A cross-section of a lighthouse lamp, a water clock, the layers of a road. Diagram questions look like the most technical thing on the Reading paper.
They are one of the least. The passage describes the picture in words, and you move the words onto the picture.
The rules, in short
| You write | Words taken from the passage |
| Word limit | Stated in the instructions. One word over loses the mark |
| Order | Answers may not follow the passage |
| Where | Usually one part of the passage, not the whole of it |
| Form and spelling | Copy exactly |
| What is tested | Understanding a detailed description and relating it to a diagram |
Two of these rows work against each other, in your favour. The answers are not in order, which sounds hard. But they come from a small area, which makes it easy: once you have found the one or two paragraphs that describe the object, you can stop reading the rest of the passage for this task.
Method
- Read the instruction for the word limit.
- Study the diagram before the passage. Read its title. Read the labels that are already filled in. Notice where the gaps are and what kind of thing each must be: a part, a material, a measurement.
- Find the description. Scan the passage for the diagram’s title words and its printed labels. The paragraph where several of them appear together is the one.
- Read that part slowly, with the diagram beside it. Follow the description around the picture the way the writer does: top to bottom, outside to inside, or along a flow.
- Fill the gaps as you meet them, whatever their question numbers.
- Copy exactly and check the spelling of each term.
Position words do the work
A diagram is described through where things are. These are the words to look for.
| Kind | Examples |
|---|---|
| Vertical | above, below, beneath, on top of, at the base |
| Horizontal | beside, next to, on either side of, between |
| Inside and outside | within, inside, surrounded by, encased in, outer, inner |
| Connection | attached to, connected to, leads to, feeds into, supported by |
| Flow | enters through, passes along, is released from |
When the passage says the chamber beneath the valve, find the valve on the diagram and look under it.
Use the labels you are given
The printed labels are anchors. If the diagram already shows valve and outlet pipe, and gap 3 sits between them, then the sentence you want is the one that mentions both.
A worked example
An original passage, written for this guide. Imagine a simple drawing of a clay pot cooler with four labels, two of them blank.
The pot-in-pot cooler needs no electricity. It consists of two unglazed clay pots, one placed inside the other. The gap between them is filled with wet sand, and food is stored in the inner pot. The whole device is then covered with a damp cloth. As water in the sand evaporates through the wall of the outer pot, it draws heat away from the centre, and the contents can stay several degrees cooler than the air outside.
Label the diagram. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
- Printed label: outer pot
- Printed label: food
- Gap 1 — the layer between the two pots
- Gap 2 — the covering on top
Gap 1: wet sand. The passage says the gap between them is filled with wet sand. Between is the position word that places it.
Gap 2: damp cloth. Covered with tells you it is on top.
Notice what you did not need: any knowledge of how evaporation cools things. You needed between and covered.
Notice also the copying. Sand alone would lose the detail the passage gives. The wet sand would be three words and over the limit. Wet cloth would be wrong, because the passage says damp.
The traps
Assuming the order. Gap 1 on the diagram may be described after gap 4. Go by position, not by number.
The wrong adjective. Two materials or two parts are described with similar words. Check which one is in which place.
Too many words. Technical phrases tempt you to include extra description. Count before you write.
Looking for the answer in the picture. The drawing shows you where. The words come only from the text.
Reading the whole passage again. The description is local. Find it once and stay there.
Timing
Give this task a little under a minute a label. The time goes on finding the description; after that the answers come quickly, often two or three from the same sentence.
What costs marks
- Exceeding the word limit.
- Misspelling an unfamiliar technical term.
- Using a word of your own in place of the passage’s.
- Matching gaps to the passage in number order when the description runs differently.
Practise it
Find a short description of an object or device, in any textbook or article, and draw a rough sketch from it with labels. Turning text into a picture is the same skill in reverse, and it trains you to notice position words.
You can practise IELTS Reading with timed tests on IELTS Studio, which mark every answer and show the band straight away.
Related: sentence completion uses the same copying rules, and the Listening version of this task is covered in diagram labelling.
Sources
- IELTS Reading test format Official description of diagram label completion: what the diagram may show, the word limit, that answers may not follow the order of the text but usually come from one part of it, and what the task tests.
Last reviewed October 5, 2026. See our editorial policy for how guides are checked and corrected.
Frequently asked questions
- What is diagram label completion in IELTS Reading?
- You are shown a diagram based on a description in the passage, with some labels left blank, and you complete them with words from the passage. The diagram may show a machine, part of a building or anything else that can be drawn.
- Are diagram label answers in the same order as the passage?
- Not always. The official description says the answers may not come in the same order as in the text. They do usually come from one part of the passage, so the search area is small once you have found it.
- Do I need technical knowledge for IELTS diagram questions?
- No. The task tests whether you can follow a written description and relate it to a picture. Every label you need is printed in the passage, and unfamiliar technical terms are simply copied.
- How do I find the right part of the passage for a diagram?
- Use the title of the diagram and the labels already printed on it. Scan the passage for those words. The description is normally concentrated in one or two paragraphs, often with words of position such as above, beneath and attached to.
- Can I use my own words to label an IELTS Reading diagram?
- No. Labels must be words from the passage, copied exactly and within the word limit. A correct idea in your own words, or a different form of the word, is marked wrong.
- Is IELTS Reading diagram labelling the same as in Listening?
- The idea is the same and the source is different. In Listening you follow a spoken description once. In Reading the description is printed and you can reread it, so the difficulty is locating it and copying accurately.