Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers

What does the multiple-answers task look like?

A passage sits above a question about its content or tone, and you answer by choosing every option the passage supports. Unlike single-answer multiple choice, more than one option can be correct, so you need to evaluate each one on its own rather than stopping once you've found a single answer that seems right.

• Read every option as a full sentence: Resist the urge to skim for a keyword match. An option can share vocabulary with the passage while making a claim the passage never states, so judge the whole sentence, not a fragment of it.
• Both content and tone: A question can ask what the passage says, or what attitude or tone the writer takes. Read the question stem carefully before you start selecting.
• Judge every option independently: Treat each option as its own true-or-false judgement against the passage, rather than stopping once you have found a single answer that feels sufficient.
• You can revise a selection: You are not locked into an early choice. Review and adjust your selections before you finalise the item; the same way you would check any other answer before submitting it.

Options are usually longer and more detailed than in single-answer multiple choice, because each one has to stand on its own as a claim you can check against the passage. Give yourself time to read every option fully rather than scanning for a matching keyword, see Pacing & Time Control for how much time per option that leaves you across a full Reading section.

How does negative marking work in this task?

This is the one Part 2 Reading task with negative marking, and the rule is identical in both exams. (Highlight Incorrect Words, an integrated Listening task in Part 3 that also contributes to your Reading score, carries its own penalty for wrong selections, but it is not part of the Reading section itself. Listening has its own Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers task too, scored the same way.)

Because wrong selections subtract points, guessing broadly is a losing strategy. Select an option only when the passage supports it as a complete claim, not because it repeats a word from the question.

The floor of zero means a very wrong attempt never becomes a negative score, but it also means there is no reward for volume. Two confident, correct selections beat five uncertain ones almost every time, because each uncertain extra selection is a coin flip between +1 and −1.

How to work through a multiple-answers question

• Read the question before the passage: Know what you're looking for, a fact, a cause, a tone, before you read in detail, so you avoid rereading the whole passage for every option.
• Judge every option against the text: Treat each option as a separate claim. Find the sentence that supports or contradicts it before deciding either way.
• Separate ‘mentioned’ from ‘answers the question’: A passage can mention a topic without an option about that topic being a correct answer to the specific question asked.
• Watch absolute words: Words like always, only, never and all raise the bar for what the passage must say, one of the four checks in Answer Elimination. A plausible-sounding option can fail because the passage only hints at something the option states as certain.
• Decide on every option before you submit: Work through all the options in order, marking each one yes or no as you go, rather than stopping once you've found what feels like enough correct answers.

A worked multiple-answers example

How do you avoid losing points to negative marking?

When you review a practice attempt, look specifically at any option you selected incorrectly. Ask what made it tempting: a repeated word, a plausible-sounding claim, or an absolute word you missed. Naming the pattern makes it easier to catch on the next item.