IELTS Listening: Match Activities to Requirements

For: Independent learners who can follow short talks but find it difficult to track several items against one list of options.

Test type: Academic and General Training share the Listening test.

Study time: 25 minutes. This short activity uses a Part 2-style talk, not a full Listening test or complete section.

Your learning goals

  • Identify the differences between eight possible requirements.
  • Match six volunteer activities to the correct requirement.
  • Explain why a mentioned detail does not always apply to the activity being asked about.

What the task requires

Matching asks you to connect items in a recording with options in a list. Read the instructions about how to use the letters. In the test, recordings are heard once. See the official Listening format.

The multiple-choice lesson compared separate sets of options. This time you must keep returning to the same list as the speaker moves through the activities.

Strategy: shorten the options, follow the item

  1. Read all the options. Reduce each to a keyword in your notes: training, pair, shoes, early, outdoors, lifting, phone or camera.
  2. Notice the next activity on the question list so you know what to listen for.
  3. Listen to the whole description. A restriction may be followed by an exception or clarification.
  4. Choose the meaning, even if the speaker uses different wording.
  5. Move on when the speaker changes activity. Do not let one missed answer make you lose the next one.

Worked example

Speaker: “For the welcome desk, you won’t need to use your own phone. We will show you how the registration screen works before you start.”

The requirement is training before starting, not bringing a phone. “Show you how” expresses the training, while the phone requirement is explicitly rejected.

Independent practice: volunteering at a food festival

Read the options and questions before playing the recording. Keep the transcript closed on your first attempt, then replay during review. This is original ESS practice with a synthetic British English voice.

Requirements A–H

  • A. Complete a short training session
  • B. Work with a partner
  • C. Wear closed shoes
  • D. Arrive before the public opening
  • E. Be prepared to work outdoors
  • F. Be able to lift heavy objects
  • G. Bring a mobile phone
  • H. Bring a camera

Questions 1–6

Which requirement applies to each volunteer activity? Choose SIX answers from A–H and write the correct letter beside questions 1–6. Use each letter once only in this exercise. Two options are not needed.

  1. Ticket desk: ____
  2. Stall preparation: ____
  3. Garden information point: ____
  4. Equipment return: ____
  5. Visitor survey: ____
  6. Kitchen support: ____

Play the volunteer briefing

Read the requirements and questions first. Listen once with the transcript closed, then replay during review. Original ESS audio with a synthetic British English voice.

Open or download the MP3 · Read the transcript

Open the transcript: festival volunteer briefing

Transcript

Good morning, and thank you for volunteering at the Meadow Food Festival. I’m going to explain six activities and the particular requirement for each one. We will provide any materials you need, so please listen carefully before deciding which job suits you.

First, the ticket desk. You do not need previous experience, but you must attend a brief session with our supervisor. She will demonstrate the ticket scanner and let you try it in a practice session. You can then run a desk on your own. This job does not involve working in a pair.

Next is stall preparation. This means arranging signs and putting price labels on tables, rather than carrying boxes. Delivery staff will do the heavy lifting. The important point is that your work must be finished before we let visitors in, so you need to get here ahead of the public opening.

The garden information point needs someone to answer questions about the festival programme. The name tells you where it is: you will be outside for the whole shift. There is no covered booth, so bring clothing suitable for the weather. The indoor information desk is a different job and is already fully staffed.

For equipment return, every volunteer will be assigned another person to work with. One of you checks the borrowed item against the list while the other marks it as returned. None of the items is heavy, but keeping two people together helps us avoid mistakes in the records.

If you choose the visitor survey, please bring your mobile phone. You will use it to open a simple form and record visitors’ replies. You do not need to take any photographs. The festival photographer has separate equipment and will not be joining the survey team.

Finally, kitchen support involves putting clean utensils away and helping keep work surfaces tidy. You will not be cooking or handling hot pans, but your footwear must cover your toes and heels. Sandals are not suitable. We supply aprons and everything else needed for the task. If you have any questions about a role, please speak to me after this briefing.

Vocabulary in context

  • Shift: a scheduled period of work.
  • Utensils: tools used for preparing or serving food, such as spoons.
  • Assigned: given a particular task or partner.
  • Fully staffed: already having all the workers needed.

Answers and explanations

Show the six matches and distractor explanations
  1. A — training. The supervisor demonstrates the scanner and gives volunteers practice. The talk explicitly allows working alone, so B does not apply.
  2. D — early arrival. Signs and labels must be ready before visitors enter. Delivery staff carry boxes, so F is a distractor.
  3. E — outdoor work. The volunteer spends the whole shift outside without a covered booth. Do not transfer the conditions of the separate indoor desk to this role.
  4. B — a partner. Two people check and record returns together. The objects are explicitly not heavy, so F is wrong.
  5. G — a phone. It is needed for the response form. Photography is not part of the survey; H refers to equipment mentioned for a different worker.
  6. C — closed shoes. Covering toes and heels paraphrases closed footwear. Aprons and other materials are supplied, not items volunteers must bring.

Unused: F and H. These are expressly separated from the six activities’ requirements.

Common mistakes and corrections

  • Matching “boxes” with heavy lifting immediately: listen to who does the lifting. Here it is delivery staff, not stall-preparation volunteers.
  • Using a letter twice without checking: this exercise allows each letter once. Other tasks may give different instructions.
  • Waiting for exactly the option’s wording: “ahead of the public opening” conveys the meaning of arriving before it.
  • Reading the list so slowly that you miss the talk: preview and shorten the options before playback.

Review and your next step

For each missed match, write the activity, the correct requirement and the phrase that established the connection. Count correct answers out of six only as a practice check.

Use ESS Asking About a Community Class for further practice checking requirements. Next, complete one matching task with a recording from the official IELTS sample questions. Follow its instructions, even if they differ from this exercise.

Return to the IELTS hub.

Original independent ESS practice, not an official recording or band-score estimate. References and ESS support links checked on 30 October 2026.