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IELTS Listening Lesson Multiple Questions

This document provides strategies for answering multiple choice questions on the IELTS Listening test. It explains that test-takers should not immediately select the first answer they hear, as the correct answer may be one of the other choices. It also notes that the answers may come in a different order than they are mentioned, and that answers are often paraphrased rather than exact matches. The document provides examples to demonstrate these strategies, then has practice questions for test-takers to apply the skills. The main tips are to not pick the first answer, read all choices while listening, and be aware that answers may be reordered or paraphrased.

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Turkana Fataliyeva
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273 views

IELTS Listening Lesson Multiple Questions

This document provides strategies for answering multiple choice questions on the IELTS Listening test. It explains that test-takers should not immediately select the first answer they hear, as the correct answer may be one of the other choices. It also notes that the answers may come in a different order than they are mentioned, and that answers are often paraphrased rather than exact matches. The document provides examples to demonstrate these strategies, then has practice questions for test-takers to apply the skills. The main tips are to not pick the first answer, read all choices while listening, and be aware that answers may be reordered or paraphrased.

Uploaded by

Turkana Fataliyeva
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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IELTS Listening Lesson: multiple

choice
Multiple choice questions commonly occur in parts 2, 3 and 4 of IELTS
Listening test.  In such questions you are given three (rarely four) answer
choices, only one of which is correct.

In this lesson you will learn useful strategies and advice to answer multiple


choice questions in IELTS Listening test most effectively. You will also practice
gained skills by answering tricky exercises with multiple choice questions.

The transcript is provided for each audio. The correct answers are underlined in
the transcripts. For the examples the transcript is shown, and for the exercises it
is hidden. You can hide/show the transcripts as you wish.

First, let’s learn some basic answering strategies and look at the examples below.

Strategy 1: don’t immediately pick up the first answer choice you


hear.

You will often hear all of the answer choices in the audio. And only one of them is
correct, the other two are meant to confuse you! So don’t straightaway choose the
answer you hear the first as it may be incorrect. So listen carefully and wait until
the speaker finishes giving information about the current question.

Let’s try to use this strategy in the first example.

Example 1.
Only rescue birds that are

A.  all alone

B.  sitting on the ground

C.  obviously injured

Check    Hide transcript

1st man: Right, okay. I think we should start by talking about how to rescue a bird. Probably,
first we should help people understand which birds need rescuing.

2nd man: Yeah, that’s really important! Because a lot of times people see a baby bird that’s all
alone or they find a bird sitting on a ground and they think it needs to be rescued.

1st man:  And usually those are just baby birds learning to fly. So we should emphasize that
people should only attempt to rescue a bird that’s clearly injured.

As you can hear, all three answer choices were mentioned. However, the first two
of them (“all alone” and “sitting on the ground”) are clearly incorrect, because the
speakers say that people often think that if a bird is all alone or sitting on the
ground it needs to be rescued, but it’s just learning to fly. The last sentence the
speaker says gives us the correct answer: “So we should emphasize that people
should only attempt to rescue a bird that’s clearly injured”. So the correct answer
is C.

Strategy 2: know that answers may come in a different order.


Unlike other questions types in IELTS Listening, multiple choice questions don’t
necessarily have their answer choices coming in the same order as you hear them
in the audio. So don’t worry if you first hear the third answer choice - it doesn’t
mean you’ve missed the previous two, as answers often come in a different order.

Strategy 3: mind that answers are often paraphrased.

You shouldn’t be waiting for a 100% match - the answer choice can differ from
what you hear as it can be paraphrased. To approach multiple choice questions
effectively, look through the answer choices while listening to the question being
discussed. Do it to get a general idea of answer choices.

Now let’s use strategies 2 and 3 in the second example.


Example 2.

What is the best way of protection from harmful bacteria?

A.  following hygiene rules

B.  using antibiotics

C.  visiting doctor regularly

Check    Hide transcript


We all know that some bacteria can be dangerous and cause diseases. But how can we
protect ourselves from harmful bacteria? Well, a lot of people would answer that using
antibiotics will kill the pathogenic microbes. However, antibiotic abuse can be dangerous to
people’s health as well! In fact, the best way of protection is preventing the disease by keeping
yourself clean and washing hands before you eat.

You have probably noticed that answer choices come in a different order than they
are mentioned by the speaker. This often happens in IELTS Listening multiple
choice questions, so read all answer choices for the question at once. 

Moreover, the synonyms are used! The speaker gives the correct answer when she
says, “In fact, the best way of protection is preventing the disease by keeping
yourself clean and washing hands before you eat”. But instead of keeping yourself
clean or washing hands we have a paraphrased answer choice - following hygiene
rules. So, the right answer is A. Beware that paraphrase is often used in such
questions, so you shouldn’t always look for an exact match.

Practice
Now use the skills you’ve learnt in practice. Listen to the audio and answer the
questions below.
For each audio the transcript is provided. The correct answer is underlined in each
transcript.

Exercise 1.

The tomato originally came from

A.  Mexico

B.  Spain

C.  Peru

Check    Show transcript

Exercise 2.

The speaker recommends to put the bird in a

A.  cage

B.  box

C.  bag
Check    Show transcript

Exercise 3.

Which organ helps parrots to imitate different sounds?

A.  tongue

B.  trachea

C.  vocal cords

Check    Show transcript

Exercise 4.

What is the major question about fungi nowadays?

A.  their organs of perception

B.  their life cycles

C.  their ability to be harvested in a hothouse


Check    Show transcript

Congratulations with completion of this lesson! Now you know tips & strategies to
answer IELTS Listening multiple choice questions to get a high score. To sum up,
the main tips for answering IELTS Listening multiple choice questions are:

 Don't pick up the first answer choice you hear; wait for others to come
 Read the answer choices while you're listening for the current question
 Don't forget that answers may come in a different order
 Look for paraphrased answers and synonyms

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