IELTS Listening – How to Answer Short Questions?

Short Answer Questions in the Listening section of the IELTS exam can lose you a band if you miss concentrating on that part of the conversation where your answer is. So, I will talk about how to answer short questions for the IELTS Listening and reveal some magic tricks and secret tips to respond to the tricky part of the audio.

IELTS Listening – Answer Short Questions

There are three key points to crack and respond accurately to answer short questions of the IELTS Listening section:-
1. Instructions
2. WH Questions
3. Distractors

Instructions are Important

To effectively answer short questions, it is essential to read the instructions carefully. They guide you to respond in a specific manner. For example, Write no more than two words or/and a number, Write no more than three words or/and a number, one word only, one word or/and a number. You must know the meaning of these guidelines and read them during your examination to avoid inputting the
wrong answer.

WH questions

Along with knowing how to answer, you must know what you are looking to answer while listening to audio in the examination hall. Short Answer type questions for IELTS Listening are commonly the WH questions – What, When, Where, Who, Which, and How.

Questions could be like The;

Which two factors to consider in a job?
A
B
What type of location is better for a new home?
A
How to be confident in an interview?
A
B
Try to review questions before the audio plays and keep them in mind to jot down when you hear your answer.

Distractors

The fundamental thing while answering short answers is to concentrate while you hear the audio as it is played only once, and if you miss catching the correct answer, you will lose. Therefore, focus, avoiding distractors.

Exam paper setters use distractors to confuse the candidate while listening to the audio. They mislead you to answer in a particular fashion.

For instance, listen to this audio and answer questions;

Questions:
1) What date will they leave?
2) What day will the tour visit a farm?
3) The students decide to do a project about
4) problems :
● poor weather
● a lack of

Let us look at the transcript of the audio to find out distractors.

For number 1, the speaker spoke month JULY before the actual answer that is 18th to confuse. Also, there was the use of four dates to mislead. Such types of conversations are framed to trick the exam-giving candidate.

1) You need to book some flights. Is that right? Yes, for me and my family. We’re going to Scotland for my sister’s wedding. Oh, lovely. When’s the wedding? It’s on the 21st of July. That should be wonderful. But I assume you’ll want to fly in earlier. What about the 20th or even the 19th? It will have to be the 18th. I’ve actually got to attend a special dinner on the 19th.

In Number 2 conversation, the speaker mentions all days. Tuesday is a market visit, while on Wednesday, there is a visit to John Smith (a local farmer) at work – correct answer. Here, the framing of days is set such that a candidate gets confused while hearing for the first time.

2) Welcome aboard, everyone. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay with us and get a lovely glimpse of country life. We’re going to a wonderful market on Tuesday morning. You’ll love that with all the local farm produce on sale. Then on Wednesday, you’ll get to see where all that lovely produce comes from as John
Smith – a local farmer has invited us to see him at work. On Thursday you’ll have a day to eat and relax before we leave on Friday.

Practice yourself and note down the distractors for numbers 3 and 4.
Answers:
1) 18th July
2) Wednesday
3) recycling
4) funds