1. Follow instructions exactly. The instructions may be different from other practice tests (especially completion, short answer, or fill-in-the-blank). Often you can only write a certain number of words.
If the instructions say you can only use two words to answer, you can only use two words to answer. Three words will be wrong even though the answer is right. Be familiar with the wording of the instructions (e.g. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.)
2. Always attempt to answer a question even if you don’t know the answer.
3. Write your answers on the question sheet. Don’t worry about transferring your answers to the answer sheet until the end of the audio. You’ll have an extra ten minutes to transfer your answers from the question sheet to the answer sheet.
4. Be careful when transferring your answers to your answer sheet. Make sure your have transferred your answers correctly. The answer to number 9 goes with number 9, it’s an easy mistake to make and easy to avoid. If the instructions say mark the answer as A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet, mark just the letter, not the answer that goes with the letter.
Make sure your grammar, capitalization, and spelling are correct during the 10 minutes at the end. Small mistakes will kill your score. Check spelling, subject-verb agreement, and plural or singular. Do this while you are transferring you answers. Learn capitalization rules and spelling rules.
If you don’t know if something is capitalized or not, use all capitalized letters on your answer sheet. You won’t lose points for putting an answer all in caps.
5. For completion questions, do not rewrite words.
This morning I will ______.
Answer: I will go to work (wrong)
Answer: go to work (correct)
6. Don’t panic if the speaker is too fast or there is too much you don’t understand, just concentrate and follow along as best as you can. If you don’t understand a word or part of the listening don’t focus on it. Just skip it and keep listening.
7. The answers to the questions will almost always be in order in the audio. The answer to the first question is near the beginning of the audio, and then you’ll hear the answer to the second question, etc.
8. If you miss an answer to a question or even a section of questions, and notice the listening has moved on to the next question or section. Just skip the question(s) and move on to the next question.
9. Pay attention to the order the information will come in. Listen to words like first, next, my next point is, lastly, to help you know which questions to be listening for.
10. Be careful with spelling and grammar, they count.
11. Practice listening and writing down numbers, words, and names that are spelled out. (e.g. A-B-E S-M-I-T-H) In section 1 you will probably have to write down numbers and words which are spelled out.
When doing fill-in-the-blanks, difficult names or places will usually be spelled out. Know the vocabulary for when people are about to spell out a word. (How do you spell that? / That is spelled… / That is A as in apple…).
If you are used to American English, be aware of how the British say numbers and letters differently. Be careful of letters like “J” and “G”.
12. Read the questions first, try to predict the answer as best as you can. This will help you understand what type of information to be listening for. (i.e. Where… The answer will probably be a place. How many… The answer will probably be an amount.)
Will it be a number? Think about what kind of number: money, date, big number or small number, and different formats. Use grammar to help you predict possible answers. He is missing a …. (the answer will be a singular noun, starting with a consonant or abbreviation)
13. Predict whether you are listening for a verb, noun, adjective, etc. You can use short hand while you read ahead (put an N for noun V for verb etc.) so you know what to listen for when you come to that question.
14. Expect that the audio will use synonyms or paraphrasing of keywords in the question. When they give you time to check your answers, read ahead through the next questions. Circle or underline keywords. Listen for synonyms of keywords from the questions. This will let you know what type of information the answer will be and when answers might be coming up.
Here is an example of paraphrasing:
Question:
What does Andy do on the weekend?
Jog near his house
Teach a culinary class
Work at home
Learning to cook
Audio: Um, during my weekends, let’s see, recently I’ve been working on improving my culinary skills at home.
Answer: D
Notice how they repeated some of the keywords from the answers to trick you. The answer has the same meaning as the audio but uses different words. This is called paraphrasing. Paraphrasing and using synonyms is VERY common in the listening and reading portions of the IELTS.
When you learn a new word, try to learn synonyms and words related to that word. When preparing, try to paraphrase sentences in English that you hear and read. There is always another way to say something in English. Test creators use paraphrasing a lot so try to be accustomed to it.
15. For multiple choice questions, the audio will probably mention words that are in each choice to distract you. Listen carefully. Just because you hear some of the same words (work and home in the example above) in the audio, doesn’t mean choice C is correct.
16. Use keywords or synonyms to notice when the audio is about to give an answer. You can also use keywords and synonyms to find where you are in the question sheet if you lose concentration.
17. Focus on the questions not just the listening. Remember you are listening for the answer to the question, not listening to understand every word.
18. Try to be ready for at least two questions at a time. If you miss the question you are listening for or if two answers are close together in the audio, you should be ready. Be ready to move on. If you miss something, forget it for now, move on. You may hear the answer later. Focus on the upcoming questions. Use keywords from the question to help guide you if the audio is too fast.
19. Sometimes the speaker will say an answer but then change it or correct themselves. Listen for changes or corrections (usually right after the initial answer), as you are writing an answer.
Example 1:
Doctor: How often do you exercise?
Patient: I try to run every other day.
Doctor: So you exercise about 3 times a week. (The trick answer)
Patient: Well, I’ve been busy lately so maybe make that once a week. (The real answer)
Example 2:
Taxi driver: Where are you headed?
Passenger: The airport.
Taxi driver: Which carrier are you flying with?
Passenger: Um, Southwest. (the trick answer) Oh wait, sorry that’s the carrier I flew in with, I’m flying out with Delta. (the real answer)
20. Look at the questions, headings, and titles. Also look at any supplementary diagrams or tables before you listen. This will give you clues about the context. Is it a lecture or an information call, a conversation or a complaint call? Also listen to the audio when they say “You will hear a conversation between…” or “You will hear a lecture on…” to confirm the context.
21. Find out exactly what the test process will be so you know what to expect.
22. Do practice tests to become familiar with the test format. Make sure to get practice with each of the different question types.
23. Listen to different forms of audio to improve your listening ability. Listen to lots of audio with different accents, but focus on the British accent. There are a lot of other accents used on the IELTS as well but most likely the majority will be British. So, focus on audio from British sources such as the BBC. There will be no very strong accents on the test.
Some great sources for listening are: podcasts, youtube, tv shows (no subtitles), radio talk shows, interviews, audiobooks, and lectures on iTunes U.
Be aware of differences in vocabulary between American and British English if you are used to American English.
24. Section 3 is usually about education so make sure you are familiar with common education vocabulary.
25. After you take a practice test, listen to the audio and read the script at the same time. Notice what the speaker emphasizes, where their intonation changes and what they stress. This will help you get a better grasp of the flow of English.
This will also let you see how exam creators trick you with paraphrasing and synonyms.
26. Listen for signal words (transitions). Signal words tell you where the speaker is going with their ideas. Some examples are: however, on the other hand, despite that, but in fact etc. These will help you understand when a conversation switches direction.
For part four, listen for signal words, stress, and intonation to know when the speaker moves on to a different point.
27. Practice inferring opinion from context. In the third and fourth sections, you’ll probably have to understand what a person’s opinion is. Even though it isn’t stated exactly.
28. Be familiar with how to interpret flow charts, bar graphs, pie graphs, tables, diagrams and other visual aides. These are common on the test. Especially in the fourth section.
29. Check if the testing center you will go to uses headphones or speakers for the listening test. Audio can sound much different over headphones versus speakers. You can adjust your practice to match what your testing center will use.
30. Here are some multiple choice question tips if you have no idea and must guess. If you have no idea about a multiple choice question and aren’t sure of an answer; choose none of the above or all of the above if available.
Sometimes, not always, on multiple-choice questions, the correct answer will be longer. Because it is paraphrasing something from the audio. If you have no idea what the answer is try choosing the longer one. (Be careful when using these multiple choice tips. Use them only if you have no idea of the answer!)
31. For short answer, fill in the blank, etc. write down EXACTLY what you hear on the audio.
32. Learn to distinguish similar sounding numbers (e.g. 15 and 50).
33. Learn the different ways of saying percents and fractions. These will often be used interchangeably and can be very difficult to catch if you aren’t prepared. (e.g. one quarter, one fourth, 25 percent, one out of 4)
34. Make sure your handwriting is clear. If the examiner can’t read it, you don’t get points for it.
35. Cross out any possible answers you KNOW are wrong. This will help you narrow down the possible answers.
36. Practice improving your concentration. It’s hard to focus your concentration on the audio for such a long time (30 minutes) so you need to train your brain.
Doing practice tests and listening to lots of long audio will help. If you find your mind wandering focus it back on the audio.
You can try listening to audio from a native speaker. After one sentence pause and repeat out loud the sentence. Then try for two sentences, then three, keep trying until you can remember and repeat back a good portion of the audio. This will help your concentration and short-term memory.
37. Don’t panic. Be focused. Be excited. The test is a challenge, overcome it. Lots of people have gotten good scores on the IELTS, you can too.
That’s all the IELTS listening tips we have for you at the moment. I hope they will help you. If you have a listening tip you would like to share, let us know.