IELTS Listening Tips & Essential Information

hello my name's Liz and in this lesson I'm going to give you all the essential information and tips that you need to be successful in your IELTS listening test we're going to start by reviewing the exam content and then we will move on and I will give you a lot of useful tips there is only one IELTS listening test all IELTS students take the same listening test so if you're taking academic IELTS or general training IELTS you all take the same test the same questions the same format and the same scoring it is exactly the same for everyone having a look at the content of the listening test there are four sections and there are 40 questions in total now the sections the first two sections are the easiest and they are social that means the context of the situation is a social situation an everyday situation and the last two sections are more difficult they are academic in content now section one has two speakers a social situation now a typical example is a phone conversation where somebody is registering for a course so for example they need to book a course and they need to know what date they need your name they need your address your telephone number or perhaps you're booking a table at a restaurant or organizing to meet someone and you need to think of the time that you're going to meet so it's very specific information and it is quite easy and it's quite easy to improve that section the next one number two is also social so in everyday situation but it's only one speaker a typical example would be a tour guide so that it would be a tour guide explaining about a resort so what facilities there are or the history behind the resort another example could be for example talking about an historic building or talking about a charity a company or an organization section 3 the academic the first academic section that has three to four speakers now this is challenging because it's a discussion and academic discussion now when you've got three to four speakers that means you've got different voices and you have to be able to identify who is speaking and who is saying what so that could be quite challenging but the most difficult is section four that is only one speaker and it is an academic lecture the listening test takes 40 minutes in total 30 minutes off for the audio so that means you have 30 minutes to listen to the recording and answer the questions at the end of the 30 minutes you are given another 10 minutes and that is so that you can transfer your answers from the question paper which is where you write your answers when you're listening to the answer sheet here is an example of the answer sheet for IELTS listening now you can download this answer sheet and it's very important I think number four for your tip is to practice using it before you go into your IELTS test it's very importantly you're comfortable with all parts of the test and that includes spending ten minutes transferring your answers from your question paper onto this answer sheet to write your answers clearly so that they can be easily read onto the answer sheet moving on to tip number five you will hear the recording only once it is not played again so that means that when you have your test you need to listen to the recording read the questions and at the same time write down your answers so that means at one time you are listening reading and writing so you really are multitasking during this listening test it can be quite difficult and it's something that you do need to practice number six many students ask me can they use a pencil or a pen the answer is you need to write your answers onto the answer sheet using a pencil and that's the same as the IELTS reading test tip number seven the scores are calculated by the number of correct answers you have so there are 40 questions there are 40 points and each time you get a correct answer you get a point and that is how your band scores are calculated let's move on to tip number eight tip number eight you can write your answers in capital letters or lowercase you can choose but which ever one you choose you must stay with that choice if you decide to use capital letters all your answers must be written in capital letters you can't change suddenly on your answer sheet or if you choose lowercase you must make sure that all your answers are written with lowercase on your answer sheet now capital letters means every single letter is written as a capital there is no difference at all but if you're using lowercase you need to remember that some words start with a capital letter so for example names or places will start with a capital letter so make sure if you do decide to use lowercase that you remember your capital letters at the start of your answers for names and places tip number nine if you look at your question paper it will always tell you how many words you need for the answer it will give you a rule for example no more than two words and or a number these instructions you've got to pay attention every time you get a new type of question that might change so you must always look how many words can I have for these answers and when I move further down the page how many words has it changed underline it quickly so that you don't forget now many students get confused about what it means so let me explain what no more than two words so that means we cannot have three no more than two words and or a number so that means we can have two words and a number or we can have just a number so let's have a look at the options so that you understand more clearly you could have one word you could have two words but not three you could have two words and a number or you could have just a number now be very careful with the instructions because you can see here it says a number sometimes it says and or numbers and if that's plural it means you might have two numbers so make sure you pay attention to the instructions very closely many students ask me about number ten which is should we use prepositions should we write hospital or the hospital or at the hospital what should we write for the answer well it depends on the type of question you have I will show you later in this video that there are many different types of questions form completion sentence completion note completion summary completion and each of them are a little bit different now you can see here this is an example of a question from a form they tell you the type of information they want and you write your answer here and it can be just one word so it would be possible to write just hospital but if we look at this example you can see it's a sentence and that means when we fill in the answer here the sentence must be grammatically correct because we are completing the sentence so here we would say the best place to meet is at the hospital and that would be three words so you need to look at the type of question are you just making notes or are you completing sentences number eleven all words are counted even if they are small words so for example a holiday that is two words as the same for reading and writing and of course this 1950 that would be considered as one number number 12 this is important spelling if you spell a word incorrectly it will be marked wrong so that means that of course when you're listening you don't have time to think about spelling but in listening you have ten minutes at the end of your test to transfer your answers to the answer sheet that is the time for you to pay attention to spelling pay attention to your spelling and capital letters check the grammar use the ten minutes for transferring answers wisely number 13 should you write words or letters on your answer sheet now that's very important you can see here we need to write a word or here we need to complete the sentence with one or more words but if it's a multiple choice that's different the instructions tell you to choose the correct letter so that means we've got a spring B summer or C winter now when we choose our answer for example B we need to write be on the answer sheet if you write summer on the answer sheet it is marked wrong so although you have the correct answer really you have written the wrong answer on your answer sheet because you needed to write the letter so make sure you read the instructions the instructions will tell you if you're going to write a letter or a word and again that is the same as IELTS reading let's move on to number 14 one of the most important tips to help you prepare for your IELTS listening test is to learn about the types of questions that you will get in IELTS listening there are quite a lot as you can see of different types of questions and you need to practice each type of question when you get in your listening test and you go to the question you have enough time to read the question and answers but you don't have enough time to try to understand what to do if you've never seen that type of question before so knowing and having a strategy a technique for each type of question is important for your IELTS listening test now one of the most difficult types of questions is the multiple choice that's often where you have a B or C to choose from but multiple choice could also be a very long list for example eight options and you need to answer three questions relating to all those eight options or the multiple choice might be a choice of people's names do you remember in section three there are three or four speakers so you might have to match the name of the person with the information so there are different kinds of multiple choice there's also map completion and that's when you've given the map of a town or some streets it might also be a building plan so that's when you've got all the rooms in building that you have to label and complete it could be diagram labeling so you've got a diagram and your answers relate to parts of that diagram you could have a form completion that's very common in section one or note completion that's very common in section four you could have flowchart completion sentence completion that's a very common type of question summary completion that's a little bit similar except this is more like a small paragraph that you need to complete we also have short answer questions so these are questions that might need one-word answers to word answers or three word answers and of course table completion as well there's a lot of different types of questions that you need to practice if you want to have practice with these question types then you can get a book of practice tests or you can visit my blog where I have free practice lessons using many of these types of questions now let's have a look at number 15 number 15 don't try to understand everything the aim in IELTS for listening and reading is to find answers to questions a correct answer is one point all you want are answers you are not aiming to understand everything so you need to look at your question try to think of what type of answer you're looking for listen for that answer there will be a lot of extra information given in the recordings and you need to just relax and focus on the answers that you're looking for number 16 this is an important tip you need to prepare your answers and questions now before you listen to the recording you will hear message and it will say to you you now have time to prepare questions one to five that means that you will have time to prepare and read questions one two three four and five then you will listen to it and after you will have a chance to prepare question six seven eight and nine so you're always given time to prepare but it's not long so you do need to train yourself to prepare questions quickly now let's have a look at this one this is a sentence completion now the first thing I would do is I would underline this the town's square of course I'm going to hear those words and those words will help me to find my answer I will also pay attention that built is a verb that is very easy to paraphrase for example construct so the town the town square was constructed by so I can see that immediately because I've done lots of practice and is a word I'm familiar with another key word would be this one by when you see a preposition you often have a good idea what type of answer you need to complete the sentence for this one obviously is probably going to be a person the town square was built by someone but be careful because IELTS is testing your English and by could be a person it could also be an organization it could be a group of people so for example the town square was built by local craftsmen so it might not be the name of a person but you can see very quickly that I identified three key words one because I know I will hear those words that's the main content two because that could be paraphrased and three it tells me what type of answer I need so that is how you prepare your questions tip 17 answers can come quickly so be prepared for that the answers do not come at regular intervals you could get suddenly three answers coming together that means you need to keep your eye on the next question so don't just look at the question that you're looking for keep your eye on the other questions coming so you can move quickly to the next question and you don't lose time you don't get lost now because the answers come quickly you don't always have time to write long words if the answer is University bookshop you might want to just make a note if it was University bookshop I would do this I would write that on my question paper and then when I transfer my answers to the answer sheet I would write the full words which is University bookshop so making notes is very useful you should also make notes of possible answers because maybe you're going to miss one you can write all over your question paper the examiner will never see it so make notes on your question paper write down the short version of the word if you need to and transfer correctly to your answer sheet tip number 20 there may be a gap between answers so here we have answers coming quickly but also there could be a gap and this is when students start to panic they're listening and waiting and waiting and there's no answer and the recording is going and going and they get very nervous that's the reason it's important to underline your key words because then you know that you need to wait for these words to come so don't panic you need to be calm and keep listening keep your eye on the next question make notes while you're listening and be prepared for any gaps between answers so let's move on now tip 21 common traps these are ways that IELTS really try to test your understanding and your vocabulary now I'll give an example of a common trap this is when the answers are given so for example shall we meet at 7 o'clock yes definitely let's meet at 7 so we've got the answer 7 o'clock but then it's changed and the speaker says oh actually sorry how about half past so suddenly instead of the answer being 7 it is now 7:30 so when you listen and you hear your answer obviously you can make a note of the answer but keep listening because that answer might be changed so be careful with that and another type of trap is when you have the same words in the question and the same words in the recording so of course people immediately think oh this is my answer but actually that could be a trap because usually IELTS will use paraphrasing rather than using the exact same words completely so always be a little bit suspicious when you hear all the same words if you want to have practice with common traps then visit my blog I've got lots of practice exercises with these types of traps and it will help you to practice for that and number 22 repeated answers if you look for example at section 3 this is when you've got three or four people having a discussion and of course when you are discussing something people might say is this what you mean do you mean this and the answer could be repeated again and that can help you to locate the answer at number 23 very important now IELTS is a listening test and they know that many foreign language speakers struggle to hear plurals so you need to pay attention does that word have an S on the end or not now if you have a sentence completion sometimes you can see in the grammar that you need a plural answer so just take a look but keep your ears open for those plurals now it's time for me to give you a breakdown of the scoring and I will give you the scores for bang score five six seven and eight the scoring now you can see here we've got the band scores your five point five six six point five seven seven point five and you can see here these are the number of correct answers that you need to get the band score so if you're looking for band score seven you will need to get 30 or 31 answers correct and to get seven point five you need 32 33 or 34 answers correct to get ball score seven point five so what you can see is it is all about the number of correct answers so tip number 24 is if you don't know the answer guess write something on your answer sheet don't leave an empty space because if your answer is wrong it will not affect your band score you don't lose a point if your answers wrong so always guess if you don't know I'll give you a link at the end of the lesson so that you can get all of a scoring for all the band scores now let's move on to tip number 25 let's look at the final tips at the first one is to listen to the example that is given at the beginning of your list test so before section one truly begins you have a chance to listen to an example and see an example answer you should use that time to get used to the speaker's voices because that will help you understand what they're going to say this example is only given at the start of section one not at the start of section two three or four so use the time effectively and listen carefully to the example now the accents that come in the IELTS listening test of course there will be a lot of British English accent and Australian accent as well but IELTS is an international English language test so that means there will be a range of accents so when you practice for your listening test make sure you practice listening to different types of accents now the next one this is quite important you will often find titles on your question paper and those titles are very useful because it helps you prepare for the topic that's coming so if you have a diagram completion map completion table completion questions have a look for the title read it underline it very useful the next one and this is very important check where all the questions are now ayats will say you now have time to prepare for questions one two questions seven so that means you know that you're going to get seven questions make sure you check where the seven questions are because I have seen students who only prepared six questions because they didn't realize that question seven was on the other side of the paper so make sure that your questions are on one side or maybe you need to turn over and look at the next page as well so always check that the next one if you miss an answer move quickly to the next question that's very important you don't have a chance to catch up if you lose your place in the IELTS listening test because you only listen once to the recording so keeping your place in the recording is very important so if you miss an answer don't worry about it forget it move directly to the next question another one and this is very useful for section 3 and section 4 and that is the technical and academic language is often not paraphrased now not all words but often they are not paraphrased so if you see a very complicated word or a technical word then that can be useful for you don't be scared of that language and it can be useful because it might not be paraphrased and that means when you hear it you know what question you're on and you can keep your place let's have a look at some more final tips this is a very important tip for your answer you need to write the words that you hear now here's an example of something you might hear in the recording children must be accompanied by an adult at all times and here is the question so number 26 no children are allowed without and you need to fill in the gap you need to complete the sentence now here are two answers no children are allowed without an accompanying adult or no children are allowed without an adult now if we look here we have to be accompanied by an adult so it is true that children must have an accompanying adult but that is not what the recording actually says word for word the meaning is correct but the wording is not so this answer would be considered wrong you can't change and reformulate the words you need to listen and write down the words here so the answer would have to be an adult so be very careful not to reformulate the words but to write what you hear the final tips this is important make sure that your headphones are working properly now you remember I told you at the beginning of section 1 there is an example played and you can use that to also check that your headphones are working properly before the answers start coming if your test center doesn't use headphones for the listening test and if the recording is played to the whole room you can check the volume is alright for you if there is a problem with the headphones or the volume then you can put your hand up and a test invigilator will come to you and you can get the problem fixed now finally of course the biggest problem that people have is concentration you need to really concentrate for the IELTS listening test if you lose focus at any time you can not only miss an answer but you can lose your place in the recording and then it's very difficult to locate the following answers so you need to practice building your concentration before you go into your test now if you found this video useful please press like and now it's time for me to give you some more useful links for IELTS listening you

Channel: IELTS Liz

Views: 4,759,180

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Keywords: IELTS Listening, IELTS Listening Tips, IELTS Listening Information, IELTS Listening Test, IELTS Tips, IELTS Test

Id: q8qmJeBxk4Q

Length: 31min 2sec (1862 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 22 2015