tasks are most likely to be used with passages in Section 3, though they may be used in other sections too.

Do the summaries summarise the whole text or just part of it?
The summaries may summarise the whole passage or they may summarise just part of it. Sometimes a heading is provided for the summary. This can help the candidate locate the part of the passage to which the summary refers.

What skills are being assessed?
Summary completion item types covering the whole passage are likely to test candidates' ability to identify main ideas. Summary completion covering a smaller part of the passage is more likely to test the candidates'ability to identify supporting details.

Answer key:
20. Halls of Residence
21. four weeks
22. highly qualified
23. (Waikato) Students'Union
24. (Waikato) river