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Listening tips

How to prepare for the IELTS Listening test, tips and techniques that help to raise your score

Listening tip # 5

Lately I was thinking a lot about IELTS-Blog and what I should add to it. So far, I’ve decided to continue posting Listening tips, but if you, guys, have better ideas – please let me know.

Anyway, here goes Listening tip # 5 (see the previous 4 under IELTS Preparation>>Listening tips section )

Know your clues

The answer is usually pronounced louder and clearer, it is easier to hear and understand. If you can’t hear something clearly (because the speaker swallows words or whispers), then probably the answer is not there. Practice and you’ll learn to tell the difference.

A good clue to answer is when you hear a repetition of a word, a word being spelled out (G A R F U N K E L) or a number dictated.

The following conversation is a classic example of repetition:

Mary-Joe: “These days there are many changes in our company policy”

Kathy:”Oh, what kind of changes?”

It is clear that the word “changes” is a clue to an answer.

IELTS Band Score Calculator

IELTS-Blog proudly presents a new hot feature:

  • IELTS Band Score calculator

    • This nice addition is something I always wanted but never had. It converts the number of correct answers in the Listening or Reading sections of the IELTS test to approximate Band Score. You will find it very helpful when practicing in solving IELTS exam papers; it saves you some time of calculating the exam result yourself.

    But enough said – one picture is worth a million words, check it out right here.

    Another useful calculator will work out your Overall IELTS Band score for you, using the scores in all the individual sections (Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking) – give it a try here.

    Enjoy and tell your friends!

    And now after you had the chance to check your score, here is a way to improve it:

    1. Read texts from this list of sources (the passages are of Academic IELTS difficulty)

    2. Practice using these Academic Reading tasks.

    3. Practice using these General Training Reading texts.

    4. Another bunch of Academic and General Training Reading and Listening tasks here.