IELTS Computer Delivered Tests + Band Score

Must the answers in the IELTS listening exactly match those on the answer sheet?

by cherria

in the listening test,

1) One answer I wrote is "too much (written works)"
but on the answer sheet, it says the answer is (written work)

my answer is with 's'.

am I wrong?

2) On section 1, there was a blank for 'Engine size'

the answer was "1.4 liters".

but I wrote "1.4"

am I wrong?

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Jan 05, 2014
 IELTS listening answers
by: IELTS buddy

Hi,

Yes I think it will be because your answers must match what is on the answer sheet. But it is difficult to tell you if what you wrote is correct without seeing the full listening section.

'work' can sometimes be plural but it depends on the context.

For instance you would write about 'student's written work' not 'works'.

Again, for the litres part, it is difficult to know if 1.4 on its own would fit without seeing the test.

But as I said, the answer sheet will give all possibilities so if what you wrote is not on there it will most likely be wrong.

Thanks
Jan 09, 2014
 IELTS listening answers
by: Rishu Wadhwa

You should always check the number of words to be used in the answer. For example if it is only one word then you should write 1.4.And, if it is not more than two words then you should write 1.4 Litres.
Jan 10, 2014
 IELTS listening answers
by: Anonymous

Hi Rishu,

Actually it doesn't work like that.

Just because it says "not more than two words" does not mean the answer is two words.

This means it could be one or two words.
Jul 29, 2017
 Task 1 writting
by: Nishant

I have mistake in task 1 in which I got my subject wrong but my grammar or other think is ok. I got what marks?
Aug 01, 2017
 Task 1 writing - wrong subject
by: IELTS buddy

I'm not sure what you mean by the wrong subject, but in any case it's not possible to predict your mark without seeing your full response.
Nov 03, 2018
 question about listening test
by: Anonymous

Must the answers in the IELTS listening exactly match those on the answer sheet
Nov 07, 2018
 question about listening test
by: IELTS buddy

Yes they should. Of course it is possible that when the marking is done there is a realisation that some other options were possible, in which case they would let the markers know that.

If you do practice tests and it has an answer key, they are occasionally wrong and you can see that another option should have been considered.

However, generally speaking they should match.

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Are the answers in the test flexible?

by Dinh Quoc Huy
(Vietnam)

I would like to ask how Listening is graded in an IELTS exam.

I am currently planning on taking the IELTS on December 19th and have been studying some materials, one of which is Barron's IELTS practice exams (2010) which comes answer sheets.

I tried taking a sample Listening test and ended up having some of the answers different from what is written in the answer sheets, although having the same meaning.

Therefore, I would like to ask how the papers are graded by the test organizers, do they have a hard answer sheet that needs to be completely matched in order for points to be given, or the can answers be flexible?

Thank you :D

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Oct 28, 2015
 IELTS Listening Test Answers
by: IELTS buddy

Hi Dinh,

No they aren't flexible.

You do need to get the same answer that is in the answer key.
Oct 28, 2015
 thank you!
by: Dinh Quoc Huy (OP)

Thank you very much. :D
That would make it harder to get the right answers. Is there any tip on what should be written in the answer sheet that will have the best chance of matching the key (apart from multiple choice questions of course)?
Oct 29, 2015
 IELTS Listening Test Answers
by: IELTS buddy

You are obviously more likely to get the right word if you have good listening skills, so the main tip is to practice in order to improve your listening.

There are some other things though.

Always make sure you read the instructions so you know what you are listening for (a number and / or word) and the maximum words you can place in the gap.

Check the answer you have put fits grammatically, if applicable - grammar won't be so relevant for filling 'notes' type questions for example. And spelling should be correct.

Read the questions first to check what you are listening for and to understand the situation that is taking place in the listening.

Check out more tips here:

IELTS Listening Tips

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confusion with how to write answers

by Mohit Wadhwa
(Delhi)

Hello sir/madam,

please clear my confusion , i have many questions in my mind :

1. let me know if i write my answer as useful application but in Cambridge book the answer was written as (useful) application.

Here they mention useful is optional. This creates a big confusion, can you please help me and suggest me what should i do?

2. The second confusion in writing answers. The first letter upper and lower was create a problem for me.

During IELTS exam they can deduct MARKS FOR THIS?

For example i have written answer Placement test but in Cambridge book they have written in small letters like placement test.

Please tell me in this way do I loose my marks for this?

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Jun 25, 2014
 Answers in the IELTS Listening Test
by: IELTS buddy

In answer to your first question, it is as you say - optional if it is in brackets. That means either answer is correct:

useful application

OR

application

For the second question, you answer would be wrong as capitalization must be correct.

We would not say Placement test (unless Placement was starting a sentence) so they should be in small letters.

You use capital letters for things that are normally capitalized such as names of roads, people, towns etc.

Thanks
Jul 05, 2014
 true false not given
by: mohit

Sir/madam,

I have one doubt can u please clear this .

Question is: the refectory serves fast-food options.

It is true false or not given from below given paragraph.

Paragraph

Refectory

This provides refreshment between 08:30 and 19:00 with hot meals served three times a day. Healthy eating options are available.

Plz explain the answer also because i'm so confused between false and not given
Jul 05, 2014
 IELTS Listening Test
by: IELTS buddy.

Hi Mohit,

I would say it is 'Not Given'.

It does not tell you anywhere that fast food is served. It tells you that there are healthy options (which is probably salad) but that does not mean the other options are fast food.

For example the other choices could include a cooked breakfast (sausage, egg etc). That is not seen to be healthy but it is not fast food.

If you are having to make an assumption (or guess) i.e. that the other options could be fast food in this case, but you don't know for sure, then it is likely false.
Aug 03, 2014
 how to crack reading section 3
by: mohit

Hello ,

Can anybody suggest me how to crack section 3 of reading because i always got very less marks in that part during practice . around 3 or 4 questions was corrected .

Regards
Mohit wadhwa
Aug 15, 2014
 Is it important to insert dashes?!
by: Rihanna

If the correct answer is brother-in-law and I have written brother in law, is it a wrong answer?!
Jul 14, 2015
 true false not given
by: mohit wadhwa

Can you please suggest me it is true false or not given

Paragraph.
The SAC Manager and SAC facilitators (who are ESOL teachers) are on duty every day from 9 a.m - 3 p.m

Question

The SAC facilitators are also teachers at the Advance school of english.

It is true false or not given?
Jul 15, 2015
 true false not given
by: IELTS buddy

The question you have asked is about reading, not listening.

But from the information you provide it would be 'NG' as there is nothing to say that the teachers are teaching at a school called 'Advance'.

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Format of answers

by Madi
(Calgary)

Hi,

In Listening Test i have few questions,

1. is it ok if we leave space in between.

For example the correct answer is "clubhouse" but I wrote "club house".

2. Is it ok if we write all capital letters in listening and small letters in reading test?

Thanks

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Jul 12, 2016
 Format of answers
by: IELTS buddy

1. I can't say for sure if they would accept it or not. They don't officially say that they accept words that should be one that are split into two, so I would assume it is wrong. But we can't know if they occasionally make exceptions for some things.

2. You can write in lower or upper case, so yes, you could have capitals in the listening and lower case in the reading.

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Computerized Marking of the Listening Test

by Alicia
(Port Elizabeth, South Africa)

I have attempted a few of the online tests and found that I had answers marked incorrectly because I typed '5 am' instead of '5am'. I also typed a hyphenated word as 2 words and it was marked incorrect.

I am really concerned with the computerized marking as the answers were essentially correct and I scored 100 when I marked it but 70% when the computer marked it.

Is the computer score taken as a final mark or is it double checked manually?

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Nov 20, 2016
 Marking of the listening test
by: IELTS buddy

Hi Alicia,

The real IELTS listening test is not done online, it is done on paper, so you won't have that problem.

For the online tests, a certain answer has to be put into the quiz and it would have to match exactly what the person who wrote the quiz put in for the answer key. It's difficult to program it to accept a mix of answers even though more than one could be accepted in a real test.

That is the only reason why what you wrote got marked as wrong.

You should try to get hyphenated words correct in the test when you write it down, though I don't know whether IELTS accept them or not if you missed it / wrote it in when it should not be there.
Oct 03, 2017
 IELTS ANSWER
by: Anonymous

Hi, I just had my IELTS test and I'm really worried on the listening part where i have written the $ (dollar) sign together with the price of the item being asked for; the question booklet already mentioned the $ (dollar) sign followed by a blank space for where you could write your answer.

Will my answer be considered wrong already?
Oct 03, 2017
 IELTS ANSWER
by: IELTS buddy

Yes it would be considered wrong. You must only write what is missing from the gap.

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Synonyms in IELTS Listening

by Eray Özer
(Istanbul)

Can a synonym be used as an answer in listening test? For instance, can I write noon instead of mid day?

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Mar 17, 2017
 Synonyms in IELTS Listening
by: IELTS buddy

No, you have to write down what you actually hear the person say in the test.

Anything different will be marked wrong.

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Answers Fitting Grammatically

by Edgar

Hi,

Does a letter really matter in marking? Would I be mistaken if I did not write an 'a' or instead of writing "confirm your nationality" I wrote "confirm nationality"?!

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May 18, 2017
 Answers fitting
by: IELTS buddy

The basic rule is that your answer must fit the gap or in other words make sense grammatically.

So yes it would matter if you missed a word if that meant it did not work in the place where it should be.

The answer key will always tell you what the possibilities for the answer are. Sometimes there is more than one choice.
Jun 26, 2017
 not always true
by: Anonymous

Take a close look in the following examples.

___ sugar, salt, and butter. Example answer is "Try to avoid".

On the transcript:

At the top in the smallest area are the things
which we should really be trying to avoid as much as possible. Things like for example yeast, sugar, salt, butter, all that sort of thing.

As you can see, the example answer was modified a little bit to make the completion of the sentence grammatically correct. So far so good.

Now look at the following question that followed the question above.

____ milk, lean meat, fish, nuts, eggs.

On the transscript:

Next, on the middle of our pyramid we find the things that we can eat in moderation.

On the answer key:

"eat in moderation/not too much"

Applying that answer gives us the following sentence:

Eat in moderation milk, lean meat, fish, nuts, eggs.

That is, I think, grammatically incorrect.

My answer was "Moderately eat". I think my answer was better than what's on the answer key. But since it's not in the answer key, should it be considered wrong?

Is that how they really score the exam?
Jun 28, 2017
 not always true
by: IELTS buddy

It normally should be possible to take the words exactly from what is said in the audio and they should fit grammatically.

Which test are you referring to? Is it the IELTS buddy one?

Actually though "eat in moderation/not too much"
does fit grammatically. It's like a command so there is no subject-verb which is ok.

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Words used in answers

by Anu

Hi, do the answers in the Listening test HAVE to be from the words mentioned in the conversation? It doesn't say so anywhere. And I have come across many questions in the British Council practice material where the answers are technical terms that were not mentioned in the recording.

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Oct 30, 2017
 Words used in answers
by: IELTS buddy

It's my understanding that they are words taken from the conversation, all exactly as they are said.

Do you have some examples from actual Cambridge tests where you have seen it done differently?

Or links to those British council tests you mentioned?
Oct 30, 2017
 Examples
by: Anu

Well, for instance the answer key says "micro credit" where the word used in the recording was "loan" and in another sentence it spoke about "small amounts". Got some more as well. But I think this cannot be right.
Oct 31, 2017
 Examples
by: IELTS buddy

There is no way you would have that in a real IELTS test. I can't explain why you came across those examples.

It's testing what you hear so the answer can't be different from what is in the audio.
May 13, 2018
 PLEASE HELP
by: Anonymous

The only mistake I am making in my IELTS is this:

The instructions say use no more than 3 words. The question is: How did the students do the project work?

I wrote IN SMALL GROUPS. But the answer was just GROUPS. WHY??
It was a listening test and I read the scripts later and the speaker had said In small groups. So why are we not supposed to write IN SMALL?

This is the only kind of mistake I'm making repeatedly. Another example is:

The cave was_______ and enclosed. In script the speaker clearly said the cave was very dark and enclosed.

So is wrote VERY DARK, but the answer was only dark. WHY WHY WHY PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND.

Will I be given a zero for this answer ???? And I was within the word limit, so that is clearly not the reason I'm wrong.
May 16, 2018
 PLEASE HELP
by: IELTS buddy

I think someone before in this forum has mentioned that 'in small groups' question as it's from a Cambridge practice book.

As far as I recall 'in small groups' should be correct. I'm not sure why it is in the answer key as only 'groups' but I assume you would get the point.

I haven't come across the other you mention but again it looks like it should be correct.

So they may just be errors in those books. You are doing the right thing, you can only hope that if that does happen in the test you get the point but there is no way to know. But just follow the instructions as you are doing and you should be ok.

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Right number of words for answer

by Naz
(Dubai)

Guys, I took practice test in listening, and was shocked that I got half right only.

When I checked the answers, I actually found out that I got more right it's just I put the timings in the wrong format, for example I put 9:30 when I should have put 9:30 AM.

Other type of the mistake I had is that I didn't write the full answer, for example I wrote one word of the answer but apparently it wasn't enough. It should have been two words answer.

Question here, how would I know that I got the full answer, when do I need to put two words when one? Thanks

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Nov 23, 2018
 Right number of words for answer
by: IELTS buddy

That's a bit of an odd question because the answer is that you just have to put in the correct answer!

If the answer was one word, you'd put in that one word, and if it was two, you'd put in the two etc.

Of course sometimes there maybe an option of putting in 1, 2 or 3 words, all of which may be correct, but if they are all potentially correct then it would say that in the answer key.

Brackets are used to show this in the answer key. So if a word is in brackets then that means the answer is correct with or without the word in brackets.

So if in the answer key it said '(bowler) hat', then both 'hat' and 'bowler hat' would be correct.

And of course you must follow the instructions and not go over the limits that are set for each set of questions, for instance 'Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer'. So the answer could possibly be one or two words, or sometimes both (as above with the brackets).
Jul 21, 2019
 Compliance with the correct answer
by: Ali

Hi!
In Cambridge IELTS 2 Test 1, in the 10th question you hear the narrator expressing that "Louise's card will be ready until next week."
The question asks you "when will Louise's card be ready?" I wrote down "until next week", but the book gives the followings as the correct answers:
next week/ in a week/ in one week/ the following week.
Do i get a mark for my answer?
Jul 22, 2019
 Compliance with the correct answer
by: IELTS buddy

It can't have said "Louise's card will be ready until next week." because that sentence is not grammatically correct so you must have misunderstood it.

Are you sure it didn't say "....will NOT be ready until next week". That would be grammatically correct.

If the question was then 'when will the card be ready' it would be normal to say 'next week'. You would not say 'until next week'. You could maybe say 'not until next week' but I'm guessing that would have exceeded to word limit.

So the only choice was 'next week' etc. So no you will not get the mark.

If you have the Cambridge book they usually have the audio script at the back so you can check what was said.

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Not more than two words

by khushboo

actually i m doing one practice its written not more than 2 words and or a number so i have written answer "end term" but the answer was "end of term" so its really confusing if clearly written not more than 2 words.

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Feb 01, 2020
 No more than 2 words
by: IELTS buddy

That sounds like an error in the test. Where did the test come from? Some practice tests do have mistakes.

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Articles in IELTS Listening

by ruth

I just want to ask about the answer in listening practice test 2, section 1.

It says there write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND OR/ A NUMBER for each answer...

The question for #9 under walking arrangements is "walk through _________."

I answered 'nice park'. but when I checked the answer list it says there "the (nice) park....

My question is, am I wrong? Is my answer wrong??

Thanks in advance to whoever will reply!

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Aug 23, 2020
 Articles in IELTS Listening
by: IELTS buddy

It would be wrong because it is not grammatically correct without the article 'the'.

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No more than 2 words/or a number

by Nada

Please help

It says NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS/OR A NUMBER

"Up to __ consultations free"

My answer is "8 sessions" which the speaker says but the answer key is 8

Is my answer "8 sessions" correct?

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Feb 07, 2020
 No more than 2 words/or a number
by: IELTS buddy

Your answer is wrong.

"Sessions" is a synonym of "consultations". So you should not also be putting that word in the gap. If you do that the sentence will read:

"Up to 8 sessions consultations free".

It doesn't make sense to have that as it is repetition. So the answer is just "8".
Jun 10, 2020
 It's incorrect
by: Anonymous

Your answer should be either '8' or ' eight' because the word 'consultations' is already written there -- meaning if you add sessions to your answer, it makes it redundant.

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Writing Percentages IELTS listening

by YASH


NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

I wrote sixtyfive percent but answer is 65%

I wrote twentyfive but answer is 25

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Dec 16, 2020
 Writing Percentages IELTS listening
by: IELTS buddy

Firstly you do need to be aware of the number of words. With numbers they actually have a hyphen - so it should be 'sixty-five percent'.

'percent' can actually spelled 'per cent' as well so you would need to say: 'sixty-five percent' to equal 2 words (hyphenated words count as one).

However in the test you can put 'sixty-five percent' or '65%' (unless of course the instructions tell you you can't use numbers.

But where was your test from? Was it an official one? It may be that because it's automated it can't accept both choices and that the test is wrong.

In that particular example you sent it does not make sense to tell you to use two WORDS then have the answer expected is a number. That is why I'm wondering if it's an error with the test.

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Is my answer correct?

by John soe
(Gujarat)

In the answer key the answer is, FORD and i have written, A FORD
so is it correct?

Also another thing one answer is "SPACEMAN", in answer key they have written in double quotes and i have written my answer as, SPACEMAN, is my answer correct

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Aug 03, 2021
 Is my answer correct?
by: IELTS buddy

I'd need to see the test really to know if what you put is correct. But I assume 'A FORD' is wrong if that is not in the answer key. It must fit in the space grammatically.

Answers aren't usually in double quotes so you would not be marked wrong for not using them (you can't hear quotes obviously so it can't be marked wrong).

I'm guessing this is not from an official Cambridge IELTS test? Perhaps there are errors in the answer key.

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