Lessons / Listening / Map, plan and diagram labelling
IELTS Listening
Map, plan and diagram labelling
Follow spoken directions around a map or plan, matching letters to places.
The instructions, word for word as the test writes them
Label the map below.
Write the correct letter, A–H, next to Questions 11–15.
What this task is
A map or plan with lettered positions, and a speaker walking you through it. "As you come in, the information desk is on your left; just past it, opposite the stairs..." Each question is a place. You write the letter of its position.
This task gets a longer preview than most, because the picture needs orienting before the audio starts. Find the anchor point the speaker will start from. An entrance, a reception desk, a "you are here" marker. Every direction is built from it.
The traps
These are built in on purpose. Know them by name and half the danger is gone.
"On your left as you come in" depends on which way you are facing. The speaker fixes one orientation at the start. Hold onto it, or every left and right flips.
The speaker mentions plenty of positions that are not questions, including lettered ones that match nothing. Passing a letter is not the same as landing on it.
What to do next time
- Spend the preview on the map, not the questions. Find the entrance, read every printed label, notice what the lettered positions are near.
- Move through the map with the speaker in real time. Track with your cursor. Stop to deliberate and the tour leaves without you.
- Spatial words are the signal: opposite, next to, at the far end, just past, between. Everything else is scenery.
Now meet it under a clock. Start a free mock. Every map, plan and diagram labelling question you get wrong comes back with the sentence that proves the answer, and the reason the trap was tempting.