Select Missing Word

What does Select Missing Word look like?

You hear a short recording on a general topic. Somewhere in it (usually toward the end) a word or short phrase has been left out of what is spoken. The options may be visible during playback; if so, skim them first. Either way, you select the option that both completes the sentence grammatically and fits the meaning of everything you heard before it.

Unlike several other Listening tasks; there is no note-taking tip specific to Select Missing Word in Pearson's own task description, so treat the general whiteboard policy as your only backup, jotting the topic and a couple of key phrases as you listen is enough, since the real work happens once the options appear.

This task tests a different skill from most of the section: predicting how a sentence is likely to end, based on grammar and logical flow, rather than only recognising what you have already heard. That predictive skill also underpins strong performance on Summarize Spoken Text and the paraphrase-matching Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers task, the same habit of anticipating where an idea is heading pays off across the whole Listening section, not just here. A working stock of collocations makes that prediction faster, since a familiar word pairing narrows the likely ending before you even see the options.

How is Select Missing Word scored?

• One point or none: You either select the correct option and score the full point, or you select a different option and score zero. There is no partial credit for a close but wrong choice.
• No negative marking: A wrong answer here does not subtract a point the way it does in Highlight Incorrect Words or Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers. The worst outcome of a wrong guess is simply zero for that item.
• Listening only: This task contributes to your Listening score alone; there is no Reading or Writing component attached to it, unlike tasks that display a transcript or ask for a typed answer.

How should you choose the missing word?

• Track the topic, not every word: You only hear the recording once, so focus on identifying the subject and the direction of the argument rather than trying to memorise it word for word.
• Predict before you read the options: In the moment the audio stops, try to finish the sentence yourself from memory. A prediction gives you something concrete to match the options against, instead of judging each one cold.
• Check grammar first, meaning second: Some options can be eliminated purely on grammatical grounds (the wrong part of speech, the wrong verb form, a plural where a singular is needed) before you even weigh whether they fit the meaning. It's the same grammar-cue habit Reading's grammar cues for blanks rewards, applied to spoken rather than printed sentences.
• Favour the option that continues the logic: The right answer usually keeps the sentence's own reasoning going, rather than introducing a new idea the rest of the recording never set up.
• Weigh every option once, in order: Resist committing to the first option that seems plausible. A quick pass through all of them, checking each against your prediction, catches the cases where a later option actually fits better than your first impression.

A worked Select Missing Word example

Notice that the working never depended on remembering the recording word for word, only on tracking what peer review is for, then testing each option against that idea once the choices appeared.

What mistakes cost the most points in this task?

With only 1–2 items per test in either exam, Select Missing Word rarely decides your overall Listening score by itself. It is still worth doing carefully, because it costs almost nothing extra: the prediction habit it rewards is the same one that helps you keep pace with longer, higher-value tasks like Summarize Spoken Text and Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers later in the section.