Using the reading time – predicting answers before you listen

How to use the pauses in IELTS Listening to predict the type of answer, spot keywords and prepare for paraphrase, with a worked example.

You hear each recording once. You cannot pause it, slow it down or go back. The only thing you control is how well prepared you are when it starts. Candidates who spend the reading time actively, working out what they are about to hear, routinely score several marks higher than candidates of the same level who simply wait for the voices to begin.

What prediction means

Prediction does not mean guessing the answer. It means deciding, before the recording starts:

1. What is the situation? Who is talking, and why?
2. What kind of information fills each gap? A name? A price? A day? A noun or a verb?
3. Which words will tell me the answer is coming?
4. How might those words be paraphrased?

With that done, listening changes from ‘trying to understand everything’ to ‘waiting for particular pieces of information’. That is a much easier task.

Step 1: Read the instructions and the title

The narrator’s introduction and the heading of the task tell you the context.

‘You will hear a woman phoning a city cycle hire scheme to ask about becoming a member.’ PedalPoint Cycle Hire – membership enquiry

Immediately you can expect: types of membership, prices, how to get a bike, rules, perhaps a name or address.

Then check the word limit: ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER.

Step 2: Predict each gap

Look at what comes before and after the gap.

Membership

• Type of membership recommended: 1 ________
• Cost: £ 2 ________
• Each ride is free for the first 3 ________ minutes

Using the bikes

• Nearest docking station: outside the 4 ________
• Bikes can be unlocked with the app or a 5 ________ sent by text
• Helmets are sold at the shop on 6 ________ Street

You now know that questions 2 and 3 are numbers, that 6 is likely to be spelt letter by letter, and that for 1 you may hear several kinds of membership with only one being recommended.

Step 3: Mark the signpost words

The words printed on the question paper around each gap are your signposts. When you hear them, or a paraphrase of them, the answer is close.

• For gap 4, the signpost is nearest docking station. You might hear: ‘Where would I pick a bike up?’ … ‘There’s a closer one…’
• For gap 5, the signpost is unlocked. You might hear: ‘How do I actually unlock a bike?’

Because the questions follow the order of the recording, the signposts also tell you where you are. If you hear the speakers start talking about helmets and you have not answered gap 5, you have missed it. Let it go, guess later and be ready for gap 6.

Step 4: Expect paraphrase

The words on the page are usually not the words on the recording.

For multiple choice and matching, this is even more important: the correct option is almost always a paraphrase of what the speaker says, and the wrong options often use the speaker’s exact words.

Worked example

Here is the part of the conversation that goes with the notes above. Read it as if you were hearing it, with the gaps in mind.

Marcus: A lot of commuters go for the annual one, but as you’re new here, I’d suggest starting with the monthly option. You can cancel it whenever you like. Priya: That makes sense. How much is it? Marcus: It’s £18. It was fifteen until January, but I’m afraid prices went up. Priya: And does that cover all my journeys? Marcus: You get the first 45 minutes of every ride free. Most people think it’s thirty, because that’s what it is in a lot of other cities. Priya: Where would I pick a bike up? I live on Fenwick Road. Marcus: There’s a docking station at the railway station, but that’s a ten-minute walk from you. There’s a closer one, though. It’s just outside the library. Priya: And how do I actually unlock a bike? Marcus: Most members use the app. But if your battery’s dead, we can text you a code. Priya: What about helmets? Marcus: Our shop has them at a discount. It’s on Carlow Street. Priya: Is that C-A-R-L-O-W?

What did prediction do for us?

• Gap 1: We expected a type of membership and knew the word ‘recommended’ mattered. Two types are mentioned, annual and monthly; only one follows ‘I’d suggest’.
• Gap 2: We expected a price. Two prices are mentioned, eighteen and fifteen. ‘It was fifteen until January’ is the old price.
• Gap 3: Again two numbers, 45 and thirty. ‘Most people think it’s thirty’ tells us that thirty is wrong.
• Gap 4: Two places, railway station and library. The question says ‘nearest’, and Marcus says ‘a closer one’.
• Gap 6: As predicted, the name is spelt.

In five of six gaps there was a second candidate, a distractor. Lesson 4 looks at distractors in detail. For now, notice that prediction is what allows you to tell the real answer from the distractor: you are listening for the recommended type, the current price, the nearest station.

Predicting in multiple choice and matching

You cannot predict the answer to a multiple choice question, but you can prepare:

1. Read the stem and highlight its key idea: Why did the mill close in 1968?
2. Read the options and note the one-word difference between them: foreign producers / flood / owner retired.
3. Expect to hear all three ideas mentioned. Your job is to hear which one the speaker confirms.

For matching tasks, read the list of numbered items carefully, because those will be said in order, and glance at the options in the box so that you know the range of possibilities.

How to use each pause

The ‘check your answers’ pauses are an opportunity. Your answers to the part you have just finished are either right or wrong, and staring at them changes little. The next set of questions, on the other hand, is new. Glance back quickly, then move forward.

Practice routine

Take a Part 1 or Part 4 from any practice test. Before playing the audio:

1. Give yourself 45 seconds with the questions.
2. Beside each gap, write the word type and one or two possible answers.
3. Play the recording and answer.
4. Afterwards, compare your predictions with the real answers. How many were the right type?

Within a week of doing this daily, prediction becomes automatic, and you will find that you no longer panic when the recording begins.

Key points

• Use every pause to read ahead; never just wait.
• For each gap, predict grammar and type of information.
• The words around a gap are signposts, but expect to hear them paraphrased.
• Expect more than one candidate answer; prediction tells you which one the question wants.
• At the end of each part, check briefly and then prepare for the next.

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