Listening
Why every option gets mentioned, and how to tell the answer from the distractors. With a practice exercise and answers.
IELTS listening multiple choice questions are difficult for a reason that has nothing to do with your English. In most questions you will hear something connected to every option, and only one of them is the answer.
That is deliberate. The test is checking whether you can tell a direct statement from a contradiction, a correction or a near miss, in real time, with the recording playing once and no chance to go back.
Distractors
Four things happen to the wrong options. Recognising which one you are hearing is the whole skill.
The speaker says the opposite. If the option is house prices are falling and the speaker says prices are stable, that option is out.
The speaker says something that rules it out without naming it. Rather than keeping still quietly cancels an option about staying in bed.
The meaning is close but not exact. Only when you have the energy is not the same as regularly, and that difference is the entire question.
The words appear, sometimes prominently, but they do not answer what was asked. This catches candidates listening for vocabulary rather than meaning.
Method
Six habits, most of them things to do before the recording starts.
You get twenty to forty seconds before each section. Use all of it on the options, not on checking earlier answers.
When options are similar, mark only the words that differ. If all three say flowers and the difference is the colour, listen for the colour.
The recording will not use the words on the page. Before it starts, think how each option could be said differently.
Half a match is not a match. If the option says wins because of a positive attitude, hearing they feel positive is not enough.
Speakers change their minds mid-sentence, and the second version is the answer. Keep listening after you think you have heard it.
There is no penalty for a wrong answer. If you missed it, choose something and move to the next question immediately.
Practice
This is the transcript of a short recording. Read it, then answer the questions as if you had heard it once.
Given the general standard of living here, many people are surprised by the decline in home ownership. Over the last fifteen years the number of homeowners has fallen by more than seven per cent, yet this is not a reflection of financial pressures.
House prices are relatively stable, so there is no need to worry about a property losing value, and few people are put off by the cost of maintenance on the building itself. The reason for the growing popularity of renting is in fact the result of fluidity in the job market, and the fact that the obligations involved in owning a house often tie people to one location.
1According to the speaker, why do more people rent rather than buy?
C. The speaker gives fluidity in the job market as the reason directly. The other three are all mentioned in some form, which is exactly the point.
2What happens to option D, about losing money?
Directly contradicted. House prices are relatively stable, so there is no need to worry about a property losing value.
3What happens to option A, about affording a deposit?
Indirectly contradicted. This is not a reflection of financial pressures rules out money problems without ever using the word deposit.
4What happens to option B, about repairs?
Nearly right. Few people are put off by the cost of maintenance is close to less to worry about, but it is given as something that does not stop people buying, not as a reason to rent.
5By how much has home ownership fallen?
More than seven per cent. Option A drops the words more than, which changes the meaning. Fifteen is in the recording but refers to years, not per cent.
That is the design of the question type, and it is one of the few parts of IELTS where practice with explanations beats improving your English.
The complete IELTS course on IELTStestONLINE has video lessons on every question type, many more exercises like this one, and your own support tutor you can ask when an answer does not make sense. Take a look at the complete course
Working from a transcript is easier than the real thing, where the recording plays once and you cannot go back.
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It is deliberate. Wrong options are contradicted, indirectly ruled out, or made nearly right so that candidates listening for words rather than meaning choose them.
Once. There is no repeat, which is why reading the questions in the pause beforehand matters so much.
Yes. If you hear the answer to question 4 before you have found question 3, you have missed it. Put something down and move on rather than waiting.
Yes. The listening and speaking tests are identical in both modules. Only reading and writing differ.
On the paper test you get ten minutes at the end of the listening test. On the computer-delivered test you get two minutes, because you type answers straight in as you go.
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Getting four out of five here is encouraging. It is not a band score, and it does not tell you how you would do across four sections with no transcript.
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