120+ word-pairs that travel together — the chunks behind the new Listen & Repeat task, drawn from the real campus-orientation register ETS uses.
Why collocations win the Listen & Repeat task
You can't hold nine loose words for eight seconds — but you can hold three chunks. Collocations are those chunks. When you hear "registration" your ear already expects "desk"; when you hear "due" you expect "date". Knowing the pairs turns a wall of words into a handful of blocks you can keep and repeat.
Hear one, predict the next
That prediction is what protects your Repeat Accuracy and your Fluency. Learn the pairs, and the sentence almost holds itself.
1
Adjective + Noun
Describing things
due datefree weightsfront entrancefinal examacademic yearpublic transportationpersonal informationavailable classeseducational opportunitiesfresh producehelpful staffvalid ticket
check your emailsubmit an assignmentattend a lecturereturn your booksscan your cardask a questionmake an appointmentfill out a formpay a finetake notesfollow the signsmeet the deadline
3
Noun + Verb
Things that happen
the bell ringsthe class beginsthe library closesthe bus arrivesthe meeting startsthe semester endsthe deadline approachesthe alarm soundsthe event takes placeprices rise
4
Noun + Noun
Campus compounds
registration deskhelp desklibrary cardlocker roomname badgeoffice hourslecture hallstudy groupparking lotbus stopstudent centerreturn bin
5
Verb + Adverb
How you do it
listen carefullyspeak clearlyarrive earlyplan aheadread carefullyreturn promptlywork hardlook aroundmove forwardcheck regularly
6
Adverb + Adjective
Turning it up
highly recommendedfully bookedwidely availableeasily accessiblecompletely fullreadily availableextremely helpfulperfectly clearenvironmentally friendlyslightly different
7
Verb + Preposition
Verbs that need a partner
listen tolook forapply forsign up fordepend onbelong tolook forward topay forwait forfocus onregister forcheck in at
8
Adjective + Preposition
Set adjective phrases
interested inresponsible forgood atfamiliar withdifferent fromsimilar toaware ofcapable ofavailable forsuitable forworried aboutready for
9
Noun + Preposition
Set noun phrases
reason forincrease ininterest inaccess tosolution todemand forattention tolack ofneed foradvantage of
10
Preposition + Noun
Fixed phrases
on timein advancein personon purposeat riskby mistakeon averagein chargeat onceon schedulein generalin detail
11
Verb + Verb
Common combinations
make sure to bringlet us knowget to knowneed to checktry to findplan to attendremember to submitdecide to stayhelp cleankeep going
+
Bonus · campus verbs
Heard most on test day
seek assistancecheck the schedulereturn on timeplace in the binscan your cardfind your seatcollect your badgevisit the desk
01
Read in pairs
Don't memorize single words. Say the whole chunk — "due date", not "due" then "date".
02
Predict the partner
Cover the right column. Hear the first word, say the second. Speed builds the reflex.
03
Record & check
Repeat a stacked sentence out loud and score it on My Speaking Score — the sound is where the band lives.