How to score higher in IELTS Listening: Preparation Tips, Exam Pattern

Many of us dream to work in an English native country or want to go there for higher studies, but in addition to our educational qualifications and experience. One needs to score high in IELTS exam that is mandatory to get admission in the universities located in English native countries. Scoring high in this exam is important, you need to have a good score in IELTS listening as well which will last for almost 40 minutes and will be conducted to evaluate your listening skills.

First of all, you need to understand exam pattern of IELTS so that you can start preparing accordingly for the exam. Before we start discussing the ways to score high in IELTS listening test, let’s discuss some of the salient features of this test.

• 40 questions will come in the IELTS listening test.
• An audio will be played which includes conversations, both academic discussions, and general conversations.
• The audio will be played once only, you are not allowed to stop or pause the test in between.
• You will get some time to go through the instructions and the questions.
• For each correct answer
• The candidates will get a separate answer sheet for the listening test and ten minutes will be granted to the candidates to write the answers on to the answer sheet.
• The candidates are advised to read the instructions for the number of words that they need to write.

So to make it clear, we are discussing some preparation tips for IELTS so that you can score good marks in the IELTS listening test.

Listen to the recording

First and foremost, make sure you are listening to the recording carefully, do not hear the recording rather understand what the speaker is trying to say. There is a thin line of difference between LISTENING and HEARING and all you need is to pay detailed ATTENTION to the recording. While answering questions, the learners are advised to listen thoroughly to the recording rather than just reading the questions. Simply put, don’t get involved in reading and listening at the same time, and focus on the points which the speaker is mentioning in the recording.

Keep your booklet ready

Before the recording is played out for you, you must keep a booklet handy. While giving the IELTS listening test, by keeping the booklet in front of you can read the texts and questions quickly and in a time saving way. Also, keep the answer sheet handy so that all the answers can be written easily. You need to write down nouns and important words that you have heard in the recording.

Focus on vocabulary

Focus on your vocabulary skills so that in addition to understand the meaning of the word, you should also know how to use it. You need to get a clear idea about the types of questions that can be asked in the IELTS listening test. Since the listening test includes various types of questions, all of which need to be answered by listening to the audio, so the more you will learn new words, more accurately you will be able to understand what the speaker is trying to say in the recording. You can write down words that you consistently misspell, mispronounce or mishear in a notebook so that you can work upon them. By noting the difficult words, you can easily see patterns in your weaknesses and get a better understanding of the mistakes which in case not improved can lower your marks.

Remember you just have a chance to listen

In IELTS listening test, the aspirants have only one chance to listen. Though most of us want to listen again, IELTS don’t give us that chance. So you need to do well by listening to the information just once, while practicing the listening tests, listen to the recording once only so that you can get used to it. Try and identify your listening weaknesses and look for ways to improve your listening skills, you can use the question sheet to highlight the keywords. Start listening to the new words and their synonyms as well. By practicing different types of listening situations including lectures, conversations, chatting, etc, you will be able to boost your listening skills.

Audio Scripts

When looking for the practice tests, try and practice the ones with scripts as scripts are the word-for-word written texts of the audio which you can listen to enhance your listening skills. There are many activities you can do with scripts which include:

• Accuracy check: First of all, you must take notes without scripts and once you are done, compare your notes with the script. Look for accuracy, spelling, and misunderstanding in your test.
• Read aloud: Once you have read aloud, listen to the audio and check the level of accuracy.
• Listen and read along: Follow the text while you are listening to it, by doing this, you will be able to build strong connections in respect to pronunciation and understanding about the keywords. You must pay attention to the way the keywords are pronounced in the recording.

Practice in Real

English is not just a test, it’s a language that you have to speak daily in case you are planning to do it in an English native country. IELTS is conducted to check your knowledge and skill of this language. One of the best ways to learn a language well and to do well in the listening test is to start using English in real life. In case you are not getting involved in a conversation in English then you are missing you a great opportunity which can help you to have a good score in the IELTS listening test. So chat, talk, call, email, and laugh in English.

Pay attention to your weaknesses as well

Work on your weaknesses so that you can improve before preparing for exam in a wrong way. If you are choosing the wrong answers then you need to improve your English Language. You can overcome your weakness only by practicing more and more tests so that you can have a feel of the real test and can work on your weaknesses before actually giving the exam. The listening sessions are designed to help you boost your skills including notetaking and reproducing tests using the right grammar and vocabulary.

Listen actively

Another important method to improve your English listening skills is through listening to a range of conversation points from different sources. Through this way, you will get to understand more about the unfamiliar vocabulary and a broader range of accents. Listening actively will not only help in improving your spelling, grammar and vocabulary but it will also brush up your skills. Make a habit of writing each new word that you hear; you should then review it and look for its synonyms as well and find out yourself how you can use that particular word in a sentence.

Watch English movies

Focus more on listening and speaking skills by watching and practicing more by watching YouTube videos. Also, you can watch movies to improve your English, just passively watching them are not sufficient in fact you need to write down difficult and new words so that you can enhance your vocabulary.

So these are some of the IELTS Listening tips that you need to follow to increase your listening score. IELTS exam is one of the most recognized English Language proficiency tests across the world and by scoring high in this exam; you will get a chance to study in different foreign English speaking countries. So follow the above-mentioned tips that will help you to prepare to score high in IELTS listening while sitting at your home only, besides just focusing on the English test, you need to pay attention towards the Reading, Writing and Speaking tests as well to score high.

All the best for your IELTS Exam, most importantly don’t feel stressed, rather focus on quality studying that can improve your score.