IELTS Listening form, note, table and sentence completion, plus short answers

Completion questions look simple, because the answer is a word you hear. They are the task where marks are most often lost for a reason that has nothing to do with listening: the answer was heard correctly and then spelt wrongly, written too long, or taken from the first version of a fact the speaker went on to correct.

Checked 15 and 16 October 2026 against IELTS's Academic Listening format and General Training Listening format pages, IELTS's test delivery update of 5 March 2026, and IDP IELTS's spelling guide. ScoreFluent is an independent practice platform and is not affiliated with IELTS, the British Council, IDP IELTS or Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

What types of completion question are in IELTS Listening?

IELTS's format page lists them as follows. IELTS: Listening format

• A form, "often used for facts, such as names".
• A set of notes, "used to summarise information and show how different points relate to one another".
• A table, "used to summarise information that can be divided into clear categories, e.g. place/time/price".
• A flow chart, "used to summarise the stages in a process, with the direction of the process shown by arrows".
• Sentence completion, where you fill a gap in each sentence using information from the recording.

IELTS's sample question overview also names summary completion, and publishes sample Listening tasks with answer keys and recording transcripts for several of these types. This page covers the kind where you write words from the recording. For the whole paper, see IELTS Listening: format, parts and practice.

How strict is the word limit?

Each set of instructions gives a limit, for example "NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER". IELTS says you lose the mark for writing more than the limit, that contracted words such as "they're" will not be tested, and that hyphenated words such as "check-in" count as single words. You do not have to change the words in the recording. Read it every time, because it can differ from set to set.

ScoreFluent's practice marking works the same way for these items. Each gap or question is one mark, capital letters do not matter, and an answer over the limit scores zero even if the content is right. The limit for each practice set is shown below.

Does spelling matter?

Yes. IDP IELTS says that words with spelling errors in the Listening and Reading tests are marked as incorrect, and that you can use British or American spelling as long as you spell the word correctly and stay consistent. IDP IELTS: spelling In ScoreFluent practice, a misspelling also scores zero.

IELTS's General Training page lists Listening as about 30 minutes plus 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet, which points to the paper-based test. IELTS: General Training test IDP IELTS lists computer-delivered Listening as 30 minutes. IDP IELTS: computer and paper IELTS announced on 5 March 2026 that it will no longer offer paper-based IELTS from mid-2026, with exact timelines varying by market. Check what your booked delivery mode allows.

What should you do before the recording starts?

This routine is ScoreFluent's technique, not an exam rule.

1. Read the limit first. One word and two words are different tasks.
2. Predict the type of answer for each gap. "Next to the [ ]" wants a place. "Swimming pool closed on [ ]" wants a day. "About [ ] litres" wants a number.
3. Read the words either side of the gap. An "a" before the gap means the answer starts with a consonant sound. A plural verb suggests a plural noun.
4. Look at the layout. In a table, the column headings tell you what kind of fact each cell needs. In a flow chart, follow the arrows, because the stages come in that order.
5. Move down the gaps with the speaker. The gaps follow the recording, so once you have an answer for gap 3, start listening for gap 4.

What do you do when the speaker corrects themselves?

Write the version the speaker settles on. Completion and short-answer recordings are built with changes of mind, and the practice items below all show them. These are ScoreFluent's observations of bank items, but they are worth watching for in any recording.

• A change of place. "Hartwell Farm, which used to stand beside the church wall, but since March it has been next to the fountain."
• An out-of-date leaflet. "… the old leaflet said Tuesday, but that is no longer correct."
• A spoken correction. "I got off at Sheffield at about seven fifteen. Sorry, I mean seven twenty."
• An offered alternative. "Thursday is difficult … is there anything on Friday?"

Signals such as "used to", "but", "no longer" and "sorry, I mean" mark a change. Write the answer after the signal.

What are short-answer questions?

IELTS describes them as questions where you read a question and write a short answer using information from the recording. It says they test your ability to listen for facts, such as places, prices or times, and that you are sometimes asked to write two or three different answers to one question. The word limit applies, and it can differ from question to question. IELTS: Listening format

The question word tells you the answer type: "What time" wants a time, "How much" a price, "Which" a name or choice. Read the whole question before the recording starts, then write only the fact, not a sentence. For the Reading paper's version, see IELTS Reading short-answer questions.

Practice items from the ScoreFluent bank (not real exam questions)

These five items come from the ScoreFluent practice bank. Each is a recording in the app, so try it there first and then check yourself here. For each item you get the task as it is set, the key with the bank's one-line explanations, and the sentences that decide it.

Item 1. A table: a market stall guide. Word limit for this set: one word.

• Hartwell Farm: Next to the [1]. Free-range [2].
• Greenfield Bakery: Opposite the [3]. [4] bread.
• Tidewater Fish: By the [5]. This week's catch: [6].

Key: 1 fountain · 2 eggs · 3 church · 4 sourdough · 5 entrance · 6 mackerel. The farm stall has moved from the church wall to the fountain. The bakery's speciality is sourdough, not cakes. This week's catch is mackerel; last week it was cod.

Many people assume that the bakery is best known for its cakes, and the cakes are certainly very good, but the speciality that attracts the longest queue is the sourdough bread, which is baked in a wood-fired oven every Friday night.

Item 2. Notes: a talk to new sports centre members. Word limit for this set: two words.

• Weekday opening time: [1] a.m.
• Collect membership card from: [2]
• Lockers need a: [3]
• Swimming pool closed on: [4]
• Book fitness classes using the: [5]
• Free parking limited to: [6]

Key: 1 six (the key accepts 6 or six) · 2 reception · 3 dollar coin · 4 Monday (Mondays also accepted) · 5 mobile app (app also accepted) · 6 two hours (2 hours also accepted). The pool closes on Mondays for cleaning, and the old leaflet saying Tuesday is out of date.

The swimming pool is open all week, except on Mondays, when it is closed for cleaning. People are sometimes surprised by this, because the old leaflet said Tuesday, but that is no longer correct.

Item 3. Sentences: saving water at home. Word limit for this set: two words.

1. A typical shower uses about [1] litres of water every minute.
2. A low-flow showerhead reduces the flow by about a [2].
3. Filling a [3] to wash dishes uses less water than a running tap.
4. Watering plants early in the [4] reduces losses through evaporation.
5. A barrel used to collect rainwater for the garden is called a [5].
6. A leaking toilet can be detected by adding [6] to the cistern.

Key: 1 nine (or 9) · 2 third · 3 basin · 4 morning · 5 water butt (butt also accepted) · 6 food colouring (colouring also accepted).

Collecting rainwater in a barrel, known as a water butt, gives you a free supply for your plants. … You can check for one by adding a few drops of food colouring to the cistern and seeing whether the colour appears in the bowl.

Item 4. Short answer: a train lost-property call. Word limit: two words for every question.

1. At what time did the caller get off the train?
2. What colour is the bag?
3. Which coach was the caller sitting in?
4. How much would it cost to post the bag?
5. Where exactly is the lost property office?

Key: 1 seven twenty (7.20 and 7:20 also accepted) · 2 dark green · 3 coach D (D also accepted) · 4 eight pounds (8 pounds and £8 also accepted) · 5 platform four (platform 4 also accepted). The caller first says seven fifteen, then corrects to seven twenty because the train was late.

I got off at Sheffield at about seven fifteen. Sorry, I mean seven twenty, because the train was five minutes late.

Item 5. Short answer: registering a dog at a vet. Three of the five questions, each with its own limit.

1. Which company insures the dog? (one word)
2. At what time is the health check on Friday? (three words)
3. Which nurse will carry out the check? (one word)

Key: 1 PetSure · 2 ten to nine (8.50 and 8:50 also accepted) · 3 Okafor. The Friday slot is at ten to nine in the morning.

The next available appointment is Thursday at a quarter past four. Thursday is difficult because I work until five, so is there anything on Friday? There's a slot on Friday at ten to nine in the morning, before the surgery opens to the public.

What mistakes cost marks in completion and short answers?

• Writing the first version of a fact. Items 1, 2 and 4 each hinge on a correction.
• Going over the limit. "The mobile app" is three words in a two-word set. Drop the article.
• Misspelling a word you heard correctly. Practise days, colours and numbers.

How do you practise IELTS Listening completion?

Do an item once without pausing, then mark it against the key. For each miss, find the sentence in the transcript and ask which of three things happened: you did not hear it, you heard it but spelt it wrongly, or you wrote the first version of a fact the speaker went on to change. The Listening overview suggests tagging misses this way across a whole set. Then fix the cause. Write a misspelt word three times from memory the next day, and rewrite any over-limit answer in the fewest words that still fit the gap.

For the two other Listening task types, see IELTS Listening multiple choice and IELTS Listening matching. For the Reading paper's version of completion, see sentence, summary and note completion. The full list is at IELTS task types, and the overview is at IELTS.

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