IELTS Listening Form, Note, Table and Flow-Chart Completion

Completion tasks give you a page with gaps: a booking form, a set of notes, a table, or a flow chart showing steps in a process. You write a word, a few words or a number in each gap, using what you hear. Forms are typical of Part 1; notes and tables are typical of Part 4, where a lecture may fill all ten gaps.

What it tests

• Catching specific information: names, numbers, dates, prices, codes and key nouns.
• Writing it accurately, with correct spelling and within the word limit.
• Following a structure: headings in notes and tables tell you what comes next.

Step-by-step strategy

1. Check the word limit. For example, ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER. Going over it costs the mark.
2. Use the headings. Table columns, form labels and note headings tell you the topic of each gap.
3. Predict the type of answer. Decide whether each gap needs a number, a date, a name, a plural noun, an adjective. Look at the words right before and after it.
4. Listen for the words around the gap. These are often paraphrased, but they signal that the answer is coming.
5. Write exactly what you hear. Use the speaker's word for the gap; you do not need to change its form.
6. Check in the review time: spelling, plurals (-s), and that the answer fits the grammar of the line.

Common traps

• Self-correction and wrong read-backs. The caller gives a number, the agent reads it back wrongly, and the caller corrects it. Write the corrected version.
• Numbers that sound alike. Fifteen and fifty, thirteen and thirty. Listen for the stress on the last syllable.
• Per item vs total. The form asks for the total cost; the speaker first mentions the price of one ticket.
• Indirect answers. I can come the day after Tuesday. The answer is Wednesday, but the word is never said.
• Category mapping. The form asks for a category (for example, an age band or a price band), and the speaker gives a detail you have to match to it.
• Changed decisions. Let's book the standard room. Actually, the deluxe one has a view, let's take that.

Try it: mini-example

This transcript is original practice material written for Bee English.

AGENT: Greenway Bike Hire, how can I help?

CALLER: Hi, I'd like to book two bikes for this weekend.

AGENT: Sure. Can I take your surname?

CALLER: It's Pyke, P-Y-K-E.

AGENT: P-I-K-E?

CALLER: No, with a Y.

AGENT: Got it. And a contact number?

CALLER: 07700 913 450.

AGENT: Which day will you collect them?

CALLER: Saturday, oh wait, I'm working Saturday morning, so the day after.

AGENT: No problem. It's fourteen pounds a bike, so twenty-eight in total. Will you want helmets?

CALLER: We've got our own, thanks, but we'd like a lock for each bike.

Complete the form. Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

Booking form
Surname	1 ________
Phone	2 ________
Collection day	3 ________
Total cost	£ 4 ________
Extras	5 ________

Answers and explanations

1. Pyke. The agent's read-back (P-I-K-E) is wrong, and the caller corrects it. This is the wrong read-back trap.
2. 07700913450. Figures are fine; spaces do not matter here, but every digit must be right.
3. Sunday. Saturday is self-corrected to the day after. This combines self-correction and an indirect answer.
4. 28. £14 is the price per bike; the form asks for the total. This is the per item vs total trap.
5. locks (or lock). Helmets are mentioned but rejected. If a plural is clearly needed, locks is safest.

Related guides

• IELTS Listening: complete guide
• Answer rules: word limits, spelling and numbers
• Listening sentence completion
• Reading: summary, note, table and flow-chart completion

Sources

• IELTS, Academic Listening format and question types
• IDP, How computer-delivered IELTS works