Listening Practice: Summary Completion Questions

This IELTS listening practice for summary completion questions is about following the information as you listen and selecting the correct words or numbers to fill in the gaps. Before you listen, read through the summary and make a note of what kinds of words you need for each gap (noun, verb, adjective, number etc). Predicting answers is a key skills in IELTS listening.

Summary Completion Listening for IELTS

Buckingham Palace 

Questions 1-5: Complete the summary using no more than one word and/or a number.

Buckingham Palace is where the Queen officially resides when she is in London and is well known for its famous(1) …………….. which was used for the first time by a royal during an official appearance in 1851. There were (2)………… bomb hits to the palace in World War II. There are a range of services available to the royal residents in the palace which has a total of (3) ………. rooms. There are 1,514 doors in the palace and 760 windows which are cleaned on a (4) …………. week rotation. The Queen hosts banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and garden parties and has over (5)………………… people visiting each year.

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Transcript and Answers

Click below to reveal the answers and transcript for this lesson:

Transcript

Buckingham Palace is The Queen’s official London residence. The balcony of Buckingham Palace is one of the most famous in the world. The first recorded Royal balcony appearance took place in 1851, when Queen Victoria stepped onto it during celebrations for the opening of the Great Exhibition. During the Second World War, Buckingham Palace suffered nine direct bomb hits.

Buckingham Palace has its own chapel, post office, swimming pool, staff cafeteria, doctor’s surgery and cinema. There are 775 rooms in the palace. Some rooms at Buckingham Palace have a Chinese theme. There are 1,514 doors and 760 windows in Buckingham Palace. All windows are cleaned every six weeks. More than 50,000 people visit the Palace annually as The Queen’s guests at banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and garden parties.

Answers
  1. balcony
  2. 9 / nine
  3. 775
  4. 6 / six
  5. 50,000

Adapted from royal.gov.uk

 

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Comments

  1. Anyone else having trouble with the soundcloud listening recordings? They dont load up for me at all, my interet speed is good and everthing still?

    • Thanks for letting me know. I didn’t realise people couldn’t play them. Over time, I’ll try to replace them with different audios – but it will take me quite a bit of time because I’m not well at the moment. Anyway, I really appreciate you letting me know.

  2. Marian Custodio says

    Thanks a lot! I got 5 correct answers. I’m improving. I’m currently working Lesson 18.

    • Glad you are finding my site useful 🙂

      • Juliet says

        Thank you so much. the lessons are really helpful. Is it wrong to write Balcony instead of balcony or BALCONY?

        • It’s all fine. All options are possible. However, for the paper based test, using all capital letters for the answers makes it easier to mark and avoids answers being marked wrong due to poor handwriting.

  3. Thanks a lot, I have had great improvement in listening. I’m so grateful ma.

  4. Mohammed ali says

    Hi Liz
    I would thank you for this fabulous website, it’s helpful and improved my skills with listening practice.

  5. maryam bajwa says

    nine or ”9” ? Six or ”6” ? what is most accurate?

  6. Hello liz,
    can we write 50 thousand instead of 50,000, is that a correct answer???
    Instructions says that write 1 word or a number

    • Sure you can write that if you want. But remember if you make any spelling mistake with the word, the whole answer will be marked wrong.

      • Is it OK to write 50000 not 50,000?

        • It’s not wrong, but I wouldn’t recommend it. We use the comma to make the number easier to recognise. There is more room for error in marking if you present numbers without the comma.

  7. Martina says

    Hi Liz,
    Why 9 bomb, not 9 bombs? Bomb is countable, right?

    • Because the noun is not “bomb”, the noun is “hits” and that is plural. It is important that you recognise the main noun and not any noun that acts like an adjective. In this case, the word “bomb” is acting like an adjective to the noun “hits”.

  8. Remmie says

    Hi Liz, thanks a lot for all your efforts ans support. i have just started going through these exercises but they do not seem so obvious. my question is .. for such a task, do they allow the people sitting to listen to the audio like 2 or 3 times or its strictly one time listening and answer?

  9. I can write all the correct answer but unfortunately i have to listen to the recording 2-3 times i have just begun 3 days ago to study i really feel disappointed but i can get 3 of 5 correct from the first time.

    • It’s normal to start that way. Don’t be disappointed. Make notes of the answers you got wrong: – note the reason, the keywords and the paraphrases.

  10. CHANDAN GUPTA says

    Hi Liz,
    I had left a comment on this page today with a question. Last I saw, it was in “awaiting moderation” state but I couldn’t find the comment anymore.I was awaiting for a reply on the same. Should I consider that the comment didn’t go live at all and was markes as “irrelevant” or “off topic”(hence removed)?

  11. Abdel Salam Gamil says

    I am really very grateful to you for what you are doing to all of us, and I am not finding a word or words to thank you with, just saying God bless you.

  12. Hi Ms. Liz, Thank you very much. Its very kind of you to make this page. It is very helpful specially to us whose first language is not English. May God bless you always.

  13. Bruce James says

    The instructions say that no more than one word and/or a number. I answered “9 direct” in question number 2. Is this answer wrong?

    • The instructions means you can have one word and one number or just one number. That is the meaning.

  14. Hi Liz. Do all the Listening passages answers come in order in the text.

  15. Derya says

    hi Liz, thank you for all your efforts. There is one point that ı am stucked with. Shouldn’t it be ‘9 bombs hit to the palace’ instead of ‘9 bomb hits’? which one is gramatically correct and why?

    • “bomb hits” is the noun. The word “hit” in this case is not the verb, it is part of the noun. This means the plural noun is for the word “hits”.

  16. Wow! 5 out 5 🙂
    Thank you for your efforts
    All the best for you, Liz

  17. engr farheen says

    successfully done

    balcony can also be written as Balconi
    9 or nine which one supposed to be correct

  18. shivadeepu says

    mam can i make a pause the audio to write my answers
    the audio will not ne played only once but weather we can pause it?

    • You can’t pause it. You can’t control it. It is played once only and you can’t stop it.

  19. Thank you for this site!
    We watch videos from here almost every lesson on IELTS preparation course)

  20. Haritha says

    Dear Liz,

    The tips that you give for each section of IELTS is very informative & helpful. while practicing few of the listening tests, the link says no link to database. Please can you help me on that as i feel, the more i practice the better i perform
    Thanks for all the guidance!
    you are a great trainer.

    Regards,
    Haritha

    • Liz says

      I also have seen the message about the database error connection. I’ll check it this week and see what the problem is. Thanks for letting me know.

  21. Is it okk of if I write Six instead of six…..

  22. Dao Vu says

    I missed the fifth answer since the number was given before the other information. Very tricky.

  23. Hi Liz,
    I see “…for it’s famous _____” in the paragraph and I think it should be “…for its famous ______”. I mean we don’t need the apostrophe here. Am i right?
    All the best,
    Phuoc

  24. Sanone (Saigon) says

    Hello Liz,
    Here is a logically sound question. Question number 2 “There were ____ bomb hits”
    The given answer is 9. Why isn’t “direct” accepted as a valid answer here? It sounds grammatically correct and also aligns with what we heard. Thank you,
    Sanone

    • It would be accepted as an answer “9 direct”. But it isn’t necessary for the answer to be correct.
      All the best
      Liz

  25. nico rodriguez says

    Your blog is really heaven sent Liz. I cannot afford to enroll myself in IELTS review class in our country. Your blog is helping me a lot. I am just thinking twice in the Writing Section since I dont have anyone to check on my essay. Last time I took IELTS I only got 6.5 I am aiming for 7 in all components so that I can start my application for employment in the Uk. All the best Liz!

  26. can I write 50 thousand instead of the 50,000? would that be accepted?

  27. Arjun Thapa says

    hi mam greetings!
    looking at your blog i feel like i am having some interactive class with many others, thank you so much for everything you share here!

  28. Hey!!!!!!5/5.ecstasy!!.thank you Liz.

  29. Aditya says

    Hello mam ,,,
    Instead of writing jus 9 I have written 9 direct… They have asked us to write one word and or a number so is this a correct answer …??please clarify my doubt thanqqqq….

    • I don’t understand your question. You wrote “9 direct”? Can you make your question clearer?
      Thanks
      Liz

      • Aditya says

        I mean that in recording they say for second question nine direct bomb hits …
        So when I heard I have written it as 9direct ….so wil that b wrong???
        Thanq so much…..

        • I understand now. No, the answer can’t be ” 9 direct”. The answer is just a number.
          All the best
          Liz

          • HI Liz,

            I have written ‘direct 9’. Is this correct or incorrect? i wrote it because it is mentioned that ‘write one word and/or a number’. Please shed some light on this query?

            • It would be wrong. You should have just “nine” or “9”. Please watch the 25 tips video lesson for listening.
              Liz

  30. Bernie says

    Hello, Liz.

    I could not figure out the difference of “suffer sth” and “suffer from sth”. Could you give me some instruction?

    Thanks a lot.
    Regards
    Bernie

    • “to suffer something” means to tolerate something or be constantly bearing something. For example, “We constantly suffer from his angry outbursts”. Whereas, “To suffer from something” relates to illness.
      All the best
      Liz

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