IELTS Listening Strategy and Tactics

IELTS

1. IELTS is an English proficiency exam to test your knowledge of English at a level acceptable for a university. 2. Must be good at Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking 3. IELTS scores are done in bands (0-9). Different scores in each section and you get a overall score.

Preparation

• 1. Vocabulary • 2. Spelling • http://www.ugru.uaeu.ac.ae/Spelling/IELTS/IELT S.htm • 2. British Accent Awareness • http://www.davidappleyard.com/english/pronunciat ion.htm 3. Difference American British Words • http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/library/words2.ht m • 4. Listening to BBC Radio: • http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

IELTS Test Basics

• You will listen to 4 different recordings and answer 40 questions. • The test takes approximately 30 minutes. You will have an additional ten minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet • You only hear the audio once. • A variety of voices and native-speaker accents is use. • You will hear conversations and monologues, with topics ranging from the everyday social to the academic. • A variety of question types are used, including multiple choice, form completion, note completion, summary completion, sentence completion, and short-answer questions. • Candidates for IELTS Academic and IELTS General both do the same listening test

IELTS Basics Continued

• There are certain facts which you should know about the IELTS listening section • 4 audios will be played in the IELTS listening section • You will have to answer the questions relating to the audio • You will get an extra 10 minutes to transfer to your answers to the answer sheet • If you fail to transfer your answer to the answer sheet, you will get a zero • You will hear the recording only once • You will have some time to look at the questions before the recording starts • You will only hear the voice, you will not watch a video • You would get a headphone or speakers to listen the conversation • There will be 40 questions in the IELTS listening section • You will not be penalized for the wrong answers • There will be different types of questions on the IELTS listening part

Before the Exam

• Before the exam • • Make sure you are familiar with the instructions for the different • question types so you can quickly glance at the questions and know • what to do. • • Think about the type of situations you might come across living or • studying in an English speaking country, such as someone asking • for directions or talks on topics of general interest. • • Listen to as wide a range of material as possible – English language • television and radio, listening sites on the Internet and films and • music are all great sources. • • Do as many practice tests as you can to get used to the speed of • delivery and the task types. • • Focus on the strategies and skills you need for listening

During the Exam (Before List)

• During the exam • Before listening • • Make sure you use the 30 seconds given at the beginning of each • section to read the questions before listening. • • Make sure you look at all the questions in each section. • • Make sure you read the instructions carefully. • • Make sure you know what form your answer should take e.g. a word, • a letter, a tick, a phrase, a circle around the correct letter etc • • Make sure you use the time given to analyse the questions. • • Decide what you are listening for. Are you listening for specific • information, for the main idea or for the speaker’s attitude? • • Use the outline given of the topic, who is talking and the situation to • predict possible answers. • • When you look at the questions, think about synonyms. You may • not hear the exact words that are in the answer choices.