4.2. Table, Flow-chart and Summary
Fill a table cell, a flow-chart box or a summary gap with the word you hear, one step at a time.
Complete the table below. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Customer's surname | 1 |
| Transmission | 2 |
| First lesson | 3 |
| Meeting point | 4 |
The short version
A table has row headings, a flow-chart has boxes joined by arrows, a summary is a paragraph with gaps.
In all three you write the word or number you hear, inside the word limit.
The gaps follow the order of the recording: along a table, down a flow-chart, through a summary.
The main danger is position: a figure from the next row or the next box lands in your gap.
What you have to do
The test shows one of three layouts. A table is a grid: each row has a heading, then a gap. A flow-chart is a chain of boxes joined by arrows, one stage per box. A summary is a short paragraph with numbered gaps. In all three you listen once and type the word or number you hear. Stay inside the word limit, such as NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER. The gaps follow the order of the recording.
Find your position first
Each layout tells you where you are in a different way. In a table, the row heading places you: everything in one row comes from the same moment of the talk. In a flow-chart, the arrows place you. The box before your gap has just been described, and the box after is still to come. In a summary, the sentence around the gap places you, so read it whole. Find your position, then listen for the words in it.
Step by step
- 1In the preview pause, read the layout and decide what kind of word each gap needs
Read a table along its rows, a flow-chart from the first box to the last, and a summary right through. For each gap say the kind of word it needs: a year, a percentage, a material, a place. Note the word limit once. Then find where each gap sits: which row, which box, which sentence.
- 2Listen for the words that place you
The row heading, the words in the box before your gap, and the words around a summary gap are said aloud. 2015 count on screen may come as the first count, in 2015. When you hear them, you are in position and the answer is close.
- 3Match the meaning, not the word, and wait for the correction
The speaker paraphrases the questions, saying the same thing in other words: went up by a tenth for rose 10%. Speakers also correct themselves: twelve, sorry, I mean twenty. The word that stands is the last one said. Wait for the end of the sentence before you write.
- 4Rule out what belongs somewhere else
Three things never go in your gap. A figure from the next row or the next box: if the speaker moves on to 2019, your 2015 row is finished. The option the speaker rejects: not the roof, the cellar. And any word already in the cell or sentence, because it cannot be used twice.
- 5If you missed it, write the right kind and move on
Write your best guess of the right kind: a number for a number, a place for a place. Go to the next gap at once. In a table, listen for the next row heading. In a flow-chart, listen for the next box. Never let one lost answer cost the next two.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER. Table row: *1990s | Island's main export | ______*. Next row: *2010 | Island's main export | ______*.
Kind of word: a product. Position: the 1990s row, so listen for *the nineties* or *1990s*. What is said: *Through the nineties the island's main export was still wool, though by 2010 tourism had overtaken it.* Both cells are answered in one sentence. *Wool* goes with the nineties, so it fills this row. *Tourism* goes with 2010, so it waits for the next row. Write *wool*.
Every cell goes the same way: kind of word, position, wait for the sentence to end, rule out the later figure, write.
Quiz time4 questions
Each drill plays a clip of ten to fifteen seconds from a talk, with one cell, box or sentence to complete. Practise the position, not the stamina. Play each clip once.
Stay in the row
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER. Table: 2015 count | Rooftop hives in the city | about ______. The next row is the 2019 count. Fill only the 2015 cell.
Clip: lecture on city beekeeping
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
2015 count: rooftop hives in the city, about
Write no more than 2 words.
Stay in the box
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER. Flow-chart: Leaves packed loosely into ______, then Dried in a barn for two weeks, then Ground into powder. Complete the first box only.
Clip: lecture on drying leaves
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
First box: leaves packed loosely into
Write no more than 2 words.
Let the sentence place you
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER. Summary sentence: In 2021 the library moved its local history collection to the ______ floor, freeing the ground floor for a café. Read the whole sentence before you play.
Clip: lecture on a library move
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
In 2021 the library moved its local history collection to the floor
Write no more than 2 words.
Wait for the lecturer's correction
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER. Table row: 2022 | Households using the scheme | ______%. Do not write until the lecturer has finished with the figure.
Clip: lecture on a household scheme
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
2022: households using the scheme, %
Write no more than 2 words.
Try a full set
Below is a full Part 4 lecture with seven gaps in three layouts: a table, a flow-chart and a summary. Work the five steps, and write something for every gap.
| Signpost | Finding | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 survey | Rise in use after the move to a shop-front window | about ______% |
| 2020 survey | Sites that took most of the new users | next to a ______ |
| 2023 follow-up | Visits by people in work | just over ______% |
| The limitation | What all six towns already had | a food-sharing ______ |
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each gap. The lecture plays in the first exercise below. Read down the first column before you listen.
NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER. In the lecture below, councils expect a fridge to halve household food waste. The lecturer says that only happens under one condition, which is the first box of this chain.
The 2020 survey covered six towns. Use rose once the fridges moved out of a locked 6 ______ and into a shop-front window, though sites open only three afternoons a week saw little change. The 2023 follow-up found that people in work made most visits and that about a 7 ______ of visits were by students.
The full set7 questions
The 2020 rise
Play the lecture once. NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER.
Part 4: lecture
0:00 / 0:00
In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
After the move to a shop front, use of the fridges went up by about %
Write no more than 2 words.
Which sites grew
Use the lecture above. NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER.
Most of the extra users came to sites beside a
Write no more than 2 words.
The flow-chart
Use the lecture above. Complete the first box of the flow-chart. NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER.
Waste only halves if the fridge is refilled once a
Write no more than 2 words.
Who used the fridges
Use the lecture above. NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER.
People in work made just over % of the visits
Write no more than 2 words.
The limitation
Use the lecture above. NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER.
Every one of the six towns was already served by a food-sharing
Write no more than 2 words.
Summary gap 6
Use the lecture above. NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER.
Use rose once the fridges moved out of a locked and into a shop-front window
Write no more than 2 words.
Summary gap 7
Use the lecture above. NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER.
about a of visits were by students
Write no more than 2 words.
Tips
- Read along the row, not down the column
Everything in one row comes from the same moment in the recording.
- Let the arrow check your answer
In a flow-chart, if your word makes the next box impossible, you took it from the wrong stage.
- Read a summary right through in the preview pause
A summary has no row heading, so the sentence around each gap is all you get. Read it whole and decide what each gap needs.
Recap
Find your position first: the row heading, the arrows, or the sentence around the gap.
Wait for the sentence to end, then write the word that stands, inside the limit.
A figure from the next row or the next box never goes in your gap.
Next: labelling a plan or a map as a speaker walks you around it.