IELTS - International English Language Testing System What is IELTS? IELTS, the International English Language Testing System, is designed to assess the language ability of candidates who need to study or work where English is the language of communication. IELTS is jointly managed by the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL), British Council and IDP: IELTS Australia. IELTS conforms to the highest international standards of language assessment. IELTS is recognized by universities and employers in many countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA. It is also recognized by professional bodies, immigration authorities and other government agencies. Where can I take IELTS? More than 1,100 test centers around the world administer IELTS. Most test centers are run by the British Council, IELTS Australia, or universities and language schools. Some testing centers also offer off-site testing for large groups by prior arrangement with IELTS. Contact your local examination center or visit www.ielts.org to find out where the nearest IELTS test center is located. Where can I find information about registering for the test? You can contact your nearest examination center or visit the official IELTS website for more information about application procedures and the location of a test center near you. The Test Format There are four sub-tests, or modules, to the IELTS test: Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. Students must sit all four sub-tests. While all students take the same Listening and Speaking tests, they sit different Reading and Writing tests, depending on whether they have selected the Academic Module or the General Training Module. On the day of the test, the four subsections will be taken in the following order:
Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes The Speaking test may even take place a day or two later at some centers. IELTS Listening test lasts for about 30 minutes. It consists of four sections, played on cassette tape, in order of increasing difficulty. Each section might be a dialogue or a monologue. The test is played once only, and the questions for each section must be answered while listening, although time is given for students to check their answers. IELTS Reading test lasts for 60 minutes. Students are given an Academic Reading test, or a General Training Reading test. Both tests consist of three sections, and in both tests the sections are in order of increasing difficulty. IELTS Writing test also lasts for 60 minutes. Again, students take either an Academic Module, or a General Training Module. Students must perform two writing tasks, which require different styles of writing. There is no choice of question topics. IELTS Speaking test consists of a one-to-one interview with a specially trained examiner. The interview is recorded and has three separate parts: An introduction and interview, an individual long turn where the candidate speaks for one or two minutes on a particular topic, and a two-way discussion thematically linked to the individual long turn. This interview will last for approximately 11-14 minutes.
IELTS Reading Academic and General Training If you are taking IELTS to study abroad then you will take the Academic IELTS Reading Module. If you are taking IELTS for other purposes such as working abroad, then you will take the General Training Reading Module. Either way, improving your reading for IELTS is important as you will face some complex reading and difficult vocabulary. The aim of these pages is to give you the skills and practice to tackle the reading module. Both IELTS Reading Tests, Academic and General Training, aim to assess the following skills: 1. Reading for gist 2. Reading for main ideas 3. Reading for detail 4. Understanding inferences and implied meaning 5. Recognizing a writers opinions 6. Attitudes and purpose 7. Following the development of an argument Academic Reading General Reading 60 minutes 40 questions 60 minutes 40 questions 3 readings 3 readings Texts from journals, magazines, books, newspapers Texts from advertisements, booklets, leaflets, manuals, notices, newspapers, magazines
General interest texts written for non-specialist audience Texts related to everyday life, work & general interest The Academic IELTS Reading Module The Academic IELTS Reading Module takes 60 minutes and there are 40 questions to answer. Each question is worth 1 mark. The Reading Passages There are three reading passages with a total of 2,150-2,750 words. Texts are taken from journals, magazines, books, and newspapers. All the topics are of general interest and the texts have been written for a non-specialist audience. The readings are intended to be about issues that are appropriate to candidates who will enter postgraduate or undergraduate courses. At least one text will contain detailed logical argument. One of the texts may contain non-verbal materials such as graphs, illustrations or diagrams. If there are technical terms which you may not know in the text then a glossary is provided. The texts and questions become more difficult through the paper. The Questions Instructions are clear and easy to follow and you will be provided with examples of any unfamiliar question types. Texts and questions appear on a Question Paper which you can write on but not take away from the test room. You must answers all questions on an Answer Sheet during the 60 minutes - there is not extra time at the end to transfer your answers to an answer sheet. The position of the questions varies - some of the questions may come before a passage, some may come after, depending on the question type. These are the types of question you can expect to see in the test: 1. short-answer questions 2. multiple choice 3. sentence completion
4. notes/summary/diagram/flow chart/table completion 5. choosing a heading for a paragraph 6. identification of writer's views/claims - yes, no or not given 7. identification of information - true, false or not given 8. classification 9. Matching lists/phrases. There is an answer sheet and you must enter all the questions on there during the test. There is no extra time at the end to enter the scores. The General Training Module As with the Academic IELTS reading, the General Training reading module takes 60 minutes, there are 40 questions, and each one is worth 1 mark. The Reading Passages The readings are 2,150-2,750 words, each text being harder than the one before. In contrast to the Academic Reading, texts are taken from advertisements, notices, booklets, official documents, leaflets, newspapers, timetables, instruction manuals, books and magazines. They are all authentic. These are texts that you are likely to have to deal with daily in an English speaking country. Section one: This section contains 2-3 short factual texts with topics that will be relevant to your everyday life when you live abroad in an English environment. For example, a text may consist of a number of advertisements. Section two: There are 2 factual texts and they focus on issues related to work such as applying for a job, pay and conditions, staff training and development and company policies. Section three:
The text in this section is longer and more difficult. It is a text on a topic of general interest. The Questions As with the Academic IELTS reading, these are the questions you can expect to see on the test: 1. short-answer questions 2. multiple choice 3. sentence completion 4. notes/summary/diagram/flow chart/table completion 5. choosing a heading for a paragraph 6. identification of writer's views/claims - yes, no or not given 7. identification of information - true, false or not given 8. classification 9. Matching lists/phrases. IELTS - READING IELTS Reading Tips These 23 IELTS Reading Tips provide you with essential strategies to help you get the score you need in the exam. 1. Skim the reading and questions first it is a good idea to skim the reading first to get an understanding of what it is about and who it is written for. Look at the title of the reading, any subheadings, and pictures. Then look at the questions as the type of question will influence the strategies you use to complete them. 2. However, do what works for you! You'll always find a mix of advice on ways to approach the reading test. A common complaint from students studying for the test is that "One teacher told me to do it this way, but another told me to do it this way". But this is fine
people read in different ways and what works for one person may not work for another. Listen to the advice, try both ways, and do whatever works best for you. 3. Read the instructions carefully an important IELTS reading tip is to always read the questions carefully. The instructions differ for each question, for example telling you how many words you can use or whether you can take the words you will use directly from the text or not. So always read them to make sure you don't lose marks just because you were doing things the wrong way. 4. Take care with spelling and grammar you will lose the mark if your spelling or grammar is wrong, so make sure you check these carefully. There is no excuse for making a spelling error if you are just taking the word from the reading! 5. Move on if you don't know the answer don't spend too long on one question. If you just can't work out the answer, then take a guess and move onto the next question. You may not get the chance to do later questions that you DO know the answer to if you waste time on other questions. You can always return to that question later if you have time at the end. 6. Highlight key words in the text you will need to go back to the reading and scan it to find information to answer a question. So when you read the text, highlight such things as proper nouns (e.g. names of people, places, things). This is why it can be a good idea to look at the questions before you do the full reading you will then have an idea of what kinds of things you may need to look for and therefore what it is a good idea to highlight. 7. Beware of synonyms you will often be told to highlight key words in the question to help you find the answer in the text. That is a good idea, but remember it is not usually as easy as that and the word in the text will likely be a synonym of the word you have underlined. So be careful of just scanning to find the exact word you have highlighted in the question you may then go to the wrong place for the answer. So look out for synonyms when you are finding the right place in the text for the answer. 8. Guess the meaning from context unless you are a very proficient user of English, there will most likely be some or several words that you do not understand. When this happens, you should try and guess the meaning from the context. This means looking at the words and sentences around the word you don't know so you can make an educated guess as to what it means. However, you don't have much time, so do this as quickly as you can. Move on quickly though if you don't know the word may not be important anyway.
9. However, do what works for you! You'll always find a mix of advice on ways to approach the reading test. A common complaint from students studying for the test is that "One teacher told me to do it this way, but another told me to do it this way". But this is fine people read in different ways and what works for one person may not work for another. Listen to the advice, try both ways, and do whatever works best for you. 10. Read the instructions carefully an important IELTS reading tip is to always read the questions carefully. The instructions differ for each question, for example telling you how many words you can use or whether you can take the words you will use directly from the text or not. So always read them to make sure you don't lose marks just because you were doing things the wrong way. 11. Take care with spelling and grammar you will lose the mark if your spelling or grammar are wrong, so make sure you check these carefully. There is no excuse for making a spelling error if you are just taking the word from the reading! 12. Move on if you don't know the answer don't spend too long on one question. If you just can't work out the answer, then take a guess and move onto the next question. You may not get the chance to do later questions that you DO know the answer to if you waste time on other questions. You can always return to that question later if you have time at the end. 13. Highlight key words in the text you will need to go back to the reading and scan it to find information to answer a question. So when you read the text, highlight such things as proper nouns (e.g. names of people, places, things). This is why it can be a good idea to look at the questions before you do the full reading you will then have an idea of what kinds of things you may need to look for and therefore what it is a good idea to highlight. 14. Beware of synonyms you will often be told to highlight key words in the question to help you find the answer in the text. That is a good idea, but remember it is not usually as easy as that and the word in the text will likely be a synonym of the word you have underlined. So be careful of just scanning to find the exact word you have highlighted in the question you may then go to the wrong place for the answer. So look out for synonyms when you are finding the right place in the text for the answer.
15. Guess the meaning from context unless you are a very proficient user of English, there will most likely be some or several words that you do not understand. When this happens, you should try and guess the meaning from the context. This means looking at the words and sentences around the word you don't know so you can make an educated guess as to what it means. However, you don't have much time, so do this as quickly as you can. Move on quickly though if you don't know the word may not be important anyway. 16. Understand main ideas each paragraph always has a main idea or topic. You should practice identifying the main idea of a paragraph as this will help you find the answers to questions, and in matching headings to paragraphs type questions, you will have to identify the main idea in order to pick the right heading. The main idea is often in the topic sentence; however, sometimes you may have to read the whole paragraph to be sure of the central point. 17. Move down the text as you answer questions the questions in each question set will nearly always follow the order of the text. So you know that when you have answered one question, the next answer will be below that. However, remember that this doesn't apply to certain types of question, such as paragraph to heading matching in which the order is mixed up. 18. Learn the skills of skimming and scanning these are methods of speed reading and you should practice both. Skimming is when you run your eyes over the whole text from beginning to end to get an idea of what it is about, whereas scanning is when you find one specific piece of information in a text. 19. Read some parts of the text in detail you won't have time to read the whole text in detail, but at times you will need to do this. When you are answering questions and you identify where the answer is in the text, you may need to read in detail to make sure you can work out the correct answer. 20. Start practice tests slowly often IELTS reading tips will tell you to do practice tests, and it is correct that you should do these as much as you can as candidates often have problems with their timings. However, it is important to start out slowly until you get to know the questions, develop your skills and strategies and have decided the best way for you to approach the test. So don't worry about timing yourself when you start out - relax, take your time and get to know all the different types of question.
21. Gradually increase your speed when you practice as your knowledge of the IELTS reading test improves, you can then start to speed up. But don't suddenly start trying to do the full reading practice test in 60 minutes gradually increase the time you spend on each test until you are ready to tackle them in 60 minutes. The lower your level, the longer this will take. 22. Spend 20 minutes on each reading in the actual test, you have 60 minutes to do three readings and, unlike the listening test, you don't have 10 minutes to transfer your answers at the end. So spend only 20 minutes on each one and transfer your answers to the answer sheet in the 20 minutes too. Make sure when you do practice tests you transfer your answers to a sheet of paper too so that this extra time is always taken into account. 23. Practice with interesting texts in IELTS reading tips you will often be told to practice reading as much as possible, but what do you read? You should of course practice with real reading tests and some difficult readings, but this can get quite boring, as can reading lots of academic articles. Any kind of reading will help, so find some types of English language fiction (story) books you like and read them and short articles in magazines or on the internet. If you enjoy it, you are much more likely to read more. This is better than doing very little reading because you just do not want to read. Of course it should not be so easy that you learn nothing. Find something that will still mean you have to check and learn new words sometimes, but if it is a story you will enjoy you are much more likely to pick it up and read more. This will improve your vocabulary, reading speed, and other reading skills.
IELTS Writing What is in the IELTS writing module? The writing part of the IELTS test varies depending on whether you are taking the exam to study or work abroad. If you are going to study abroad, you will take the Academic Writing Section. If you are intending to work abroad, you will take the General Training Section. The total test time for both is 60 minutes. The first parts of each are different. In the general training module, you will have to write a letter, but in the academic module, you will have to describe some kind of graph or diagram. Task Academic General Training One 150 words Describe a table, diagram or process Write a letter Two 250 words Write an essay Write an essay
Academic Writing Academic TASK 1 In the first section you will need to describe, summarize or explain a graph, diagram or process. Here is an example question: You should spend about 20 mintues on this task. The chart shows components of GDP in the UK from 1992 to 2000. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
You will have to describe the chart in no less than 150 words. In this section of the test, you could also get a line graph, a pie chart, a process, a table, or a map to describe. Academic TASK 2 Task 2 is an essay question. You will have to write a response to the question giving reasons and examples to support your answer. The topics are general interest. Here is an example of a question: You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic: The dangers and complexities of the modern world have made the mobile phone an absolute necessity for children. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge and experience. Write at least 250 words. General Training TASK 1 General Training Writing The task of the general training module is to write a letter. You will be presented with a situation and you will need to write your letter explaining the situation or asking for information. The letter may be one of three styles: 1. Personal 2. Semi-Formal 3. Formal Your response will have to reflect the appropriate style. Here is an example question:
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. You want to sell your television. You think a friend of yours might like to buy it from you. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter explain 1. Why you are selling the television 2. Describe the television 3. Suggest a date when your friend can come and see it Write at least 150 words. You do NOT need to write any addresses. General Training TASK 2 This is the same as the IELTS writing Academic module. You will need to write an essay responding to a point of view, argument or problem. However, the essay may be in a slightly more personal style than for the academic essay. IELTS Writing Tips Below you'll find important IELTS writing tips to help you with task 1 and 2 of the IELTS writing module. 1. Don t write too little For task 1 you have to write 150 words, and for task 2 you have to write 250 words. Make sure you do not write less than this amount or your band score may be reduced. Begin to get an idea of how many words you normally write on one line. This way you will know roughly how much you have written without having to keep counting all the words you probably won t have time to do this! 2. Don t write too much The examiner is looking for quality, not quantity! You will not necessarily get more marks for writing more, so don t write more for no reason.this will really depend on your writing ability. Someone of a higher level who needs to spend less time checking their grammar will have time to write more. But if this is not you, then make sure you write at least the minimum number of words, then use the extra time to check your grammar. 3. Plan and check your answer Don t just start writing when the time begins and stop when it finishes.
Use some time at the beginning checking you understand the question, brainstorming your ideas and planning your answer. Then spend some time at the end checking your grammar. 4. Spend more time on Task 2 More of the marks are for task 2 and this task requires 100 more words, so spend 20 minutes on task 1 and 40 minutes on task 2. It does not matter which task you write first. 5. Write clearly You are not being graded on your handwriting; however, if the examiner cannot read some things you have written, it is not going to help you! So try to write clearly. 6. Organize clearly Don t present the examiner with a wall of writing! Make sure you make use of paragraphing to divide up the different arguments or topics you are discussing. 7. Don t copy the question Never copy the question! You may want to use the question (or rubric as it is called) in the introduction of both tasks in order to introduce the topic, but make sure you put it in your own words. 8. Use a variety of sentence structures The examiner will be looking to see what your grammatical range is so make sure you are not just using a limited range of sentence types. To get a higher score you will need to show you can use simple, compound and complex sentences. 9. Read the question carefully This is one of the most important IELTS writing tips! When my students write essays, one of the most common mistakes is not answering the question.study the rubric very carefully and make sure you are clear about what you have to write about. If you are writing about the wrong topic or not responding to exactly what the question asks you, your band score will be lower. 10. Read all instructions carefully As with all of the modules of the IELTS test, make sure you read all the instructions carefully. These will tell you where you need to write each answer and what you need to do. Follow these IELTS writing tips and you'll be a step closer the band score you need!
THE IELTS SPEAKING TEST Part 1 4-5 minutes Introduction and questions on familiar topic areas such as work, study, hobbies, holidays Part 2 3-4 minutes 2 minute talk on a familiar topic Part 3 4-5 minutes Two-way discussion on issues related to the topic in part 2 PART 1 Time: 4-5 minutes Before the part one questions start, there is a brief introduction. The examiner will introduce him/herself and you will need to tell the examiner your name and show your identification such as a passport or ID card. The questions will then begin. This part of the IELTS speaking test is the easiest part. The examiner will ask you general questions about yourself. Common topics are on your home, family, job, studies, interests, and a range of similar familiar topic areas. The examiner will choose three topic areas and you'll have about four questions on each. So you'll have around 10-14 questions, depending on how long you speak for on each. Here is an example: I d just like to ask you some questions about your work. 1. What job do you do? 2. Why did you choose that particular job? 3. What do you do every day? 4. What other work would you consider doing?
I d like to move on and ask you some questions about relaxing. 1. What type of activities help you relax? 2. Do you like to do these activities alone or with other people? 3. Why do you think it is important for people to relax? 4. Do you think people have enough time for relaxing? Let s change the topic and talk about your family. 1. Do you have a big or a small family? 2. Do you live together or nearby? 3. What activities do you like to do together? 4. Who is your favorite family member? PART 2 Time: 3-4 minutes In the IELTS speaking part 2 you will have to talk on a topic that the examiner gives you for two minutes. It is designed to test your ability to speak for an extended period without hesitation or repetition. You will be given a card that asks you to 'describe' something. They are topics that you should have some experience of or know something about. You may, for example, be asked to describe a person you know, a place you've been to, or a possession you have, but there are many different topics so you have to be prepared for any topic. On the card there will also be three sub-points that you should cover when you are speaking. You will have one minute to prepare what you are going to say, and you'll be given a paper and a pencil to make notes if you want to. Here is an example:
You may then be asked one or two short follow up questions: Do your friends like to wear this type of clothes? Do you wear other styles of clothes as well? PART 3 Time: 4-5 minutes In the final part of the IELTS speaking test the examiner will have a discussion with you about some issues that will be related to the topic that you talked about in part 2. The questions in this part are of a more abstract nature and so are more difficult than the questions in part one and two. It's a two-way discussion but you will still be expected to do most of the speaking. Here is an example: 1. Is buying clothes a popular activity for teenagers in your country? 2. How much money should parents spend on their children's clothes?
3. What types of fashion do teenagers like to wear in your country? 4. What influence has the fashion industry had in your country? 5. Are the fashions of today different from those when your parents were young? 6. What do you think will be the effects of the fashion industry in the next ten years? IELTS Speaking Tips You should be aware of some IELTS Speaking Tips so that you don't make foolish mistakes in the test because you do not know what the examiner expects from you. Here you will find essential tips to help you through the speaking test. IELTS Speaking Tips 1. Focus On What's Important When You Prepare Unless you have particularly bad pronunciation, don t spend a lot of time and money on pronunciation lessons. You are better to spend this time increasing your range of vocabulary and sentence structures, and practising speaking as much as you can to increase your fluency. 2. Avoid Nerves This can be difficult because you are taking a test, but try not to be nervous! If you can t speak much because you are nervous then you may get a lower score as the examiner needs to hear you speak as much as possible in order to assess your skills. If you speak freely and confidently then you may get a score you did not expect! 3. Extend Your Answers Of all the IELTS speaking tips, this is probably one of the most important! The examiners job is to assess your speaking, so if you say very little, he/she will not be able to do this. Don t give one word answers such as yes and no and leave it at that. Your job is to give the examiner as much language as possible to assess, so speak as much as you can. 4. Stay on Topic It's important to extend your answers as mentioned above, but make sure you stay on topic don t talk about anything that comes into your head if it is not answering the question!
5. Don't Rely on the Examiner The examiner usually won t prompt you to say more if you don t say enough, so it s up to you to give a full answer to each question. If you don t, then the interview will be over very quickly and you may not be happy with your score! 6. Understand the Questions If you do not understand a question, then ask the examiner to repeat it. Don t try to answer it the first time if you have not understood or heard it properly. You won t lose marks for asking for a question to be repeated, however if you are unable to understand a lot of the questions you are probably not ready to take the test! 7. Don't Show Off You want to do your best to impress the examiner, but try to keep within your capabilities. If you try to use lots of grammar structures and vocabulary that you are not confident about, you may simply bring down your score. 8. Keep Eye Contact Try to have eye contact with the examiner. This does not mean you need to look at him/her all the time, but it is normal when you have a conversation with someone to spend quite a lot of time looking at them as that keeps their attention. If you are speaking with someone and they never look at you this feels quite strange! 9. Listen Carefully Listen very carefully to the questions so you are answering them correctly. For example, if you are asked about an event in the past, make sure you answer using the past tense. 10. Be on Time These IELTS speaking tips will not be much use to you if you are not on time! You are going to get off to a bad start if you have upset the examiner because you have kept them waiting so arrive in plenty of time! IELTS Listening The IELTS listening test is divided into four sections and the sections get increasingly difficult. You only hear each section one time.
The time for the test is 40 minutes. The listening takes 30 minutes, but you then have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet. The first two sections are concerned with social needs. The final two sections are concerned with situations related more closely to educational or training contexts. All the IELTS listening topics are of general interest and it makes no difference what subjects you are planning to study or what work you intend to do. A range of English accents and dialects are used in the recordings which reflects the international usage of IELTS. TEST OVERVIEW Section Context Number of Speakers 1 Social Needs Conversation between two speakers 2 Social Needs Speech by one speaker 3 Educational or Training Conversation between up to four speakers 4 Academic Subject Speech by one speaker Section One In the first section there is a conversation between two speakers. For example - a conversation about travel arrangements, booking accommodation, or decisions on a night out. Section Two
The second section is a monologue (a speech by one person). It will be set in an everyday social context. For example - a speech about student services on a University campus or arrangements for meals during a conference. Section Three Section three is a conversation between up to four people. For example - a conversation between a tutor and a student about an assignment or between three students planning a research project. Section Four The final part is another monologue. It is a lecture or talk of general academic interest such as a university lecture. The Questions: The following types of question may appear on the test: 1. multiple choice 2. short-answer questions 3. sentence completion 4. notes/summary/diagram/flow chart/table completion 5. labelling a diagram which has numbered parts 6. classification 7. matching You will be provided with instructions on the test paper on how to answer the questions, and they are clear and easy to follow. You will be given examples of any unfamiliar question types. During the IELTS listening test, you are given time to read the questions and enter and then check your answers. You enter your answers on the question paper as you listen and when the tape ends ten minutes are allowed for you to transfer your answers to an Answer Sheet. One mark is awarded for each of the 40 items in the test.
IELTS Listening Tips These 25 IELTS Listening Tips provide you with essential strategies to help you get the score you need in the exam. 1. Predict the topic it helps you to listen if you know what kind of conversation is taking place so you can picture it in your head. So look through each section in the time you are given and make sure you have an idea of who is speaking to who and what the context is. 2. Predict the questions you should also try and have an idea of what kind of information you are listening out for. For example, in section one you often have to listen for names, numbers and addresses. Have a look at the questions in the time you are given and work out what needs to go in the space. A name? Number? An address? You are more likely to catch it then when the answer arises. 3. Use a minute to look through each section you are given 30 seconds at the end of each section to check your answers. You are then told to turn over and look at the next section for 30 seconds. Although some IELTS listening tips will tell you to check what you have written, there is little you can check for the previous section as you can t hear the listening again. So instead, turn straight to the next section. You will then have one minute (instead of 30 seconds) to look through the next section. This is time better spent. 4. Careful with question order often you have a table to complete, and sometimes a diagram or chart. The questions will not necessarily go from left to right, so check the progression carefully otherwise you will get lost and confused. 5. Look at two questions at once there are two reasons for doing this. Firstly, some questions may have the answers close together in one sentence so you could miss one if you only look at one question at a time. Also, it is possible that you will miss an answer if you are just looking at one, you may not know that you missed it. If you are also looking at the next, you ll see that it has moved on. 6. Move on if you miss an answer if you do realize you have missed an answer, quickly forget about it and concentrate on the next ones. There is nothing you can do, and you can also guess when you transfer your answers to the answer sheet at the end. The same
applies if you realize you missed two or three answers. Don t panic and just move on as there is nothing you can do. A few questions missed may not necessarily affect your band score. 7. Watch others if you re completely lost if you completely lose where you are, then watch when the other candidates turn over their exam papers. You ll know then that you are back in the right place. 8. Look out for paraphrasing remember that what you hear will most likely not be exactly the same as is written on the exam paper as that would be too easy. The question and the question stems use such things as synonyms so you must listen carefully for these. 9. Ignore words you don t know don t worry or panic if you hear a word that you do not know. It may not be necessary to know it anyway, or you can take a guess. 10. Underline key words when you look through the questions first, particularly in the more difficult parts 3 and 4, underline key words (such as names, places and dates) in the question stems to help you hear the answer. Remember though, as explained above, synonyms are often used. 11. Take care with spelling and grammar your answer will be marked wrong if it is spelt incorrectly or the grammar does not fit. So when you transfer your answers at the end, double check these. The sentence on the exam paper may help you with the grammar does it fit grammatically? Should it be a verb, noun, adjective? 12. Use British or American spelling this is what is says on the official IELTS website: IELTS recognizes both British and American English in terms of spelling, grammar and choice of words. So you can use either in your answers. 13. Don t worry about what you write on the exam sheet in practice tests, it is common to see students rubbing or crossing things out on the exam paper. Remember that nobody sees or marks what you write here. Don t waste time getting the spelling correct or anything else. If you do this you ll get lost you need to be listening. So just write down what you hear then move on. When you transfer the answers at the end to the answer sheet, you can make sure you have the correct spelling.
14. Read the instructions an IELTS listening tip that is an important tip for any part of the test is to always read the instructions carefully. They will tell you how many words to use. If it asks for no more than two words and you use three, it will be wrong. And you must only put in the words asked for. For example, if there is a gap of at pm and you write at 5pm on the answer sheet, it will be wrong. You should only write what is missing i.e. 5. 15. Use upper or lower case letters a question often asked is whether you can use upper case letters. This is what it says on the official British Council Website: You may write your answers in lower case or capital letters. So you can write all your answers in capital letters if you like. This statement from the British Council suggests, therefore, that you will not be penalized if you write paris for example, instead of Paris because it says you can use lower case letters. However, it is recommended that you try and use capitalization correctly to be on the safe side. If you are not sure if the first letter needs capitalization, then capitalize the whole word. 16. Get used to the British accent a good IELTS listening tip is to be prepared to hear all accents as you may hear Australian, American, Canadian, New Zealand and a mix of European countries. However, although there are a mix of accents in the test, the majority tend to be British (unlike TOEFL which tends to be American). So make sure you are used to the British accent. 17. Practice the pronunciation of letter and numbers often words are spelt out in the test by a speaker and numbers are read out, so make sure you can recognize how different letters sound in different accents, not just words. 18. Careful with what you write down speakers in the test will often give an answer but then correct themselves. So the first answer that looks right may actually be wrong. You can check out a lesson on this here. 19. Don t leave answers blank you will not get penalized for writing the wrong answer (as opposed to nothing if you are not sure what it is) so guess if that is possible. 20. Transfer your answers to the answer sheet carefully if you put correct answers in the wrong place on the answer sheet it will be wrong, so make sure you put the answer in the correct place. It is easy to do this if you leave an answer blank on the exam sheet. You may then fill that one in with the wrong answer when you transfer them across. So put in a guess for any you do not know and leave no blanks.
21. Check your answers - make sure you recheck your spelling and grammar too when you transfer your answers at the end. 22. Listen very carefully - listen very very carefully throughout the test. Zone in and focus. Don t be distracted by anything around you, and don t panic if you think you having missed any answers or that you are getting them wrong. All this will do is distract you from listening. 23. Practice listening of all the IELTS listening tips, this is one of the most important. Make sure you practice listening as much as you can! You can practice with sample IELTS listening tests but you should also expose yourself to as much English as you can. Target it at the level you are currently at. There is no point in listening to BBC World if you don t understand any of it. Find resources on the internet that suit your level and gradually increase difficulty. And don t worry if they are not exams or specifically for IELTS, any kind of listening helps. Try to make listening fun and listen to things you like. You can move on to more difficult things as you improve. 24. Listen to lectures remember that the last part is a lecture, so practice listening to lectures and taking notes. Lectures often follow certain patterns, such as an introduction to tell you the topic and main points, and they have sign-posts to tell you if they are comparing e.g. "although", or moving onto a new main points e.g. Now I ll discuss.. So listening to lectures will help you with this section. You can find lectures online if you do a search. TED lectures may be useful as they provide a transcription so you can check your notes.. 25. Learn to listen and write together practicing your listening skills is important, but remember in the test you have to write and listen. So you should practice this too. One way to do this is with practice tests but you can also try listening to audios and taking notes at the same time. This will improve your ability to do both skills at the same time.