IELTS LISTENING: Multiple choice

multiple-choice questions commonly occur in parts 2, 3, and 4 of the 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 the 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.

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.

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, synonyms can be used! The speaker might give 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 might be " following hygiene ". Beware that paraphrasing is often used in such questions, so you shouldn’t always look for an exact match.