How to Improve Listening Score before the IELTS Exam?

If you want to be successful in your IELTS exam, you should pay equal attention to the listening section as well. It can make a huge difference at the end of the day, so you must ensure that you score the maximum marks in it.

Here are a few ways and tips mentioned to help you improve your listening score before the IELTS exam.

• Listen More

You should listen more actively to the voice notes and recording while preparing for the IELTS exam. The amount of attention you pay to it will decide whether you can answer the questions properly or not. You should not read while listening as it can create a lot of confusion in your mind. Instead, you should focus on the booklet before the recording starts. But when the recording is playing, all of your attention must be on listening to the words carefully and try to make sense of it. Try to avoid the surrounding distractions as much as possible.

• Practice

A lot of good students get confused while listening to recordings. They end up scoring pretty badly on listening tasks. However, you can still be successful in it by practicing every day. Your listening ability will keep getting better. It will also help you deal with your anxiety once you get used to it. Also, you can write a list of some common words while practicing. Some words will have a difficult pronunciation, so you can note them down and try to use them later in your conversations. Once you know how to speak difficult words, you won’t have any trouble listening to them.

• Identify Your Weakness

You must also identify your weakness first to be able to deal with it effectively. For instance, if you think you are not good at grammar or you don’t have a rich vocabulary, try to work on that and give yourself some time until you get better. Once you know the challenges, you can analyze the results based on them.

• Paraphrase

You can try paraphrasing each sentence you hear in your word to improve your response time. Take a notebook and start writing what you hear on a recording. Then, you can pause the recording and paraphrase the sentence in your own words. You can use multiple synonyms and different writing styles. If your paraphrasing skills keep improving with time, it will further help you score well in your IELTS exam.

• Real Life Listening

You must practice listening to English in real life as well to learn more. You can initiate conversations with people who prefer to talk in English. Every conversation is an opportunity to improve your listening skills. You cannot miss such opportunities if you want to learn a language properly. Don’t shy or hesitate while doing it. You will have to come out of your comfort zone to learn new things in life. You can also use the technology i.e. calls, texts, emails, online chats, or any chance you have.