Hi

Students from time to time have questions on how

they can improve their overall listening ability in
direct relation to the exam. Here is some helpful
information stated below:

I. Focus on how voices ‘change’ in tone and speed

After you have listened to and studied the

transcript for an online recording of your choice
using our 3×3 Method, spend time listening to that
same online recording and analyzing it.

Notice all the ‘ups and downs (intonation) in

the tone of their voice.

Identify words (or parts of words) that are

more stretched than others.

Notice parts of sentences that are spoken

more quickly, where it seems like many words
are smashed together.

The IELTS also uses these techniques to help you

identify important information. They often use
changes in intonation and stretched words to tell
you the exact words to write down in Fill-in-the-
blank questions! The IELTS speakers will often talk
faster when telling you information that won’t be
useful for answering questions.

II. Practice listening to different accents:

BBC

Britain/U.K. News

Indian News

Australian News

South African News

U.S. & Canadian News

CNN

Britain/U.K. News

Indian News

Australian News

South African News

U.S. & Canadian News

Podcasts are also an excellent resource. They can

last for as little as 2 minutes or go on for an hour or
more. They also cover a vast range of topics so
you’ll easily find something interesting to listen to in
the time you have available.

The best platform to search for podcasts is Stitcher

or Spotify

TED Talks are equally as useful. These are online

lectures, often very short, and are perfect for
practicing listening to monologues. Again, the range
of topics is huge.

Follow this link to the menu page with hundreds of

subjects listed: TED Talk Topics

You can also watch TED Talks on YouTube.

III. Analyze transcripts for ‘changing information’

in IELTS conversations

One way the IELTS Listening section tests your

English is by having speakers in conversations
change their minds or have different opinions
about a topic. One speaker may also either
misunderstand or mishear the other speaker.

So, you want to practice listening for these

changes, debates, and misunderstandings in the
IELTS conversations that are given in Section 1 and
Section 3 of the IELTS Listening test. Listen to as
many IELTS conversations as you can, and practice
listening for changes in the tone of speakers’ voices.

IV. Increase the listening audio track play speed

by 0.25 and/or 0.5

One of them is that, if you are listening at an

increased speed deliberately, You will
concentrate more so as to listen to every answer
more carefully. Also, your brain will learn to
retain more information and the exam will
actually seem slower.

Note: Do this after you have mastered the strategy

and tactics of answering questions and normal
speed.

V. Practice, practice, practice

Improve your listening skills by becoming an active

listener. Films and TV series may be fun to watch,
but going further will make a big difference. Listen
to a variety of English language resources, such as
podcasts, news reports, and Ted talks, which will
expose you to new vocabulary and different accents
(you may not just hear British accents during the
IELTS test recordings).

The aim is to make listening to a part of your daily

life. You can find a variety of interesting and fun
content online. Start with topics you are most
interested in, before moving on to more academic
material.

VI. It is ALL about Paraphrasing and Synonyms so

Create Tables.

Set up a table with the question keywords on the left

side and the audio-matching language on the right.
The better you get at recognizing synonyms and
paraphrasing the better you can score. A table
would look something like this:

VII. Understand Connected Speech Better:

Connected speech is when words and sounds run

into each other making it difficult for a non-native
speaker to understand what is being said.

In these examples, you can see the words being

spoken followed by how they might sound to the
listener.

What are you going to do? ----------------

Whadya gonna do?

I’m going to read a book. ----------------------

I’m gonna re dabook.

Come on. Let’s go to the park. ------------------

Cmon. Let’s getethe park.

I have to do my homework first. -----------------

------- Ivte dome homework first.

There is no easy way to overcome the challenge of

connected speech apart from listening to lots of
native speakers speaking at a normal rate.

Podcasts are ideal for this as you can pause them

and listen to confusing sentences over and over
again until you fully understand what’s being said.
You’ll gradually become familiar with the way words
link together and find it easier to comprehend fast-
paced speech.