IELTS Listening test practice is an essential part of your preparation for exam day. This lesson shows you how to answer summary completion questions, one of the ten different types of questions you could get in your test. Show Whilst not the most common type of Listening question, they do sometimes come up so you need to understand them in case you do get one. The lesson includes:
We’ll start with the definition of a summary in case you're unsure of the meaning of the word. Summary – a short, clear description that gives the main facts or ideas about something For summary completion questions, you'll be given a summary of the recording. The recording will typically be a monologue on an academic subject such as a lecture on the Amazon rainforest or the Pyramids at Giza. There will be words missing from the summary which you must fill in. This type of question is most likely to come up in Section 4, the most challenging part of the test. Here are two summary completion questions to show you what they look like. The first is from a past test paper and the second has been created specifically to teach you the strategy for answering them and to illustrate some tips. IELTS Listening Test Practice – Sample 1 Source: Cambridge English test paper IELTS Listening Test Practice – Sample 2We’ll be using this second example for some IELTS Listening test practice after we’ve looked at the strategy and tips. Strategy & Tips You will have a short time to prepare before the speakers begin talking. Use this time to familiarise yourself with the question and focus your mind on what you need to listen out for. 1) Read the instructionsRead the instructions carefully, paying particular attention to how many words you are allowed to write for the answer as this does vary. The instructions for our sample question state that you must, Write ONLY ONE WORD for each answer. The instructions for the Caveman Diet question, on the other hand, state that you must, Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer. If you write more than the number of words required, your answer will be marked incorrect even if the information you give is correct.
Not every question will have a title but if there is one, it will tell you the context of the question. This will help you to understand the question and give you a big clue as to what sort of information will be contained in the recording. Both our sample questions have titles. These are: Origins of the Caveman Diet Sydney Opera House
The answers will come in the same order in the recording as they are listed in the question so, for this question, you will hear answer 32 first, then answer 33 and so on. This makes it easier to pick out the answers than if they were in a random order.
Try to predict what the answers might be. This will focus your mind on what to listen out for in the recording. Occasionally, you’ll be able to predict the actual word but mostly it’s one or more of these things that you’ll be able to determine:
Any clues you can get will help you to understand the audio and identify the information needed for the answers. Have a go at predicting some of the answers in our summary completion practice question. There are 5 answers to fill in, 32–36. Then have a look at my predictions below. Here’s the summary with the missing words. Predictions: 32 – a noun 33 – a date 34 – a place name 35 – an adjective 36 – a number You can see that just a few seconds spend doing this can give you a lot of information about what you need to listen for in the recording. This will greatly improve your chances of identifying the correct answers.
Synonyms and paraphrasing will be used extensively in the recording. So, you will not only be listening for the exact words that are used in the summary but also, different words and phrases that have the same meaning. In your preparation time, scan the summary and underline key words that are likely to be replaced by synonyms. These will be words immediately before and possibly straight after the missing word(s). Then, quickly think of words that might be used instead. I’ve underlined some important key words in our practice question. Can you think of some synonyms for them? Sydney Opera House is famous for its roof’s architecture resembling 32 ………. . The opera house was designed by Jørn Utzon from Denmark and it was built between 1959 and 33 ……………. . . The roof is covered with more than 1 million roof tiles which were manufactured in 34 ……………. . Every evening the roof is lit up in a 35 ……………. spectacle. The opera house has a variety of performance halls and theatre and exhibition spaces. More than 36 ……………. shows are staged there every week. Every year, more than 8 million visitors visit this Australian landmark. We’ll look at the synonyms and paraphrasing that have been used in this question when we review the answers.
There are 6 types of vocabulary that can cause particular problems for students and some of them are frequently used in summary completion questions. The 6 types are:
You must be able to recognise them in speech and to write them correctly in your answers. I’ve written a whole lesson on this topic, including 8 listening exercises to help you recognise & learn vocabulary for 6 common topics – time, numbers, prices, dates, letter names & addresses. What is the structure of IELTS listening test?IELTS ListeningYou will listen just once to four recordings of native English speakers and then write your answers to a series of questions. A conversation between two people set in an everyday social context. A monologue set in an everyday social context, e.g. a speech about local facilities. What is the format of IELTS listening test?You will need to answer 40 questions in response to four recordings. You will listen to four recordings which are a mix of monologues and conversations from a range of native speakers and you will only hear each recording once. There are 10 questions for each part of the Listening test. How to write answers in IELTS listening and reading test?We recommend you write all your Reading and Listening answers in capitals, so it is clear for the examiner. However, in Computer-delivered IELTS handwriting is not an issue, so you should try to write all words using upper and lower case. What is the Sydney Opera House famous for its roof architecture resembling?The iconic curved, white roof of the Sydney Opera House has been compared to the billowing sails of ships and the geometric spirals of seashells. These nautical designs fit well with the building's location in Sydney Harbour. |
