One of the tricky questions apart from multiple choice questions in IELTS listening are the matching heading type of questions. As it can be determined by the term itself, matching heading involves matching a list of questions to another list of options. In these questions, you may find one-to-one or one-to-many type of questions. One-to-one matching heading questions mean that if question no. 1 matches with option no. C, then C cannot be the answer for any other question. However, one-to-many type of questions mean that if question no. 1 matches with option no. C, then C can also be the answer to another question. Here comes the difficulty in solving such questions. Hence, one-to-many questions are comparatively difficult than one-to-one questions.

Audio Information is Always in Order

The foremost thing you can keep in mind is that the audio conversation in matching heading questions, like in other questions, is always heard in the same order as the order of questions. So, you need to concentrate on the audio accordingly. Also, it is important that you are aware of the transition point which means you need to be attentive when the speaker has stopped talking about the question and moved on to the next question. This is what you need to careful check.

Keep your Eyes and Ears Open

The most important tip that works absolutely the best in matching heading question of IELTS listening is that you need to keep your eyes focused on all the options so that you can choose the right one, while you have to keep your ears open at the same time so that you can track the information well for each of the options. It is important to do so to avoid getting messed up in between or to prevent getting confused. If you lose your grip with the audio and the options, you won’t be able to find the right answer and at the end, you would be left with one option and that is to guess your answer.

Underline Keywords in Options

The best strategy that works out well in all the IELTS listening questions works well in matching heading type of questions also. It will be helpful especially in the case when you have long statements as your options. Hence, you can underline the important meaningful words in the options, avoiding all the prepositions, articles etc. Also, it would become easy for you to focus on all the options at once and thus to choose the right option. You may like to encircle some major keywords in order to be able to concentrate well while you listen to the audio.

Focus on Understanding Audio

Apart from all, you can make sure to keep your attention on understanding the audio conversation in IELTS listening. Without understanding what the speaker is talking about, even if you underline keywords, you can’t be sure of marking the right answer. Therefore, always understand the whole conversation properly and then only mark your answer.