IELTS Listening Form Completion made easy

In the first section of the IELTS Listening test, the one question you are more likely to encounter is a form filling type. The answer to such question type is usually one or two words or a number. Since the answer is mostly factual information that you will hear in the conversation, it may appear like an easy question type.
On the contrary, many students find it hard to score all the questions correctly in form completion. The reasons vary from picking the wrong information owing to the use of multiple information sets in the conversation or clever use of synonyms implying a completely different set of information.
So if you are looking at IELTS Listening Form Completion question type and hoping to find an able strategy, read on to make your scoring high by avoiding any of the common mistakes.

Read the questions beforehand

Read the question before the audio plays out. This will give you an understanding of the type of entries missing in the form.
For example, consider the following form to be completed.

Hotel ….. Inn
Name: Michael Albert
Room no. 455
Number of occupants: .....

One look at the form and you can understand the entry is about a hotel registration. Since the name of the hotel is partially mentioned you know focus must be on the name of the hotel when it is said in the conversation. Likewise, number of occupants is a field to be filled but is most likely to be a number. This basic information can sometimes offer you great insights to help choose the right answer.

Practice apt prediction

Like in the above example, sometimes predicting an answer can make you know the answer even before the audio starts playing out. The form is seeking number of occupants but the name mentioned is one only one individual. So there is a high chance the occupant is traveling alone and number of occupants will be 1. While you have made a successful prediction, the right answer must always be correlated with the audio. Of course, you will need to practice and develop this sense of prediction. A good resource of practice tests is available at FourModules.

Focus on the synonyms

Sometimes the audio conversation uses synonyms to deliver the answer subtly. A slight overlooking or lapse of concentration and you may miss the answer. Number of occupants can be changed to a room for how many in the conversation. Don't get caught up in looking for the exact word in the audio, occupants in this instance.

Beware of the word limit

Just like other question types, word limit plays an important role in form completion questions. If the question says one world of a number, make sure to find a concise one-word answer.

Don't let the conversation pronunciation fox you

English accent for New Zealand, Canada and UK may be contrastingly different. The audio may say 30 and you may hear 13 owing to pronunciation woes. Opt for substantial practice tests likes the ones available here in multiple accents to ensure you don't face such a problem.