Listening
Sorting what you hear into a small set of options, usually in Section 3. With a practice exercise.
Matching and classifying in IELTS listening ask you to connect what you hear with a short list of options. Matching pairs one thing with another. Classifying sorts several statements into a set of categories that can repeat.
They appear most often in Section 3, where two or three people are discussing a project or a course. That is the hardest listening context in the test, because speakers interrupt each other, disagree and change their minds.
The two types
Similar tasks, one important difference.
Pairing items with features. Each option is normally used once, like finding the other sock in a pair.
Sorting statements into categories such as three people or three time periods. The same letter can be the answer several times.
Write A, B or C. Writing the name of the person or the category is marked wrong even when it is obviously correct.
In matching there are often more options than questions. Unused options are there to catch you.
In Section 3, the difficulty is usually attribution. Track which speaker is talking, because the answer depends on it.
Like the rest of the listening test. If you hear something matching question 28 while waiting for 27, you have missed one.
Method
Six steps, mostly preparation.
Learn them well enough not to reread during the recording. Looking back and forth is how candidates lose their place.
Section 3 usually gives you two or three names in the introduction. Write them down before the discussion starts.
A tick beside a name as each person talks keeps attribution straight, and attribution is what the question is testing.
The option will not use the recording's words. Needs updating might be heard as it is a few years out of date now.
In classifying, options repeat, so using one does not remove it. Ruling it out is a common and expensive assumption.
Waiting for an answer you have already passed costs you the next two as well.
Practice
This is the transcript of a tutorial discussion. Match each book to what the lecturer says about it.
Student: I started with Qualitative Analysis by Gaston. Is that a reasonable choice?
Lecturer: It is, yes. It does not pretend the work is tidier than it is, which most introductions do. Stick with it.
Student: And Effective Research Analysis, by English and Gatehill?
Lecturer: Excellent, but I would borrow it rather than buy it. It is well over a hundred pounds now.
Student: The library also had Techniques that Work by Sandbrookes.
Lecturer: That one has not been revised since the early 2000s, so treat anything it says about software with caution.
Options: A Needs updating B Expensive C Realistic D Easy to understand
1Qualitative Analysis (Gaston)
C, realistic. It does not pretend the work is tidier than it is. Nothing is said about price or currency, and easy to understand is never mentioned.
2Effective Research Analysis (English and Gatehill)
B, expensive. Well over a hundred pounds. Excellent is praise, not one of the options, which is exactly the sort of distraction Section 3 uses.
3Techniques that Work (Sandbrookes)
A, needs updating. Not revised since the early 2000s. The paraphrase is complete: neither update nor out of date is said directly.
4Option D is never used. What does that tell you?
Unused options are normal. Matching questions usually offer more options than questions, and the spare ones exist to catch candidates guessing.
5In a classifying question, can the same letter be the answer twice?
Yes. This is the key difference from matching. Assuming a used option is unavailable is one of the commonest errors in this question type.
Nearly everyone does. Several speakers, interruptions and changes of mind make attribution hard, and it is the section where practice pays the most.
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With a transcript you can check who said what. In the test the conversation moves on and does not repeat.
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Matching pairs items with features, and options are usually used once. Classifying sorts statements into categories, and the same category can be the answer several times.
No. If the question asks for a letter, writing the name is marked wrong even when it is clearly the right answer.
Not always. Matching questions often provide more options than questions, and the extras are there to catch candidates who guess.
Most often Section 3, a discussion between two or three people about study or a project. That is the hardest listening context in the test.
Write the speakers' names down during the introduction and tick beside them as each person talks. Attribution is usually what the question is testing.
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