welcome to this comprehensive guide to IELTS listening we'll cover everything from easy
tips and quick wins to fundamental strategies that can help you improve your score it's Asiya
let's get started [Music] let me Begin by giving a quick overview of the IELTS listening must knows
IELTS listening is the same for both academic and general training students it lasts for 30 minutes
if you take the exam on paper you'll be given 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the
answer sheet at the end in IELTS on computer you select your answers directly so you get
two minutes extra at the end each test consists of 40 questions split into four parts questions
generally get harder as you progress though some questions in Parts two or three may be
harder than those in part 4. in terms of scores you're awarded one point for each correct answer
30 correct answers get you to band 7 35 to band 8 and 40 to that magic band 9. remember that
you hear each recording only once and there are no pauses between different parts of the
listening test the tips and strategies we're gonna discuss next require your understanding
of different types of tasks so let me show you what those are in Parts one and two you'll hear
about everyday topics part one is a conversation between two people like a culture hotel or shop
while part two is a monologue or a talk by one person for example a tour guide talking about a
town or a speech about employee training three and four are dedicated to more academic topics
in part three you usually hear two students discussing an assignment and the last part
is a university lecture in terms of the types of tasks there are only four in Parts one and four
you're required to fill in the blanks the task reads right no more than one word and or a number
I've checked recent tests and it seems that right two or three words questions are reserved for
IELTS reading in IELTS listening that's one word you may see a table a flow chart or some notes
multiple choice questions require choosing the correct answer ABC there may be three options
and one answer or five options and two answers you always get these questions in Parts two or three
the next type is a map you are required to label each part by choosing from a list of
options sometimes instead of a map you get a set of options in the box which you match to a list
of questions below these are matching information questions and in your test you get either a map
or a set of matching information questions just one of the two now let's talk about the best tips
that can help you on some more questions and some quick wins I know you like those one of
the difficulties in IELTS listening is time there is just not enough of it and it may feel like you
have to read listen and write all at the same time but it doesn't have to be this way IELTS listening
becomes a bit easier if you can carefully read questions before listening to the recording
in the test you are given about 30 seconds to do that well it's enough for part one and maybe
two in Parts three and four there is hardly enough time to finish scanning the questions
so here is a solution that helped me get pen 9 years ago and it still works today at the
end of each section you are given 30 seconds to review your answers together with instructions
telling you to do so that's 45 seconds plus a time with instructions for the next section
you could get one minute 45 seconds to read your questions instead of just 30 seconds
and that's enough to read all the questions and highlight keywords to help you find the right
option quickly use the time for instructions and revision to read questions coming next
and if you're wondering if you are allowed to go to the next section before you hear the
instructions to do so the answer is yes once you open the test questions you can go to any page
you like in a computer-based IELTS you just need to click on the next question to go to the next
section and don't forget to do that because new questions won't open automatically as for
reviewing answers there is a bit of time for that at the end of the test even if you read all the
questions when the recording starts playing there are so many elements in the task where to look
knowing this can solve this problem all IELTS listening questions come in order if we have a
look at the map again you'll hear about the coffee room then the warehouse staff can team and so on
when you are preparing study the map and try to memorize the objects on the map there is no
need to spend too much time on the questions because you know in which order they come
and remember that you start at the entrance in our case in the reception similarly in a
matching information exercise you see a box with options named information
and below the questions from 15 to 20. follow the questions first you hear number 15 fresh
food commercial manager then agronomist and so on while preparing carefully read and try to memorize
the options in the Box the third element of the strategy is to concentrate on the right things
remember that information is never repeated in IELTS listening each option is only discussed
once it's either correct or incorrect the answer will not change once you've found
your answer move on to the next question if you are not sure what the answer is
don't try to figure it out straight away Mark the question to review and go to the next question if
you miss one answer move on to the next question and try to find those answers you missed at
the end of the test otherwise it's easy to get distracted and miss several answers in a row out
if you are taking a paper-based exam underline keywords and cross out incorrect answers
if you take IELTS on computer I'm afraid you can't do that because highlighting takes too
much time the next question is can you write your answers in capital letters
so let's have a look at the official IDP recommendation
in IELTS on paper write all your reading and listening answers in capitals so it's clear
for The Examiner however in computer-delivered IELTS handwriting is not an issue obviously so
you should try to write all words using upper and lowercase basically what they're saying is
you should try to use correct upper and lowercase letters if you're taking your exam on computer
instead of capitalizing all your answers at the moment this is just a recommendation so you can
write all your answers in capitals but you should keep an eye in case there's changes in the future
in IELTS writing though you must use Correct capitalization next don't leave questions
unanswered make your best guess you don't lose points for incorrect answers spelling counts
you can use British or American spelling keep an eye on two questions your question and the next
if you accidentally miss one answer you want to quickly switch to the next question well it's not
all about tips and easy wins though let's discuss how you should practice to achieve Real Results
you might have heard practice practice practice and practice is a must but it's more important to
practice smartly than to do a lot of tests first of all use the official practice tests you know
it's pretty difficult to create a test paper that has the same level of difficulty as exam papers
non-official tests may be easier harder confusing or simply different that's not good the best tests
are Cambridge practice tests and you may use in your recent book let's say from number 15 and up
there are several official practice tests available online for free these tests are
linked in my study plan which you can download in the description
those can give you a good understanding of the test but they're not exactly like the real tests
and they haven't been updated in years this is particularly true when it comes to the computer
practice test which is slightly different so use it to learn the platform but not the test format
after you do a four IELTS listening test from Cambridge practice don't just count
the number of answers and close the book and equally important part comes next
at the end of the book you can find audio scripts of all the recordings check each question you
answered incorrectly and try to understand why you got it wrong was it the spelling
a certain type of task an accent or you file for one of the typical IELTS listening traps
with an incorrect answer is deliberately mentioned identify and work on your weaknesses for example
if you notice that you couldn't understand some things while listening to the recording
but the transcript was very clear this is a sign that your listening skills need a boost
let's discuss three ways to improve your listening skills the first way requires
using a practice test you may use a notebook it really doesn't matter there are two steps
tape One recording find its transcript at the end of the book and start listening don't look at the
transcript when everything is clear but as soon as you notice something you couldn't quite understand
pause the recording find this phrase or sentence in the transcript and figure out what it means
then listen to it again trying to hear each word once you do continue listening until you find the
next difficult place and so on this exercise helps your brain link words and phrases you
know with how they are pronounced thus improving your listening skills step two is to listen to
the same recording without the use of transcript hopefully you'll be able to understand everything
this time round the second way to improve your listening skills is to learn different accents
in your test you may hear British American Canadian or Australian accent I've never heard
any Regional accents for example Scottish or Irish which are quite specific so don't worry about them
I think it's most important to train your ears to understand British and American accents in IELTS
listening pronunciation is unnaturally clear so if you get used to listening to more authentic
English speech understanding IELTS recordings will be a piece of cake one of the best things
you can do is start listening to audiobooks you can listen to a book while commuting or doing some
domestic chores listening is a passive skill so you can work on it even while doing something else
and if you're not yet on Audible you can get any book as part of your free trial
I'll leave a link to claim your book in the description just remember that if you don't
want to start paying for your subscription you must cancel within one month and you can still
keep the book podcasts and news are great too you may find it more difficult to watch movies where
pronunciation is often really relaxed and unclear but don't despair movies and some YouTube videos
require a different level of listening skills than IELTS you get there with time for now concentrate
on audiobooks podcasts and news now let's compare IELTS on computer and paper I took both
a definite advantage of taking it on computer is that you're guaranteed to have earphones
while some test centers running exams on paper still use loudspeakers and it's just not as clear
if in doubt give your Center a call to find out what they use when you work on paper it's easy
to cross out incorrect answers or highlight keywords on computer you have to memorize
everything because there is not enough time to use the Highlight feature you can still Mark questions
for review though in both tests you can take notes on paper in IELTS on computer you get a sheet with
instructions for each part of the test which you can use to make notes another advantage of the
exam on paper is the 10 minute extra time at the end to transfer your answers honestly transfer
analysis takes just a couple of minutes so you can spend more time checking your answers or trying to
figure out answers you missed from what you can remember on computer you get only two minutes
which is enough to review a couple of questions perhaps fill in the blanks to check your spelling
but not more the good thing with IELTS on computer is that you don't need to think about putting
a letter in the correct box or checking what answer format is required however you should feel
comfortable using a computer and typing answers to filling the black questions while listening
you can learn how to use the platform by taking the IDP practice test the platform is exactly
the same but the test is not there are around 40 questions to start there are pauses between
sections and so on just use it to learn functions and how to answer different types of questions
yes strategies for tackling different types of questions are really important
let's talk about them if you learn how each of the four types of tasks is constructed
you'll be able to concentrate on things that matter and hopefully answer more questions
I asked you to vote for the most complex type of tasks in IELTS listening
and we have a clear winner multiple choice questions and I absolutely agree with you those
are tough actually it's worth preparing for each type of task in those that seem easier you want to
make sure you get the top marks so you have more leeway when it comes to the most challenging tasks
I have lessons about each part which are all Linked In My Free IELTS study plan along with all
the practice tests Linked In the description as for multiple choice questions there are two types
of them I've analyzed all the recent tests to find patterns and check which approach works best
and you can learn what I've discovered and try some practice tasks with me in this video here
and thank you so much for watching me today good luck with your preparation and your exam bye