Understanding How Matching Works In IELTS Listening

One of the main question types that often confuse students in IELTS listening section is matching. Under the matching question types, you are supposed to match a list of headlines or a list of statements or questions to another corresponding list. That's easy you may believe or not that difficult you may assume, but sometimes the answer in the corresponding list can match with multiple statements in the other list. This adds to the confusion just like multiple choice more than one answer questions.
Matching questions types in listening are often devised in such a way that the student gets double-minded and gets caught up with time. The best way to tackle such questions is to break the basic dilemma of never letting yourself being caught in the web of confusion. Here are some tips and tricks to sort the Matching question types with ease.

Underline the keywords
The one big mantra to crack IELTS listening tests successfully is to ensure you adopt a strategy of underlining essential keywords before the audio begins. Glancing through the matching questions and underlining the keywords will give you an understanding of what to focus on while listening to the audio. The best way to tackle such a scenario is to extensively practice IELTS Listening tests and employing the strategy of underlining keywords. You can check out a great resource of IELTS Listening Practice Tests. Also if you haven't practiced the strategy, do not employ this on the d-day as it may lead to more confusion and possibly higher error rate. 

Focus on the audio
Once you have underlined the keywords and the audio starts playing focus completely on the audio. Try and understand the audio to ensure you are able to tackle matching questions easily. Understanding the conversation will allow you to rise over any confusion or close answers especially while matching headlines or text.

Know the information is always in order
The information in the audio is always in order which means it flows as per the flow of the questions. For example, if your matching question is asking you to match an event starting time, you can be sure that events will happen in chronological order just as they appear in the audio. So for example, if a tourist checks into a hotel and then walk down to an exhibition later in the conversation, you have your clue right there. The time for checking into the exhibition cannot be prior to the checking time of the hotel. 

Understand all options carefully
Sometimes the options listed in the matching text are all too similar and the objective is to confuse you to make an unforced error. Reading the options carefully can help eliminate any such unforced errors. For example, if you are matching time with its corresponding text, do not forget to check the AM or PM timings as they can be easily overlooked. 

Opt for extensive practice tests
The best strategy to gain confidence in handling even the most difficult of matching questions is practice. There are a host of IELTS listening tests available online but I would recommend checking the IELTS Listening Mock Tests as these tests offer extensive practice on all question types including matching questions.