How to Use IELTS Listening Texts

In the previous post, I showed you a procedure for using the reading texts. Here, I will show you a similar procedure for using the IELTS listening texts for both practice and developing your language skills.

The main difference between difference between the reading and listening tests is that when listening, you only have the opportunity to listen once. However, obviously when preparing for the exam, you can listen as many times as you want, so it makes sense to use this opportunity in order to increase understanding.

Before starting to listen to the recording, you will be given some time to look at the questions. It is very important that you use this time carefully in order to help better understand when you are listening. Depending on the type of questions you need to answer, doing some of the following will be useful:

• using any headings (if there are any) to predict the topic of the listening
• reading and highlighting/underlining key words in the questions
• predicting what kind of information will go in the gap

After listening once and entering your answers, it is a good idea to listen again as you likely missed some answers or were unsure about some answers. You may want to write your answers after listening the second time in a different coloured pen, so you can see which answers you got correct on the first time of listening. If you find the text very difficult, you may want to listen a third or even fourth time. Regardless of how many times you listen before checking your answers, I would always recommend listening again to just focus on the main ideas in the text. This will help you have a better understanding of the whole text, and as with reading, better understanding of the text, leads to more processing of language, and therefore more language learning takes place. Depending on the type of listening, you may also want to ask yourself some of the questions suggested for reading texts.

You may also want to listen again to help you understand why you got any answers wrong. Alternatively, you could use the transcript (the text of the listening) to help you understand why you got any answers wrong.

As with reading texts, you may also want to look for new vocabulary (both general and academic) that could be useful in the future, though you are likely to find less new vocabulary in listening transcripts compared to reading texts.