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November 2009

IELTS advice from Band 9 achiever – Part 3, Listening tips.

After the general IELTS exam tips in part 1 and part 2, now it’s time we move on to some section-specific advice. Here are Debashis’ preparation tips for the Listening test.

Key points – you must be highly alert for this module. Watch out for questions that involve intentional deviations from the most obvious answer.

1. The key skill to master here is ATTENTIVENESS. You cannot allow your concentration to falter for even a second. I did not find time to practice this, and experienced momentary lapses on two occasions.

Four topics were played out to us, each with about 4 questions. I found that in each topic, I was alert for the first two questions but became distracted by the 3rd one. As soon as I realised this, I would snap into attention for the 4th question. Other students narrated similar tales of woe, so I would recommend being particularly vigilant about the 3rd question.

2. Another exam ploy is DEVIATION FROM THE MOST OBVIOUS ANSWER. For e.g., the CD may play “the new tap was placed on the top shelf”. If the question is “where is the kitchen tap?” with possible answers “kitchen sink, chair, shelf, car”, an inattentive brain may attract you to the obvious but incorrect answer of “kitchen sink”.

OVERALL – This exam is otherwise easy. Questions are read out in order of answers, so you do not need to search up and down. My attention faltered twice, both times on 3rd questions, and I filled these in from imperfect memory. I got grade 9, so I don’t know if I was lucky with those 2 questions, or they award a perfect grade even if you make an error or two.

IELTS advice from Band 9 achiever – Part 2, more general tips.

If you have joined IELTS-Blog today, make sure you don’t miss Part 1 of IELTS tips from Band 9 achiever. Courtesy of Debashis, here comes part 2:

5. Minimise spelling mistakes as far as possible. While individual mistakes are not catastrophic, a growing body of errors not only haemorrhages marks, it irritates the marker.

I am weak in this as I constantly use a computer spell-checker, so I googled “200 common spelling mistakes” and studied them, employing ‘memory techniques’ as necessary.

For e.g., harass and embarrass are commonly misspelled. I visualised J-Lo being allowed to bring her donkey to the Oscars (her ass : as there is only one ‘r’ in ‘her’, the correct spelling is harass). However, I was barred (two ‘r’s) from doing so, thus two r’s in “embarrass”.

Privilege is often misspelled as privilege, so I remembered “it is a privilege to have “both LEGs”, thus priviLEGe !! A trite technique, but effective.

A note from Simone: Don’t forget that both British and American versions of spelling are allowed.

6. If, like me, you have not sat for exams for a while, your level of concentration will be lower than that of a 20 year old student, so actively and consciously focus.

Further, if you use keyboards to type, using a pen / pencil in the one hour writing exam may strain your fingers, so try writing out a few pages beforehand.

7. Be fresh, have a good night’s sleep, and don’t drink too much before the exam as centres may not permit visits to facilities during exam hours. If you are naturally nervous, carry an arsenal of toffees in with you.