IELTS Listening Short Answer Questions

Short-answer questions ask for facts, such as places, prices or times, that you hear in the recording source: ielts.org.

So most answers are a name, a number or a few words. There is no list to choose from and no sentence to complete. You write the answer from what you heard. For how this type compares with the other five, see IELTS Listening question types.

What the task asks you to do

Each question is a direct question, and your answer is short.

The task is the same on Academic and General Training, because the Listening test is the same in both source: ielts.org.

Let the question word set the answer

A short-answer question starts with a question word, and that word tells you the kind of answer before you hear anything.

• "How much" wants a price.
• "When" or "What time" wants a time or a date.
• "Where" wants a place.
• "Who" wants a name or a job.
• "What" or "Which" needs the noun after it. "Which room" wants a room. "What colour" wants a colour.

Decide the kind of answer before the recording starts. Then the first price or place you hear is a candidate, not yet the answer.

The question word also tells you what to leave out. A "Where" question needs only the place. You do not need "in" or "at" in front of it, and those extra words can take you over the limit.

Questions that ask for two or three answers

The second sentence in the quote above is easy to miss. Look for a number such as TWO or THREE in the question. Then keep listening until you have that many answers.

The question asks for different answers, so do not give the same thing twice in other words. Keep listening until the speaker moves on to the topic of the next question.

Things that are mentioned but not allowed, not chosen or no longer true are not answers. The worked example below shows one of these.

Keeping your place

The answers come in the same order as the questions, and there is no second hearing source: ielts.org. Both rules apply to every type, and the question types guide sets them out.

If you miss an answer, keep answering as the audio plays. Fill in the missed answer with your best guess when the recording is finished source: IDP.

Keep the answer short

Before the audio starts, read the instructions and check how many words you can write in each answer source: IDP. You lose the mark for writing more than the limit source: ielts.org. Listening form completion has the full rules on the limit, hyphens and numbers in words.

This type has a risk the gap types do not. A question invites a full reply, the way you would answer a person. In the test, write only the words that carry the fact. But do not cut a word the answer needs. An answer that is too broad can also be marked wrong source: IDP.

Do not repeat the question

An answer that includes a word already in the question is marked wrong source: IDP.

So if the question asks "Which room is the meeting in?", do not answer "meeting room". Give only the new information.

Spelling, numbers and prices

Words with spelling errors in the Listening test are marked as incorrect source: IDP. For British and American spelling, and for capital letters, see Listening form completion.

Prices matter more in this type, because they are among the facts it asks for. Use a comma, not a full stop, to separate thousands, as in 1,500. A price such as "$10.05" takes a full stop before the cents source: IDP. So £26.50 takes a full stop between the pounds and the pence.

How to write numbers, dates and times in IELTS Listening covers the accepted forms in full.

Hearing the fact under other words

The question and the recording may not use the same words.

A question often has one word, and the recording uses a different word with a similar meaning source: British Council.

A speaker may also give an answer and then change their decision, or slip a negative into a sentence source: British Council.

Listen until the speaker finishes their sentence or idea before you answer source: IDP.

A worked example

Here is a short transcript written for this page, with three questions. The limit is two words and/or a number.

Answer the questions. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

1. How much is a family ticket?
2. Where is the cloakroom?
3. Which TWO things must visitors not take into the galleries?

GUIDE: A family ticket used to be twenty-four pounds, but from this month it's twenty-six fifty^{note 1}. The cloakroom is next to the gift shop.^{note 2} Photos are fine now, by the way. We changed that rule last year. But please don't take food or umbrellas into the galleries^{note 3}.

1. A speaker may give an answer and then change it source: British Council. A price such as "$10.05" takes a full stop source: IDP. The old price comes first, and the guide replaces it. The answer is £26.50, with a full stop between the pounds and the pence.
2. You lose the mark for writing more than the word limit source: ielts.org. The answer is "gift shop". "Next to the gift shop" is five words, so it is over the limit.
3. A question can ask for two or three different answers source: ielts.org. Photos come first and sound like a rule, but they are now allowed. The two answers are "food" and "umbrellas", with the s, because the guide means umbrellas in general.

The answers come in the same order as the recording: the price, then the gift shop, then the two things.

How to get better at short-answer questions

Practise turning a question into the kind of answer it needs, and then cutting that answer down.

• Before each task, mark the question word in each question. Beside it, write the kind of answer it needs: a price, a place, a time or a name.
• After a practice task, compare each of your answers with the key. Cross out every word you wrote that the key does not have.
• For each question that asked for two or three answers, check that you found them all and that no two say the same thing.
• Practise writing prices and times as you hear them, until the full stop and the colon come without thinking.
• A practice test can show you weak areas to work on before test day source: IDP.

Short-answer questions in Listening and Reading

The Reading version asks the same kind of question, but about a printed text. There you can search the passage and copy the answer. Here the answer is spoken once, so you need its spelling ready. Short answer questions in IELTS Reading covers the Reading version.

Which part of the test it appears in

The British Council's sample short-answer task is an extract from Part 2. In it, a representative from a clothing company gives a talk to high school students source: British Council.

That is one sample, not a rule. For what the owners do and do not say about parts, see which part each type appears in.

Every answer counts once

Each correct answer is worth one mark out of 40 source: ielts.org. A short answer of one word counts the same as a harder question. IELTS Listening raw score to band score shows how your raw score converts to a band. To see your overall band, put all four scores into the band score calculator.

Sentence completion is the nearest type, because you also write a few words from the recording, but inside a printed sentence. The IELTS Listening test format covers the four parts. For a plan across the whole skill, see how to improve your IELTS Listening score.

The task wording, what it asks for, the two or three answer rule, the once-only recording, the order rule, the word limit, and the marks come from ielts.org's Academic Listening format page. The rule that Listening is the same in both tests comes from its test types page. IDP is one of the three organisations that own IELTS. The repeated word, too broad answer and price punctuation rules come from its article on avoiding zero scores dated 30 June 2023. The advice to check the words for each answer comes from its multiple choice guide dated 29 April 2025, and the advice to wait for the speaker from its tables, forms and notes guide dated 10 November 2025. The missed answer and practice test points come from its Listening tips article dated 21 October 2023, and the spelling rule from its spelling guide. The points on synonyms, changed answers and negatives come from the British Council's Academic Listening page, and the Part 2 sample from its free practice Listening page. All were checked on 3 October 2026. The transcript and its questions were written for this page and are not from any test.

Frequently asked questions

How many words can a short answer be?

It depends on the task.

The instructions give a word limit, and it can change from task to task source: ielts.org.

Read the limit for every task, even if the last one had the same limit.

What if a question asks for two answers?

Write two different answers. Sometimes a question asks you to write two or three different answers source: ielts.org.

Keep listening after the first one, and check the second is not the same thing in other words.

Do I need to answer in a full sentence?

No. Write only the words that answer the question, inside the word limit. An extra word over the limit loses the mark source: ielts.org.

How many short-answer questions are in the test?

The number is not fixed. It is given as "variable" for every type source: ielts.org.