8 Amazing Listening Tips for IELTS That Will Get You A Band 9
The average overall score of Indians who appeared for the IELTS in 2017 was 6.04. The average score for the listening section of the test? 6.30!
Having the largest English-speaking population gives us very little advantage when taking the IELTS. Because it’s not about your knowledge of the language, but your ability to apply it in pressure situations, that is tested.
So, how do you differentiate yourself when applying for your dream college or workplace? A better band score than the IELTS average is definitely one way.
Go Beyond Preparation
When you are preparing for the IELTS you’ve got to go beyond the basic preparation. Deep analyses, devising strategies and a thorough study isn’t just reserved for boardrooms. You’ve got to do all of the above to beat the average.
Let’s talk about the challenges you will face in scoring a band score 8 and how to overcome them.
Challenges You will Face
The IELTS listening test has many challenges that one might face and you might be likely to face one of these problems as well. But the good part about learning a challenge is that we can start preparing for it with a solution in the meantime of the exam.
1. Accents
The accent can be any of the three types – British, Canadian or Australian. All of them with their own unique twang and pronunciation of different words. There are also some words that one needs to be familiar with. For example, the commonly used ‘nought’ isn’t very common in India. It could mean zero, failure or nothing depending on the context.
2. The pace of the Audio
The listening exam is unforgiving in a sense because you can hear everything only once and once you’ve missed the information there’s no way of getting it back.
3. Distractors
The information in the audio is not straightforward. There are 4 sections out which 2 are conversations between 2 or more people. In these conversations, you will find distractors or information changing as the audio progresses.
4. Multi-tasking
You have to listen, read and write all at the same time. Yes, there is no respite until the audio clip is done. Extended periods of concentration are a must for acing this test.
5. Different Type of Instructions
- Deciding whether to choose a letter from the list or write the answer in words? The correct answer is not just the one you find, it’s also the answer that is written according to the instructions.
- How words & numbers are calculated. The instructions say ‘Write your answer in 2 words’. But the correct answer is nineteen hundred and sixty-two! Converting it into a number like 1962 or not is the difficulty.
- Transferring answers to the answer script.
Besides all these, wrong spellings are still a concern as we are sure that autocorrect will not be a facility that you can use while typing.
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