How to Answer IELTS Listening Questions (Part 1)

Sample IELTS Listening Questions

In this post we will go through examples of different IELTS Listening question types. First, you need to download the example questions and audio.

Go to https://www.ielts.org/about-the-test/sample-test-questions

Click on ‘Listening’. You will see there are 9 sample tasks you can download and print. Save them all – each of the following lessons uses one of those sample tasks. (Important: Be careful when you open them – the answers are shown on the last page). After you have printed the 9 sample tasks, you are ready to continue with this post, which looks at Sample Tasks 1-7.

As you go through this lesson, I will tell you what to do in the time before you listen. Having completed this, you should pause this lesson, do the sample task, then come back to the lesson.

How to Answer Form Completion

Form Completion is a common task in Section 1 of the listening test. It is the easiest part of the test, so you should aim to get all the answers correct. You have to listen to two people speaking and complete a form with specific details.

Before you listen, read the form carefully and think about the situation and the kind of information you need to complete it.

In the sample task, the situation is a student is calling a shipping agency to get a quote (find out the cost) for sending a box of things back to his home country, Kenya. You have to listen and complete gaps 1-8 with no more than three words and or a number. What will go in those gaps?

1. His last name / surname
2. The name of the college
3. The postcode (letters and numbers)
4. How wide the container / box is?
5. How high the container / box is?
6. What will be in the box? / What are the contents?
7. Same as 6.
8. How much the contents cost / the total value of all the contents

Now listen and complete the task.

After Listening

Hopefully, you found that task quite easy. Here are a few notes about this kind of task:

• Unusual names will usually be spelt
• Postcodes are not repeated
• Some answers are close together (like 4 and 5). You have to listen and write at the same time.
• Incorrect spellings are marked wrong – including missed ‘s’. So, if you wrote (some) book or (some) toy for answer 6 and 7, then your answers are wrong.
• Question 8 is made more difficult by including more the one price – he mentions 1500, another 200 and finally 1700. The final number is correct. This kind of thing happens often in the listening test.
• Remember – Section 1 is the easiest. You should aim to get all the answers correct in this section.

How to Answer Multiple Choice

Multiple choice questions are used in all sections of the listening test. They may be used to test listening for specific details or to test general understanding of the main points. This example comes from Section 1, following on from the previous form completion task. There are two questions, each with three options.

With multiple choice, the most important thing to note is that IELTS will usually make the questions harder by mentioning all three options in the listening text. They will also use synonyms and paraphrase so that you have to match the meaning and not just the words.
Before you listen, think about how they might paraphrase the language in the questions. For example, in Question 9 there are three options: Economy, Standard and Premium. These options may be paraphrased as ‘the cheapest / the lowest’, ‘the mid-level option’, and ‘the most expensive / the highest’.
The customer might also change their mind, as a way of making it more difficult by mentioning more than one option. E.g ‘I think I’ll go for the cheapest then. Oh, no, wait, maybe that’s not the best idea – I should get standard.’

Now listen and complete the task.

How to Answer Short Answer Questions

Like multiple choice, short answer questions are used throughout the listening test. They are used to test listening for specific information and you are always given a word limit. If you write over the word limit then your answer is wrong.

Before you listen, you should:

• Read the instructions carefully – note how many words you can use.
• Underline the keywords in the questions.
• Think of synonyms / paraphrase for the keywords / questions
• Predict possible answers

Questions 11 and 12:

• Keywords: Social contact / foreign country / difficult
• Synonyms: meeting people / another country / hard
• Possible answers: ???

Questions 13 and 14:

• Keywords: community groups / examples
• Synonyms: community activities / group activities / club
• Possible answer: Could be any kind of club! Sports, music, chess, handicrafts, etc.

Questions 15 and 16:

• Keywords: places / information / found
• Synonyms: where / location / get info / find out about
• Possible answers: Public buildings in a town, e.g. ???

Remember, even if you can’t predict very well or don’t get it right, thinking about the possibilities before you listen will activate your language and make the listening easier. Also, remember that these answer are likely to be close together – so listen and write at the same time.

Now listen and complete the task.

How to Answer Sentence Completion

You have to complete sentences with a number of missing words from the listening text. Like short answer questions, you are given a word count that you must not exceed. This sample task is from Section 3, which is a discussion between two or more speakers in an academic context.

Again, you should aim to make the listening easier by activating language before you listen. Try to predict the synonyms / paraphrase they will use in the listening text, as well as possible answers. (And really – most of these answers can be guessed before you listen!)

Question 27:

• Keywords: Studying / Open University / demanded / a great deal
• Synonyms: Learning / needed or required / a lot / significant amount
• Possible answers: Discipline / focus / motivation / attention / independence

Question 28:

• Keywords: studying / working / same time / improved
• Synonyms: learning / doing a course / having a job / together / increased / got better at
• Possible answers: time management / discipline / organisation skills

Question 29:

• Keywords: helpful / course / structured
• Synonyms: useful or beneficial / made easier / degree / split into / broken into / made up of
• Possible answers: units / modules / lessons

Question 30:

• Keywords: enjoyed / meeting / students
• Synonyms: liked / seeing / being with / friends on the course
• Possible answers: Places – ???

Now listen and complete the task.

How to Answer Matching Tasks

In matching tasks you have to match a list of options with items from the listening test. In the first matching sample, from Section 3, the items are 5 courses and the options are ‘will definitely do’, ‘might do’ and ‘won’t do’.

The course are all names – so they cannot be changed. So before you listen, you need to think of synonyms for the options ‘will’, ‘might’ and ‘won’t’. For example:

He’ll definitely do it.

• I’ll take that one.
• I’ll sign up for that one.
• I’ll have to do that one.

He may or may not do it.

• I’ll have to think about that one.
• I’m not sure about that one.
• That’s a possibility.

He won’t do it.

• I’d rather not do that.
• I don’t think that sounds very interesting.
• I’m not keen on that at all.

Now listen and complete the task.

After Listening

It’s worth thinking about what the answers are and how you know.
What language did you hear?

• Q21 He says, ‘Well that was interesting, but I’ve decided I’d rather do something completely new’, so the answer is C.
• Q22 He says, ‘Oh, really? I’ll sign up for that, then’, so the answer is A.
• Q23 He says, ‘Anyway, I’ll think about that one’, so the answer is B.
• Q24 He says, ‘Right, well I might wait until then to decide’, so the answer is B.
• Q25 He says, ‘Oh, I’ll forget about that one, then’, so the answer is C.

How to Answer Matching Tasks (Again!)

The second sample matching task is from Section 1. In this task, the options are five hotels that you have to match to four options. Again, the hotels are names, so no synonyms – you need to think of synonyms for the options before you listen:

1. Is in a rural area
   Possible paraphrase: Is outside of the town / is in the countryside
2. Only opened recently
   Possible paraphrase: is newly opened / just opened a few weeks ago
3. Offers facilities for business functions
   Possible paraphase: has meeting rooms / conference halls / is used for meetings / conferences / business
4. Has an indoor swimming pool
   Possible paraphrase: None! But listen for hotels with outdoor versus hotels with indoor pools.

Again, the point of doing this before you listen is not to accurately predict all the answers – that is not possible. It is to activate useful language and help you focus on the information you need to listen for.

Now listen and complete the task.

How to Answer Labelling a Plan or Map

These tasks test your ability to understand language for describing spatial relationships and directions. You have to complete a plan or map with a list of options given on the question paper. There will be more options given than are needed and you only have to write the letter for an option on the answer sheet.

Before you listen, spend your time describing the plan or map to yourself. Focus on describing where things are in relation to each other and use the order of the questions to help you. The sample task shows a library with five gaps to fill in (Questions 11-15). So, describe the plan, starting from the entrance, then numbers 11 to 15 in that order. Like this:

Just to the right of the main entrance is the librarian’s desk and opposite this / to the left of the entrance is Number 11. In front of the librarian’s desk is Number 12 and behind this is the library area. This has fiction to the left, non-fiction to the right Number 13 in the middle / at the back. There is a seminar room in the back left corner and next to it is Number 14. Number 15 is in the back right corner, behind the non-fiction books.

Now listen and complete the task.

After Listening

Let’s have a look at some excerpts from the listening with useful language and answers highlighted:

• ‘The first room on your left has an excellent collection of reference books and is also a place where people can read or study peacefully.’ So 11 = H
• ‘Just beyond the librarian’s desk on the right is a room where we have up to date periodicals such as newspapers and magazines…’ So 12 = G
• ‘There is fiction in the shelves on the left, and non-fiction materials on your right, and on the shelves on the far wall there is an excellent collection of books relating to local history.’ So 13 = D
• ‘Through the far door in the library just past the fiction shelves is a seminar room, and that can be booked for meetings or talks, and next door to that is the children’s library, which…..’ So 14 = B
• ‘Then there’s a large room to the right of the library area – that’s the multimedia collection…’ So 15 = F

That’s it for Part 1 of How to Answer IELTS Listening Questions. In Part 2 and Part 3, we will look at Listening Samples 8 and 9 from ielts.org, which are actually a complete IELTS Listening Section 2 and a complete IELTS Listening Section 3.