Multiple Choice Multiple Answer:

• Remember there will be 2-3 answers that are correct, but there is negative marking!
• You will get 2 or 3 of these tasks on the exam.

For the Multiple Choice Multiple Answer task, you must listen to a recording of 40 to 90 seconds in length, and then answer the question by selecting all the correct responses from a choice of 5-7 options.

You should read the prompt carefully, understand what it is being asked, and then skim all of the options quickly before the recording starts in approximately 10 seconds.

You should take notes of what the speaker says because the recordings are very long.

After the recording, re-read the prompt and then the response options again and eliminate incorrect or wrong answers.

There is negative scoring, so do not try to guess and answer because you get 1 point for a correct answer and 1 point for an incorrect answer.

Note: I tell all my clients that a score of 1 is infinitely better than a score of zero. Never guess! If you are sure of just 1 answer – click on that box in the margin and move on to the next task.

For example:

What are the bad points of being a lexicographer, according to the speaker?

1. A lexicographer can say ‘higgledy-piggledy’
2. People, generally, do not like dictionaries.
3. A lexicographer does not like bad words.
4. All lexicographers are good fishermen.
5. A lexicographer has to decide which words go in the dictionary.

Answer:

Now one of the perks of being a lexicographer — besides getting to come to TED — is that you get to say really fun words, like lexicographical. Lexicographical has this great pattern: it’s called a double dactyl. And just by saying double dactyl, I’ve sent the geek needle all the way into the red. (Laughter) (Applause) But “lexicographical” is the same pattern as “higgledy-piggledy.” Right? It’s a fun word to say, and I get to say it a lot. Now, one of the non-perks of being a lexicographer is that people don’t usually have a kind of warm, fuzzy, snuggly image of the dictionary. Right? Nobody hugs their dictionaries. But what people really often think about the dictionary is, they think more like this. Just to let you know, I do not have a lexicographical whistle. But people think that my job is to let the good words make that difficult left-hand turn into the dictionary and keep the bad words out.

But the thing is, I don’t want to be a traffic cop. For one thing, I just do not do uniforms. And for another, deciding what words are good and what words are bad is actually not very easy. And it’s not very fun. And when parts of your job are not easy or fun, you kind of look for an excuse not to do them. So if I had to think of some kind of occupation as a metaphor for my work, I would much rather be a fisherman. I want to throw my big net into the deep, blue ocean of English and see what marvelous creatures I can drag up from the bottom. But why do people want me to direct traffic when I would much rather go fishing? Well, I blame the Queen.

Answer: 2 and 5