IELTS Listening Sentence Completion: Strategy, Traps and Practice

Sentence completion gives you a set of sentences that summarise parts of the recording, each with a gap. You fill each gap with a word, a few words or a number from the recording, within a set word limit. It is common in Parts 3 and 4.

What it tests

• Understanding the key points of a talk or discussion.
• Recognising paraphrase: the sentence says the same thing in other words.
• Using grammar to predict what kind of word fits.

Step-by-step strategy

1. Check the word limit and stick to it.
2. Read each sentence and predict. Ask what part of speech fits the gap (noun, verb, adjective), and whether a noun should be singular or plural.
3. Paraphrase the sentence in your head. The speaker will not say the main drawback was; they may say the biggest problem we had.
4. Listen for the idea, then catch the word. When the meaning matches, the next important word is usually your answer.
5. Write the speaker's word. Don't swap it for a synonym; the mark scheme expects the word you heard.
6. Read the finished sentence. It should make sense and be grammatical.

Common traps

• The first idea is not the final one. A speaker gives a reason, then says but the real reason was.
• "Contrary to what you'd think". The expected answer is said first and then rejected.
• "I expected X but found Y". The sentence asks what they found, not what they expected.
• Similar words in the wrong role. The speaker uses two related nouns, for example cost and price, but only one fits the meaning of the sentence.
• Over the word limit. Writing a whole phrase when the limit is one word.

Try it: mini-example

This transcript is original practice material written for Bee English.

LECTURER: Now, urban rooftop farms. You might assume the main obstacle is the cost of soil, but in practice that's fairly cheap. What really limits these farms is the weight a roof can carry, so engineers have to check every building first. The early projects in the 1990s grew mostly herbs. Today, the most profitable crop is salad leaves, because they grow quickly and sell at a high price to local restaurants. Interestingly, the farms we studied expected their biggest customers to be supermarkets, but in fact most sales went to schools.

Complete the sentences. Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

1. The main limit on rooftop farms is the ________ that a roof can support.
2. In the 1990s, rooftop farms mainly produced ________.
3. Salad leaves are now the most profitable crop partly because they grow ________.
4. Most of the farms' sales were to ________.

Answers and explanations

1. weight. Soil cost is mentioned first and rejected. This is the contrary to what you'd think trap.
2. herbs. The sentence paraphrases early projects in the 1990s.
3. quickly. After grow, the gap needs an adverb, so quickly fits; high belongs to the price, not the growth.
4. schools. Supermarkets were expected; schools were the reality. This is the I expected X but found Y trap.

Related guides

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

Sources

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