IELTS Listening Part 4: Note Completion

Part 4 of the IELTS Listening test can feel like the toughest section — but once you know the right method, it becomes completely manageable. Let’s learn how to handle Note Completion questions using the Dodo Bird passage as our example.

1️⃣ Understanding the Question Type

You’ll see incomplete notes with blanks like:

31. Portuguese ships transporting ______ stopped at the island…

Your task: fill in each blank with ONE WORD ONLY from the audio.

🧩 The answers appear in order — the next one always comes after the previous.
So you’ll never need to go backwards!

2️⃣ Step-by-Step Strategy (FAHIM Sir’s Proven Method)

🧩 Step 1: Preview & Predict Before Listening

You’ll always get 30 seconds to read the questions before the recording starts.
Use it wisely — not just to read, but to think ahead.

👉 Ask yourself three questions for every blank:

1. What part of speech fits here? (noun, adjective, verb?)
2. What type of information is missing? (name, number, quality, reason?)
3. What words come before and after the blank? (for context)

Example:

“The Dutch established a ____ on the island.”
Prediction: It must be a noun, maybe colony, settlement, base, etc.

🧠 Tip: When you predict, your brain stays “ready” — it recognises the answer faster.

🧩 Step 2: Listen for Signpost Words

Part 4 lectures always use transition phrases or signpost words that tell you what’s coming next.
These phrases are your anchors — they tell you when to prepare for a new answer.

Common examples:

• “Let’s now move on to…”
• “The next stage in its history was…”
• “Another important point is…”
• “It’s thought that…”
• “Finally…”

✅ Whenever you hear these, shift your focus — a new answer is likely coming!

Step 3: Understand the Flow

Most Part 4 notes are arranged logically — like a lecture outline.
For “The Dodo Bird” lecture, for example:

1. History (how humans discovered it)
2. Description (appearance & behavior)
3. Reasons for extinction

🎯 The answers follow this order.
So if you miss one, don’t panic — move to the next section header and rejoin.

Step 4: Listen for Paraphrases — Not Exact Words

The audio never repeats the question’s exact phrasing.

Example:

“The Dutch established a settlement”
might sound like:
“The Dutch decided to set up a colony on the island.”

You won’t hear “settlement,” but if you understand the meaning, you’ll catch “colony.”

🧠 Trick: Learn common paraphrase pairs:

Step 5: Use Keyword Clues Around the Blank

Look 2–3 words before and after the blank.
The audio often repeats or rephrases these clue words.

Example:

“The only remaining soft tissue is a dried ____.”
If you hear: “Scientists found a dried head preserved in a museum,”
you know the answer = “head.”

🔍 Keyword strategy:
Underline trigger words — names, years, animals, or adjectives.
They help you “spot” the moment your answer is coming.

Step 6: Write While Listening (Don’t Wait!)

Never wait until the end of a sentence.
Write as soon as you hear the answer — even in short form.

📝 For example:

• Write “colony” → not “a colony.”
• Write “habitat” → not “the natural habitat.”

IELTS checks only the blank word, not your full sentence.

⚡ DOs and DON’Ts for Note Completion

✅ DOs

• ✔ Predict before the audio starts.
• ✔ Use grammar to check your guess (a/an, adjective before noun).
• ✔ Focus on logical flow — one idea per gap.
• ✔ Use CAPITAL letters if your handwriting is unclear.
• ✔ Check spelling during the 10-minute transfer time.

❌ DON’Ts

• ❌ Don’t write more than one word (if it says ONE WORD ONLY).
• ❌ Don’t try to understand every word — focus on key meaning.
• ❌ Don’t panic if you miss one; move on immediately.
• ❌ Don’t change a correct word form (e.g., “rapid movement” ≠ “move quickly”).
• ❌ Don’t get distracted by unfamiliar vocabulary — context helps you guess.

🎓 FAHIM Sir’s High-Band Listening Secrets

💡 1. Master spelling of common academic words
Words like environment, species, colony, extinction, habitat appear again and again.
Spelling errors = lost marks.

💡 2. Practice listening to paraphrased content
Try BBC Science Focus or TED-Ed videos — they use the same academic tone.

💡 3. Train your ear for “noun groups”
IELTS loves compound nouns like “flightless bird,” “natural habitat,” “farming land.”
You’ll need to catch them as one phrase, not two words.

💡 4. Don’t overthink tricky grammar
If it sounds grammatically correct, it probably is.
Example: “They killed the dodo for its meat” → simple, logical noun.

💡 5. Practice 10 minutes daily
Take one Part 4 recording each day.
Write keywords, check the transcript, and review paraphrases.
In one month — you’ll see massive improvement.

🧠 Quick Summary Table

🏁 Final Words from FAHIM Sir

IELTS Listening Part 4 isn’t just a test of English —
it’s a test of your focus and prediction skill.

If you can follow the storyline of a lecture,
you’ll easily get 8 or 9 out of 10 answers correct.

Remember — the Dodo may be extinct,
but your confidence shouldn’t be! 😄

Keep practicing, trust your ear, and write with logic —
Your band 8+ is waiting for you. 🎯

PRACTICE NOW

PART 4

Questions 31 – 40

Complete the notes below.

Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

THE EXTINCTION OF THE DODO BIRD

The dodo was a large flightless bird which used to inhabit the island of Mauritius.

History

●   1507 – Portuguese ships transporting 31 ………………. stopped at the island to collect food and water.

●   1638 – The Dutch established a 32 ………………. on the island.

●   They killed the dodo birds for their meat.

●   The last one was killed in 1681.

Description

●   The only record we have is written descriptions and pictures (possibly unreliable).

●   A Dutch painting suggests the dodo was very 33 ………………. .

●   The only remaining soft tissue is a dried 34 ………………. .

●   Recent studies of a dodo skeleton suggest the birds were capable of rapid 35 ………………. .

●   It’s thought they were able to use their small wings to maintain 36 ………………. .

●   Their 37 ………………. was of average size.

●   Their sense of 38 ………………. enabled them to find food.

Reasons for extinction

●   Hunting was probably not the main cause.

●   Sailors brought dogs and monkeys.

●   39 ………………. also escaped onto the island and ate the birds’ eggs.

●   The arrival of farming meant the 40 ………………. was destroyed.

Transcript (THE EXTINCTION OF THE DODO BIRD)

One of the most famous cases of extinction is that of a bird known as the dodo. In fact there’s even a saying in English, ‘as dead as the dodo’, used to refer to something which no longer exists. But for many centuries the dodo was alive and well, although it could only be found in one place, the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. It was a very large bird, about one metre tall, and over the centuries it had lost the ability to fly, but it survived happily under the trees that covered the island.

Then in the year 1507 the first Portuguese ships stopped at the island. The sailors were carrying spices (Q31) back to Europe, and found the island a convenient stopping place where they could stock up with food and water for the rest of the voyage, but they didn’t settle on Mauritius. However, in 1683 the Dutch arrived and set up a colony (Q32) there. These first human inhabitants of the island found the dodo birds a convenient source of meat, although not everyone liked the taste.

It’s hard to get an accurate description of what the dodo actually looked like. We do have some written records from sailors, and a few pictures, but we don’t know how reliable these are. The best-known picture is a Dutch painting in which the bird appears to be extremely fat (Q33), but this may not be accurate – an Indian painting done at the same time shows a much thinner bird.

Although attempts were made to preserve the bodies of some of the birds, no complete specimen survives. In the early 17th century four dried parts of a bird were known to exist – of these, three have disappeared, so only one example of soft tissue from the dodo survives, a dodo head (Q34). Bones have also found, but there’s only one complete skeleton in existence.

This single dodo skeleton has recently been the subject of scientific research which suggests that many of the earlier beliefs about dodos may have been incorrect. For example, early accounts of the birds mention how slow and clumsy it was, but scientists now believe the bird’s strong knee joints would have made it capable of movement (Q35) which was not slow, but actually quite fast. In fact, one 17th century sailor wrote that he found the birds hard to catch. It’s true that the dodo’s small wings wouldn’t have allowed it to leave the ground, but the scientists suggest that these were probably employed for balance (Q36) while going over uneven ground. Another group of scientists carried out analysis of the dodo’s skull. They found that the reports of the lack of intelligence of the dodo were not borne out by their research, which suggested the bird’s brain (Q37) was not small, but average in size. In fact, in relation to its body size, it was similar to that of the pigeon, which is known to be a highly intelligent bird. The researchers also found that the structure of the bird’s skull suggested that one sense which was particularly well-developed was that of smell (Q38). So the dodo may also have been particularly good at locating ripe fruit and other food in the island’s thick vegetation.

———————————–

So it looks as if the dodo was better able to survive and defend itself than was originally believed. Yet less than 200 years after Europeans first arrived on the island, they had become extinct. So what was the reason for this? For a long time, it was believed that the dodos were hunted to extinction, but scientists now believe the situation was more complicated than this. Another factor may have been the new species brought to the island by the sailors. These included dogs, which would have been a threat to the dodos, and also monkeys, which ate the fruit that was the main part of the dodos’ diet. These were brought to the island deliberately, but the ships also brought another type of creature – rats (Q39), which came to land from the ships and rapidly overran the island. These upset the ecology of the island, not just the dodos but other species too. However, they were a particular danger to the dodos because they consumed their eggs, and since each dodo only laid one at a time, this probably had a devastating effect on populations.

However, we now think that probably the main cause of the birds’ extinction was not the introduction of non-native species, but the introduction of agriculture. This meant that the forest (Q40) that has once covered all the island, and that had provided a perfect home for the dodo, was cut down so that crops such as sugar could be grown. So although the dodo had survived for thousands of years, suddenly it was gone.

Test Now

Questions 31 – 40

Complete the notes below.

Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

Bird Migration Theory

Most birds are believed to migrate seasonally.

Hibernation theory

●   It was believed that birds hibernated underwater or buried themselves in 31 …………………… .

●   This theory was later disproved by experiments on caged birds.

Transmutation theory

●   Aristotle believed birds changed from one species into another in summer and winter.

        –  In autumn he observed that redstarts experience the loss of 32 …………………… and thought they then turned into robins.

        –  Aristotle’s assumptions were logical because the two species of birds had a similar 33 …………………… .

17th century

●   Charles Morton popularised the idea that birds fly to the 34 …………………… in winter.

Scientific developments

●   In 1822, a stork was killed in Germany which had an African spear in its 35 …………………… .

        –  previously there had been no 36 …………………… that storks migrate to Africa

●   Little was known about the 37 …………………… and journeys of migrating birds until the practice of ringing was established.

        –  It was thought large birds carried small birds on some journeys because they were considered incapable of travelling across huge 38 …………………… .

        –  Ringing depended on what is called the 39 ‘……………………’ of dead birds.

●   In 1931, the first 40 …………………… to show the migration of European birds was printed.

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