Reading the question before the audio
The time before the audio is the marks
- Before each section you are given time to read the questions. That time is the biggest source of easy marks and most candidates waste it.
- Do not read the questions as sentences. Read the gaps.
- You are listening for a small number of specific words, and you can decide what kind of word each one is before you hear anything.
Predict the word class
- The tour leaves at ______ → a time.
- Bring a ______ → a singular noun.
- The museum is ______ on Mondays → an adjective.
- The fee is £______ → a number.
- Ask for ______ at reception → a name, and it will be spelled out.
- Knowing what you are waiting for is most of the work. A candidate waiting for "a time" hears quarter past four even at speed; a candidate waiting for "the answer" hears nothing.
'The workshop costs £______ for members.' What kind of word are you waiting for?
The £ sign in front of the gap fixes it. Deciding this before the recording starts is most of the work.
Underline the word limit, every time
- NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER means a three-word answer is wrong, even when it is true.
- This rule costs more marks than mishearing does, and it costs them to strong candidates.
- A hyphenated word counts as one. A number counts as one. Car park is two; car-park is one.
- Write the limit at the top of the section and check your answers against it in the transfer time.
The instruction says TWO WORDS. Your answer 'the main entrance hall' is correct in meaning, so it earns the mark.
It is four words and is marked wrong. The word limit is enforced exactly, and it costs strong candidates more marks than mishearing does.
How many words does IELTS count 'car-park' as?
One — a hyphenated word counts as one. Written 'car park' it is two, which matters under a two-word limit.
What will and will not be paraphrased
- Not paraphrased: names, numbers, dates, times, prices, spellings. They are said as they are written.
- Paraphrased: almost everything else. The recording will not use the question's own words.
- Question: the club meets ______ a month. Recording: we get together twice every month → twice.
- ⚠ So underline the words in the question that cannot change — those are your landmarks — and expect the rest to arrive in different clothes.
Which of these will the recording say exactly as they are written in the question? Choose all that apply.
Names, numbers, dates, times and prices arrive unchanged; almost everything else is paraphrased, which is why listening for the question's own words hears nothing.
Keep up, whatever happens
- The questions come in the order the recording gives them. If you are on question 14 and hear the answer to 16, you have missed two.
- Never stop to work out a missed answer. You will lose the next one as well. Leave it blank and move your eye to the next gap.
- Guess every blank before the section ends. No penalty, three options on a multiple choice, and a blank is worth nothing.
- On paper you get 10 minutes afterwards to copy answers across. Use it to check spellings and plurals, not to reopen decisions.
You miss the answer to question 14. What should you do?
Move on immediately — stopping costs the next answer too. Fill the blank with a guess at the end of the section, not while the recording is still running.