Prediction

Prediction is the most tested of the listening sub-skills,

and crucially important to getting a high score in the test.
Predicting enables you to not only focus your brain on the part that you will hear, but more importantly, not focus on any
other areas.

For example:

Name: Shaun Rodgers

Room no. ___________
Number of occupants: 1
Check out time: ____________

In this example, we can accurately predict that we are going to hear a room number and time. That means we can
completely focus on those two items, making it much easier for us to get the correct answer.
 Prediction

Grammar: noun, verb, adjective, adverb

etc.. Often it will be obvious which word
form we need to use. If we use a different
form of the word, we will get the question
wrong.
Subject: phone number, address, date,
business name etc.. This will help us focus
on the correct part of the recording and
find the correct information more easily.

How to Predict
In the IELTS listening test, there will be between 30-45 seconds of silence Function: list, question, label, instruction
before the section of the recording begins. Use this time wisely by etc..
predicting what you are going to hear.

You should think about the following….

IELTS Writing Academy© 2016. All rights reserved. 25

 Synonyms and Paraphrasing

You should always be aware of how synonyms and

paraphrasing are used.
In the IELTS listening test, it is normal for you to read one word but hear another word with the same meaning. For
example, you may read ‘cost’ but hear ‘price’. This is called a synonym and the IELTS listening test has lots of them.

A common mistake is to read a certain word and try to listen for that word, but then not hear it. That is because the
recording used a synonym. For example, you might hear someone making a hotel reservation and you have to note down
their details.

The form might say ‘Arrival Date’, but you will hear ‘day you arrive’. Similarly, you may read ‘Departure Date’, but you might
hear ‘day you leave’.

Make sure you think about the type of information you might hear in the form of synonyms, not just what you read.
 Synonyms and Paraphrasing Practice

Practising this skill allows you to improve your listening and

vocabulary at the same time.
A good listening resource to help you improve your vocabulary whilst listening is FluentU. This website has a huge range of
English videos and bilingual subtitles for most of them. It also has a ‘hover-over’ dictionary for any words you don’t know.
Finally, it has a ‘’learning centre’’ where you can study and review the vocabulary that came up in the video.

My suggestion for FluentU would be to listen to any videos you like and note down any words you don’t know. Try to guess
the meaning from the context of the listening first, because this is a useful skill to develop for the IELTS test. Then use the
‘hover-over’ tool to confirm the meaning. Even if you just watch one video a day, your vocabulary will expand quickly.

A good way to practise synonyms and paraphrasing is to listen to a short video and think about how each sentence or
phrase could be paraphrased. If you do this regularly, over time you will get used to common synonyms and this will really
help you in all parts of the IELTS test.
 Word Limit

‘NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS’ means

that you may write one OR two words, but
no more.

‘NOT MORE THAN ONE WORD AND/OR

A NUMBER’ means that if you write more
than one word your answer will be
incorrect.

‘NOT MORE THAN ONE WORD AND/OR

A NUMBER’ means that you can write:
What does it mean?
This is often one of the most confusing aspects of the test.
• One word
It is essential that you know the word limit for each question and you stick
to it.
• One number
• One word and a number
Here are some examples…..

IELTS Writing Academy© 2016. All rights reserved. 28

 Numbers

You should familiarise yourself with how numbers sound in a

range of different accents.
The numbers that often come up are:

13 30
14 40
15 50
16 60
17 70
18 80
19 90

These numbers are difficult for many non-native speakers, which is why IELTS like to use them. Practise listening and
saying these numbers.
 Letters

Some letters are more difficult to distinguish than others. The test
will normally have the difficult letters.
If there is a word, such as a surname or address, that is unfamiliar to most people, the recording will spell it out.

Make sure you familiarise yourself with how all the letters sound.

You could also categorise them by similar sound.

For example, B, D, E, T, G, P and C all have a similar final sound and may be used to try and trick you.
 Addresses

Each country has a different address format. IELTS will normally

use UK or Australian addresses.
It is normally:

House/Flat Number
Street Name
Town/City Name

Finally, you might have to write down a post code. These always start and end with one or two letters first (normally the
same as the city) and then a series of numbers in between. Make sure you write down both the letters and numbers.
Example: M1 4JH

For example:
22 South Street
Bristol
BS1 5TW
 Dates

Make sure you know how to spell all the difficult days and
months.
Make sure you are aware of the spelling of all the days of the week, especially difficult ones like Wednesday. This is also
true for months like February. Also, if you don’t put a capital letter at the beginning of these words, you will be incorrect.

Also be aware of some synonyms such as, ‘weekend’ for Saturday and Sunday or ‘fortnight’ for two weeks.

There are also different ways of saying and writing dates, for example:

‘The eleventh of September 2002′ could be written as ’11 September 2002.’

Again, pay attention to the word limit in the question and only write under this limit.
 Connected Speech

It is essential that you get used to how ‘real’ English speakers talk.

Many English teachers speak clearly and slowly to their students, and this can actually harm their progress.

When you hear how native speakers actually talk, it is often very difficult to hear what is being said. This is mainly to do
with connected speech.

Connected speech is the linking of words and sounds together in a sentence. For example, ‘I have to go to the doctor, I
have an ear ache.’, might sound more like ‘Ivtegote the doctor, Ivenearake.’

Other sounds may appear ‘weak’ or change when put into a sentence. For instance ‘Do you want to go?’ might sound
more like ‘De ye want te go?’
 Connected Speech Practice

Start off by listening to very short recordings and then build up to

longer conversations.
We can practise this by doing something called ‘micro-listening’. It involves pausing a sentence you don’t understand and
replaying it until you have understood all the words. Don’t worry about how many times you have to do this, focus on
hearing every word and breaking down connected speech into individual words.

Over time, you will get used to how words link together, so listening to native speakers will become much easier.

Podcasts are perfect for this because you can pause them and replay them easily. Podcasts are like individual radio shows
that you can download and listen to whenever you like. I personally listen to them every day because there are literally
millions of them on every topic you can think of. Whatever your interest; there will be a podcast about it.
 Signposting Language

Signposting allows the speaker to tell you where their talk is going
and allows you to follow them.
In two of the four parts of the IELTS listening test, you will have to listen to someone speaking by themselves, one in a
social context and one in a lecture style.

When someone talks in this way they often use what is referred to as ‘sign posting’. For example, when you give a lecture
you might say ‘This lecture is divided into three parts’ and then you will say things like ‘First of all…’, ‘Secondly…’, ‘After
that…’ and ‘Finally…’.

These phrases tell the listener what stage of the talk they are listening to and what is going to be said next. If we know
how to interpret these signals, we are more likely to understand and follow the whole thing.
 Signposting Language Practice

To practise this you can listen to a lecture and simply try to find any signposting language. When you hear some, pause
and think about the meaning of the language and predict what you are going to hear next. Continue this until you get to
the end of the recording.

The IELTS listening test is very long and it is impossible, even for native speakers, to concentrate fully 100% of the time.
Recognising sign posting allows you to prioritise and focus on the important parts of the listening which contain the
answers.

There are several great sources that have thousands of online lectures including:

MIT
University of Wisconsin- Madison
Ignite
VideoLectures.net
RSA Animates
 Vocabulary Building

It’s a vocabulary test

1
The reading and listening tests are as much Read and Listen
vocabulary tests, as they are skills tests. It is Studies have shown that the

03
much easier to get a good score when you number one way for learners
have a wide-ranging vocabulary. 01 to improve their vocabulary is
through reading and listening
to genuine sources of English.

Review
It is essential that you 3
01
regularly review these new 02
words and phrases in order to

2
Record
02
retain them in your memory.
You must record any new
words you hear or read. There
03 are lots of ways to do this, so
that you will remember them
effectively.

IELTS Writing Academy© 2016. All rights reserved. 37

 Online Resources

It’s all free BBC News Podcasts

All of the common IELTS topics are covered There are hundreds of thousands of
on a daily basis. They have lots of videos podcasts for you to listen to. Use an app like
You do not need to spend any money to and podcasts. Stitcher to listen on your phone.
improve your listening skills. All of the
resources you need are freely available on The Guardian YouTube
the internet. They have a great selection of videos and Millions of hours of video. This is a great
podcasts. way to listen to how native speakers talk.
Here is a list of my favourite sites, but there
are millions more that will help you. Simply
use Google to find something that interests Ted Talks Radio
you. These are great for listening to monologues Many radio shows just feature people
and very interesting. They cover many of talking with one another. News or sports
the common IELTS topics. radio is a great way to hear real
conversations.
Memrise TV and Movies
Nice app for recording and reviewing Listen to whatever you enjoy. You are more
vocabulary. Makes reviewing vocab. fun. likely to improve your skills if you actually
like what you are listening to.

IELTS Writing Academy© 2016. All rights reserved. 38

1

Practice
Practice makes perfect
Remember that listening is a skill. You should not just practise past exam
papers. Listening to anything in English will help you improve your chances
of getting the score you need. Here are some sources:

Cambridge Past Papers

British Council, Cambridge and

IDP Websites

Online newspapers, YouTube

and podcasts.

Google it! Search for whatever

you’re interested in and read it.

IELTS Writing Academy© 2016. All rights reserved. 39

 Filling Out the Answer Sheet

This is not a skill, but is crucially important.

Stop! I know you think this is ‘easy’ and you know how to do this, but you would not believe the number of good students
that throw away marks because they don’t fill out the answer sheet properly.

Read the instructions very carefully for ALL questions. Use any examples to help you. If you don’t understand the example
or instructions, don’t move on until you do.

You can delete your answer with a single line and then write your new answer beside it.

Grammar and spelling are crucially important. One small mistake and the answer will be wrong.

Leave no blanks. If you have no idea, guess.