IELTS Listening Sentence Completion

IELTS Listening Sentence Completion
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IELTS Listening Sentence Completion tasks test how well you can listen for specific information, such as details, numbers, dates, and names. This type of question trains you to listen carefully and jot down exact words and phrases as stated in the listening audio.

What is the IELTS Listening Sentence Completion?

Sentence completion questions in IELTS Listening typically present a series of incomplete sentences. Here, you'll complete sentences by filling in missing words, based on the listening audio. This task requires careful listening to capture precise details without changing the meaning or spelling of what you hear.

IELTS Listening Sentence Completion: Practice

Listen to the audio and answer the questions below.

Question

Complete the sentences using no more than two words.

  1. Doing crosswords or playing computer games challenges the ……………. and ………….
  2. Studies show that regular physical exercise puts you in a more ………………… of mind
  3. We have to be ………………when creating study plans.
  4. Studying in the ………………….. is inspiring.
  5. When planning for a study we must decide on time, place and ……………………

IELTS Listening Sentence Completion Practice: Audio Transcript

How many of you know people who hate studying, but love doing crosswords or playing computer games that challenge their minds and their reflexes? Lots of you, I’m sure. Well, one objective is to learn to enjoy studying in the same way, we enjoy those crosswords and computer games. Okay, we’ll come back to that later. Now, I want to discuss a few basics. One, regular exercise. Countless studies show that regular physical exercise, say, 40 minutes or so, five days a week of jogging, fast walking, weight training,

tennis, whatever you enjoy, puts you in a more positive frame of mind and also increases creativity and memory for hours after the exercise. Other important things are to eat good healthy food, get enough sleep and try not to spend too much time and money in the student bar. There’s nothing worse than trying to learn something or solve a problem than when you have a hangover. So, as the Romans used to say men Sana in corpore Sano, a healthy mind in a healthy body. Right. Now we’re all going to keep fit and healthy. What about the studying? First, you must work out the times that you will use for study. When I say study, I mean all the school work. Writing essays, reading etc that you do out of class. Be realistic, don’t plan to spend 60 hours a week on it. It’s too much for most of us. Set aside one or two blocks of time each of say, two or two and a half hours a day, that are your study time.

As I say be realistic. Don’t set yourself such an ambitious goal that you will never stick to it. And it’s also a good idea to leave one day a week, Sunday, perhaps, completely free so you can relax and occasionally do some schoolwork at those times when it builds up a bit. That’s time, settled. Now for place. We are creatures of habit. We do things better when we do them in places that we associate with the particular activity, in this case studying. So it’s best to try and set aside a quiet place. Perhaps your bedroom, a study if you have one which is where you study. When the weather is nice, it could be our doors. Nothing is nicer than reading and thinking about that novel, you have to read for English literature 101 on a quiet grassy bank by a stream on a sunny day.

And we mustn’t forget the library. Most of us find that studying surrounded by the learning of centuries is inspiring as though studying is the only proper thing to do in a library. Okay, time, place, what next? It is, questions. Before you set out to read something, always ask yourself,

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IELTS Listening Sentence Completion Practice: Answers

  1. Mind, reflex
  2. Positive frame
  3. realistic
  4. Library
  5. questions

IELTS Listening Sentence Completion Practice: Answer Explanation

For the first question, it is clear from the talk which goes thus :

How many of you know people who hate studying, but love doing crosswords or playing computer games that challenge their minds and their reflexes?

So the answer is “mind, reflex”.

For the second question, it is clear from the talk which goes thus :

Countless studies show that regular physical exercise, say, 40 minutes or so, five days a week of jogging, fast walking, weight training, tennis, whatever you enjoy, puts you in a more positive frame of mind.

So the answer is “positive frame”.

For the third question, it is clear from the talk which goes thus :

When I say study, I mean all the school work. Writing essays, reading etc that you do out of class. Be realistic, don’t plan to spend 60 hours a week on it.

So the answer is “realistic”

For the fourth question, it is clear from the talk which goes thus :

And we mustn’t forget the library.Most of us find that studying surrounded by the learning of centuries is inspiring.

So the answer is “Library”.

For the fifth question, it is clear from the talk which goes thus :

Okay, time, place, what next? It is, questions.

So the answer is “questions”

Step-by-Step Guide to Crack IELTS Listening Sentence Completion

Step 1. Follow the instructions

Read the instructions and follow the given word limit. You should not exceed the word limit, but writing words less than the expected limit is fine.

For example: Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

If you write more than three words, you will be marked incorrect even if the information you give is correct.

Step 2. Predicting the answers

You can try to predict the answers based on the questions and the content you hear in the audio. This will help your mind on what to listen to in the recording. Look out for words like, a noun, an adjective, or a verb.

For Example:

Take a look at the following questions.

Can you predict what types of words are missing in the following sentences?

  1. Trisha plans to travel to _________ after finishing her studies.
  2. The speaker encouraged the audience to __________ their ideas during the discussion.

Answers

  1. Noun
  2. Verb

Step 3. Order of the Answers

Note that the answers will come in the same order in the listening audio as they are given in the question. Hence, for this question type, you will listen to answer 6 first, then the answer 7 and so on in the audio.

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Step 4. Focus on Keywords in the Question

Find out the key nouns, verbs, and adjectives in the question sentence right before the recording starts. This is because these are likely to match the content of the audio.

For example,

Question: The classes will be held in __________

To note: You must focus on the keywords like ‘classes’ and ‘held.’

When you listen to the audio, these words will trigger your attention to the relevant part of the listening audio.

Step 5. Grammatical accuracy

Make sure to check if your answers fit in the question sentence grammatically perfectly. If this doesn’t happen, then your answers will be marked incorrect by the examiner.

At times, you may have to change the form of a word if you think that it is the correct answer.

For example,

Audio: “I can't believe how long it's taking for my refund to process! I’m very much disappointed.”

Question Sentence: The speaker found it very ___________ that her refund was taking so long to process.

Answer: Disappointed.

Common Challenges in IELTS Listening Sentence Completion

IELTS candidates often struggle with IELTS Listening sentence completion due to fast-paced audio and similar-sounding information that can be confusing. Here’s how to tackle these challenges:

  1. Fast Pace of the Audio: Stay focused! Develop a habit of predicting the answer type (e.g., number, name, location) based on the context of the sentence.
  2. Distraction by Extra Information: Speakers often provide additional, unnecessary details. Recognize keywords and listen for cues, helping you avoid writing down irrelevant information.
  3. Synonyms and Paraphrasing: Sentence completion questions may use synonyms, so focus on understanding meaning rather than just words. If the audio mentions “cost-effective,” the answer may actually be “affordable.”

Common Mistakes to Avoid in IELTS Listening Sentence Completion

  1. Ignoring Word Limits: Always check the word limit for each answer. If it states “no more than two words,” avoid writing three, even if it seems to make more sense grammatically.
  2. Guessing Randomly: In sentence completion, context matters. Guessing without listening carefully may result in illogical answers. If you miss an answer, stay calm and move on to avoid missing the next answer.
  3. Overlooking Grammar Rules: Make sure your answers fit grammatically within the sentence. For instance, if the sentence is “The project was completed in ___,” ensure your answer aligns grammatically, like using “April” instead of “the month of April.”

IELTS Listening Sentence Completion Questions for Practice

Overall, mastering IELTS Listening Sentence Completion is a valuable skill that requires practice, prediction, and focused listening. By following these strategies, you can improve your accuracy and confidence in handling sentence completion tasks. Make the most of IELTS practice resources and work on refining your listening skills to catch the details that matter. Remember, every correct answer brings you one step closer to your target IELTS band score!

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