Maps, plans & diagrams: navigate with the speaker

Here you label locations on a map, floor plan or diagram as a speaker describes them. There's usually no spelling and no word limit - the whole challenge is spatial tracking. Lose your position for two seconds and the rest collapses, so orientation is everything.

The method

1. Find your anchor. Locate the entrance, "you are here", or starting point the moment the diagram appears. Every instruction will be relative to where you currently are.
2. Fix your compass. Decide which way is "forward" from the anchor, and note where North or the main road is. This stops you flipping left and right.
3. Pre-load the direction vocabulary (see below). You must react instantly, with no time to translate.
4. Move your pen with the voice. Physically trace the route on the page as you listen. Don't try to memorise turns - drag your finger or pen through them in real time.
5. Label as you arrive. Write each letter the instant the speaker names that spot. Don't wait to "tidy up" later - by then the next direction has gone.

Direction language to pre-load

Group it so you can react without thinking:

• Position: opposite, facing, next to, adjacent to, beside, between X and Y, behind, in front of, at the corner of, in the far corner.
• Movement: go along, head up, carry on past, take the first/second turning, turn off, double back, follow the path round, as far as.
• Relative side: on your left/right, the second on the right, on the near/far side, the one nearest the entrance.

A handy fixed pattern: "the [ordinal] [thing] on your [side]" - "the second door on your left", "the first turning on the right". Catch the ordinal (first/second/third) and the side together; both matter.

Worked example 1 - a corridor of rooms

Plan: entrance at the bottom; a corridor runs straight up; rooms on both sides labelled A-E.

Transcript:

- "As you come in through the main entrance, the staff room is the first door on your right. Carry on to the end of the corridor, and the library is straight ahead. The store cupboard is just opposite the library, and the lab is next to the staff room, sharing the same wall."

Trace it: from the entrance → first door right = staff room; end of corridor, straight ahead = library; opposite the library = store cupboard; next to the staff room = lab. Each phrase is an instruction relative to your current position, not the page's top.

Worked example 2 - an outdoor map with a backtrack

Map: a path enters from the south (bottom); it forks at a pond; positions 1-4 are dotted around.

Transcript:

- "From the gate, follow the path north until you reach the pond. The picnic area is on the near side of the pond, to your left. If you take the right fork past the pond and go almost to the end, the bird hide is tucked in the far corner. Don't go all the way, though - come back to the fork and the toilets are just off the left fork, behind the hedge."

Trace it: gate → pond; near side, left = picnic area; right fork, far corner = bird hide; then back to the fork, left fork behind hedge = toilets. The phrase "come back to the fork" resets your position - the toilets are not near the bird hide, even though it was named just before.

A note on diagram labelling

Some tasks label the parts of an object or process rather than a place - a piece of equipment, a plant cell, the stages of a cycle. The vocabulary shifts from directions to parts and flow: at the top/base, the outer/inner layer, the part that connects to…, this feeds into…, the next stage. The method is the same - anchor on a part you can clearly identify (often the labelled example), then move outward in the order the speaker describes, labelling as you go.

Common mistakes

• Your left vs the speaker's left. Directions are given from the walker's point of view, which may be the opposite of how the map sits on your page. Rotate the route mentally, not the assumptions.
• "Opposite" vs "next to." These place a room on completely different walls. Mishear one and two labels fall over.
• Drifting backtracks. "Go past the lab, then come back and…" - the destination is where the speaker ends up, not the first place named.
• Losing the ordinal. "The second on the right" is not the first; if you miss the number you mis-place the room.
• Freezing on a miss. If you can't place one room, keep your pen moving with the voice and fill the gap from the leftover letters at the end.

Try it

Open a map or plan task on the Listening page. Before pressing play, circle the entrance/start and say which way is "forward". As you listen once, trace the route with your pen and label each spot the instant it's named. Afterwards, check any blank against the options you didn't use.