IELTS is an acronym for International English Language Test. This is a test designed to assess test takers' English proficiency, helping you to work, study or immigrate to an English-speaking country. If your job requires proof of English language ability then IELTS is the test for you. It is the world's most popular English language test for higher education and global migration, and it covers the skills you need to achieve to function well in an English-speaking environment. Are you facing many difficulties for IELTS exam preparation? Let's refer to the following suggestions with Eclass.

How to improve English listening skills in the IELTS exam?

The best way to improve English listening skills is to use or expose English in daily life. The four important listening skills are 'anticipating', 'active, targeted listening', 'thinking/preparing' and “noticing’.

You need to transfer these skills to the IELTS listening test. Apply now.

1) Anticipating

In real life, we often know what we're listening to and why, so we'll somehow understand what we're going to hear next.

In the IELTS Listening test, you have 30 seconds before each of the four Sections to view the questions before starting the listening section. You also have an extra 20-30 seconds in between Sections 1, 2 and 3. You should use this time to anticipate possible topics and the type of information you need to answer the question.

How do predict topics? Several 'typical' situations occur in Season 1 in one form or another. As you study for the IELTS test and go through the IELTS preparation book, you will learn more common situations to prepare for.

Next, you need to grasp what can be discussed in each of these situations and make a list. Then, for each situation, make a note of the type of vocabulary you can hear.

For example, if the situation is a job interview then topics can arise: salary, hours, leave, holiday, responsibilities, pension, qualifications, etc.

How to predict in 30 seconds? Of course, this time will not be enough for you to think thoroughly and surely but through the IELTS test preparation experience, you will be better prepared.

Anticipating information is to use the exercises and look at the questions of Part 1. Assess the 'grammar' of the missing sentences. Is the blank a noun/verb? Then, use your knowledge of the situation to predict possible answers.

For example, the topic is employee vacations. You need to fill in the support with 1 word or 1 number.

 “And of course, you get three …………. of paid annual leave in your first year.”

From the context, you can see that this blank is missing a noun. With your knowledge, you can guess the word to be filled in is “week” because “day” or “month” makes no sense.

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2) Active, purposeful listening

For example, in settings like airport departure lounges, you naturally sift through all the unnecessary information just to hear your flight announcement.

Many of the questions in Sections 1 and 2 ask for information in the form of numbers, times, dates, prices, phones, zip codes, and more. To hear this information correctly, you should pay attention to the rhythm in English. Besides, you need to take the time to listen to multi-numbered audio clips and write down all the numbers to practice listening better.

3) Thinking/Preparing

In life, this skill is particularly relevant to meetings at work or seminars at a college or university. You know in advance who will speak and what they will talk about. From there, you can consult the information about the topic in advance and grasp some vocabulary about that topic.

Part 3 covers a conversation between 2 and 4 people in some context.

For example, in an educational context, 2 students discuss a project or research or a student and a tutor discuss student work. In such situations, different people will have different questions and provide different information depending on their role. To prepare for this listening section, you need to define each person's role to think about the question they are going to ask.

Usually, this step will be based on your listening experience. The topics you have encountered in the listening practice will help you prepare groups of related vocabulary, from which, you can listen better.

4) Noticing

Part 4 involves listening to an academic monologue that resembles a lecture. Although these do not require specialized knowledge, they are rich in information. Therefore, you must practice picking out key information to hear.

You need to focus on listening to remember the main ideas of the speaker. Usually, when they say 'Oh, by the way. . .' means they are about to add new information or release other information. Similarly, in a sermon, if the speaker says, 'Now, let's turn to . . .' means we need to move to a different focus in the lesson.

Finally, you need to practice listening to English as much as possible, approaching common topics in IELTS to prepare effective thematic vocabulary. Thereby, you can apply the above steps during the exam and achieve the expected results.

IELTS will give you a lot of opportunities to succeed in an English-speaking country or an international study and work environment. However, first, you need to conquer it with your English skills. Come to Eclass to work with us and learn English with foreigners to achieve the set goals in the shortest time.