Matching in IELTS Listening: how to match items to options as you listen

You match numbered items, such as speakers, places, stages or topics, to lettered options in a box. The numbered items come in the same order as the recording, while the options in the box do not and are paraphrased. It tests listening for what is said about each item, not whether you can hear a name.

Format

• Usually in Parts 2 and 3, as a set of about 4 to 6 items. In some tests matching appears twice and in others not at all.
• A box of options lettered A to F or A to H sits beside a numbered list. There are often more options than items, so some letters are never used.
• Some tasks say you may use any letter more than once; others use each letter at most once. This line changes how you work, so read it first.
• The numbered items are spoken in order and are close to their printed wording. The options in the box are paraphrased.
• On computer you click or drag a letter against each item, and you can change it until time is up.

Strategy

1. Read the instruction for 'more than once', then check whether the items are people, places or stages. This tells you whether the speaker will be talking about each in turn or comparing them.
2. Read the numbered items and mark them as signposts: they are the one part of the task the speaker will say almost word for word, and they arrive in order.
3. Reduce each option in the box to one or two keywords: 'a bit too expensive' becomes 'cost'. You will rarely hear the words in the box, so keywords work better than whole phrases.
4. When you hear an item, stop listening for the item and start listening for the comment. For item 'Cafeteria' you want what is said about it, such as 'prices went up in September', which matches 'cost'.
5. Match on meaning, not on vocabulary. If the box says 'poor value' and the speaker says 'you'd pay less for the same thing across the road', that is the match.
6. In a once-only task, cross off each letter as soon as you use it; the last items are then easy to decide by elimination. In a repeat-allowed task, do not cross anything off.
7. If you miss an item, choose your best guess quickly and listen for the next item's signpost. The speaker will not go back.
8. Check at the end that no item is blank and that, in a once-only task, no letter appears twice.

Common traps

• Choosing the option that repeats the speaker's word. In matching, the box is written to avoid the words of the recording, so an exact match is often a distractor.
• Missing the 'more than once' line and crossing off letters you may still need.
• Matching the topic rather than the comment, for example choosing an option about the cafeteria because the cafeteria was mentioned, when the speaker was making a different point about it.
• Choosing at the first sign, then missing a change of mind such as 'I liked it at first, but...'.
• Losing your place because you stopped to puzzle over one item while the speaker moved on to the next.

FAQ

More IELTS Listening guides

• Form, note & table completion
• Sentence completion
• Short-answer questions
• Multiple choice
• Choose two answers
• Map & plan labelling

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