In my experience the Listening part of the IELTS exam improves faster than the other parts for most students if they practise regularly. For a few students there may be some fundamental problems that cause some issues and these can be diagnosed and rectified by asking an IELTS teacher. There are nevertheless, some aspects of the IELTS Listening exam than cause problems for many students at some stage in their listening practice.
1. How can I answer multiple choice questions in IELTS Listening?
The biggest problem with these questions is the amount of information that is in the question. It is impossible to carry all this through to the listening stage without getting confused. The trick is to tackle these questions in stages.
Firstly during the time you have to look at the questions focus mainly on the stem of the question (that is the actual question and not the choices).
Choose a key word that will get you the right place when you listen. This will generally be one word but it might be two.
Then once you hear this word – concentrate and while you listen, look at the choices given in the question. Generally 2 will be close to what is said and you should make your choice from these two.
If you can’t get it or miss something then just make a few notes and go to the next – you may be able to work it out when you transfer your answers. If you can’t then pock the one you think is most likely to be correct.
2. How can I mange section 3 with two or three people speaking?
Is the problem multiple voices or something else?
If it’s multiple voices then the key is to listen to conversations and discussions with 2 or 3 people to get used to distinguishing different voices.
If it’s finding the answer then like all parts of the listening you need to choose key words. In listening only pick one key word (the opposite to reading where you need several) and listen for the discussion on that topic. Then really concentrate and you should hear some ‘markers’ that will tell you who us talking about the information that you want. This may be a question; it might be a reference to the topic –‘so, what about ….’ Or it could be a change of direction ‘lets’ talk about/go back to…’ generally these ‘markers ‘ are used in conversations with 2 or 3 people and this will help you follow the conversation and find the information that you want.
3. How can I follow the map questions?
Like the two questions above it is a matter of orientation. Make sure that you know where to begin – you should know this before the listening begins or early in the listening.
When you look at the map before the listening starts see if there are any patterns that you can use – are things grouped according to a common feature or are some things inside and others outside – this may help you to be certain where you are as you listen.
Again listen for ‘marker’ now we’ll go to… next we’re going to see/visit…. These help to keep you on track.
Keep looking and listening at the same time, use your pencil if necessary to follow the route if that’s what it is. If you miss something then don’t panic, just listen to where you need to be next and try and work the missed answer out later when you transfer.
4. The listening goes too fast how can I keep up?
This question suggests that you are not quite ready to get a high band in listening and so you need to work on strategies that will help you to build your listening skill.
The first thing to do is stop working against the clock.
Break up the listening and do one section at a time.
Listen and answer as many questions as you can then replay the parts where you didn’t catch the answers and try those again – do this as often as you need until you get the answer.
If there are some that you really can’t catch at all then try and listen with the transcript if you have it or if you haven’t then check the answer in the key and then listen again and make sure you can spot the answer as you listen.
Much of language learning is about repetition and the more you repeat the stronger your skill will become. As your listening skill gets better then you’ll find (almost like magic) that you won’t need to listen as many times as before and pretty soon you’ll be able to do the whole test on one listening.
5. How important is spelling in the IELTS Listening Test?
Unfortunately, many students lose marks in listening not because they don’t get the answers correct but because they don’t wrote them down correctly. This is a pity because it is often carelessness that results in this. You have 10 minutes to transfer your answers and part of your job while doing this is to check that they are correctly spelt and recorded.
Most words in the listening will be expected to be correctly spelled. Occasionally there may be a word that is not common or which has a strange spelling and the examiners may in this case accept something that is spelt close to the actual spelling but generally spelling errors lose marks in listening.
If you have a problem with spelling then you should practise this so you don’t lose marks.
6. How important is grammar in listening?
Accurate grammar is a part of the language so grammatical errors make your answer incorrect. Where answers are given in note form such as in a table then nouns without articles maybe acceptable – you can check the other items in the list – these are a guide for you.
Questions such as sentence completion (gap-fillers), summaries and short answers should be grammatically correct. Sometimes in order to ensure this you may need to change the word for example from singular to plural or vice versa in order to make the sentence grammatically correct.
As with other adjustments you can check these things when you transfer your answers.
To be absolutely certain you are doing these changes it is a good idea to build in the transfer of answers to your practice before you check the answers in the key.
7. I panic when the listening starts – how can I keep calm?
Firstly, try not to make every practice you do like a test. This is true for all parts. Practice for the IELTS test should be partly improving skills and partly exam test practice. The former is actually more important than the latter as it is in this type of practice that you will train yourself to do better.
Most of your practice should, therefore, be about improving your listening skills.
There are lots of ideas mentioned in point 4 above and you should do these things to help you catch more and more of what is said.
Other ways of staying calm are to tell yourself that if you miss something you can listen again – take off the pressure.
Widen your listening ability by listening to different things – not just IELTS or news. Listen to songs these are fun and relaxing and you can still pick up vocabulary as well as learn them to sing along – on our courses we often mix in some listening like this as well as specific IELTS exercises.
Listen to discussion programmes – some of the best are on music radio – phone-ins, quizzes, interviews with guests as well as the public. All these things will really help you to distinguish different voices, different accents and different ways of talking. The more you do the better your listening will become.
Just relax and have some fun with listening.
8. Should I practise listening every day?
Yes, why not? The more you do, the better it should get and listening is the easiest to do ‘on the go’. You don’t have to sit down and answer questions every time – just pick some music, tune into a radio programme or listen to a podcast – it’s all learning.
Decide how much time you have and fill it with listening. Ring the changes sometimes an IELTS listening, sometimes a podcast or radio programme etc.
Truly, the more you do the better it becomes!!
9. Sometimes in the test centre I am afraid I’ll be too far away from the listening source – what can I do?
There isn’t much you can do about the way the centre is set up. If you have any hearing problems that might affect your performance in the listening you should speak to the centre when you book the test. If the reason is medical or disability then you may need to make some special arrangements and you might need a letter from a doctor to give to the centre.
If your problems are more to do with anxiety about whether you can hear then ask the centre how they do the listening – with headphones or speakers – that way you will be prepared. So many students have issues because they do not know about certain aspects of how the test will be administered – you can ask questions.
In the final analysis if none of the above are a problem then it is down to your ability and your preparedness. If you know the centre uses speakers then practise with speakers and not headphones. If you are worried that you will be far from the speaker then practise away from your speaker to make sure you know what it will be like to be at a distance.
Above all, make sure that your listening skills can cope with difficult situations. Don’t always practise in the best conditions. Try practising with external noise, with slightly muffled sound or any other conditions that you might meet.
10. Can I write notes in my own language?
On your answer sheet no of course not, but while you listen I don’t see why not if it helps you.
For example if you hear something and you understand but can’t make out the word in English write it down in your notes in your own language and worry about it later. When you come to transfer you might remember the English word from your notes.
This is also true when you can’t quite find the answers but understand something of what is said – it may be faster to write down some notes in your own language that you can use later to work it out. The problem with listening is that you will only retain the information for a very short time so once you get to the end of the test it will be long gone. However, if you have jotted down some points then they may help you to work out the answer.
Use common sense – nothing should interfere with your listening focus but you can use any tools and techniques to help you find the answer.