How to answer Short Answer Questions in IELTS Listening?
In IELTS listening there are various question types and test short answer questions are very common. These question types demands you to a read a question and then write short answer (word limit as per the instruction) using information from the listening audio. This type is designed to test your ability to write the information in the given word limit. To confuse you the narrator may give your some false information in the starting (these are called distractor) then he or she will rectify themselves and give you the right information. You should be alert enough to diagnose the right information and eliminate the wrong one. Today we will shed light on How to answer Short Answer Questions in IELTS Listening?
There are some simple tips and strategies that will help you to answer a short answer question easily.
1: Read the Questions carefully
In the starting of every part before the audio clip is played you get some time to read the questions. Utilize this time properly and read the question and the given options carefully so that you get an idea of the topic and understand the keywords. This step is the foundation stone for the next two steps.
2: Underline Key Words
Once you finished reading the questions underline the keywords. You can underline them while reading the questions as it can save your time. If you don’t know about the keywords, these are the important words which need attention while listening to the audio. Underlining will help you to locate the word easily while listening to the prompt.
3: Pay Attention to Question Words
Also pay attention to the question words like Why, What or where. This will help you to write the correct type of answer. For example, if there is Why in the question, you should be alert to find the reason. If there is Where than you should go for place. If you ignore the question word than the possibility of locating other type of information will increase and your answer will go wrong. Keep in mind; you will have 20 seconds to complete the above said three steps.
4: Key Information
When the audio start, be focused as you will not hear the recording a second time the information once gone is gone. Be alert and find the key information from the audio and ignore the useless information. How will you identify the key information? Usually the narrator gives the useless information first and then gives the key information for example, the question is When does the center open? Here the keywords are WHEN and OPEN so you need to find the time. The narrator may say – Last year it was very busy so we used to open the center at 6:00 am to 5:00 pm and then we extended to 7:00 pm in the mid of the year but now we thought to open it at 7:00am but then decided at 8:00 am. The speaker gave you lots of false information or distractor and at the end he gave the accurate time i.e. 8:00 am. So you have to be alert to get the right answer.
5: Answer the Questions and be Accurate
It seems like common sense but many candidates make silly mistakes by noting things wrong especially while coping the answers to the answer sheet and lose their valuable points. Some even lose their scores because of spelling mistakes or bad hand writing. To resolve this problem it is recommended to write in all Capital letters. You should also be well aware of how to write numbers and dates in the IELTS listening test. Another thing don’t leave any question unanswered if you miss any information go with guess work.
Thank You 🙂
