Join me as I show you tips and techniques to get the best score in the listening part of the IELTS Academic exam. See you in class!
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LEARNING LISTENING
Can I teach you listening? No. Can the best English teacher in the world teach you listening? No. Listening is practice, practice, practice. There is no quick way to learn to understand English. Any teacher who tells you otherwise is lying. So, how can you practice listening. Listen! Do you have a good collection of CDs from English learning books? Throw them in the bin. If you want to improve your listening then you must listen a lot, and you cannot listen to these CDs a lot because they are BORING.
Thankfully we live in a world with amazing technology and now you have access to native English speakers speaking about things that are interesting to you! What are your hobbies? Do you like fishing? Then go on youtube and watch some fishing videos in English. Subscribe to some fishing podcasts. Watch some films about fishing. There are thousands of hours of free materials available with real native speakers that use real English. In the IELTS exam the accents used are from native speakers from all over the world, so you should be listening to audio from all over the world too. The audio for the General version and the Academic version are the same, so you don't need to listen to technical audio or anything like that. Try and enjoy it!
But, when the exam is close you should visit the official Cambridge IELTS website and listen to some sample audio, so you know what you expect on the day of the exam.
IELTS TECHNIQUES
So, what can I teach you? Well, I can teach you exam techniques. So, let's look at the listening section of the IELTS Academic exam.
It is 30 minutes long, and consists of 4 recorded monologues and conversations. The maximum score is 40, and is divided into bands, so 35 is an 8, 30 is a 7, and 16 is a 5, for example. Three good things about the exam are;
- The questions are in the same order as the audio - we can use the vocabulary from the questions to follow the audio
- Some sections are easier than others - the exam tests a variety of levels
- You have 10 minutes at the end to transfer your answers to the answer sheet - lots of time to check spelling and context
FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS
Now, the most important thing, and I am going to repeat this a lot, is FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. You will be amazed at how many people get low scores because they write 3 words instead of 5, or they don't copy their answers to the answer sheet, or they write two answers, etc.
READ THE QUESTIONS FIRST
The next thing is read the questions first. Before the audio starts you have some time to read the questions. Use this time to read the questions so you can start thinking about the subject of the questions and revise any vocabulary you know about this subject.
TAKE NOTES
The next thing is take notes. Remember that in the IETLS exam you only hear the audio once, so take notes or answer the questions as you go, do not wait until the end. Your memory is not that good. Don't try to guess either, write what you hear. If you're not sure, write it anyway. You might have understood more than you think.
ORTHOGRAPHY
Obviously, write clearly and check your spelling; if the examiner can't read your answer then you it will be marked incorrect. Bad spelling will also be marked incorrect.
THE DAY OF THE EXAM
One other thing which I think is very important relates to the day of the exam. True multilingual people can switch between languages without any problems, which is called code-switching, but most people do not have this ability and it can take some time for their brains to change from one language to another. So, on the day of the exam try to stay in English. Maybe watch an English video when you are eating breakfast, and listen to some English music on the way to the exam. When are waiting to go into the exam room speak in English with your fellow candidates. This will help you to be in English mode when you start the exam.
DON'T PANIC
Finally, don't panic. This is very important. If you don't understand some vocabulary, or you miss a question, don't worry. Focus on the next question or you will lose your place and it will be a disaster.
SAMPLE PAPER
Now let's do a sample paper together so I can show you some of these techniques in action.
