How to Acquire the Skills Necessary to Pass an IELTS Listening Test

The IELTS is a salient example of an exam that evaluates multiple skills such as Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking, to arrive at an aggregate score. In order to get a good score, one needs to focus on each of these sections equally. This article talks about the IELTS Listening test and how to get one’s desired score by acquiring the necessary skills. Develop your skills by understanding the test; learn useful strategies and tips to score high. This piece has all that you need to know and much more. 

What is the IELTS Listening Test?

The format of the  IELTS Listening test is the same for both the Academic and General Training tests. In brief, you are required to answer 40 questions by listening to four audio recordings in 30 minutes. The recordings are a mix of monologues and conversations in a variety of native accents. The audio will be played only once. Each section of the Listening test has ten questions.

How is IELTS Listening graded?

Unlike the IELTS Speaking and Writing sections, IELTS Listening is graded purely based on the correct answers out of the total of 40 questions attempted by the students. It is, therefore, an objective test where the examiner doesn’t have to examine your answers based on broad, subjective criteria such as fluency. However, this also means that you need to be very precise in your answers. 

Skills for the IELTS Listening Exam and ways to acquire them

1. Time Management

The IELTS Listening exam is time intensive since you have just 30 minutes to complete 40 questions. This means that you have less than one minute per question. Hence, time management plays a crucial role here. In order to improve your time management skills for the IELTS Listening test, you can practise verbatim transcription of audios such as songs, audiobooks and speeches. During the exam, it is advised that you read the questions carefully before the audio is played. This will allow you to look for what you need instead of aimlessly listening to the audio. 

Lastly, the best way to improve time management is to consistently practise IELTS Listening tests in order to familiarise oneself with the test format and understand one’s strengths and weaknesses,

2. Focus on Keywords

The recordings played in the IELTS Listening test are text-heavy and context-specific. However, for questions such as multiple-choice questions, you don’t need to focus on the context. Instead, one needs to focus mainly on the keywords and remember the story around the keyword. This will help you refer back to the keywords when answering the questions since most questions are formed around the keywords. 

Secondly, pay careful attention to the direction of the conversation. This is especially true for sentence completion questions. You need to focus on the words before and after the blanks; this will help you to pick up the correct answers for the completion type of questions.

3. Follow Instructions Carefully

This may not seem like a skill at first, but if you take a second, you may realise that being able to make sense of instructions and following them without using “shortcuts” is a fundamental skill. Most people tend to ignore the instructions because they think that the instructions are not important or that they already know them. This is not a good practice. You don’t want to lose points for failing to read and follow the instructions. 

If the instructions say- ‘use one word only,’ make sure your answer has only one word. 

For questions where you have to fill in missing words, ensure that the question sentence when read with the answer is grammatically correct. Take special care of singular and plural forms. 

Lastly, make sure you use correct spelling and capitalization as well!

4. Practice Listening 

Become an active listener to improve your listening skills. Watch English films, and listen to podcasts, news reports, and Ted talks, to become acquainted with new vocabulary and accents (you will not hear only British accents during the IELTS Listening recordings). 

The goal is to incorporate listening into your daily routine. You can find a wide range of exciting and entertaining content online. Begin with topics that pique your interest before progressing to more academic material. 

Being accustomed to hearing English will also give you the confidence you require to manage your stress level during the exam.

5. Write the Answers Carefully

You have an extra ten minutes at the end of the paper-based test to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. Take extra care with your spelling and capitalization. If you are not sure about  proper capitalization, write your answers completely in capitals. Examine your solutions one last time to ensure they are grammatically correct and that you have followed all the instructions. 

Remember that you will not have extra time to transfer your answers for the computer-delivered test, which requires you to type in your answers as you go.

Before you start using these IELTS Listening tips, don’t forget to do this!

Take IELTS Practice Listening Tests 

Many students start using tips and tricks to improve their listening skills before actually analyzing their current level, which may cause confusion in their minds. That is why it’s always recommended to take an IELTS Listening practice test before following any kinds of tips and suggestions that you may receive from others. 

Now the next question that might come to your mind is, where can you access these IELTS Listening practice tests for free? Well, many IELTS coaching institutes offer you these practice tests today and you can attempt them at any time you want. Yuno Learning provides you with the latest IELTS Listening practice test completely free of cost. In fact, you can analyze your performance with the help of the answer key provided along with it.