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Although I have covered this topic before, it seems that many IELTS students still find MCQ in listening and reading rather difficult. I’ll try and clarify again here the best approach to dealing with these questions.
MCQ Listening
For these questions you have to look at the question, check the choices, listening, find the key word for the question, listen again to all the information, sift through it and find the best match for the choices given. Phew!! This is a lot to do in a matter of seconds!
The first step is to make it easier and simplify what you do to discover the answer.
- Focus on the question itself and find a key word or short phrase to listen out for – here is an example from Cambridge Book 13
- Why is Jack interested in investigating seed germination?
Seed germination may be a good key phrase and we are only interested in Jack’s reasons. Skim the choices if you have time but you will need to do this as you listen in any case.
- As you follow the audio listen out for seed germination in relation to Jack (in the listening he is actually asked for his reason by fellow student Emma)
- Now look at the choices as you listen:
a. He may do a module on a related topic later on
b. He wants to have a career in plant science
c. He is thinking of choosing this topic for his dissertation
(we discover that he is thinking of doing a module in his third year on this topic and that this would mean he would not have to do a dissertation module). From this information we now know that c is incorrect. We also hear Emma mention that he’s interested in this topic as a career (this is not Jack’s reason)
- Following the choices as you listen makes it easier to distinguish the choices.
- Doing this effectively and quickly takes time so the answer is to do lots of MCQ listening practice – take your time at first and listen a few times if necessary to really get the information. The more you practise like this the easier and faster it will become.
Practice is the key.
MCQ Reading
Where MCQ questions are in passage 3 they can be rather tricky. The approach is exactly the same as with the listening.
- Again focus on the question itself and find key words
- Use these key words to find the place in the text
- Now start to match the information with the choices in the question
- Remember in passage 3 you may need to go back a sentence or forward a sentences. Synonyms and exact words may not be there – you may have to paraphrase the question
Here’s an example also from Book 13:
What point is made about Tesco’s Greener Living programme?
We have the brand name Tesco which should be easy to find and also Greener Living (which is a title) programme so this should also be easy to find. We need to discover a specific point that was made about this programme. (In the passage we discover that this programme was introduced to address customers concerns about the environment. It developed the programme thereby showing that the company shared these concerns and it also involved its customers in the programme through recycling and re-using)
- Now check the choices against the information you have discovered in the text:
a. It did not require Tesco to modify its core business
b. It succeeded in attracting a more eco-conscious clientele
c. Its main aim was to raise customers’ awareness of environmental issues
d. It was not the first time that Tesco had implemented such an initiative
We know that Tesco responded to its customers so c is not correct. Option b may indeed be true but nothing about this is mentioned in the text - the information is about existing customers. We are told briefly about an existing points initiative so d may seem possible - but this is not the same initiative (‘such an initiative’ would seem to suggest the same initiative) as the new ‘green points’. That leaves us with a and we should note the following phrase: “Tesco has not abandoned its traditional retail offerings but augmented them with these innovations” this points clearly at choice a (to check this reading go to Cambridge IELTS Book 13, Academic Test 2, Reading Passage 3).
As with listening, the MCQ questions in IELTS Reading need to be practised so that you can do them quickly and easily.
Practice is always the key.