Through the IELTS listening tests, examiners are testing your understanding of ideas, attention to verbal detail, and speaker’s opinions. The IELTS listening test requires you to understand its format soundly. So that’s where we shall begin!
IELTS Listening Test Format
The listening test is divided into four parts. In each part, you listen to an audio and then answer 10 questions based on that audio. In total, you listen to 4 audios and respond to 40 questions. Remember! You can only listen to an audio once, so make sure you are carefully listening and understanding the recordings. The audios could include everyday conversations, monologues etc.
8 Tips to Score More Than 7 Bands in IELTS Listening
Scoring a higher band at IELTS, needs nothing but more practice and persistence. With that, you must follow a schedule in which you incorporate various tips and practice sessions along the day. If you wish to score 7 or more bands in IELTS you must make the following things a part of your practice routine,
- Work on Your Concentration Levels
Concentration is the major ingredient of success in the listening section. Make sure that you do not miss out on any of the important details while you listen to an audio. All the questions you have to answer, will be extracted from those audios that you listen.
You should practice active listening techniques. This means that you should not only be focused on past papers. While past papers are a good source of preparation a small while before the test, this is just the tip of the ice burg. Rather, you should be listening to actual pieces of information and conversations in English. This will help you improve your listening a lot.
- Listen to Multiple English Accents
If you listen to just one king of English accent, you may feel be overwhelmed if you come across a wide range of accents during the test. Hence, it is very important that you listen to English audios in numerous accents. This will acquaint you with different accents beforehand. Moreover, this type of practice will make it easier for you to understand a wide range of words with considerable ease.
- Abide by the Instructions
A relatively simpler tip here will be to abide by the rules of the exam. If a question demands the answer to be of no more than 2 words, make sure that you do not write anything further. This is how you can protect your scores from unnecessarily plummeting.
- Understand the Different Types of Questions
This is where IELTS past papers can be of great help. You should use past papers and practice questions to understand the types of questions you will get from the audio. When you are familiar with question types, you can practice the audio accordingly.
- Scan the Questions
A huge clue for answers is in the questions themselves! If you find a blank and it indicates that the audio may be about the weight of something, you will automatically pay more attention to numbers. Similarly, you can scan if the questions are about to be about costs or information about time and places. This will make you more alert about th information you need to be specific attention to.
- Practice Note Taking While Listening
A very important part of your practice phase is multitasking. You must listen to audios such that you take notes while the audio is playing. You shoud train yourself to take quick notes while still remaining focused on the rest of the audios. Note-taking can help you greatly to answer questions that have definitive one- or two-words answers.
- Listen to the Audio Once
Many instructors don’t mind if you listen to an audio more than once before answering. But it can cause you considerable harm if it becomes a habit. Try to practice like you are giving the actual test. This means that you should listen to an audio just one time before you answer the questions related to it. This way you will be able to track your improvement in listening skills from time to time.
- Be Careful for the Time Limit
On the test day, you will get a short while to see the questions before you listen to the audio. Make sure you save yourself the time to recheck your answers at the end. Remember, you will have 30 minutes for the listening test. At the end, you will get 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheets.
The more well-timed you are, the more you will be able to complete your answers and maintain accuracy.
Sharpen Your Listening Skills
Aside from the practice schedule, here are a few other tips for you to improve your listening skills
- Listen to podcasts
- Watch English series or dramas without subtitles
- Watch English News
With small changes in your routine like this, you will be able to nail the IELTS listening exam with your dream scores!
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