For: Independent learners who understand a conversation’s topic but miss booking details or write down an earlier, corrected answer.
Test type: Academic and General Training share the Listening test.
Study time: 25 minutes. This is a short detail-recognition exercise, not a full Listening test.
Audio available: Listen to the two-speaker recording, then open the transcript to review. This original ESS practice audio uses synthetic voices; it is not an official IELTS recording.
What you will learn
- Predict the type of detail required in six gaps.
- Distinguish an initial suggestion from the final agreed detail.
- Complete six answers within the stated limit and explain rejected alternatives.
What the task requires
In IELTS Listening, you hear recordings once. Completion tasks require close attention to the question’s word or number limit. The full test has four parts and 40 questions; this lesson practises a small part of that skill set. See the official Listening format and completion instructions.
A distractor is information that seems to answer a question but does not fit the final meaning. It might be an old price, a rejected time or a number attached to another person.
Strategy: predict, track, confirm
- Read each label before listening. Predict a date, time, price, room number or other detail.
- Write a provisional answer when you hear it. Keep following the conversation.
- Notice correction signals: sorry, I mean, actually, instead and that was the old….
- Confirm what the correction refers to. The final number you hear is not automatically the answer to the current gap.
- Check spelling, units and the answer limit.
For dates, writing the month as a word avoids ambiguity between day/month and month/day formats. If the question supplies a currency sign or a unit, do not repeat it unnecessarily.
Worked example
Receptionist: “Your appointment starts at nine fifteen. Sorry, I’m looking at yesterday’s list. Yours starts at nine fifty.”
Gap: Appointment time: ____
Answer: 9:50. The speaker corrects the time. 9:15 belongs to the wrong list. Do not combine the two into a time range.
Independent practice: a photography workshop booking
Read questions 1–6 first. Keep the transcript closed, play the recording once and complete the booking notes. Then check the answers and use the transcript to review any detail you missed. Replay as needed during review; this is short skill-building practice, not a full Listening test.
Questions 1–6
Complete the booking notes. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer. Use digits for numbers and times in this exercise.
- Workshop date: ____
- Start time: ____ a.m.
- Workshop fee: £____
- Room number: ____
- Number of places booked: ____
- Equipment to bring: a ____
Listen: photography workshop booking
Read questions 1–6 first. Keep the transcript closed and listen once before checking your answers. This original ESS recording uses two synthetic voices and lasts about 1 minute 39 seconds.
Open the transcript: photography workshop booking
Transcript
Receptionist: Good morning, Northgate Arts Centre. How can I help?
Caller: I’d like to book the beginner photography workshop. Is it on the thirteenth of November?
Receptionist: The thirteenth was our original date, but we moved it to the thirtieth of November. That’s the date for the beginner workshop now.
Caller: The thirtieth of November is fine. Does it start at ten?
Receptionist: The doors open at ten. Teaching starts at ten thirty in the morning, so you have half an hour to settle in.
Caller: Great. The leaflet says the fee is forty pounds.
Receptionist: That was last year’s fee. It’s fourteen pounds this year because the council is helping with the cost. All materials are included.
Caller: Fourteen pounds. That’s helpful. Which room should I go to?
Receptionist: Room sixteen. Oh, sorry, that’s where the painting class meets. Photography is in room sixty, upstairs.
Caller: Right, room sixty. Could I book three places? My brother and a friend might come with me.
Receptionist: I can book those now.
Caller: Actually, my friend hasn’t confirmed. Please book just two places, for my brother and me.
Receptionist: Two places, certainly. You don’t need to bring a camera. We’ll lend you one. Please bring a notebook so you can write down the settings you try.
Caller: A notebook. Fine. Thank you.
Useful language
- Settle in: become comfortable and ready to begin.
- Fee: the amount paid for a service or course.
- Confirmed: said definitely that something will happen.
- Settings: the controls selected on a camera, such as brightness or shutter speed.
Answer key and distractors
Show the six answers and why the alternatives are wrong
- 30 November. “Moved it to the thirtieth of November” replaces the original date. 13 November is the old date. Accept 30th November or November 30 for this ESS exercise too.
- 10:30 (also 10.30). The question asks for the start of teaching. 10:00 is when the doors open. The a.m. label is already supplied.
- 14. 40 is last year’s fee. The current fee is fourteen pounds. The pound sign is already printed in the question.
- 60. The receptionist corrects 16, which is the painting room. Photography takes place in room sixty.
- 2. The caller first suggests 3, then books only two because the friend has not confirmed. Answer the actual booking, not the possible group size.
- notebook. The centre lends a camera, so the caller does not need to bring one. The item requested after “Please bring” is a notebook. Do not write “a notebook”: a is already before the gap.
These are accepted forms for this original ESS exercise, not a universal official answer key.
Common mistakes and corrections
- Writing 40 instead of 14: pay attention to the stressed syllable and follow the meaning: the speaker contrasts last year with this year.
- Changing every answer to the last number heard: track the label. The room and number of places answer different questions.
- Writing “camera and notebook”: identify what the caller must bring, rather than everything mentioned. It also exceeds this exercise’s two-word limit.
- Leaving a clearly corrected answer in place: replace the provisional answer and check the final form before moving on.
Check your learning
For each missed gap, write the accepted detail, the distracting detail and the phrase that distinguishes them. Count correct answers out of six for this exercise only; it cannot predict a band score. If you read the transcript before answering, try the recording again later with the transcript closed.
Helpful ESS practice
Practise confirming details in Booking an Appointment by Phone and checking schedules in Asking About a Community Class. These are general English conversation lessons.
Your next step
Use a recording from the official IELTS sample questions. Choose a Listening completion task, follow its own instructions, listen once, then review its transcript and key.
Independent ESS learning material. The transcript and questions are original, not official test items. Official format reference checked on 30 October 2026; linked above.