Ielts listening short answer questions practice

Short answer questions need candidates to read a question and write a short answer using the information from the audio. This question is meant to test the ability to answer questions within the word limit as designated. In this question type, commonly, distractors are used. A distractor is something that appears when you get wrong information. With distractors, you may end up choosing the wrong message. Thus, you must listen to the recording carefully and give correct answers.

There are a few strategies that have to be borne in mind while answering these types of questions. They are listed below:

Before you listen to the given prompt, take your time to read the question and possible answers given in the options to understand the keywords and the topic.
Once done, underline all of the keywords. These are such essential words that will take your attention when you will be listening to the recording. Generally, avoid underlining basic adjectives, pronouns and adverbs.
Pay special attention to question words. These will help you find answers easily.
Now, you can begin listening. As you listen, write out all of the information so that you will remember it afterward.
Make sure your answer is accurate. Use your common sense when answering the given questions.

Some tips to answer the questions and obtain a high band in the IELTS examination are given below:

Use the 20 seconds [that you will get before listening to the prompt] and read the given information and underline keywords.
All the answers will be in order as per the prompt. So, listen carefully.
Experiment with outlining techniques.
Study your questions and try finding out their meanings.
Don’t waste your time before and after the recording is played. Focus on what’s important.
Don’t write more than what is asked. This will result in wrong marking of your answer.
Even if the exam is tough, choose what seems best. Don’t leave anything blank.
Don’t write in illegible or messy handwriting.

Section 2 is a monologue of a University Jack giving you a guided tour of the library.

Good morning and welcome to the main library of the University of British Columbia. My name is George Martin and I’m the head Jack. I’m happy to give you a brief introduction to our library. I guess I’m qualified. I’ve been working here since 1961. Back in the days when the only electrical were electronic stuff here was the lights. Oh and the phones of course. Mechanical typewriters and slide rules there. No fancy laptops and cellphones. Computers, in a library? No way. Everything was on paper. If you needed to find something, you went to the card index and if that didn’t help, you asked one of the staff and if that didn’t work, you told your professor that you couldn’t write the essay because the library didn’t have the book you needed. My, you students have it so easy nowadays. We’ve got about 15 computer terminals on each of our 4 floors. If you know the title or the author, then you can find out if we’ve got it in seconds and if we do, where it is. If we haven’t got it then you can find out if the public libraries and other university libraries in Vancouver and Burnaby have it. Now you know that library books are arranged according to the numbers on the back of each book. Does anyone know the name of this numbering system? Right, the Dewey decimal classification system, which was invented by Melvil Dewey, an American Jack not John Dewey the philosopher.

Pause

In Melvil’s day, book classification systems were in a real mess and he decided to do something about it and around 1876, came up with the system we still use today. Look up there and you can see a list of basic categories. 000 generalities which include all sorts of things – encyclopedias, news media etcetera. Then a 100 – philosophy and psychology. 200 – Religion. 300 – Social sciences and so on up to 900 – Geography and History. With over 4 million books, actually, nearer to 5 million now, we have a lot to thank Melvil for. Now, if you look out to your right, you can see the layout of the library. It’s very logical. We start down here on the first floor or the ground floor for our British cousins with three zeros – generalities and so on up to the fourth floor with all the 800 th and 900 th . By the way, you won’t find books on medicine and dentistry here. There all over in the medical library just to the east of the medical school. Now, if you look at the plan of the 2 nd floor, you can see we can have a CD and DVD library. The music collection covers just about everything that we call serious. From Bach and Beethoven, Folk music, blues, early rock ‘n’ roll and Jazz and more. But sorry, no punk, heavy metal, rap or hip hop yet. For oriental music, like Peking opera, you’ll have to get to the Asian study center or Chinatown. A word about taking books out, the usual lending period is two weeks. But a few books in great demand can only be taken out for 2 days and I suggest you try to return books on time. The fine is $1 a day for the first week and a $1 a day thereafter. One last thing, your fancy new smart Mary card is also your library card and you can also use it to pay at the Mary cafeteria. So don’t lose it or you will starve to death without any library books. Okay, I guess that’s enough here. Let’s move up to the 2 nd floor.

Write NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

What is the name of the university?
When did the head librarian start working at the library?
How many computer terminals are there on each floor?
On what floor are the geography and history books?

1. University of British Columbia

2. 1961

3. 15

4. 4th floor

For the first question, it is clear from the talk which goes thus:

“Good morning and welcome to the main library of the University of British Columbia.”

For the second question, it is clear from the talk which goes thus:

“My name is George Martin and I’m the head Jack. I’m happy to give you a brief introduction to our library. I guess I’m qualified. I’ve been working here since 1961.”

For the third question, it is clear from the talk which goes thus:

“We’ve got about 15 computer terminals on each of our 4 floors.”

For the fourth question, it is clear from the talk which goes thus:

“Then a 100 – philosophy and psychology. 200 – Religion. 300 – Social sciences and so on up to 900 – Geography and History. With over 4 million books, actually, nearer to 5 million now, we have a lot to thank Melvil for. Now, if you look out to your right, you can see the layout of the library. It’s very logical. We start down here on the first floor or the ground floor for our British cousins with three zeros – generalities and so on up to the fourth floor with all the 800 th and 900 th.”

What does this type of question intend to improve?

With short answer questions from the listening section, you can improve your listening skills, patience and attentiveness.

Should I write sentences in the answer?

No, you would have to answer within the word count as mentioned in the instructions. It could be anywhere between a one to five or above words answer.

What are distractors?

A distractor is when you get wrong information. This can result in the selection of an incorrect answer. Distractors are quite common in the IELTS Listening section. Thus, you would have to be attentive while answering them.

Also check :

The IELTS Listening test sample in this lesson is a short answer question. These come up regularly in the exam and can appear in any section of the test. They are particularly common in Section 2 which will be a monologue set in an everyday social context, for example, a welcome talk for new college students.

You must listen to the recording and write a short answer in each blank space provided. Sometimes, more than one answer will be required, for example,

What are the TWO major concerns new students have regarding accommodation?

This lesson includes:

Here are two IELTS Listening test sample questions to give you an idea of what to expect.

The first is from a past test paper and the second has been created specifically to teach you the strategy for answering this type of question and to illustrate some tips.

IELTS Listening Test Sample – Question 1

Source: Official IELTS website www.ieltsessential.com

IELTS Listening Test Sample – Question 2

We’ll be using this second example as our IELTS Listening test sample question to practice the strategy and tips I’m about to show you.

Strategy & Tips

You will have a short time to prepare before the speakers begin talking. Use this time to familiarise yourself with the question and focus your mind on what you need to listen out for.

1] Read the instructions

Read the instructions carefully, paying particular attention to how many words you are allowed to write for the answer as this does vary.

The instructions for our sample question state that you must,

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

If you write more than three words, your answer will be marked incorrect even if the information you give is correct.

Instructions do vary and the limit could be TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER or ONLY ONE WORD, so don’t get caught out.

2] Answer order

The answers will come in the same order in the recording as they are listed in the question so, for this question, you will hear answer 1 first, then answer 2 and so on. This makes it easier to pick out the answers than if they were in a random order.

3] Predict the answers

Try to predict what the answers might be. This will focus your mind on what to listen out for in the recording.

Occasionally, you’ll be able to predict the actual word but mostly it’s one or more of these things that you’ll be able to determine:

The type of information required, e.g. name, date, time, phone number, address, price.

The type of word required, e.g. noun, adjective, verb.

Any clues you can get will help you to understand the audio and identify the information needed for the answers.

Have a go at predicting some of the answers in our short answer question. Then have a look at my predictions below.

Here are the questions:

There aren't enough clues in the questions in this instance to guess any of the words but we can make these predictions:

Predictions

1 – a time

2 to 5 – a noun [& adjective?]

4] Synonyms and paraphrasing

Synonyms and paraphrasing will be used extensively in the recording. So, you will not only be listening for the exact words that are used in the questions but also, different words and phrases that have the same meaning.

In your preparation time, scan the questions and underline key words that are likely to be replaced by synonyms or paraphrased. Then, quickly think of words that might be used instead.

I’ve underlined some important key words in our practice question. Can you think of some synonyms for them or ways the information might be paraphrased?

What time does the farm park open?

Which TWO attractions are most popular with visitors?

Name TWO improvements that are planned for the venue next season.

We’ll look at the synonyms and paraphrasing that have actually been used when we review the answers.

5] Problematic vocabulary

There are 6 types of vocabulary that can cause particular problems for students and some of them are regularly used in short answer questions. The 6 types are:

You must be able to recognise them in speech and to write them correctly in your answers.

I’ve written a whole lesson on this topic, including 8 listening exercises to help you recognise & learn these types of vocabulary. Follow this link to the lesson: Vocabulary Lesson & Exercises

6] Watch out for distractors

The examiners may try and catch you out with distractors. A distractor is a word or a phrase that changes or corrects the original piece of information given. So, you may be given an answer and then have it taken away again.

Here are some sample sentences containing distractors. I’ve highlighted the relevant words.

For most of the year, we are open from 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. but now that the dark days of December have arrived, we welcome visitors from 10 a.m. and close at 4 o’clock.

The birds of prey have long been our favourite display with visitors. However, this year the sheep dog trials have proved even more popular.

Entrance price was £6.50 per person until May 1st when it increased by 20p to £6.70.

The use of ‘but’ and ‘however’ are particularly common distractors but there are many different words and phrases that can be used to change or correct a piece of information so be alert for them.

7] Guess if necessary

My final tip is to never leave a blank space on the answer sheet. If you miss an answer, take an educated guess. This gives you at least some chance of getting it right. Don’t stress about a missed answer or it will affect your ability to answer the next set of questions. Just make your choice and move on.

Practice Activity

It’s now time for you to practice using this strategy on our sample question. Here it is again.

IELTS Listening Test Sample Question

Listen to this recording and identify the missing words. Refer back to the strategy as you need to and keep the predictions in mind. As you’re listening, remind yourself that you are not looking for the exact words as in the question but the same meaning.

When you’ve completed the practice activity, go through the answers below.

IELTS Listening Test Sample Recording – Short Answer

Answers

Here are the correct answers. The words in brackets are correct but optional.

Answers:

1 9.30 [a.m./am]

2 [new] boating lake

3 [miniature] steam train

4 [trout] fishing lake

5 [outdoor] trampolines

We’ll now look at them in context and examine the language that has been used, especially synonyms and paraphrasing.

Answer 1: 9.30 [a.m./am]

Here’s the question followed by the sentence of the recording the answer appears in:

Question:

What time does the farm park open?

Recording:

Be at the gates at 9.30 when Farmer Tom unlocks, and you can be the first visitors inside.

Synonym used:

open à unlocks

This is a typical example of how information will be paraphrased in the recording. The same information is expressed in two very different ways in the questions and the audio text.

Answers 2 & 3: [new] boating lake & [miniature] steam train

Here’s the question followed by the sentence of the recording the two answers appear in:

Question:

Which TWO attractions are most popular with visitors?

Recording:

Voted favourite feature for the past five years, our pet area has been knocked off pole position this year by a new boating lake and the miniature steam train.

Synonyms used:

attractions à feature

IELTS Listening – All Lessons

IELTS Listening Test – Understand the format & question types. Know what skills are assessed. Also, discover 3 important marking tips.

Listening Strategies – Learn 3 essential listening strategies – question analysis, answer prediction & how to use keyword clues.

Listening Skills – Learn the 4 key listening skills needed for a high score highly. Examples from real questions.

Listening Exercises – 8 listening exercises to help you recognise & learn vocabulary for 6 common topics – time, numbers, prices, dates, letter names & addresses.

The 10 Question Types – Examples of all 10 types of Listening questions. Learn how to recognise & understand them. Links to 10 step-by-step lessons.

Listening Tips – Top 10 tips to bring you success in your Listening test. Essential information you need to know to achieve a high score.

How to Improve Your Listening Skills – 6 simple strategies essential for achieving a high score in the test.

Listening Practice – 4 practice techniques to develop your listening skills

Map & Plan Vocabulary – Learn the vocabulary you need for your test. 5 maps & plans with sample sentences containing common vocabulary of location & direction.

Listening Practice Samples – Short activities to improve your listening skills & help you learn topic vocabulary.

Genuine Full Practice Tests:

All these lessons include IELTS Listening test sample questions for you to learn from.

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