Part 2: Question-Response Tips

Always listen to ALL the answer choices before answering. There may be more than one answer choice that seems correct, or an answer choice to mislead¹ you, so wait until you have heard them all before you decide which one is correct.

Example:

 

Question-Response

Where did you go for dinner?

A: Why don't we go at 9 o'clock?
B: We tried that new restaurant.
C: Let's go to the restaurant in the hotel.

Response C is connected to the question word where, but it is incorrect because the question refers to the past, not the future.

 

Part 3: Question-Response Tips

Listen carefully for question words like what, where, when, who, which,and how at the beginning of the questions. These tell you what kind of response is needed. If the question does not begin with a question word, then it needs a yes or no type answer.

Example:

 

Where are you going on vacation?

This question begins with where, so the correct response will probably contain a place, like I'm going to Australia.

Is it OK if I pay by credit² card?

This question does not begin with a question word, so the correct response will probably contain yes or no, like Yes sir, that'll be fine.

However, remember that sometimes people do not know, or are not sure of the answer to a question. So the correct answer to any type of question could also be a response which expresses uncertainty³ like I think so, I haven't decided⁴ yet, or It might do.

Be careful of questions that try to mislead you by using or referring to words that sound the same or similar, but have different meanings. For example, words like write and right which have the same pronunciation, hungry and angry which have a similar pronunciation, and book (thing you read) and book (to reserve) which have the same pronunciation and spelling. Listen carefully for the meaning of the question and the responses, not just the sound of the words. This also applies to Part 1.

Example:

 

Question-Reponse

What are you going to wear to the interview?

A. It's in the meeting room on the third floor.
B. A suit and tie I think.
C. It went very well, thank you.

The word wear is pronounced the same as the word where. So, if you did not listen carefully for the meaning of the question, you could think that A is the correct response because it tells you where the party is. However, the correct response needs to tell you what clothes the personis going to wear to the interview, so B must be the correct answer.

Have a look at the question before you listen to the conversation. If you already know what question you have to answer, it will make it easier for you to pick out the information from the conversation that you need to answer it. This applies to Part 4 too.

 

Example:

 

Conversation

Man:
 Do you have any double rooms available on July 2nd?
 
Woman:
 I'm sorry sir. They're all fully-booked on that day. I can offer you a twin room.
 
Man:
 No, it's OK thank you. I'll try somewhere else.
 

Question

What is the woman's occupation?

A. A librarian
B. A restaurant manager
C. A hotel receptionist
D. A sales assistant

If you have read the question first, you will know that you just have to listen out for clues that tell you what the woman's occupation is, not anything else. The clues are the words double rooms, fully-booked, and twin room which are all connected with a hotel, so C must be the correct answer.

Focus on the words in the recording⁵ that are stressed because these will give you the main idea of the conversation. Stressed words in English are usually nouns⁶, verbs, adjectives⁷, and adverbs, because these are the words that contain the most information. Words like articles, prepositions⁸, pronouns⁹, and conjunctions¹⁰ that contain much less information usually have little or no stress. This applies to Parts 1, 2, and 4 too.

Example:

 

We need to finish that report by Friday.

The words that are most likely to be stressed in this sentence are the verbs need and finish, and the nouns report, and Friday. These contain the most important information.

Some questions may ask you about facts and some questions may ask you about a speaker's emotions or relationship. For example, "How does the woman feel?" or "What is the relationship between the man and the woman?" The answer to these types of questions will not be given directly in the conversation. You will have to infer¹¹ the answer to these questions based on what the speakers say, their tone¹² of voice, the level of formality they use, and so on.

Example:

 

Conversation

Woman:
 This is the second time you've been late for work this week. It's just not good enough.
 
Man:
 I'm really sorry. It won't happen again.
 
Woman:
 Well, just make sure it doesn't.
 

Question

How does the woman feel?

A. Shocked
B. Sad
C. Angry
D. Worried

The woman does not directly say that she is angry, but from what she says to the man, and probably her tone of voice in the recording too, you can infer that C is the correct answer.

Listen carefully to the announcement before each talk. It will tell you which number questions you need to answer for that talk and what type of talk it is going to be. Each talk does not have the same number of questions, so if you do not know which number questions to answer, you could get confused. If you know what type of talk it is going to be — for example, an advertisement, a news story, a telephone message — you will know the context¹³, which will make it much easier to focus on and understand the talk.

Example:

 

Questions 84-86 refer to the following weather report.

This tells you that you need to answer questions 84, 85, and 86, and that the talk is going to be a weather report. Now you can focus your mind on the topic of weather and be ready for words like sunny, rain, and so on.

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