At the beginning of each IELTS listening section, the mysterious, beautiful voice on the tape will describe the situation or context for you. For example:
Section 1: You will hear a customer buying a bus ticket.
Section 2: You will hear an announcement about a new museum opening.
Section 3: You will hear two students discussing the topic of their research project.
Section 4: You will hear a lecture on the subject of dinosaur archaeology.
Most students have already started reading the questions so they don’t even hear this part.
But…it’s important to read the questions.
But…it’s also very important to listen to the situation or context.
Why?
Because if you know the situation you are much more likely to be able to understand the listening.
Imagine turning on the TV but closing your eyes. You won’t be able to understand what’s happening.
Open your eyes and it becomes crystal clear.
If you picture the situation in your head before you start reading the questions the listening will become clearer.
For example, if section 1 begins:
“You will hear a customer buying a bus ticket.”
So you already know some of the content that will come up – the cost, the destination, the length, where it leaves from, seating options, the number of stops, etc.
There’s also a second reason it is important to picture the situation.
Picturing the situation (and reading the questions) will start to activate vocabulary related to the topic in your brain automatically.
If the topic is ‘Monkeys’ your brain will immediately and unconsciously activate related vocabulary: bananas, forests, fur, and so on.
Share this post if you want to help a friend with their listening. Here are some other basic tipsas well!
Now it’s your turn! Put your answers in the comments.
At the beginning of section 1 you hear:
“You will hear a man applying for a job at a restaurant.”
Many of my students find labelling a map to be one of the most difficult questions on the listening test.
This is because you have to pay very careful attention to directions on the map and if you get lost, you might do really badly on a whole section of the IELTS listening test!
Don’t worry – I’m going to show you how to improve your score on this section and the skills you need to practice to make sure you don’t mess it up.
Before you listen you will have 30 seconds to study the map. This time is really valuable.
Tip#1:
Before you listen, you should underline the key locations on the map and circle all the letters.
If you have time read the names of the places you will have to label as well.
Tip #2:
While listening you should trace your route with your pencil.
Pay careful attention to the names of places and turns.
Tip #3:
To improve listening and labelling a map you should practice this as much as you can!
These ones aren’t hard because of difficult vocabulary. They just require some practice until you get used to them.
Tip #4:
Learn some basic vocabulary related to directions.
Turn: go towards the, take the first/second right/left, turn onto _____ street
Go straight: go straight on, continue past, walk past, walk by, pass the ______, walk along ______ street until you reach _______, follow the road until, go beyond
Next to: west of/east of, near, adjacent to, beside
Across from: cross the street/square, diagonal from the _____ is the _______,
Links
Here are some links to our 3 favourite YouTube videos for this:
The IELTS listening test is designed to test, not improve, your listening. One common mistake that many of my students make is trying to use practice tests to improve their listening skills.
Testing your listening is what you do when you take a practice IELTS test. You listen once and find out how good your listening is.
This does not improve your listening very well. In the long-term, it does. Over years and years but it is a slow way to improve.
The other option is to develop your listening using the 3 keys:
1. Listen to something short.
2. Listen again and again.
3. Write something while you listen.
The difference between testing and developing your listening is like the difference between playing a game of football and practicing one skill.
If you play a game you are focusing on tons of different skills at once. You will improve but it will take a long time.
If you want to improve one specific skill, for example shooting, you should practice shooting again and again. This will quickly develop your shooting skills.
Listening is the same – practice one skill again and again and you will improve your listening for IELTS quickly!
Key #1: Listen to something short.
Don’t used a full practice test! Instead, listen to part of it (less than 1 or 2 minutes long). Or find a clip on youtube from BBC One Minute World News or Ted Ed.
It should one be 1 – 2 minutes maximum.
Key #2: Listen again and again.
The reason why you should listen to something short is so that you can listen to it again and again.
And why does listening to something again and again improve (not test) your listening?
Because…
1. You will hear the same sounds repeatedly and get better and better at recognising them.
2. You will hear new sounds and words each time and begin to recognise them as well.
That’s the whole reason why you should listen to something again and again to improve your listening!
Key #3: Write something while you listen.
The IELTS listening test tests 3 skills – Listening, reading and writing.
You have to read the questions. Listen to the answers. And write them.
This means that when you are developing your listening you should do some writing. It will improve your ability to listen and write at the same time and also will focus your listening on one particular skill.
Simple Listening Activities
Here are 10 simple activities for improving your listening:
1. Listen and write down the keywords.
2. Listen and write down a 1 sentence summary after you listen. Then listen again and make your summary more detailed.
3. Listen and write down words with difficult sounds (for example, all words that end with ‘s.’ words that end with ‘y’ and ‘een’ like 50 and 15).
4. Listen and write down every word. If you’re using Ted Ed you can check with the tapescript.
5. Listen and pause – then write down the last sentence or last 5 words your heard.
6. Listen and pause in the middle of a sentence – then write down how you think the sentence will end. Listen to the rest of the sentence and check.
7. Listen and try to write down the unfamiliar words. Then look them up in the dictionary and fix your spelling.
8. Listen and draw a picture of what they are talking about.
9. Write down the question words ‘Where,’ ‘When,’ ‘Why,’ ‘Who,’ ‘How,’ and ‘What’ and try to answer while you listen.
10. Listen and make a mind map of the topic.
For all of the ideas above you should listen multiple times – at least 5 times.
If your listening is only 1 minute long that will only take 5 minutes!
Do this at least once a day and I promise your listening will improve more quickly than any other method.
Here’s a video from ourYouTube Channelexplaining the fastest ways to improve your listening!
Now it’s your turn! Put your answers in the comments.
Do you have any links to interesting listenings on YouTube?
Welcome to today’s HowtodoIELTS vocabulary post. Today’s word is Impending /ɪmˈpɛndɪŋ/.
It is a negative adjective that means something bad is about to happen. It’s negative because it never means something good. An impending trip is not a trip you are looking forward to – it’s one you are afraid of for some reason.
The most common collocations for impending are impending doom, impending death, impending disaster, impending crisis, impending changes, impending decision, and impending event. For most of you, the IELTS test is an impending event.
An example sentence with impending is ‘The impending crisis is avoidable if we take measures to prevent it.’
It is only used as an adjective, never really as a verb or noun and, like adjectives generally, it comes before a noun (impending disaster).
The stress is on the second syllable ‘pen.’
Here is the example reading sentence I took from an IELTS reading: In recent years we have all been exposed to dire media reports concerning the impending demise of global coal and oil reserves.
Don’t enter the room until the examiner invites you in
You will told to wait on a chair outside the examination room.
You might see a candidate leave and think that it’s your turn.
Don’t assume anything. The examiner will call you when they are ready.
Be friendly, but don’t ask any questions.
Once the examiner invites you into the room, they will show you where to sit.
Feel free to offer a polite greeting e.g. “Good morning/afternoon”.
However I strongly suggest that you don’t ask “How are you?” Personally I don’t mind it, but this will make some examiners uncomfortable.
Sit down and wait for the examiner to start the test
Put your ID card or passport on the table, but don’t hand it over until the examiner asks to see it (which will be later).
Before the test officially starts, the examiner might check your name (to make sure you’re the correct candidate).
They may even ask if you are ready to start or ask how you are.
Just give very short answers. This is not part of the test.
When the test starts just say your full name and wait for the first real question
The examiner will start the test with the following information for the recording:
“This is the speaking test for the International English Language Testing System…”
They will read out the date, the test centre’s name and number, your name and candidate number, and then their name and examiner number.
Finally they will say:
“Good morning/afternoon. My name is…………Can you tell me your full name please?”
This is not the first question. This is just for you to confirm you are the right candidate.
Don’t comment on your name or the examiner’s name.
And definitely don’t take this opportunity to talk about yourself.
Just say your full name and wait for the first real question which comes after the following:
“Now, in this first part I’d like to ask you some questions about yourself…”
During the Test.
Don’t throw the question back to the examiner.
This is a test, not a conversation.
For example:
Examiner: “Are you doing anything special this weekend?”
Candidate: ”Yes, I’m going to Queen’s Park. Do you know it?”
The examiner is not allowed to answer questions, and so you might make the examiner feel uncomfortable. They will have to ignore your question.
Ask them to repeat questions but don’t ask them to change or explain them
You can ask for each question to be repeated so make sure you practise this.
For example, “Sorry, can you repeat that please?”
You can also ask to have individual words explained
For example “Sorry, what does tradition mean?”
However, you cannot ask the examiner to change or explain the whole question.
After the Test
Say goodbye and leave.
The examiner will end the test with the following:
“Thank you very much. That is the end of the speaking test.”
After this, the examiner will politely invite you to leave the room.
After this you might feel you want to stay to chat to the examiner, sit down on the floor and cry for a bit, or even ask about your score.
However the examiner wants you to go because they can write down your scores.
And they usually don’t have much time to prepare for the next candidate.
So I suggest saying a simple goodbye and then leaving.
For example:
“Thank you. It was nice to meet you / have a nice day. Goodbye.”
If you’re interested in seeing what the difference is between scores – watch this video from our YouTube Channel to see the difference between a BAND 5 and a BAND 7.
Now it’s your turn! Put your answers in the comments.
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