Hi
A common mistake in multiple choice questions in the IELTS Listening test is to get distracted by words in the audio recording that match words in one of the possible answers.
To show you what I mean, here’s a multiple choice question from Section 2 of the Listening test in the Official IELTS Practice Materials and a transcript of the audio recording.
The Bridge Hotel is located in
A) the city centre
B) the country
C) the suburbs
Transcript: “Set in a quiet residential area on the attractive outskirts of Belford, about three miles from the city centre, the Bridge Hotel is a popular choice for conferences.”
In this example, many candidates may be distracted when they hear ‘the city centre’ in the recording and choose ‘A’ . The correct answer, however, is ‘C’ because the hotel is on the outskirts of Belford and ‘outskirts’ is a synonym of ‘suburbs’ (i.e. ‘outskirts’ is a word with a similar meaning to ‘suburbs’).
Here’s another example from the same test:
The newest sports facility in the hotel is
A) a swimming pool
B) a fitness centre
C) a tennis court
Transcript: “The Bridge Hotel is set in three and a half hectares of grounds with an open-air swimming pool and four tennis courts. There is also a newly opened gym with fitness suite, which is considered one of the best equipped in the area.”
I’ll post the answer in a couple of days.
Pete
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It’s a very good idea if you post some examples of IELTS tests that sometimes make us confused. Would you mind sending some tips about how to do listening ang grammar test in IELTS tests? Thank you for your full attention …
I’m glad you found the examples useful, Willian.
Check out our blog post ‘You now have half a minute…‘ for a tip for the IELTS Listening test.
There isn’t a separate grammar test in IELTS, but your grammar will be assessed in the IELTS Writing and Speaking tests. For some suggesions about how to improve your grammar, have a look at our posts ‘How to make fewer mistakes in your writing‘ and ‘Compared to… (2)‘.
Best wishes,
Pete
Dear Sir
It is very difficult for me to solve matching type questions in ielts listening. Please tell me any tip to solve it.
Thanks
Hi Rashid,
I can understand why you find matching questions in IELTS Listening difficult; in these questions, there’s usually a lot of information to look at while you’re trying to listen.
To show you one way to make this type of question easier, here’s an example from Section 3 of the same Listening test as the examples in the post above.
In this example, I think it’s easier to concentrate and take notes on what Katy and Harry will do, and then use your notes to match the options to the answers once the recording has finished.
If you try to listen and match at the same time, you may not be able to keep up with the recording.
Best wishes,
Pete
Hello, I find this website very useful; moreover, I offer it to everyone around me. Come to think of it, I would like to ask a question to you. Nowadays, I am thinking of taking an ielts exam; however, I am not sure whether my English level is enough or not in order to qualify for this exam. Could you give some ideas about what to do so as to find out my English level please?
Hi Turan,
I’m glad you find this blog useful, and thank you for telling other IELTS candidates about how useful it is.
In answer to your question, I think that you should do an official IELTS practice test to get an idea of your level before you take the IELTS exam for real. I recommend using one of the practice tests in the Official IELTS Practice Materials or in the Cambridge IELTS series (e.g. Cambridge IELTS 7 or 8).
After doing the IELTS Listening and Reading tests, you can check your level by looking at ‘How are my listening and reading assessed in IELTS‘.
It’s obviously more difficult to check whether your writing and speaking are good enough yourself, but you can see how the examiner will assess these skills on the IELTS Writing and IELTS Speaking pages of our website.
If you’d like some individual feedback on your writing and speaking from one of our IELTS tutors, have a look at the tutoring options on the IELTS tutoring page of our website.
Pete
This is very informative blog. I have question for you about distraction happened during the listening exam. During the listening exam when the tape reached in question 21-24, the Azan (prayer) from outside the examination hall. It start distraction during the question 21-24 so I totally missed the listening conversation during that particular time..The head of the exam paused the listening tape after question 24. She did not rewind it. I made complaint and then further apply EOR (a re-mark) for listening. The British Council offered me full free IELTS test again, but my concern is that awarded me 4 marks as compensation rather giving the full Ielts exam again because I got the 7, 6.5, 6.0 in other module. I got 5.5 in listening. So please can you answer me that what is the exactly criteria if distraction caused during listening exam about compensation because retaking all 4 module of ielts, I do not understand any sense. Please reply me.
Hi Salman,
I’m sorry to hear how your IELTS Listening test went and that you’re disappointed with how the IELTS test centre responded to your complaint. It’s a shame that you’re not allowed to resit the Listening test only, but IELTS have always required candidates to sit all four modules of the test (Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking).
If you’re taking your next test at the same centre, it may be a good idea to speak to the IELTS administrator a couple of days before the test and remind him/her what happened in your previous test.
Good luck,
Pete