IELTS Listening Multiple Choice Tips

This lesson has IELTS listening multiple choice tips and strategies to improve your
score in the test.

It shows you how to approach this type of question and highlights some aspects that you
should be aware of.

In this type of question you are usually given three choices of answers. It is commonly
found in parts two, three and four of the listening test.

The questions will be harder the further on you get in the sections of the test.

There are certain things in this kind of question that can easily trip you up and lead to
mistakes. Learning about these will improve your ability to listen and identify the correct
answer.

There are several reasons why this type of question can be difficult and we'll now look at
some IELTS listening multiple choice tips to help you understand this.

What are the difficulties with IELTS Listening Multiple Choice

Questions?

Hearing all the words

In this type of question, it is very likely that you will hear ALL the words that you are
given in each choice. Two will obviously not be referring to the answer, so you need to
listen very carefully to make sure you get the correct one.

Similar Choices

Another problem is that you may be given very similar choices. For example, all the
choices may refer to ‘years’, so it is easy to choose the wrong one. Also, the information
you hear about each choice may be quite similar.

Paraphrases and synonyms

Also, sentences and words that you hear in the listening will often be changed in the
actual listening script. The test would be quite easy if you could heard exactly what you
see in the question, but it will be changed in some way.
A different order

The person you hear speaking may not necessarily give you the information or choices in
the same order as the question you see on the paper.  

A Real Example of a Question

In this next part of the IELTS listening multiple choice tips, we look at an example to
explain the points above a bit more.

This is taken from a real IELTS test. It is from section 2 of the test, so it will be slightly
easier than a multiple choice that you would get in sections 3 or 4, but the same principles
apply.

Below the question is the section of the listening script that refers to the question.

1. PS Camping has been organising holidays for

      A. 15 years 
      B. 20 years 
      C. 25 years 

____________

Thank you for coming to my talk this evening. It’s nice to see so many people in the
audience. For those of you who don’t know very much about PS Camping, let me start by
giving you some background information about the company.

The company started twenty five years ago. It actually started as a retail chain selling
camping equipment, and then twenty years ago, it bought a small number of campsites in
the UK, and began offering camping holidays. The company grew rapidly and has been
providing holidays in continental Europe for the last fifteen years.

So you should be able to spot some of the difficult things:

 You hear all the words – 25 years, 20 years and 15 years.

 There are similarities in the choices - they are all years with a mix of the
numbers ‘twenty’ and ‘five’ in there and they all mention about the company or
holidays.
 The question stem has been paraphrased - nowhere does it say “organising
holidays”. Instead you can see phrases like “began offering holidays” and
 “providing holidays”. This can be particularly confusing because you have to
understand which one fits with the question.
 The possible answers are in a different order to the audio – you hear ‘25’ first
and ‘15’ last.

How do you answer multiple choice questions?

The first thing you need to do is look through the questions. You have 30 seconds to do
this before you hear the audio.

Underline key words in the question stems and look at the choices so you know what to
listen out for.

So in this first one, you may underline “Organised Holidays”. You should focus on the
question stem but also look at the choices and note that you are listening out for ‘years’.

In this case, this sentence should tell you that you have got to the section of the listening
where the answer will be:

The company started twenty five years ago. It actually started as a retail chain selling
camping equipment, and then twenty years ago, it bought a small number of campsites in
the UK, and began offering camping holidays. The company grew rapidly and has been
providing holidays in continental Europe for the last fifteen years.

So when you hear this, make sure you are looking carefully at the question and the
choices and listening extremely carefully.

You need to listen carefully for what is said about each year so that you can identify the
right answer:

1. PS Camping has been organising holidays for:

A. 15 years
[has been providing holidays in continental Europe for the last fifteen years]

B. 20 years
[twenty years ago, it bought a small number of campsites in the UK, and began offering
camping holidays]

C. 25 years
[The company started twenty five years ago]

You can see how the question tries to trick you!

It distracts you from the correct answer by giving other statements that are quite similar
to the correct answer.
The answer is B, but you could easily end up thinking it is A or C if you are not listening
carefully enough.

The company started 25 years ago, but that is NOT when they started offering holidays
for camping.

It later clarifies that they did not start offering / organising holidays until 5 years later
(20 years ago) when they bought a campsite.

It is not A because this is just when they starting providing holidays in Europe, which
came later. That is not what the question asks. The question ask generally.

Another Example

Let’s look at another example, which is the next question, so you further understand the
IELTS listening multiple choice tips presented here:

2. The company has most camping sites in

      A. France 
      B. Italy
      C. Switzerland

___________

If you book a camping holiday with us, you'll have a choice of over three hundred sites.
In  Italy we have some 64 sites that we either own, or have exclusive use of. France is
where we have the majority of sites, and we currently have a project to expand
into Switzerland. We also have a number of sites in Northern Spain, particularly the
mountainous region of Picos de Europa. We've upgraded all these Spanish sites, and
improved them considerably from their original three-star rating.

The first sentence in red flags up that you have got to question 2, as does the fact that
after this they start talking about countries.

You'll see again that all the countries / choices are mentioned, meaning you have to
listen very carefully to the information about each country.

You should be able to identify that A is the correct answer, and that a paraphrase of 'most
sites' is used: 'majority of sites'.

IELTS Listening Distractors

In lesson one we looked at a form of IELTS listening distractors.
This was when you do multiple choice type questions and you hear all of the possible
choices but only one is correct.

You can check out that previous lesson here.

In this lesson we look at another form of distractor which is very common in part one of
the IELTS listening test.

This is when you hear a speaker correct him/herself, or the other speaker will correct
them. 

Basically, the speaker will give you a piece of information and you will think that is the
right answer.

But the speaker will then correct what they have said, and the new corrected piece of
information will in fact be the right answer.

Examples of Correction Distractors

These two examples of distractors are taken from a real IELTS listening test. The
distractor is in red / italics and the correct answer is in blue / underlined.

Example 1

In this situation, a woman is booking a journey into town for when she arrives at Toronto
Aiport. You have to note down the distance of the town, Milton, from the airport.

Take a look at the information you have to find in the qu

Question: Distance               ….. miles

************

MAN: Hello, this is Land Transport Information at Toronto Airport. How may I help
you?

WOMAN: Oh, good morning. I’m flying to Toronto Airport next week, and I need to get
to a town called Milton. Could you tell me how I can get there?

MAN: Milton, did you say? Let me see. I think that’s about 150 miles south-west of
here. In fact it’s 147 miles to be exact, so it will take you at least – say, three to four
hours by road.

As you can see, you will likely at first think that the answer is 150 miles, but it is actually
147 miles.
Example 2

Here is another example, further on in the same listening when the woman is arranging to
book a hire car to make the journey when she arrives.

Question: Date of booking _____________

************

MAN: OK, I just have to fill out this form for you. So what date do you want to book this
for?

WOMAN: The 16th of October – oh, no, sorry, that’s my departure date. I arrive on

the 17th, so book it for then, please.

Again, you will likely at first think the answer is the 16th and start to write that down, but
she corrects her mistake and confirms the date she needs the car for is the 17th.

Example 3

Here is another example taken from another real IELTS test. Here, a careers advisor is
trying to help a student to find a part-time job.

Question:

Position available Where Problem

Clerical Assistant ......................... Evening Lectures
************

ADVISOR: But you’d need to be there at 6am. Does that appeal?

STUDENT: Six o’clock in the morning! Oh, that’s far too early for me, I’m afraid. I’d
never make it that early in the morning.

ADVISOR: Mmm…Well – there was a position going in the Computer Lab. for three
days a week that might be OK. Ah, here it is! No, it’s in the Library, not the Lab. Clerical
Assistant required – I think it mostly involves putting the books back on the shelves. Oh
no – hang on. It’s for Wednesday and Friday evening instead.

STUDENT: No, I can't manage that because of the lectures.

In the above example, you think the position is the Computer Lab., but it turns out it is in
the Library.

Example 4
This final example is part of the same test as above.

The advisor is trying to find out the student's room number.

Question: Room number _____________

************

STUDENT: I’m in one of the Halls of Residence for post-graduate students, you know,
International House.

ADVISOR: OK – that’s easy. What’s your room number there?

STUDENT: Room B569 – no sorry B659. I always get that wrong. I haven’t been living
there very long.

ADVISOR: Do you have any other skills? Typing , languages, that sort of thing?

So the room number is 659, not 569.

Tips for Distractors

The most important tip is really just to make sure that you are aware of correction
distractors (which you now are!). They also emphasise the importance of listening very
carefully.

Here are some general tips

 Be aware of possible distractors, particulary in Part One where they are common
 Don't assume the first thing you hear as the answer is the actual answer - listen
carefully to what comes after that
 Words such as 'no'and 'sorry' tell you that there may be another answer coming up
to correct the first. Take a look at the examples above - you'll see those words
appear in several of the examples after the first incorrect answer
 Distractors often involve some kind of number, so take particular care when you
hear numbers (though it is not always numbers, as we saw in example 3)
 Always listen very carefully!

  Practice Test Two
 SECTION ONE
 You are going to hear a conversation between a hotel receptionist and a customer
who has come to make a booking.
 An example has been done for you.
 Before starting the IELTS listening test part 1 practice, take 30 seconds to look at
questions 1-6.
 When you have done that, start the recording and answer questions 1-6:
  
  
 Question 1-6

Hotel Information
Example answer  

Name of accommodation: (0) Carlton Hotel

Length of stay: 3 nights
Ages of children: (1)
Rooms available: Two en-suites at £270
Price inclusive of: (2)
Payment method: credit card
Name: Michael (3)
Date of birth: (4) 1968
Address: 273, Stanton Court, London.
Post code: (5)
Telephone: 08773 (6)


Now pause the recording. You have 30 seconds to look at questions 7-10.

Questions 7-10

Transport Options
Mode of
Cost Arrangements Travel time to town
Transport
Approximately
Taxi Pick up from the hotel 10 minutes
(7) £
Bus   Walk down Oak Tree (8) 15 minutes
 £2 per person

 
Walk through
Walking -------- (10)
(9)