Listen up! Your IELTS Listening Guide

Jenn Author

Summary: This post will guide you through the IELTS Listening section and give you tips to ace this part of the exam.

Listen up. Clean out your ears. Listen actively. No matter how ya say it, you need to be ready for the listening section of the IELTS exam. Today, I am going to guide you through the section so you are well-prepared and can sail right through this part of the exam.

Unlike the reading and writing sections of the exam, the LISTENING section is the same for the Academic and General Training tests. So, no matter which test you are taking this advice will get you through.

The listening section comes first in the exam so may I suggest you listen to some English on your way to the test center or before your exam. Something you enjoy, like a fun podcast or music. Nothing stressful, just so you are thinking in English BEFORE you sit down to take the exam.

Now let’s look at how the test is formatted and the skills needed for it, along with a few tips to help you ace this section of the exam. And listening practice you can use!

Format:

How much time is allowed? Approximately 30 minutes (plus 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet)

How many parts are there? You will hear 4 recordings, meaning 4 parts to the listening section.

How many questions? Forty (40) questions total. Each section has 10 questions.

How is it marked? Each correct answer receives 1 mark. Your final score is given as a band score in whole or half bands, e.g. 5.5 or 7.0.

It breaks down a bit like this:
Raw score -> Band score
35 out of 40 = 8
30 out of 40 = 7
23 out of 40 = 6
16 out of 40 = 5

BE CAREFUL! When you transfer your answers to the answer sheet. You will lose marks for any incorrect spelling and grammar. You do NOT need to worry about the variant of spelling, for example, whether you use British or American spellings. Just be sure it is correct.

Key Features

Unlike other exams, for the IELTS you will get to read the questions BEFORE listening. Do this. Often test takers skip this step -use your time to predict what you will hear.

However, you will only hear the recording once. Each section gets progressively more difficult as you go. You will hear different accents, including British, Australian, New Zealand and North American.

What you will hear, the recordings:

Parts 1 and 2

These will be everyday, social situations. There is a conversation between two speakers in Part 1, such as a conversation about travel arrangements. In Party 2, only one person speaks, for example, a speech about local facilities.

Parts 3 and 4

These are educational and training situations. In Part 3, there is a conversation between two main speakers, often two university students in discussion, perhaps guided by a tutor. In Part 4, only one person speaks on an academic subject.

Skills

There are 6 core skills you need for the IELTS Listening test. They are:

1) Prediction -take your previous knowledge and make it make sense with what you hear.

When you look at the questions you should try to predict the answer before you hear it because this makes it easier to get the correct answer. For example, if the possible answer had a $ sign in front of it, you would know that you need to be listening for an amount of money.

You probably use prediction all the time in your native language, but you just don’t even think about it.

For instance, when listening to the news and you hear “Wildfires in Spain’’ your brain automatically starts to predict what you are going to hear. Thinking it will probably have something to do with fires in Spain. If something else is discussed, it would be confusing to listen to, because your brain was not expecting it. Like “Wildfires in Spain” -but then the news reporter talks about the Chinese New Year celebrations. You literally would feel lost.

This is called ‘context’ and it is important that you not only predict specific things like the $ amount above but also predict the general context of what you are going to listen to.

2) Synonyms and Paraphrasing -how to say what you mean without using the same words.

In many ways the listening test is not just a test of your listening skills, but also a vocabulary test. As with other parts of the IELTS, more likely than not the answer will not be an exact match to the keywords in the question, but instead a synonym (a word with the same or very similar meaning) or a paraphrase of those words.

You will need to practice thinking about how words you see in the question might be used by different words that have the same meaning. For example, the question could ask ‘How did the environmental policies change from 1980 -1990?’, but the recording may describe how ‘environmental policies shifted between the 80s to 90s’.

3) Connected Speech -wha deya wanna do?

Many English teachers speak clearly and slowly to their students in the classroom. Unfortunately, this can hurt learners' progress. Because as you may have experienced when you hear native speakers talking, it can often be difficult to understand what is being said.

This is mainly to do with connected speech. Connected Speech is the linking of words and sounds together in a sentence. For example, ‘I have to go to the doctor, I have an earache.’, might sound more like ‘Ivtegote the doctor, Ivenearake.’

Other sounds may appear ‘weak’ or change when put into a sentence. For instance, ‘Do you want to go?’ might sound more like ‘Deya wanna go?’

4) Signposting -do you know it when ya hear it?

In two of the four parts of the IELTS listening test, you will listen to someone speaking by themselves, one in a social context and one in a lecture style. When you hear someone talking this way you will often hear something called ‘signposting’.

For example, when you give a lecture, you might say ‘This lecture is divided into four parts’ and then you will say things like ‘First of all…’, ‘Secondly…’, ‘After that…’ and ‘Finally…’. These phrases tell the listener what stage of the talk they are listening to and what they are going to say next. If you know how to interpret these signals you are more likely to understand and follow the whole lecture.

5) Conversations -can you follow a multi-person convo?

Listening to two people speaking at the same time is a tricky skill to master even in your native language. In two of the four parts of the listening test, you listen to two people having a discussion. The people could have different accents and different styles of speaking, and they might agree or disagree with each other. This is worth 50% of the IELTS listening test, so this is one you must master.

6) Note-taking -can you do two things at the same time?

Most people taking the IELTS exam are doing it because they hope to go to an English-speaking university. One of the crucial skills you will need at university is note-taking in your academic lectures. Therefore, IELTS tests your ability to do this.

When you take notes, the professor or lecturer is not going to slow down for you or care even that English is not your first language, so you must learn how to take short notes and then transcribe them into more comprehensive notes after the lecture is over (with correct spelling).

For example, an economics professor might say ‘The leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States entered into a trade agreement called the North American Free Trade Agreement on the first of January 1994.’ You won’t have time to write all of this so you might write ‘Can/Mex/US -NAFTA - 1/1/94’.

6 Tips to help with your IELTS listening practice

1) Listen Actively.

While practicing, try to engage with the audio fully. This is best combined with improving your key weaknesses. For example, if you need to improve your vocabulary, try to focus on understanding new words. Also, this will help you stay focused in the listening test!

2) Don’t Just Use Practice Tests.

Try listening to podcasts. These are great to practice listening to various accents and situations. They are far more interesting and have a wider range of accents than practice tests. Find a few about subjects you enjoy and give them a listen -you’ll build your vocabulary on a range of subjects as a bonus.

3) Learn to listen once.

Many teachers allow their students to listen to a recording several times. But in the exam, you will only hear the recording once -so practice under these conditions to improve faster and make fewer mistakes. (see listen actively)

4) Find Your Key Weaknesses.

When you do take a practice test, take the time to review your answers and analyze your mistakes. This will help show you areas for improvement.

5) Don’t make a dumb mistake by NOT following the instructions carefully.

This especially applies when it comes to the word limit. If the question states ‘No more than three words’ then you can’t write any more than this. If your answer is four words, it will be incorrect.

6) Know the different question types.

This means you will know exactly what to expect on test day and how to react to the question types you’re given. To help you with this, you should use genuine practice IELTS past papers.

And speaking of…here are the question types:
• Form-filling questions
• Summary completion questions
• Multiple choice questions
• Labeling a map or plan

You are now armed with some mighty skills and tips to take on the IELTS Listening Section -I wish you all the best in your studies! Oh, and if you would like additional listening practice, check out these exercises from the British Council.

P.S. -if you see N.B. on the exam, that is simply telling you to PAY ATTENTION, so read your instructions carefully. Good luck!

Categories: : IELTS, Listening