In the Reading and Listening
tasks of the IELTS exam, band
scores are determined only
by the number of questions
answered correctly. There
usually are about 40 questions
on each of the two tests.
Many candidates who do not
understand the questions or
do not know or are not sure
of the answers leave blanks
on the answer sheets for those
questions. Never leave questions
unanswered! Always write something
on the answer sheet. No answer
is automatically wrong, but
you may guess the right answer,
in which case you receive
the point for it.
To score the highest number
of correct answers:
- Do your best to understand
the question and answer it
correctly.
- If you do not understand
the question or know the answer,
figure out what kind of answer
is required – T (true)
or F (false), F (fact) or
O (opinion), the letter or
letters that correspond to
the correct answers to multiple
choice questions, short answers,
and the like – and write
an answer that is possibly
correct. It may be.
- Keep careful track of question
numbers so that you put answers
in the correct places. One
of the problems with not answering
a question is that you may
forget to leave a space for
the answer. If you answer
the next question on a line
you have left blank, you could
create a situation in which
a whole series of answers
– some of which might
be correct – will be
scored as incorrect. Examiners
who correct answer sheets
do so from master answer sheet
keys and do not make allowances
for answers that appear on
the wrong line.
- Pay special attention for
some answers that come in
a series. Sometimes IELTS
questions ask you to put a
number of answers in a particular
series. In some of those cases,
if some of the answers in
the series are in the correct
order, they are considered
correct. Do your best at getting
the entire series right, but
if you are confident of only
a portion of the series, make
sure those answers are in
the proper order.
- Even with short answer
questions, put some words
in the blanks – but
never more than three –
of questions whose answers
you are not sure of. In the
case of IELTS Reading task
short answer questions, choose
words that come directly from
the text, as they are more
likely to be correct.
- To maximize the number
of correct answers in the
IELTS Listening test, mark
the answers you choose in
the question booklet and then,
in the 10 minutes you are
allowed for transferring the
answers to the answer sheets
after the tape is finished
playing, carefully transfer
them to the answer sheet.
If you are unsure of the correct
answer to a question while
the tape is playing, mark
the answer you think is best.
You can think about it more
after the tape has finished.
Remember: do not use the time
after each section of the
IETLS Listening test tape
has finished to “check
your answers” (as you
will be instructed to on the
tape). Instead, go on to read
the next set of questions,
to add to the time you have
to read them. You have nothing
to check your answers against
after the tape has finished.
- In the IETLS Reading test,
if for some reason you have
not allowed yourself enough
time for the third reading,
give yourself enough time
before the 60 minutes has
elapsed to look at the questions
and see what kinds of answers
are required. Then guess.
In all cases, never leave
answers blank on IELTS answer
sheets!
