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January 2009

Free IELTS Listening tests for your exam preparation

Today I have more free Listening resources for you. I’ve had several requests this week to find and publish links to some Listening practice tests. This is the list I’ve compiled, feel free to let me know if you’ve found additional resources – every little bit helps.

1. Here you will find a short listening sample (mp3) with 5 questions, the correct answers are provided too. Click here to proceed to the test.

2. This test was prepared by the British Council, and I think it’s great. There are four Listening sections, just like in a real IELTS exam. You can take this test under real exam conditions (without breaks between sections) or in a practice mode – start and stop the audio as many times as you like while you’re working on your listening skills. Note: if you are going to do this under real exam conditions download and print all the question files and the blank answer sheet for your answers, and also save audio files for the four sections on your computer before beginning the test.

Click here to go to Section 1

Click here to go to Section 2

Click here to go to Section 3

Click here to go to Section 4

The question types you will see are Notes completion, Table completion, Information matching and Multiple choice, and the accent types are English and American.

On each Listening Section page you can download the questions in PDF format, or simply read them off the screen. The audio can also be downloaded from the same Section page, or you could listen to it online, if you’re on a fast internet connection.

Download a blank answer sheet here

Download the correct answers here

3. Another useful piece of software is the IELTS Listening Conqueror 2.0.

It’s a program that you need to download and install on your computer (some will see this as a downside). It allows you to run 4 full listening tests for free (there are many more in the full version but it costs some money), and the transcript is displayed as you listen, sentence by sentence.

You also have the option of typing as you listen (they call it the method of dictation). The speed is adjustable and you can set the software to repeat every phrase as many times as you like. I have tried it, the quality of the recordings is not bad and the software is pretty easy to use.

The file size is 7 Mbytes, not an issue for any broadband users, people with dial-up will have to take a coffee break while the file is downloading.

That’s all for today, enjoy!

The IELTS test takers’ worst nightmare

I’ve received this letter from another frustrated student who was really disappointed with the exam and the result and it made me think – what she did is very typical to many of us.

I know for a fact that many of you postpone the exam preparation till the last possible moment. Hold on, don’t get angry with me yet – I am not lecturing you. I am not your mother, but someone who has been there and knows how we, people, tend to procrastinate before leaping into important projects in our life.

So please have a read and think – do you want to be in the same position and feel the same anger and frustration? And if not, what can you do about it? Here goes the letter:

“I didn’t really study. I did one Reading test, a day before the exam and had only 3 incorrect answers. And I also did one Listening test and got 38 correct answers out of 40 (around that, I don’t really remember how many questions there were).

I was doomed in the real exam. It was tougher than the test that I did at home. I couldn’t for the life of me focus on the listening part. Reading? Way tougher than I thought. The 1st and the 2nd passages were too tough, complicated and time consuming. I ended up having 10 minutes to read and answer the 3rd passage.

I’m weak in writing. I’m not really good at speaking too. I don’t really have ideas to be generated and elaborated. The questions were on a museum and an art gallery in the interview. Part 2 was about the law, Malaysian law. Part 3 again about the law, this time around, it’s on international law.

Maybe, I was unlucky to get that topic which I was unable to answer fluently. A candidate who got in before me got a topic on their best friend and friendship. ~sigh~

So basically, Simone, I’m all frustrated and kind of blaming myself for not getting the right materials and not allocating time to study.”

People, what are you waiting for? Hit the books! (Translation: for those unfamiliar with this idiom, it means: Start studying!)