Why is my answer incorrect?

In the IELTS Listening and Reading tests, there are some question types where you have to write words or numbers as your answer. For these question types, IELTS can be quite strict about accepted answers. For each question, there will be a list of accepted answers. If your answer is not on the list, it is not correct.

The reasons why answers are usually incorrect are:

• Your answer is incorrect: you got the wrong answer!
• Your answer is spelled incorrectly: spelling is important in Listening (and also in Reading, but you should just copy from the text).
• Your answer does not include all the necessary words: this is becoming less of a common reason as the IELTS test is increasingly using ONE WORD answers.
• Your answer goes over the word limit: read the instructions of the question carefully.
• Your answer includes redundant words: you wrote words which are already mentioned in the question
• Your answer is not directly taken from the audio/text: you must write exactly what you hear or read, don't change the form of the word, and don't combine words from different parts of the audio/text.
• Your answer is in a format which is unnatural in English: if your answer doesn't look natural in English, it won't be considered correct.
• Your answer does not fit grammatically: it needs to make sense in the question

If you believe our system has marked you unfairly in a mock test or practice, take a screenshot and then type 'my answer is incorrect' into the chatbot. You can then paste the screenshot and URL (web address) of the page into the chatbot and get a response from a tutor.

Let's look at an example question from a Reading test:

For each question, there will be a list of accepted answers. Here they are:

21 - flint chips

This is the only possible answer for this question. Writing only chips for your answer would not be correct as flint is essential to describe what type of chips are being referred to.

See also: How many words do I need to write for my answer?

Writing flint chip would also be incorrect as the text says chips in the plural form. Paraphrasing the answer, e.g. as stone chips would also be incorrect as you must use only the exact words written in the text.

22 - Byzantine graves

This is the only possible answer. Writing Bizantine graves would be incorrect as the word Byzantine is spelled incorrectly. Be careful with spelling of unusual words. It is best to copy and paste the answer from the text rather than try to spell them yourself.

23 - half a millennium

This is the only correct answer. Writing half a millennium older would be incorrect because it uses 4 words while the instructions say that 3 words is the maximum. It would also be incorrect because the word older is already written in the question. Remember, DO NOT copy any words already in the question into your answer.

Equally, writing half millennium would not be correct as missing out the article 'a' from this answer makes the answer ungrammatical, i.e. the final sentence is not correct grammatically.