IELTS Listening, With Andy Watts, Episode 5 [VIDEO]

It's really going to help you focus your listening to that part of the conversation. Not pay attention to information that's not so relevant. Exactly. Welcome to Episode 5 of IELTS Prepared by IDP, your trusted guide for test day success. I'm your host, Rocco Nigro, and today I'm talking to Andy Watts from E2 Test Prep.

about the listening section of the IELTS test. Andy has been working in English language education for 24 years, working in Vietnam and Australia, where she's taught classes in academic English. and IELTS Preparation. She is now the English Language Content Manager for E2 Test Prep, who have helped over 2 million students worldwide. In our IELTS by IDP app, you can find an IELTS-guided short course

developed by E2 to help you prepare for the test. In today's episode, Andy and I will be chatting about the different question types in the IELTS listening test. And Andy will share her top tips for preparation. Make sure you stick around at the end of the episode when Andy will answer your questions on IELTS Listening. So Andy, welcome to our podcast. Thanks for having me.

Now I'd like to begin with a myth. Some people think that you are not allowed to use American spelling in the IELTS test. Is there any truth to that? No, there is no truth to that rumour. So IELTS accepts both British. and American spelling variations. It's an international test, so it makes sense that you would be able to use both British spellings and American spellings when you're writing your answers. Good to know. Thank you.

Now, I'd like to move on and talk about the question types in the IELTS listing test. I guess to begin with, how long is the test? So the listing test takes about 30 minutes. There are four parts to the listening test and you'll answer 40 questions in total. And the questions are worth different points or the same? Nope, they're all worth one mark. Excellent. What are the differences between the different parts? So part one is always two speakers.

And it's usually a conversation about kind of everyday information. So usually one speaker will be giving the other speaker lots of detailed information. about something like making a booking or something like something like that yeah something where you have to note lots of different types of information

Part two is always one speaker and they're giving a talk about something. So it might be introducing people to the facilities in a new building or telling people about... um the plans for something or it might be a tour guide telling a group of visitors about what they're going to see on a particular tour but it's a very familiar context would you say that's right so again it's those everyday kind of topics What about Section 3?

So section three is a conversation. It can be between two, three or four people. And it's in a more academic or work-based setting. So the people in this case could be like students, for example. That's right. It could be students talking to each other about an assessment that they have to do. It could be a student or students talking to their tutor.

about something to do with their course or the lesson that they're studying. Or it could be a student talking to a work supervisor or a work placement supervisor. Something like that. So with section four, is that also in an academic context? Yes, it is. So section four is one speaker again, and it's a long lecture or talk. It's about an academic topic.

But it's kind of a general take on that academic topic. So you're not going to need to know lots of specialised academic terms related to the topic. So the answers won't be any technical words? No. So Andy, what would be the difference between taking the IELTS listening test on computer compared to taking it on paper?

Yeah, well, there's not a lot of differences because you're still going to have the same parts, the same types of audio recordings, the same types of questions. There are six different types of questions in the IELTS test and they're the same whether you take it. computer or on the paper-based. But the main differences are that in the computer-based test,

you'll be listening to the audio through your own individual headphones. Right, but what about in the paper paste test? So you'll be in a room with all the other candidates and the audio will be played to the whole room at the same time. Another difference is that in the paper-based test you get 10 minutes after all the audio has finished to transfer your answers from your question paper to your answer sheet.

In the computer-based test, you're answering all the questions on the screen as you go through the parts of the test. So you don't get any extra time at the end to transfer your answers. And what about... highlighting the questions and keywords. Can that be done on the IELTS on computer test? Absolutely, yeah. So there's a highlight function and you can click on the highlight function, highlight the particular words that you want to make note of.

It's just like underlining on the paper-based test. Andy, let's move on. I'd like to talk about now some strategies with the IELTS listening test. Can you give us some...

general advice about how to approach the questions? Sure. So I think it's really helpful in IELTS listening to think about the things that you need to do before the audio starts playing, the things that you need to do... while the audio is playing and the things you need to do after the audio is finished. Okay, so let's maybe talk about what to do beforehand.

Hopefully you're familiar with all the different question types in IELTS Listening. There are six different question types, so you might have to answer multiple choice questions. For example, you might have to answer a completion type question where you're using words from the audio to fill in gaps in notes or a table. You might have to do matching type questions.

Right. Or even a diagram, perhaps. Absolutely. Yes. Yeah. So it's always important before you start listening to read the instructions. for the questions very carefully. That will tell you how many words you're allowed to use. Exactly. So if it's a completion type question, it will tell you use one word only. or use two words and or a number so you need to pay very close attention to that because if you use more words than you're allowed to you won't get a mark for that question

What else should test takers consider beforehand? So read through the questions, skim read through the questions quickly. There's lots of really good reasons for doing that. So firstly... It will give you a really good idea of the topic that you're going to hear in the audio recording. and some of the main ideas in the recording. And remember that most of the time in IELTS Listening, the questions are going to follow the order of the audio recording.

Sometimes there are headings and subheadings. Is it worth paying attention to those? Absolutely. Yeah, that's really, really helpful. It just gives you a really good idea of what the speakers are going to talk about and the order in which they're going to talk about them. How about trying to predict what the answer could be? Is that going to be a good use of time? I think so, particularly in those completion type questions. So let's say you have a set of notes.

read through the notes, look at where the gap comes in the note, and think about what word logically might fill that gap. So let's say you're listening to a part one question. And it's a conversation about a new employee joining a company. They've been given lots of information about the company. And the question is, employees will receive a free...

Blank. What could that be? You know it's going to be a noun because of the word a. Yes. What could it be? Maybe employees receive a free uniform. Employees receive a free meal.

So if you already have an idea of the type of information you're listening for and an idea even of what the answer could be, it's really going to help you focus your listening to that part of the conversation. And maybe not pay attention to... information that's not so relevant exactly exactly yeah what about while they're doing the the task any suggestions there yeah so definitely you want to keep your eyes on the questions keep following the questions

Look at the key words in the questions. You might even want to highlight or underline those before the audio starts so you can really focus on them. Just focus on one question at a time? I think it's... often a good idea to kind of have an idea of what the next question coming up.

is obviously you want to be listening out for the key information related to the question that you're on but if you know which questions coming next you'll be able to identify when the speakers move on to that next and some and sometimes you may have missed the the the answer to one question that's right and so you need to know that because you need to know that you need to focus your attention on the next question now with the answers that are

incorrect or the distractors? How can someone avoid those? Yes, that's a really good point. So I think the key thing is to be aware that those distractors are built into the audio recording. Keep listening until you're confident that you've heard the answer to the question. So when answering a particular question, is it the first thing that they hear that they should write down?

Yeah, so exactly. That's what you need to pay attention for. So let's say, for example, that the topic of the audio recording is somebody wanting to join a gym. and you've got a multiple choice question about the type of membership that they choose is it an annual membership is it a monthly membership for example and the speaker says I was thinking of taking a monthly membership

But if an annual membership is cheaper, I'll do that. So you're listening and you hear the speaker say, I was thinking of taking a monthly membership. and monthly is on your question paper or on the screen and so you think ah yes monthly that's the answer click you miss the fact that the speaker then goes on to say but If an annual membership is cheaper, I'll do that. And picking up was thinking.

could indicate there's going to be an alternative answer too. Absolutely, yeah. So recognising those little grammar clues and, of course, those words that show contrast like but, that's really important. Keep listening until you're confident that the speakers have said everything they're going to say about that particular question. And sometimes it's hard for people to keep focused, especially when there's an unfamiliar word and they get lost.

for for a moment any advice there andy yeah i think that this is really where practice is important because you actually need to train yourself to be able to keep your focus during the listening test. There's a lot going on. You're listening to unfamiliar voices on the audio. You're paying attention to the questions. You're listening for synonyms for information in the question.

So it is easy to kind of get distracted. There's a lot to coordinate there. Absolutely. Yeah. So I think the key thing is to train yourself not to panic. If you hear a word you don't understand, if you just lose focus and your mind wanders for a second, if you miss the answer to a question, try not to panic. Go back to your questions. look at the next question, look at the keyword, start listening out for that keyword or synonyms of that keyword and refocus your attention back on the task.

You don't lose any marks in listening if you guess an answer. So you can always just guess the answer to that one and then move on to the next question. Good advice. Andy, what about after? a couple of things that you should do after the recording stops check your answers quickly so you need to check your spelling because you won't get the mark if your spelling is incorrect

Check your grammar. So for example, if it's a completion type question, does it need to be a plural word or a singular word? Check that you followed the instructions. If it says use one word only, are all your answers only one word? And in that case, don't use a number if numbers are not allowed. Yes, if it doesn't say and or a number, don't use a number in your answers. And then I think it's time to let go of everything that just happened. Forget about it.

refocus your attention, move on to the next part and get ready for that one. Andy, when it comes to section four of the IELTS listing test, it can be a bit more challenging. Do you have any suggestions? for test takers? Yeah, sure. I think there are a few things you can do to prepare for that part of the test. So the reason I think it can be challenging is firstly, it's a lecture. It's one person speaking.

in a bit more depth about one particular topic often there's only one type of question for this part of the test so that means that you have to listen to the whole lecture in one go and answer all 10 questions so there are no breaks in this section Usually a very short little break somewhere in the middle of the lecture just to give you a little bit of time to catch up. But no, they're not usually divided into separate questions. What about the structure of a lecture? Any advice there?

think that's one thing that's really important in your preparation is to know how lectures are usually structured and become really familiar with that so a lecture actually usually follows a fairly similar structure the speaker will introduce a topic at the beginning they might give a little bit of background or history about that topic Then they'll go on to look at a series of main points or smaller topics within that broad subject.

And then at the end, they'll usually give a little wrap up or a little conclusion. So I think if you can practice listening to lots of different types of lectures and talks, and there's heaps available on the internet. I think that's really good because it just gets you really familiar with the way that ideas are usually organized in lectures.

And with the organisation, are there any sort of signposting words to guide the listener? Yeah, and I think it's really important that candidates know a broad range of that type of language. So signposting language is the types of words and phrases. phrases that people use to show the relationship between ideas in what they're saying. There won't always be firstly, secondly, thirdly like that. No, no.

tends to be a bit more sophisticated than that in part four. So for example, you might have to follow a cause and effect relationship. in part four so you're going to need to know a lot of words and phrases that we use to show that kind of relationship led to resulted in was caused by was the reason for all that kind of language you might have to follow an explanation about something so for example you might hear the speaker say things like the primary reason for

or the most important factor in. Words like that that help you understand theories and explanations for things. Is Section 4 a place where it can really test your range of vocabulary? yeah absolutely so um as we've spoken about before you won't hear the same words in the questions When you listen to the audio recording, you'll always hear paraphrases or synonyms for those words. Are the paraphrase words very direct and very obvious?

Sometimes, but often they're a little bit more complex, perhaps. So where you have one word in the question, you might have a whole phrase or a whole sentence that means the same as that in the audio recording. It seems that note completion is a common task in section four. Do you have any advice? Yeah. So no completion is, I think, somewhere where you can use a lot of those strategies that we talked about earlier.

First of all, you're going to be using words you hear in the audio recording to fill the gaps in the notes. So read the instructions. How many words are you allowed to use from the audio recording? And then read through the notes. There is a huge amount of information in those notes. What about with the bullet point that doesn't require an answer? Is it worth looking at that? Yes, I think so, because...

it's going to help you follow the sequence of the audio. So before the audio starts you're going to read through the notes quickly. Pay attention to those ones that don't have a question in them, because when you hear that part of the audio, you know that you can move your attention to the next question and the keyword in the next question that's coming up. So I think it's useful to skim read through all of the notes first before the audio starts. And then predict the type.

of word that's missing i guess absolutely yes um is it a noun is it an adjective and also is there a word that you can think of that makes logical sense in that particular note it might be the right answer Now, Andy, in the IELTS listening test, sometimes people have to complete a map or a diagram. Do you have any advice for those type of questions? Yeah, sure. I really like this type of question. Really? Yeah, I think it's really nice.

a nice break to have something really visual to look at as you're listening um so the first thing is you need to know what you're listening for so if it's a map of a town let's say you're probably going to need to label the buildings in that town so which one is the museum which one is the sports center if it's a plan of a building or a site you're probably going

to have to listen for the rooms or the facilities. And are those options already provided for the listener? Yes. So there's a list of the things that you need to label on the map. Yes, so you'll have a list of the things that you're looking out for. What else could they do, perhaps? So the other option is a diagram label completion task. So there you might have to label the parts of a machine or a piece of equipment. Something technical like that would be in which part of the test?

Often part three, so you might hear two students for example discussing a piece of technical equipment that they're studying or something like that. I guess this type of question would also have distractors, wouldn't it? Yes, it can do. Yes. So an example of that might be in map completion, for example. So let's say there's a hill on the map.

and there are two buildings at the top of the hill and you might hear the speaker say it's the building at the top of the hill overlooking the harbour now on that map there'll be two buildings on the hill but only one of them is facing the harbour. So you need to make sure you choose the building that's overlooking the harbour. Well, the type of vocabulary to preview this kind of question...

be different to other kinds of questions? Yes, I think so. And I think it's a really good idea to have a range of vocabulary specifically related to this question. Like what, for example? So words that we use to describe location. position and function. So if it's a map or a plan labeling question you might hear things like It's on the opposite side of the street to the museum. It's at the end of the alleyway between Smith Street and Johnson Street.

you might hear something like, it's down the end of the corridor next to the staff room. If it's a diagram labelling... question then you will need to know words related to kind of function and position so for example something like it's the s-shaped piece of metal behind the latch or something like that it's also a shape of an object as well ways to describe what things look like yeah

Now we've got some questions that some IELTS test takers have sent to us and they'd like to hear your views about Andy. Sure. The first one is with the speakers in the IELTS listing test. Should we... practice just listening to British English only. Good question. No, is the short answer. So you will hear a range of English speaking accents on the IELTS listening test. You will hear British speakers, but you'll also hear... accents from America.

from Canada, from Australia and from New Zealand. So definitely listen to a range of accents. I would also say listen to a range of British accents. OK, because there's not just one accent there, is there? That's right. You're not only going to hear people who sound like me. You might hear people from the north of England, from Scotland, from Wales. So do practice listening to a...

range of accents that would give the listener more flexibility i guess yeah absolutely so um Find something that you are interested in listening to and listen to people talking about that topic from a podcast in America, from a podcast in the UK, from a podcast in Australia. Actually, speaking of podcasts, are they useful for IELTS listening practice? I think they're really useful. I think they're really useful.

Partly because there are so many podcasts out there that you can literally find a podcast on any topic you can think of. A variety of topics would be a good approach too, wouldn't it? I think it's a really good approach.

Firstly, if you're interested in what you're listening in, you're more likely to do the practice. So listen to podcasts about things that interest you, but also listen to podcasts about things that you might here in the ielts test so part four is a really good one for that listen to people talking about particular topics on podcasts but as well as

Using podcasts just because they're interesting and they're varied. I think what's really important is what you're doing while you're listening to those podcasts. What do you suggest? So I think you really need to do the type of listening that you need to do in the IELTS test. IELTS test listening is targeted and it requires focus. So when you're listening to podcasts, practice those skills.

For example, many of us listen to podcasts in our everyday life while we're cooking, while we're driving, while we're doing other things. But actually, in the IELTS test, you have to just listen. and answer the questions. So practice just listening to a podcast and not doing all of those other distracting things at the same time. That's good training to learn how to focus well. Exactly.

And then why are you listening? What task are you going to do while you're listening to help you focus on what the speakers are saying? So maybe if you're listening to a talk about a particular topic. You might say to yourself, OK, I'm going to listen to one minute of this talk and then I'm going to write down the main ideas.

from that talk. So you're really training yourself to notice the kinds of things that you need to notice in the IELTS listening test. So I would definitely say listen to podcasts, but have a reason for listening. Have a task that you're going to do while you're listening to them. Great advice. Well, that brings us towards the end of our episode today. But before you go, Andy, could you please give us your top three tips for the IELTS listening test? Sure. So number one.

know all the question types and practice them before test day. Number two, always read the instructions carefully, even if you think you know what you need to do. And number three, Don't just choose the first answer you hear. Keep listening because the speaker might say something that makes you realise that that answer was incorrect. Thank you very much, Andy. It's been great to have you here. It's a pleasure.

Be sure to take a look at the show notes where you'll find links to free IELTS preparation materials and resources about today's topic. If you've enjoyed today's episode, why not share it with others who also find it helpful? In our next episode, we'll be welcoming Andy back to talk to us about IELTS reading. Thanks for listening to IELTS Prepared by IDP. your trusted guide for test day success. See you next time.