When it comes to IELTS Listening, the one question I keep getting asked over and over is how to manage the MCQ questions. I have noticed that these are occurring more and more in Section 4 and they can be quite tricky when they are in the later sections of the listening test.
My approach to working out the best way to do any type of question in the IELTS test is to do tests myself from available resources and note how I manage to get the answers. Obviously as a native speaker and also IELTS trainer, I have a lot of experience of the test and so I can manage them fairly quickly and easily but the techniques would be exactly the same for any IELTS student with possibly a few more obstacles in terms of understanding and vocabulary.
What many IELTS students tend to do with this type of question is to try and remember not only all the questions but also all of the choices given for each question in the short 30 seconds given before the tape starts. This is a huge thing to try and do! There is far too much information to carry in your head and while you are trying to filter it all you are also trying to listen for key information – it’s a recipe for disaster!
Keep it Simple.
Firstly forget about the choices a,b,c etc. Just focus in the first instance on the question itself – the stem. Look at this example (taken from Cambridge IELTS Book 11):
- Joanna concentrated on women performers because
Here we need to know why she focused on women performers so we need to listen for women performers and understand her reasons.
In the listening we can hear:
Supervisor: “You only had women performers in your study”.
Now we have the place so we start to listen more carefully while looking at the choices.
- women are more influenced by fashion.
- women’s dress has led to more controversy.
- women’s code of dress is less strict than men’s.
The conversation continues:
Supervisor: “Was that because male musicians are less worried about fashion?”
You may be looking at choice a as the answer now but remember the question asks about Joanna’s reason not the supervisor’s ideas – check carefully who you are being asked about
The conversation continues:
Joanna “ I think a lot of men are very much influenced by fashion (so choice a is wrong), but in social terms the choices they have are more limited…(more strict) they’d really upset audiences if they strayed away from quite narrow boundaries.”
So Joanna is saying that men don’t have much choice in how they dress to perform. Therefore the answer is choice c as choice b is not mentioned at all.
Therefore by focusing just on finding the right location it is easier to work through the information and check the choices given at the same time as you listen.
Here is another from the same book.
- In Helen’s procedure section, Colin suggests a change in
Here we have both the people involved in the conversation to consider. The question refers to something belonging to Helen, her section but it asks us about a change made by Colin.
What we need to find out is what the change is.
Helen: “Now the next section’s the procedure. I sent you a draft of that”
We hear ‘procedure’ so we know this is the place and have to focus as we look at the choices.
- The order in which the information is given
- The way the information is divided up
- The amount of information provided
Colin: “Yeah. It was clear, but I don’t think we need all these details of what time we left and what time we got back and how we divided up the different research tasks.”
Colin thinks that there is too much information so choice c is the best answer. Don’t be distracted into choosing choice a just because he gives a list of activities. Dividing up isn’t mentioned so choice b is not an option.
Again by using a single aspect of the question to anticipate the answer and get the right place you can then listen and check out the choices given slowly and less frenetically than trying to hold everything in your head.
The key to tackling MCQ in IELTS Listening is just to keep it simple and follow this 2-step process.
- First, identify a key word in the stem of the question and listen for this information
- Second, once you hear the start of the information you need (there are usually some markers to help you) then listen carefully while you look at the choices.
Once you see how this technique works then you just need to keep practising it until it becomes easier and faster.