In IELTS Listening short-answer questions, you "read a question and write a short answer using information from the recording" (ielts.org). The questions ask for facts: the official page names "places, prices or times". For example: Where does the tour start? Answer: main staircase.
Three rules decide the mark:
- Stay inside the word limit. "You will lose the mark for writing more than the word limit", says ielts.org, so read the instruction for every set.
- Spell it correctly. A misspelled answer is marked as incorrect.
- Watch for two or three answers. "Sometimes you are given a question which asks you to write two or three different answers."
In GoPrep mocks, short-answer questions went wrong more often than any other Listening type: 66% of answers were not correct, against 39% for the whole test. The fix is a habit: decide what kind of answer each question wants before the audio starts, then write only that fact.
What the word limit allows
The official format page gives one example of a limit, NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER, and warns that "the number of words or numbers you may use to fill the gaps can change". It also says "Hyphenated words such as 'check-in' count as single words" and "Contracted words such as 'they're' will not be tested".
Here is how to read the limits you are likely to see:
| Instruction | You may write | Loses the mark |
|---|---|---|
| ONE WORD ONLY | harbour | the harbour (2 words) |
| NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS | main staircase, staircase | the main staircase (3 words) |
| NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER | 90 minutes, large bags, 1876 | about 90 minutes long (3 words and a number) |
| NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS | a folding stool | a small folding stool (4 words) |
Two habits keep you inside any limit. First, leave out small words the question doesn't need: for Where does the tour start?, write main staircase, not at the main staircase. Second, write numbers as figures: 90 is quicker than ninety and has nothing to misspell.
How often short answers go wrong
We compared question types in 7,756 finished full GoPrep Listening mocks taken by 2,793 students from 12 September to 11 October 2026. Finished means a score above 0 and at least one answer in every part; repeat attempts count separately. Not correct includes blanks.
| Question type | Answers | Not correct | Left blank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short answer | 1,759 | 66% | 16% |
| Table completion | 24,289 | 43% | 6% |
| Sentence, form and note completion | 144,752 | 41% | 8% |
| Matching | 53,462 | 38% | 1% |
| Multiple choice, one answer | 47,546 | 35% | Under 1% |
| All Listening questions | 310,240 | 39% | 5% |
Short-answer sets are rare in GoPrep's tests: 8 of the 77 test versions students took in this period had them, so these figures come from a few tests. To compare performance within the same attempts, we looked only at the 294 finished mocks that had short-answer questions and compared them with the other questions in the same mocks. This describes these 8 test versions; it can't separate the question format from the difficulty of the particular questions.
| Score in the mock | Short answer: not correct | Other questions: not correct | Left blank (short answer / other) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-17 (96 mocks) | 84% | 62% | 25% / 11% |
| 18-22 (84 mocks) | 73% | 46% | 16% / 7% |
| 23-25 (48 mocks) | 56% | 38% | 8% / 3% |
| 26-29 (37 mocks) | 51% | 28% | 11% / 3% |
| 30-40 (29 mocks) | 28% | 17% | 5% / 2% |
| All (294 mocks) | 66% | 45% | 16% / 6% |
In all five score groups, short answers went wrong more often than the rest of the same test, by 11 to 27 percentage points, and they were left blank two to four times as often. The gap also held in each of the 8 test versions on its own, from 6 to 43 percentage points. Questions whose answer key had no digits were answered incorrectly 68% of the time (1,453 answers), against 60% when the key contained a number (306 answers).
What were the wrong answers? We sorted all 1,167 short answers that scored 0:
| What the answer was | Lost marks | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Left blank | 280 | 24% |
| An accepted answer plus extra words | 48 | 4% |
| An accepted answer with a word missing | 53 | 5% |
| Right word, but -s or -es added or missing | 11 | 1% |
| Possible spelling error found by a simple check* | 34 | 3% |
| Other answers not matched by these checks | 741 | 64% |
*Same first three letters and within two letters of the answer's length, for one-word answers of 5 letters or more.
About 1 in 8 lost marks matched our extra-word, missing-word, ending or possible-spelling checks, and 1 in 4 were blanks. These checks don't establish why an answer was wrong, but the two clearest jobs are plain: write something for every question, and keep the answer to the fact the question asks for.
How to answer short-answer questions in 5 steps
- Read the instruction and note the word limit. Note any question that asks for two or three answers.
- Name the answer type for each question. Where wants a place, how long a time, how much a price, what usually a noun. Your ear is then waiting for that kind of word.
- Think of the paraphrase. The question rarely uses the speaker's words: How long does the tour last? may come back as it takes ninety minutes.
- Write the fact, nothing else. Use the speaker's words, inside the limit. Drop the, at and about unless the answer needs them.
- Keep moving. The questions follow the order of the recording. If you miss one, go straight to the next, and fill the gap with your best guess at the end.
Questions that ask for two or three answers
A question such as Name TWO things visitors can borrow asks for more than one answer, and the answers may not come together: one early, one a few sentences later, with something else in between. Don't relax after the first one.
- Count how many answers the question asks for, and write them on separate lines if the answer sheet gives you separate spaces.
- Each answer has its own word limit.
- Check each thing you hear against the question. For a question about free items, reject anything the speaker says costs money.
Practice: a museum tour
We wrote this script for the guide; the museum is invented. Ask a friend to read it aloud once, or read it once yourself and cover it. Before you start, spend 30 seconds naming the answer type for each question.
Questions 11-16. Answer the questions. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
- Where does the tour start?
- How long does the tour last?
- What must visitors leave in the cloakroom? 14-15. Name TWO things visitors can borrow for free.
- What is the name of the new gallery?
Script: a museum guide
Good morning, everyone. You've all bought your tickets at the ticket desk, so the next step is to meet your guide. Tours don't start here at the desk: we meet at the bottom of the main staircase, just behind the shop.
The tour used to take about an hour. Actually, it's longer now, ninety minutes, because we've added a new gallery.
Cameras are fine in most rooms, but large bags must go in the cloakroom before you go upstairs.
If you'd like to sit down during the talk, you can borrow a folding stool at no charge. Headphones for the audio guide cost two pounds. And for children, there's an activity pack, which is also free.
Finally, the new gallery. It's called the Kestrel Gallery: that's K-E-S-T-R-E-L. It opened in March.
| Question | Answer | What you hear | Trap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | main staircase | we meet at the bottom of the main staircase | ticket desk: the tour doesn't start there; shop only shows where the staircase is |
| 12 | 90 minutes | Actually, it's longer now, ninety minutes | an hour: what it used to take |
| 13 | large bags | large bags must go in the cloakroom | cameras: they are fine in most rooms |
| 14-15 | folding stool, activity pack (any order) | at no charge; also free | headphones: they cost two pounds |
| 16 | Kestrel Gallery | the Kestrel Gallery: that's K-E-S-T-R-E-L | Spelling: Kestral or Kestle is marked wrong |
Check your words too. The main staircase is 3 words and breaks the limit. Ninety minutes is fine, but 90 minutes is quicker. For questions 14-15, the two answers were separated by a distractor, the headphones: if you stopped listening after the stool, you lost the activity pack.
Short answers are a few marks per test, and your band comes from all 40 answers. Here is how GoPrep students' overall scores moved across their mock exams:
Common short-answer traps
- The extra word. With the two-word limit in our practice, at the main staircase or the large bags has the correct fact but goes over the limit.
- The first fact you hear. The speaker says the old time, the wrong place or the thing that costs money first, then the answer.
- The second answer. In Name TWO, the second answer may come after a distractor. Keep listening for it while you follow the next questions too.
- The spelled-out name. If the speaker spells a name that answers your question, note each letter and check the spelling.
- The empty line. A quarter of lost short-answer marks in our data were blanks. If the recording has moved on, follow the next question, then return to the blank when you check and write your best guess.
FAQ
What are short-answer questions in IELTS Listening?
They are questions you answer with a few words or a number from the recording, such as a place, a price or a time. Each set has a word limit, and writing more than the limit loses the mark.
Do articles like a and the count in the word limit?
Yes. Every word you write counts, including a and the. If the fact fits without them, leave them out.
Can I use my own words in a short answer?
Use the words you hear. The question usually paraphrases the recording, but your answer should be the speaker's word or number, spelled correctly and inside the limit.
Should I write numbers as words or figures?
Figures are faster and leave nothing to misspell, so write 90 rather than ninety. Check that the number fits the limit in the instruction.
What if a question asks for two answers?
Give two different answers, each inside the word limit. They may come at different points in the recording, so keep listening after you hear the first one.
What to practise next
Short answers use the same skills as form and note completion, where you also write words from the recording, and spelling decides many of the marks: see our IELTS Listening spelling guide. For every Listening task type, see IELTS Listening question types.
Tell the quiz your target score, your exam date and the IELTS skill you find hardest, and GoPrep will build a personal study plan from your answers.
P.S. The full short-answer lesson, with more practice, is in the GoPrep course.
GoPrep Team
GoPrep guide authors
We write about IELTS preparation using platform data and official exam materials.
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