IELTS Listening Tips & Essential Information

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hello my name's liz and in this lesson I'm going to give you all the essential

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information and tips that you need to be successful in your IELTS listening test

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we're going to start by reviewing the exam content and then we will move on

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and i will give you a lot of useful tips

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there is only one IELTS listening test

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all I out students take the same listening test

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so if you're taking academic IELTS or general training IELTS you all take the

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same test the same questions

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the same format and the same scoring it is exactly the same for everyone having

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a look at the content of the listening test

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there are four sections and there are 40 questions in total

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now the sections the first two sections are the easiest and they are social

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that means the context of the situation is a social situation and everyday

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situation and the last two sections are more difficult

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they are academic in content now section one has two speakers a social situation

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now a typical example is a phone conversation where somebody is

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registering for a course

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so for example they need to book a course and they need to know what date

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they need your name

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they need your address your telephone number or perhaps your booking a table

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at a restaurant or organizing to meet someone and you need to think of the

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time that you're going to meet

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so it's very specific information and it is quite easy and it's quite easy to

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improve that section

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the next one number two is also social so in everyday situation but is only one

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speaker

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a typical example would be a tour guide

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so that it would be a tour guide explaining about a resort

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so what facilities there are all the history behind the resort

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another example could be for example talking about historic building or

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talking about a charity a company or an organization

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section three the academic the first academic section and that has three to

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four speakers

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now this is challenging because it's a discussion and academic discussion now

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when you got three to four speakers that means you've got different voices and

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you have to be able to identify who is speaking and who is saying what

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so that could be quite challenging but the most difficult is a section for that

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is only one speaker in it is an academic lecture the listening test takes 40

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minutes in total

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30 minutes off for the audio so that means you have 30 minutes to listen to

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the recording and answer the questions at the end of the 30 minutes

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you are given another 10 minutes and that is so that you can transfer your

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answers from the question paper which is where you write your answers when you're

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listening to the answer sheet

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here is an example of the answer sheet for IELTS listening

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now you can download this answer sheet and is very important I think number

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four for your tip is to practice using it before you go into your IELTS test is

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very importantly you're comfortable with all parts of the test and that includes

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spending ten minutes

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transferring your answers from your question paper onto this answer sheet to

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write your answers

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clearly so that they can be easily read on to the answer sheet

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moving on to tip number five you will hear the recording only once it is not

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played again so that means that when you have your test

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you need to listen to the recording read the questions and at the same time

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write down your answers so that means at one time you are listening reading and

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writing so you really are multitasking

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during this listening test it can be quite difficult and it's something that

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you do need to practice number six

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many students asked me can they use a pencil or a pen

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the answer is you need to write your answers on to the answer sheet using a

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pencil and that's the same as the IELTS reading test

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tip number seven the schools are calculated by the number of correct

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answers you have

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so there are 40 questions there are 40 points and each time you get a correct

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answer you get a point and that is how your band schools are calculated

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let's move on to tip number eight tip number eight

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you can write your answers in capital letters or lowercase

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you can choose but which ever one you choose

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you must stay with that choice if you decide to use capital letters all your

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answers must be written in capital letters

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you can't change suddenly on your answer sheet or if you choose lower case you

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must make sure that all your answers are written with lowercase on your answer

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sheet now capital letters means every single letter is written as a capital

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there is no difference at all but if you're using lower case you need to

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remember that some words start with a capital letter

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so for example names or places

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we'll start with a capital letter so make sure if you do decide to use lower

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case that you remember your capital letters at the start of your answers for

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names and places

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tip number nine if you look at your question paper it will always tell you

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how many words you need for the answer

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it will give you a rule for example

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no more than two words and/or a number

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these instructions you've got to pay attention

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every time you get a new type of question that might change

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so you must always look how many words can I have for these answers and when i

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move further down the page

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how many words has it changed underline it quickly so that you don't forget

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now many students get confused about what it means

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so let me explain what no more than two words so that means we cannot have three

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no more than two words and/or a number so that means we can have two words and

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a number or we can have just a number

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so let's have a look at the options so that you understand were clearly you

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could have one word you could have two words but not 3

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you could have two words and a number or you could have just a number

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now be very careful with the instructions because you can see here it

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says a number

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sometimes it says and/or numbers and if that's plural it means you might have

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two numbers so make sure you pay attention to the instructions very

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closely

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many students asked me about number 10 which is should we use prepositions

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should we write hospital or the hospital or at the hospital

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what should we write for the answer well it depends on the type of question you

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have

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i will show you later in this video that there are many different types of

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questions form completion sentence completion note completion summary

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completion and each of them are a little bit different now you can see here this

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is an example of a question from a form they tell you the type of information

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they want and you write your answer here and it can be just one word

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so it would be possible to write just hospital but if we look at this example

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you can see it's a sentence and that means when we fill in the answer here

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the sentence must be grammatically correct because we are completing the

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sentence

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so here we would say the best place to meet is at the hospital and that would

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be three words

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so you need to look at the type of question are you just making notes or

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are you completing sentences number 11

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all words are counted

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even if they are small words so for example a holiday that is two words

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that's the same for reading and writing and of course this 1950 that would be

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considered as one number number 12

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this is important spelling if you spell a word incorrectly it will be marked

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wrong

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so that means that of course when you're listening you don't have time to think

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about spelling but in listening

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you have 10 minutes at the end of your test to transfer your answers to the

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answer sheet that is a time for you to pay attention to spelling

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pay attention to your spelling and capital letters

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as check the grammar use the 10 minutes for transferring answers wisely

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number 13 should you write words or letters on your answer sheet

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now that's very important you can see here we need to write a word or here we

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need to complete the sentence with one or more words but if it's a multiple

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choice

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that's different the instructions tell you to choose the correct letter so that

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means we've got a spring be summer or see winter

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now when we choose our answer for example be

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we need to write be on the answer sheet

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if you write somewhere on the answer sheet

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it is marked wrong so although you have the correct and they're really you have

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written the wrong answer on your answer sheet because you needed to write the

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letter

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so make sure you read the instructions the instructions will tell you if you're

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going to write a letter or a word and again that is the same as IELTS reading

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let's move on to number 14 one of the most important tips to help you prepare

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for IELTS listening test is to learn about the types of questions that you

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will get in IELTS listening

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there are quite a lot as you can see of different types of questions and you

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need to practice each type of question when you get in you're listening test

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and you go to the question you have enough time to read the question and

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answers but you don't have enough time to try to understand what to do if

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you've never seen that type of question before

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so knowing and having a strategy a technique for each type of question is

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important for your IELTS listening test

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now one of the most difficult types of questions is the multiple choice

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that's often where you have a B or C to choose from but multiple choice could

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also be a very long

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list for example 8 options and you need to answer three questions relating to

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all those eight options all the multiple choice might be a choice of people's

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names

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do you remember in section 3 there are three or four speakers so you might have

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to match the name of the person with the information

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so there are different kinds of multiple choice

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there's also map completion and that's when you're given the map of a town or

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some streets

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it might also be a building plan

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so that's when you've got all the rooms in a building of that you have to label

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and complete it could be diagram labeling

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so you've got a diagram and your answers relate to parts of that diagram

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you could have a form completion that's very common in section one or note

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completion

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that's very common in section for you could have flowchart completion sentence

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completion that's a very common type of question

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summary completion that's a little bit similar except this is more like a small

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paragraph that you need to complete

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we also have short answer questions so these are questions that might need one

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word answers two word answers or three word answers and of course table

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completion as well there's a lot of different types of questions that you

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need to practice

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if you want to have practice with these question types then you can get a book

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of practice tests or you can visit my blog where I have free practice lessons

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using many of these types of questions

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now let's have a look at number 15 number 15

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don't try to understand everything the same in IELTS for listening

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and reading is to find answers to questions

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a correct answer is 1 . all you want are answers

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you are not aiming to understand everything

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so you need to look at your question

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try to think of what type of answer you're looking for

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listen for that answer there will be a lot of extra information given in the

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recordings and you need to just relax and focus on the answers that you're

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looking for

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number 16

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this is an important tip you need to prepare your answers and questions

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now before you listen to the recording you will hear a message and it will say

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to you

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you now have time to prepare questions

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125 that means that you will have time to prepare and read questions one two

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three four and five then you will listen to it and after you will have a chance

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to prepare questions

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six seven eight and nine so you always given time to prepare

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but it's not long so you do need to train yourself to prepare questions

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quickly

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now let's have a look at this one this is the sentence completion

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now the first thing I would do is I would underline this the town square

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of course I'm going to hear those words and those words will help me to find my

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answer

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i will also pay attention that built is a verb that is very easy to paraphrase

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for example construct

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so the town's the Town Square was constructed by so i can see that

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immediately because I've done lots of practice and is a word I'm familiar with

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another keyword would be this one by when you see a preposition you often

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have a good idea

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what type of answer you need to complete the sentence for this one

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obviously it's probably going to be a person

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the Town Square was built by someone but be careful because I else is testing

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your English and by could be a person it could also be an organization

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it could be a group of people so for example the Town Square was built by

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local craftsmen so it might not be the name of a person but you can see very

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quickly that I identified three keywords 1 because i know i will hear those words

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that's the main content to because that could be paraphrased and three

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it tells me what type of answer I need so that is how you prepare your

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questions

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tip 17 answers can come quickly

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so be prepared for that the answers do not come at regular intervals you could

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get suddenly three answers coming together

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that means you need to keep your eye on the next question

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so don't just look at the question that you're looking for

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keep your eye on the other questions coming so you can move quickly to the

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next question and you don't lose time you don't get lost now because the

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answers come quickly

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you don't always have time to write long words if the answer is university

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bookshop

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you might want to just make a note if it was university bookshop

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I would do this i would write that on my question paper and then when i transfer

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my answers to the answer sheet

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i would write the forwards which is university bookshop

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so making notes is very useful

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you should also make notes of possible answers because maybe you're going to

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miss one you can write all over your question paper

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the examiner will never see it so make notes on your question paper

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write down the short version of the word if you need to and transfer correctly to

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your answer sheet

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tip number 20 there may be a gap between answers

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so here we have answers coming quickly but also there could be a gap and this

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is when students start to panic

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they're listening and waiting and waiting and there's no answer and the

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recording is going and going and they get very nervous

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that's the reason it's important to underline your keywords because then you

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know that you need to wait for these words to come so don't panic

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you need to be calm and keep listening

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keep your eye on the next question make notes while you're listening and be

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prepared for any gaps between answers

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so let's move on now tip 21 common traps

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these are ways that I else really try to test your understanding and your

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vocabulary

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now I'll give an example of a common trap

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this is when the answers are given so for example

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shall we meet at seven o'clock yes definitely

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let's meet at seven so we've got the answer

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seven o'clock but then it's changed and the speaker says oh actually sorry

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how about half-past so suddenly instead of the answer being seven

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it is now seven thirty so when you listen and you hear your answer

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obviously you can make a note of the answer but keep listening because that

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answer might be changed

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so be careful with that and another type of trap is when you have the same words

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in the question and the same words in the recording so of course people

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immediately think oh this is my aunt

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but actually that could be a trap because usually I else will use

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paraphrasing rather than using the exact same words completely so always be a

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little bit suspicious when you hear all the same words if you want to have

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practice with common traps then visit my blog

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I've got lots of practice exercises with these types of traps and it will help

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you to practice for that a number 22 repeated answers if you look for example

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at section 3 this is when what three or four people having a discussion and of

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course when you are discussing something people might say is this what you mean

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do you mean this and the answer could be repeated again and that can help you to

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locate the answer number 23 very important

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now I'll is a listening tests and they know that many foreign language speakers

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struggle to hear plurals

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so you need to pay attention does that would have an S on the end or not

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now if you have a sentence completion sometimes you can see in the grammar

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that you need a plural answer

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so just take a look but keep your ears open for those plurals

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now it's time for me to give you a breakdown of the scoring and i will give

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you the scores for band school five six seven and eight

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the scoring now you can see here we've got the band scores your 5.56 6.5 7 7.5

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and you can see here these are the number of correct answers that you need

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to get the band school

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so if you're looking for bands 47 you will need to get 30 or third

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see one answers correct and to get 7.5 you need 32 33 or 34 answers correct to

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get buzzed go 7.5 so what you can see is it is all about the number of correct

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answers

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so tip number 24 is if you don't know the answer guess write something on your

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answer sheet

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don't leave an empty space because if your answer is wrong it will not affect

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your battle school

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you don't lose a point if your answer is wrong

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so always guess if you don't know i'll give you a link at the end of the lesson

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so that you can get all the scoring for all the bound scores

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now let's move on to tip number 25

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let's look at the final tips at the first one is to listen to the example

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that is given at the beginning of your listening test

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so before section one truly begins

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you have a chance to listen to an example and see an example answer

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you should use that time to get used to the speaker's voices because that will

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help you understand what they're going to say this example is only given at the

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start of section 1 not at the start of section two three or four

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so use the time effectively and listen carefully to the example

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now the accents that come in the IELTS listening test

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of course there will be a lot of British English accent and Australian accent as

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well but I'll is an international english language test so that means

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there will be a range of accidents

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so when you practice for your listening test make sure you practice listening to

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different types of accidents

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now the next one this is quite important

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you will often find titles on your question paper and those titles are very

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useful because it helps you prepare for the topic that's coming

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so if you have a diagram completion map completion table completion questions

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have a look for the title read it underline it very useful

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the next one and this is very important

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check where all the questions are now i also will say you now have time to

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prepare for questions

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one to question 7 so that means you know that you're going to get seven questions

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make sure you check where the seven questions are because i have seen

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students who only prepared six questions because they didn't realize that

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question 7 was on the other side of the paper

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so make sure that your questions are on one side or maybe you need to turn over

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and look at the next page as well

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so always check that the next one if you miss an answer

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move quickly to the next question that's very important

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you don't have a chance to catch up if you lose your place in the IELTS

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listening test because you only listen once to the recording so keeping your

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place in the recording is very important

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so if you miss an answer don't worry about it

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forget it move directly to the next question

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another one and this is very useful for section 3 and section 4 and that is that

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technical and academic language is often not paraphrased now not all words but

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often they are not paraphrased so if you see a very complicated word or a

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technical word then that can be useful for you

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don't be scared of that language and it can be useful because it might not be

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paraphrased and that means when you hear it you know what question you're on and

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you can keep your place

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let's have a look at some more final tips

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this is a very important tip

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for your answer that you need to write the words that you here now here's an

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example of something you might hear in the recording

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children must be accompanied by an adult at all times

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and here is the question so number 26

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no children are allowed without and you need to fill in the gap

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you need to complete the sentence now here are two answers no children are

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allowed without an accompanying adult or no children are allowed without an adult

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now if we look here we have to be accompanied by an adult

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so it is true that children must have an accompanying adult but that is not what

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the recording actually says word for word the meaning is correct but the

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wording is not so this answer would be considered wrong

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you can't change and reformulate the words you need to listen and write down

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the words you hear

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so the answer would have to be an adult so be very careful not to reformulate

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the words but to write what you hear the final tips

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this is important make sure that your headphones are working properly now you

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remember i told you at the beginning of section 1 there is an example played and

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you can use that to also check that your headphones are working properly before

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the answers start coming

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if your test center doesn't use headphones for the listening test and if

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the recording is played to the whole room

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you can check the volume is all right for you

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if there is a problem with the headphones or the volume then you can

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put your hand up and a test invigilator will come to you and you can get the

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problem fixed now finally of course the biggest problem that people have is

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concentration

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you need to really concentrate for the IELTS listening test if you lose focus

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at any time you can not only miss an answer but you can lose your place in

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the recording and then it's very difficult to locate the following

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answers

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so you need to practice building your concentration

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before you go into your test

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now if you found this video useful please press like and now it's time for

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me to give you some more useful links for IELTS listening

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