The academic talk in the final part of the IELTS listening paper has no second speaker to slow it down and no pause in the middle. Multiple-choice questions on it are won by reading the options before the recording starts and by recognising when a speaker mentions an option only to reject it. This page drills both, with forty original questions.
In the pause, read all the question stems. If time is short, options come second: the stems alone tell you what to listen for.
Options usually share most of their words. Mark the two or three words that separate them; those are what the speaker will confirm or contradict.
'It was once thought', 'contrary to expectations', 'this turned out not to be the case'. A mentioned option is not an answer.
Questions follow the talk in order. If you hear content from question seven while answering six, six has gone: write your best guess and move.
Beside each question write 'doubts', 'agrees' or 'surprised'. Attitude questions are answered from those words, not from content.
Lecturers announce their structure in the first thirty seconds. That announcement maps the whole question set.
The correct option is a paraphrase; the option that repeats the speaker's words is usually the trap.
With no pause in the middle of the talk, losing your place costs several answers, not one.
Fill any blanks with the option you half heard rather than trying to reconstruct the whole talk.
Not thisChoosing an option because the speaker said those words.
ThisChoosing the option that matches the speaker's meaning.
Distractors are built from the speaker's exact vocabulary; the answer is usually a paraphrase.
Not thisChoosing an option the speaker mentioned early in the answer.
ThisWaiting for the whole answer before deciding.
Speakers routinely raise a possibility and then reject it two sentences later.
Not thisStill working on question 32 while the speaker reaches 34.
ThisGuessing 32 and jumping to 34.
The talk does not stop, and a lost place in a lecture costs three or four marks.
Not thisTaking full notes on the content of the talk.
ThisMarking answers and one-word stance notes.
There are no marks for notes, and writing during a talk with no pauses takes attention from the questions.
Not thisReading all the options during the talk rather than in the pause.
ThisReading them in the pause.
Reading and listening compete for the same attention; do the reading when nothing is being said.
Not thisAssuming a question about the speaker's opinion is about facts.
ThisListening for evaluation words: surprisingly, unfortunately, the real difficulty.
Attitude answers hang on a single adverb or adjective, not on the information.
Not thisLeaving an answer blank because two options seemed possible.
ThisChoosing one.
There is no penalty, and a half-heard answer beats nothing.
Not thisRelaxing once the recording ends.
ThisUsing the transfer time on blanks and on letter accuracy.
The final section carries the same number of marks as the easier ones, and blanks left there are pure loss.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
1Complete the sentence.
3Complete the sentence.
6Complete the sentence.
7Why should you read the question stems during the pause rather than the options?
One good answer
Because the stems tell you what each question is about and can be read quickly, while the options take longer and can be scanned as the talk approaches that part; reading everything during the talk means listening and reading at once.
9Complete the sentence.
11Complete the sentence.
13Complete the sentence.
15Complete the sentence.
17Complete the sentence.
19Complete the sentence.
21Complete the sentence.
23Complete the sentence.
24A question asks 'What does the speaker say about the second experiment?' Where do you listen?
One good answer
From the moment the second experiment is named until the speaker moves to the next topic, and especially at the evaluative comment that usually closes that section, since the answer is normally the speaker's judgement rather than the description.
26Complete the sentence.
28Complete the sentence.
31Complete the sentence.
33Complete the sentence.
34Give two habits that keep you in the right place during a continuous academic talk.
One good answer
Keeping a finger or pen on the question you are currently answering, and abandoning any question the moment you hear material belonging to a later one, so that a single miss does not become four.
36Complete the sentence.
38Complete the sentence.
40Summarise your routine for multiple choice in the final section in one sentence.
One good answer
Read the stems in the pause and underline what separates the options, listen for the speaker's structure announcement, treat mentioned-then-rejected ideas as distractors, note stance in one word, guess and move the instant the talk overtakes me, and fill blanks during the transfer time.
Note
Pick Two Activity is an independent tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Cambridge University Press & Assessment, the British Council, IDP, ETS, Duolingo or any other exam board. Exam names are trademarks of their owners and are used here only to describe the exam you are preparing for. Every question on this page is original practice written by us: we do not provide, copy or reproduce official exam papers.
It is always a single speaker on an academic or training subject, usually a talk to students. The register is formal and there is no conversation to slow the pace.
Only one or two words beside a question, usually about the speaker's attitude. Notes earn no marks, and full note-taking competes for the attention the questions need.
Usually because of mentioned-then-rejected distractors. Understanding the words is not the skill being tested; tracking what the speaker actually asserts is.
Use each pause for the questions it introduces. Reading ahead means you are not ready when the next section starts, and the pauses are short.
Practise with unbroken audio rather than short clips: a recorded lecture or a talk radio programme, answering questions written in advance. Stamina is the specific thing this section tests.
That is intended, and no prior knowledge is required. All the information you need is said aloud, so treat unfamiliar terms as labels and listen for what the speaker says about them.