IELTS Listening Tips For 8 Band

Table of Contents

IELTS Listening Tips

Important TIPS (Points) are discussed in details below, read it carefully and implement in your regular listening test. With the help of below points, you can easily get 9 Band Score in IELTS Listening.

1. Understand Instructions

Instructions are written on the question paper as well as spoken in recording. Read and listen to the instructions carefully and ensure that you follow them strictly.

2. Preview and Predict

An announcer will briefly outline:

Theme of the topic
People who are talking
Situation of the topic

Before each Listening recording is played, you are allowed some time to look at the section in the test booklet. Glance through the questions during the time allotted before the recording begins. Get a feel of the topic, situation and questions beforehand. Try to predict the type of answer required (i.e. a number, place, name, address etc.). try to predict the context of listening, the number of speakers involved and what they might be doing or discussing. Try to predict what they might say and the words they might use.

3. Try to Listen of main idea and specific information (numbers, dates, time)

The purpose of preview/prediction is to catch the main point of the discussion. This is also to get hints about the details to be listened for. Look for keywords that act as triggers for the detail to follow.

4. Check and Write

Check that all your answers correspond to the given instructions. Your answers should be correct grammatically. Also, keep a check on your spellings. Wrong spellings mean wrong answer.

5. Do not Leave a Question Unanswered

Make sure that you have answered every question even if you have to guess. There is no negative marking for incorrect answers; so, even if you are unsure of a particular answer, you should guess and write down what you think is the most likely answer.

6. Think Ahead

In the Listening Test, you use four skills at once. It is not surprising that candidates often find this the most demanding of the four sub-tests. You need to be able to:

Read the instructions and questions
Listen for general information
Listen for specific information
Write the answers as you listen for the answers to the questions that follow.

If you try to think ahead, you will be able to connect with the topic and work out the meaning of what you hear as well as what you are about to hear. If you miss any answer, move on so that you do not miss any question further. After all, you need to maximize the number of correct answers from the remaining ones.

7. Work out the Key Words or Phrases

The key words or phrases are often repeated during the recording and/or presented somewhere in the answer book in text or image form. If you are able to work them out, you are more likely to get to the answer as soon as you hear the related part. It is useful to underline key words in the question to help you focus on the words (or similar words) to listen for.

8. The Answers are often Stressed and Repeated

Often, clues to answers are available in the test booklet itself. Key information related to the answers is invariably stressed and repeated during the recording.

9. Know when the next question begins

In the IELTS Listening Test, the questions ordinarily occur in the sequence of the recording. There may, however, be slightly flexibility in case of gap fill questions. When the recording is being played, as you listen for the answer to the current question, be aware of the content of the next question. If you do not think ahead, you might be unable to keep up and could still be waiting for an answer that has already been given.

Listening for keywords/key phrases (exemplified below), and for any changes in the speaker’s stress or inflection, will help you recognize a change in flow of the argument or topic. This is also a hint that the answer is about to come, enabling you to be prepared. Once you recognize the question topic has changed, it is time to move on to the next question, even if you have not answered the previous question.

Before I move on to………….	I’d like now to move on to…….	And what about………?
And now (we will)………..	Now tell me…………	Next, I’d like to………….
Finally, can you tell us………	Right, so the first thing…………..	To start with………

10. Listen for the speaker changing his/her mind

Often, the speaker changes his or her mind and makes a correction before giving the answer that you need. Alternatively, the speaker may correct someone else.

Listen for the possibility of the speaker making corrections. Expect corrections when you have direct answers.

11. Use Shorthand for speedy writing

Since you have to do the listening and the answer writing at the same time, keeping your attention to the flow of the recording, you need to write your answers in a hurry, particularly when the answers occur in quick succession. You could even write a hint that you could write properly later. Thus way, you will be able to keep track of the recording for answering future questions.

12. Manage your Time well

You are allowed 30 seconds before each section to preview the questions and another 30 seconds after each section to review/revise the answers. Time saved here, if any, can be used to preview the next section. Move to the next set of questions if you are satisfied with your answers.

Use the 10-minutes time at the end of the ‘listening module’ to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. Be careful to match the question number and the answer.

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