IELTS Listening – General and Academic

The Skill by itself

If you have asked me 5 years before, I would have said I like to talk a lot. But, its a reverse now – I like to listen a lot. It is only in the last few years that I learnt this - when you hear an experienced talking, you become half experienced, just by listening to the hard earned learnings. Otherwise, you may end up spending ages doing it ourselves and learn – trial and error.

Leaving apart, Tips for Listening - while preparing

Please note that IELTS Listening and Reading are common for both General and Academic.

• Cambridge University IELTS series books 1-9, now also 10, are the ones I have used
• Doing one test in a day proved the best to me. At times one in the morning and one in the evening. But, not more than that.
• Doing 2 at a stretch proved wrong, either as overdoing or devaluing the test.
• I need to hold my excitement most of times, and checked the answers only after all the 40 questions are answered. This teaches patience.
• But I never hesitated from redoing the test again or rewinding the audio for the first few days, until I felt I am comfortable with the way words and numbers are spelt.
• But also made sure that I had at least 5 tests never heard, for a full mock test, before 3 days of the actual test date.
• Each question carries the same mark, and it starts with a slow pace and fast towards the end. So I tried to make most of the first 10 to set the confidence, 20/20 to reinstate confidence, and tried 30/30 and most out of 40.
  Tip: Sometimes answers for questions are available in the starting of the conversation itself. And sometimes there may be long conversations before answers.

Tip for the last 5 tests

• In contrast to the begining stages, I never rewinded conversations when the test is on to check answers, just as to feel like I am taking the actual test.
• But I did so, after the test is done.
• I moved on to the next question, even if one is missed, assuming 'what if a similar situation happens on the test day'.
• Neither, never fast forwarded, because I had time. Always used the time given, it to read the next section.

Choice questions

• When I am given time to read the questions, I used to underline the main words, and the 'not's'
• These are the gateways to trace the answers in the conversation
• Answering the first 3-4 questions correctly always gave me the needed confidence. It is actually a trick - my mind picked up speed automatically for the rest of the questions.
• Nevertheless and importantly, I spent more time on the questions where the answer choices are of long sentences, and less time on less than 3 words choice answers.
  Tip: It is said that answers are stressed in the conversation. It is true to an extent, but not always.
  Tip: BE CAREFUL, I have heard non-matching answers spelt first.
  Tip: BE CAREFUL of the words 'may be', 'must', and 'not' in the choice answers

Seems tough is it? but is actually easy when this is practiced for a couple of tests

Fill up the blanks

• I used to hear the address and phone numbers questions repeatedly, did not hesitate hearing them again and again, until I felt comfortable.
  
• These are the easiest ones to score, but I failed on some in the begining.
• This worked very well for me - while reading through the questions, I have underlined the verbs and or the main words before and next to the blanks.
• Even if I am not understanding the general meaning of the paragraph, waiting for these words in the conversation gave me the answer. Tried this as a sole technique and succeded in some tests.

It somehow was my easist section, and hope for you so.
Maps

• I used to draw the directions, North, South, East and West, soon as I see the Map questions. Yes I know them, but seeing it up front helped me.
  Tip: The conversation most often started from the direction of the entrance. So I used to spot-on the entrance point, and its direction.
  Tip: I used to grasp through the map quickly, and identify the locations by the names given. For example Library, Car park, Kitchen , North Road etc.
  Example 1: In a room map spot-on the rectangle, square, circles, big rooms, small rooms, rooms in the right, rooms in the left, rooms in the far left, next to __________ etc.
  Example 2: For route maps, I used to spot-on the junctions, curves, streets etc.
  Tip: Since it is already scanned for a time in my mind, I could easily spot-on the locations while listening.

Lastly, some Generic points (this time passive)

• 'Read the Heading' for a second

Tip: I have not on occassions where I started filling up the blanks myself, and found answers lying at the end of the paragraph later.

• When it says "answer in not more than two to three words", that is a rule. A word more is even wrong.
• Alternate answers, using“/”, cannot be used at all times
• Move on to the next section when time is given to check the answers. Again, conversations cannot be heard again, and so contemplating on the doubtful answers is not a wise choice. But spending this time to prepare for the next section works.
• Also, the logical answers and Intuitions proved wrong. Attention to the audio is the best choice.
• Last but not least, stay alert, and do no panic.