IELTS Listening MCQs Tips
IELTS listening consists of 40 questions which are divided into 4 parts. Each section deals with different types of forms of questions such as short answer questions, MCQ’s, map are completing questions and summary completing questions. In this article, among the IELTS listening question types, IELTS listening MCQs tips will be discussed in detail:
Types of MCQ’s
Sample questions
Difficulties in selecting right information
Tips to avoid distractions
Types of MCQ’s (IELTS Listening MCQs)
There are two types of questions that are expected to answer in this portion.
Single question is the type, in which only one option is anticipated as a right answer. The examiner will provide a list of options A, B, and C.
List question is the form of question in which examiner allots a list of answers. In this portion, test taker will choose more than one option as right answers.
IELTS listening MCQs tips
Distractions would be the most difficult aspects of listening to avoid. The examiner would love to distract the test taker, and as a result students become the victims of traps and pick the wrong answers.
Here’s are some important tips for IELTS listening multiple choice questions:
Read the question
Before the start of recording, it is recommended for students to read questions. Reading will allow you to make a guess what you have to search while listening to the recording.
Additionally, reading helps to know the type of question- single question type or list question type.
Read the instructions
When students are reading questions, the one thing which must be ensured is reading about instructions. Instructions are given in the start of MCQs, and these give information such as how many words should be in the answer, or type of MCQs is also discussed in instructions.
Underline keywords
While reading, keywords must be underlined. Underlining will help you out to know what is expected to listen in the audio. Furthermore, this can also be helpful if you miss out answer.
Expect to listen synonyms and paraphrasing
The test takers must prepare for variations in answers. While listening to the audio, the listener must be prepared to listen for synonyms and paraphrased words. You may not hear the exact words as mentioned in the statement. For instance, there is a following statement,
Choose the direction in which they were walking. Underline the word “direction” and anticipate in mind to find synonyms of direction. During listening, the listener may hear the statement, they were walking towards east.
Therefore, to choose right answer one must be active during listening, and also learn synonyms and paraphrasing the words.
Identify the differences
The options in MCQs may seem similar to you but there must be difference in these options. For example,
You must go to Canada.
You can go to Canada.
You should go to Canada.
These three sentences may look similar to you, but difference of helping words has changed the whole meaning. Try to practice to find out such differences within sentences.
Watch out for distractors
To deal with distraction is important for picking the right answer. We already are aware of the fact that all the options will be discussed in the audio, so you must be careful to identify the right answer.
Here are some sentences that contain distractions.
You have to go to the office at 5:30 but the boss has changed this to 6:00 pm to avoid traffic disturbance.
You would love to watch TV serials in the beginning but now you are much more interested in movies.
These are the sentences which have distractors. Listen carefully until the recording is over because sometimes, the information comes at the end.
Difficulties in selecting information for MCQ’s (IELTS Listening MCQs)
- You may find difficulties in recognizing the right answer without taking notes. Develop note-taking habit and underline keywords which will help in identifying the correct information.
- Answers in recording may come in the form of synonyms or paraphrased words. The listener, if searching for the exact information to hear, will not find in recording. Practice using and learning synonyms to pick right information.
- Sometimes, all the given options have been discussed in recording. Just because you hear about these options, don’t think it is right. Listen till the end of recording to find right information.
- IELTS listening MCQs will test your both reading and listening skills. There is much more to read and underline keywords while reading. So practice reading and listening to meet the criteria of picking right answers.
- To know about IELTS listening in detail, read the article IELTS listening tips and tricks.
Conclusion of IELTS Listening MCQs
IELTS listening MCQ’s type questions are asked to check your capability to read, analyze, interpret, and understand the main idea of the topic. Though MCQ’s are difficult to solve, but it can be easy to achieve high band score by following the IELTS listening MCQ’s tips. You should have proper knowledge of how to avoid distractions and difficulties. You should properly practice note-taking exercise while listening. These steps of IELTS listening MCQ’s tips will help to improve listening skills finally taking high bands.
