101Helpful Hints for IELTS

Listening Test Hints
PRACTICE FOR SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
Some candidates find short-answer question tasks even more challenging than gapfill exercises.
Usually, short-answer question tasks come later in the Listening Test, and, therefore, the Listening
passages are longer and more difficult to understand.
The IELTS short-answer question tasks require you to listen to a passage of spoken English, often
a conversation between two people, and choose words or phrases from the dialogue which best
answer the given questions. It is good practice to listen to interviews and conversations with
interesting persons on the TV or radio, and make brief notes from short excerpts of what you have
chosen to listen to.
Make a video or audio cassette tape of your chosen news item or talk from the TV or radio. Now
you can go back over the tape and make abbreviated notes of the important points made by the
speakers. It is useful to make an audio cassette of a video cassette item because it is easier to play
back the information on an audio cassette tape. Do not worry if you cannot understand every word.
You can also use the passages on the tape that accompanies this book for the same purpose. Check
the words that you do not hear clearly by referring to the Practice Listening Test Tapescripts in
Appendix 2 starting on page 153.
O Look at these notes made from part of the tapescript of Section 3 of Listening Test One:
Sue: Good afternoon and welcome to "Working Lives". My
name is Sue Holt. This week we continue our series by
looking at a job that is often thought of as adventurous,
exotic, and highly desirable. We're going to take a
behind-the-scenes look at the airline hospitality
industry. What is the reality behind the smart uniform
and ever-ready smile of the flight attendant? We're
lucky enough to have in the studio Julie Nevard, who
works for British AirWorld, and is a senior member
of the cabin crew staff.
Sue:
Thank you for finding the time to speak to us. I know
that you must have a busy schedule.
Julie: My pleasure. Yes, it is a very full-time job, but I think
you realise that very early on in your career..
Sue:
How long have you been involved in in-flight
hospitality?
Julie: Well, I trained for a year at the British AirWorld
Training School, and... I'd already taken a Diploma in
Hospitality and Tourism after I left school so, all in all,
... about 5 years ... no, more like 6 years.
The notes above make use of abbreviations
underlining
symbols, (especially dashes, arrows and brackets).
missing vowels etc.
Be aware, however, that your test answers, must not be in note form. This is for practice only.
For practice, you can devise and use your own system of note-taking
25