10 tips to improve the IELTS listening score
“What? What did he just say? I completely missed that”.
This might have happened to you while taking the IELTS listening exam. In the IELTS listening exam, the audios includes various accents like British, Australian, American, New Zealand and Canadian, which might be difficult to understand as the IELTS listening test is designed to test one’s ability to understand main opinions and factual information followed by the development of ideas.
Want to know how you can improve your listening? If you said yes, then here are some of the tips that may help in improving listening skills.
1.Surround yourself with English
The first and foremost thing one should start, if never done, is to surround themselves with the English environment. Whether you are listening to a song or watching a movie or series, they must be in English. Listening to the English podcasts can make a big difference in one’s understanding of the English language. By doing this, the understanding ability of the language starts increasing gradually and with practice, one can surprise themselves with a good score in IELTS listening test.
2.Know the pattern
All of the IELTS listening tests follow the same pattern. The duration of the IELTS listening exam is 30 minutes and an additional 10 minutes are given to transfer the answers. Most important of all, the IELTS listening is the same for both the IELTS academic as well as IELTS general training. There will be four sections in the IELTS listening test which includes everyday English conversation, monologue, conversation of 2-4 in academic setting and monologue in academic setting respectively.
3.Remember YOLO (You Only Listen Once)
The recording is played only once, so it will be similar to real life because there is only one chance to listen to what the speaker said. To understand better in only one listening, one can practice the listening test and try to identify their weaknesses and improve them. Furthermore, practicing different listening situations will improve their understanding and listening skills
4.Audio scripts
When searching for the practice test, try to find the ones having audio script. This will help one to look for the words which they find confusing or difficult while listening to the audio. Using scripts, one can check the accuracy of their answers. Also try to read the script and listen to its audio simultaneously. This will improve one’s pronunciation and understanding of the keywords.
5.Start thinking in English
Try not to translate in your native language while you are listening to English as this will only slow down the processing of the language in your mind. Also, while taking real exam you will not have time to translate. Hence, start thinking in English whenever you listen to an English conversation or are actually present in the conversation. As a result, you can retrieve answers by thinking in English more easily.
6.Write answers actively.
The common trap in which the majority of students fall is writing answers in a hurry. As soon as they think that they have heard the required information, they think that their answer is correct. But sometimes, that information may be repeated further in the audio recording with modifications. Try to listen to the audio with focus and then answer them with utmost care.
7.Do not wait too long for the answer
When you feel like it is taking longer than usual to hear the answer, then the chances are that you have missed the answer. Also, keep in mind that the questions asked are always in the order in accordance with the audio recording. Wasting time on a single answer can impact the overall performance of the IELTS listening test and you may answer some questions incorrectly.
8.Read the questions first
The test taker is provided with some time to read the questions. Always remember to read the questions first as it will give a brief overview of what will be in the audio recording. This will help one to familiarize themselves with the questions already. Reading and understanding the questions will give you an advantage as you will be able to understand the audio much better than before
9. Check your answer twice.
The difference between scoring a 5.5 and a 6 band may be made by a few silly mistakes, so be careful while transferring the answer. Check the spelling and the word limit. Also do not leave any answer blank as there is not any negative marking, so it is better to write the answer .Even if you are not sure, sometimes that answer can turn out to be the correct one.
10. Build your vocabulary
Noticing and learning new words on a daily basis can proficiently enhance one’s vocabulary. One can use different resources like TEDx, newspapers, English radios and podcasts to improve their vocabulary. Most important of all, focus on synonyms and antonyms to learn about the wide range of words more quickly.
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