In the Listening as well as the Reading sections of the IELTS test, you will notice that several questions instruct you to write the answers in a specific format.
WRITE ONE WORD ONLY
ONE WORD ONLY means your answer should only consist of a single word.
Question: How many fingers are there in one human hand?
Answer 1: five (one word answer) Correct
Answer 2: 5 (5 is a number, not a word) Incorrect
Answer 3: five fingers (two words) Incorrect
Answer 4: 5 fingers (one number and one word) Incorrect
ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER meaning
ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER means that you can use a single word, a single number, or both as an answer.
Question: How many years make a decade?
Answer 1: ten (one word answer) Correct
Answer 2: 10 (one number) Correct
Answer 3: 10 years (one number and one word) Correct
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS means you can write either one word or two words as an answer but not more than that.
Question: In which direction does the sun rise?
Answer 1: east (you cannot write more than two words, but less than two words is allowed) Correct
Answer 2: the east (two words) Correct
Answer 3: in the east (three words) Incorrect
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER means your answer can have up to two words or just one number or both.
Question: When is Valentine’s Day celebrated?
Answer: 14th of February (“14” is one number, “of” and “February” are two words) Correct
Answer tips
You can write numbers in either Arabic numerals (1, 2, 10, 85) or in words (one, two, ten, eighty-five).
Contracted words like doesn’t, it’s, can’t, Dr (as in doctor), tel no (as in telephone number), X-mas, etc are not accepted as answers.
Hyphenated words like high-tech, brother-in-law, close-up, long-term, etc are considered to be a single word.
In Cambridge 6 test 1 reading they said 3 words and/or a number….ans of 13th question is 2 per cent…why can’t be two per cent?
It can be “two per cent”. Both answers will be correct if it was the actual IELTS test.
Hi! I have doubts related to Cambridge IELTS 9 Listening Test 4. In the part between question 27 to 30 the instruction is NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER. In the question 26, I answered “small groups” (it’s clear in the audio) but the correct answer it’s only “groups”. In question 27 the audio says “every second day” and I wrote that, but the correct answer it’s “every 2 days”. And finally in question 29 I wrote “much more confident” (also it’s in the recording) but the correct answer it’s only “confident”. My answers could be considered correct?
The book has not done a good job of providing alternative answers which are also considered correct. So, here you go:
26. (in) (small) groups [“groups” is the essential part of the answer, so you cannot ignore it, but “in” and “small” are optional]
27. every second/2nd day / every 2 days [you can either write “second” or “2nd” if you choose the first option, or else you can write “every 2 days”
29. (much) (more) confident
In fact, all your answers are correct. If the audio recording has the words you have selected and they match the grammatical structure as well as the instructions of the question, you will be considered right.
Hello! When it comes to NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER question, if i answer “ring” but the answer is “gold ring”, will my answer be counted as a correct answer?
It depends on the particular question. Sometimes, “gold” may not be necessary to make the answer “ring” correct. But at other times, “gold” may be an essential part of the answer. Just to be on the safer side, I would recommend you write two words if the instructions tell you that you are allowed two words.
Appreciate your answer!
Hello, hope you’re doing well.
I have a question for you and that is in one of the Cambridge books in listening part the answer was : 5 to 12
But the instructions said ” one words and/or a number)
How is it possible?
Hello,
The question you are referring to is from Cambridge IELTS 9 Listening Test 3.
In section 2, the instructions for questions 19 and 20 say “ONE WORD AND/OR NUMBERS”. The key here is the word “NUMBERS”. It means you can write as many numbers as necessary.
So, “to” is one word, while “5” and “12” are two numbers. Therefore, “5 to 12” is the correct answer.
Confusion in this question is obvious as this kind of instruction is rare in IELTS. Usually, the instruction is “ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER”. Hence, always read the instructions carefully in the test.
I hope this clears things for you.
Omg ..
Thank you so much 💓
You’re a life saver ..
Thank you!!
My pleasure