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IELTS Map & Plan Labelling — the method (and the words you must know)

This is the IELTS Listening task with a picture — a map, a floor plan, a site layout — where you label places A, B, C as a speaker describes them. It's usually Part 2, it plays once, and it rewards one habit above all: orienting yourself before the audio starts.

Use your prep seconds to orient

Before the recording plays you get a few seconds to look at the map. Don't read the options — study thepicture. Find the compass (which way is north?), theentrance / "you are here" / start point, and any fixed landmarks (a river, the reception, the car park). The speaker will move from a known point, so knowing where "here" is makes every direction usable.

The direction vocabulary to know cold

You can't label what you can't decode in real time. Drill these until they're instant:

  • Compass: north / south / east / west, and "in the north-east corner", "along the southern edge".
  • Relative position: opposite, next to, adjacent to, between, beside, in front of, behind, across from.
  • Movement: go straight / carry on, turn left/right, take the first turning, follow the path, go past, go through, at the end of, it's on your left.
  • Distance/shape: just beyond, halfway along, at the far end, around the corner, the second one.

The method while it plays

  1. Track the speaker's route with your pen tip on the map — literally trace the path as they talk. You're following a journey, not scanning a list.
  2. The answers follow the SPEAKER's order, not the letters. They'll place items in the order they walk past them, so the labelled boxes (A, B, C…) won't be described A-first.
  3. Listen for the confirmation. They often correct themselves ("the library — no, sorry, the library's the one past the café"). The last thing they say is the answer.
  4. If you miss one, let it go instantly. The audio plays once and doesn't wait; freezing on a missed answer costs you the next two.

Common mistakes

  • Reading options instead of orienting during the prep time.
  • Not knowing a direction word (adjacent, opposite) fast enough, so the moment passes.
  • Assuming north is "up" without checking the compass — some maps rotate it.
  • Getting stuck on a missed label and losing the ones after it.

Practise with real maps

Most sites only give tips — we have actual map/plan-labelling drills with audio directions and a diagram on screen: IELTS listening question-type drills. The full format is in the IELTS format guide.