Listen..., Listen..., and Listen for Better Improvements

Among 4 IELTS skills, the most challenging one is listening, as it only appears once, meaning that if you missed the information then it has gone forever since no second chance is given.

This case is above found when you sit for the real exam. However, when you are at home and want to train such skills, then I suggest doing it more than one time. You can do it again and again. I am sure every time you play back the recording and re-listen it, then you are more likely to catch something new. This can be new vocabulary and/ or new ways to pronounce the phrases, prepositions and even the articles. Therefore, this helps you improve such skill if you practice it deliberately.

Getting 9 in Listening IELTS: Is it possible?

The highest score in IELTS is 9. To achieve this score will not be so easy to do. But still, there is an opportunity for you to get it. There are some important things that you may not forget when you are dealing with this section.

Sharpen your skills on IELTS listening test | Part 2

This article is part of the “Sharpen your skills on IELTS listening test” series. In the previous series we have talked about teach yourself the words, instruction, and divide and concur. In this series we will talk about distraction, listen for specific, answer as you listen, and keep moving forward.

4.     Distractions. Some points you need to know is that: 

The audio selection uses several different voices and accents. 

The background noise also varies, start from airport, café shop, street, university, lecture hall.. you name it.   

Don't get confused by all the different voices you are going to hear. Ignore the noises and listen for the answers.

5.     Listen for specific things. The specific things we mean here are descriptions and details (dates, places, phone numbers, opening hours, years, transportation). When you are listening, look for them. If you hear them, but do not know where to place them yet – write them on anywhere on your paper. Later you will have some time to check your answers. Going over the questions that you could not answer during the Listening passage, you might see that what you have written about details and descriptions fits to be the answer.

6.     Answer as you listen ! Why? People tend to immediately forget the sentences after they have heard them due to constant flow of information. The best option is to answer as you listen. After hearing the last sentence, you will not have a chance to hear the first question. It means that when any part of Listening is over – you won‘t be able to remember any of the answers. So write them as you hear them, leave nothing for later.

7.     Keep moving forward ! If you miss one answer, you tend to miss the other answer as the audio listening is still playing. This “losing the sequence of answers” scenario can happen if you could not control your focus during listening test due to nervousness, stress, and other problems. Here are some tips to prevent it to happen:  

Always look one or two questions ahead. It may be hard, but with regular practice, it will be natural for you and can help a lot.  

If you miss one answer, admit it and keep moving forward.

Reference: Ace the IELTS (Simon Braverman)


- Read Sharpen your skills on IELTS listening test | Part 1 Here

Sharpen your skills on IELTS listening test | Part 1

“Listening is a skill, not a gift”, said Simon Braverman on his book titled Ace the IELTS. Here are some tips to sharpen your skills on IELTS listening taken from the same book. You may find many tips about listening already; assume these as added value for your experience.  

1. Teach yourself the words. The main point of this is to train your ears to understand the words you hear in the flow of the sentences. You may hear flow of sentences that you could not follow, resulting in misunderstand of the sentences. Train your ears using recording or podcast or even the real audio selections. Use a mp3 player that is small and light so you can bring it wherever you go. Here are some tips while practicing with podcast: 
• Listen, and remember what you heard and stop the podcast after each phrase. Even if you did not understand, keep play it in your head. 
• Say it out loud. If you understand the phrase, this practice will improve your pronunciation. If not, break the sentence into words, look at the dictionary, and make sense out of them. You got new vocabularies and your skill to make sense of sentences sure is improving. 
2. Instruction will keep you safe. Every task in IELTS listening test has its instructions. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. If the instruction states that you have to choose 3 words, choose exactly 3 words, because choose 4 or 2 words will get you 0 score. Moreover, when counting words, “a” or “the” count as a word. 
3. Divide and concur. The recording in audio selections IELTS divide questions into groups, so every time you are instructed to answer a group of 4-5 questions, there are 20-30 seconds to prepare before each group. 
• Understand which group of questions you need to answer. Example: “Look at questions 1 to 4”. Take your 20-30 seconds to pay attention and underline the keywords of those questions. Draw a line under the last question (question 4) to prevent your eyes from seeing the other questions. 
• Answer all the questions while listening to the passage. You can answer one questions while still listening to answer the next questions.   
• Repeat the process to the next group of questions. In the next article of this series, we will talk about 5 more tips to sharpen listening skill in IELTS. 

Do you need me to assist you passing through your study time? Do not hesitate to call me ^_^  English Studio Indonesia  0813.1033.6583 / 0813.1818.6060

Reference: Ace the IELTS (Simon Braverman)


- Read Sharpen your skills on IELTS listening test | Part 2 Here

Important Things in Listening IELTS Part 2

In the previous article, we discussed some important things that should be paid attention on listening IELTS such as main ideas, voice changes, and specific information. Now, we will discuss more about other important things such as interpretation toward the recording, hidden meaning of the sentences and memory enhancers.

Important Things in Listening IELTS Part 1

In listening section, you will face 40 questions which are divided into four sections. The first and second section is about social needs. In the first section, you will listen to conversation between two speakers while in the second section you will hear speech by a speaker. The next two sessions will be about educational or training. It covers conversation between up to four speakers and speech by a speaker.

In order to answer forty questions in IELTS well, there are some things that you need to highlight. The first is main idea. Frequently, important words and main idea are ones that are come up again and again in the recording. You need to listen carefully then try to catch the main idea to get the big picture on the topic that is discussed in the recording. For example in a conversation about drama musical performance, the term of ‘drama musical performance’ will be mentioned several times.

The second thing is about voice changes. In this test, you should be able to recognize and interpret nuances of speech. Understanding the nuances means that you get a supportive idea on the thing which is mainly discussed in the listening. There will be some clues that you will get when you are able to analyze the intonation and pitch used in the recording. For example, when you hear someone who speaks in a normal monotone voice suddenly raises her voice in a high pitch, it means that there is something critical which is being stated. For example,

• Man: Let’s go to Riska house to see her condition.
• Woman: Is something bad happened to her?

The third thing that you should pay attention on is specific pieces of information. In IELTS, adjective is commonly asked. So, you can try to memorize main adjective mentioned in the recording. The adjective can be in form of number, color, or size. For example,

• Man: I am starving. Let’s buy some cakes in supermarket.
• Woman: I don’t have any money.
• Man: Don’t worry I am going to let you pick five cakes that you like and pay for it.

The question that follows this recording might ask about the number of cakes that the man gives to the woman.

Reference: IELTS Secrets, copyright 2002 by MO Media

Grab the Skills in Listening IELTS

In IELTS, recording in listening section will only be played once. Therefore, you must apply some strategies to nail it. First, it is important for you to understand well main skills of this section.

Those main skills are:

IELTS: Kesalahan Umum Pada Listening

Mungkin sebentar lagi ada beberapa dari anda yang akan mengiktui tes IELTS, tentunya ada banyak hal yang harus anda perhatikan dan persiapkan sebelum mengikuti tes IELTS. Sebelum mengikuti tes, ada baiknya anda memperhatikan beberapa kesalahan yang terjadi saat tes IELTS berlangsung, terutama ketika sesi listening.

Dalam tes IELTS sesi listening dibagi menjadi 4 bagian. Sebelum memulai sesi listening anda akan diberikan intruksi dan akan diberikan waktu untuk melihat soal dari sesi ini. Setelahnya anda akan diperdengarkan sebuah wacana, dan anda harus mendengarkan dan menuliskan jawaban anda. Anda akan menuliskan jawaban anda dilembar soal listening, tepat di samping pertanyaan dari jawaban yang anda tulis, sebelum anda memindahkan jawaban anda ke lembar jawaban.

5 Cara Meningkatkan Kecakapan Mendengar

Kunci sukses mempelajari bahasa yang baru adalah dengan berlatih sebanyak mungkin. Bahkan jika anda tinggal di wilayah yang jarang orang berbahasa tersebut, kesempatan akan selalu ada bagi anda untuk meningkatkan kecakapan mendengar. Berlatihlah dengan meluangkan sedikitnya 30 menit setiap harinya untuk melakukan kegiatan tertentu guna melihat sejauh mana peningkatan kecakapan mendengarkan anda.

Instruksi:

• Manfaatkan sumber belajar online gratis, seperti situs BBC Learning English dan the English Club, keduanya memiliki fitur pelajaran dan lembar kerja gratis untuk memperkuat kecakapan mendengarkan anda. Situs-situs ini menyajikan latihan diksi, dan lembar kegiatan bersama program radio, berita, puisi, dan banyak lagi.
• Bergabunglah dalam pertukaran dua bahasa dengan menjadwalkan sesi yang setengah waktunya digunakan anda mengajari seseorang berbahasa Inggris untuk mempelajari bahasa anda dan setengahnya lagi orang tersebut mengajari anda berbahasa Inggris. Metode ini cukup menyenangkan karena anda akan bertemu dengan orang baru dan berlatih dengan orang yang memahami seperti apa rasanya belajar bahasa baru, dan tentunya akan lebih sabar. Anda bisa menemukan orang yang tertarik bertukar bahasa dengan membaca bulletin di sekolah bahasa lokal atau komunitas kampus, atau lewat kelompok online.
• Mendengarkan musik berbahasa Inggris, kemudian membaca liriknya untuk melihat apakah anda memahami yang anda dengarkan. Dengarkan lagi lagu tersebut sambil membaca liriknya atau sambil menyanyikannya. Sangatlah penting untuk mendengarkannya terlebih dahulu tanpa membaca liriknya untuk melihat sejauh mana anda bisa memahaminya.
• Tontonlah film berbahasa Inggris tanpa subtitel dan cobalah mengikutinya. Bahkan jika anda tak mengerti setiap kata, pelajari pergerakan tubuh dan petunjuk verbal sang aktor untuk mengetahui apa yang terjadi dalam film tersebut. Ulangi menonton, kali ini dengan menampilkan subtitel guna melihat apakah pemahaman anda benar. Ingatlah, subtitel umumnya tidak cocok kata per kata, karena mereka dirancang untuk dibaca dengan cepat, maka gunakan sebagai cara memahami apa yang terjadi dalam adegan dan bukan sebagai terjemahan yang sempurna atas apa yang sedang diucapkan.
• Jadilah sukarelawan untuk berbicara bahasa Inggris dengan turis asing atau magang di perusahaan tur lokal. Hal ini akan membuat anda berlatih kecakapan mendengarkan bahasa Inggris sehari-hari dengan pembicara bahasa Inggris. Pengalamannya mungkin membuat anda frustasi pada awalnya, namun anda akan senang berada dalam lingkungan yang membuat anda cepat meningkatkan kemampuan mendengarkan bahasa Inggris.

What You Need to Practice for Listening Section on IELTS

You must realize that IELTS is one of the hardest English proficiency tests ever existed and you cannot belittle it if you want to get good scores out of it. From the four sections you can find on the test, one of the most difficult tests especially for people who do not use English as second language is actually the listening section. And from a lot of test takers’ experiences, one thing that makes them do fatal mistakes is by belittling this part. For instance, if you are pretty sure about your answer of questions about date and then you write it in the incorrect form, it would mean that you throw away getting good scores on this section because this type of questions will appear not once but many times and if you keep doing the same mistakes then it will just only risk your score.

Tips on How to Pass IELTS Listening Section

Surely there are plenty of standardized tests that you have to take even only for fluency purposes if you want to move to and live in other countries that use other languages that are different from your mother tongue. It is such a requirement to make sure that when you are ready to move into those countries, you will be able to communicate using those languages fluently and also effectively and one of those skills that are needed to be tested is listening because this is the first step of communication. You need to hear before you make verbal or non verbal responses.

Check Brief Information about Listening IELTS Out!

Listening is the first skill which is tested in IELTS. In IELTS, listening section will be done manually with the help of test supervisor. In listening IELTS, there is also a possibility that test taker is going to get some voice disturbance from the surrounding. Test taker has to realize it because in IELTS, listening is conducted without the use of headset. Therefore, other voices outside might give some additional obstacles for test taker.

Listening IELTS: Learn then Grab a Good Score!

Is it possible for upgrading listening score? With a lot of practices, the answer is going to be yes! Test taker who does regular practice will increase his or her concentration in catching the words. His or her ear will also be trained as time goes by.

Nothing is Impossible, Including Improving Listening IELTS Score!

Many people argue that improving listening skill is the most difficult thing to do. Some other people say that listening skill is a gift instead of a skill. Well, those are wrong opinions about this skill. Same as other skills tested in IELTS, we could do some efforts in improving our score. Test taker can pick some websites to help them learning more some different accents that are usually used such as British, American English, or other accents. Mostly, in IELTS, the recording uses British accent.

Top Five Tips in Listening IELTS

Some of you might find that listening is the most difficult section in IELTS. There are many test takers who has no ability to complete the listening section because none of what has been delivered by the speaker makes sense to them. Well, to help you get better achievement, you can apply the following tips.

Listening: Kecakapan, Bukan Bakat!

Seringkali bagian Listening menjadi masalah besar bagi anda dalam tes IELTS. Kemampuan mendengarkan anda dalam banyak hal belum dikembangkan dengan baik. Namun kabar baik bagi anda bahwa mendengarkan (listening) adalah kecakapan, bukan bakat. Artinya, setiap orang dapat mempelajari bagaimana mendengarkan dan memahami (hampir) setiap kata. Berikut mungkin bias membantu anda.

Kenali Petunjuk Listening IELTS

Jawaban biasanya diucapkan lebih keras dan lebih jelas, sangat mudah didengar dan dipahami. Jika anda tidak dapat mendengar sesuatu dengan jelas (karena pembicara bergumam atau berbisik), maka mungkin jawabannya bukanlah itu. Berlatihlah dan anda akan belajar memahami perbedaannya.

Sebuah petunjuk yang baik agar dapat menjawab adalah saat anda mendengar suatu pengulangan kata, kata yang dieja (G A R F U N K E L) atau angka yang didiktekan.

Percakapan berikut adalahh sebuah contoh klasik pengulangan kata:

Mary-Joe: “These days there are many changes in our company policy”

Kathy: “Oh, what kind of changes?”

Jelas terbaca bahwa kata “changes” adalah petunjuk untuk suatu jawaban.

Pertajam Kepekaan Listening IELTS

Saya pernah mendapatkan SMS dari seorang student yang menanyakan “Trainer Eddy, bagaimana cara mempertajam kepekaan listening?” “apakah saya harus menyimak secara regularly program podcast?” “mendengarkan lagu-lagu barat adalah salah caranya?” ataukah “menonton TV channel/DVDs English?” 

Nah, apakah anda juga mempunyai pertanyaan sama? Apakah Anda sering “blank” atau diam terpaku melewatkan dengan begitu saja percakapan yang Anda simak? Apakah hal tersebut akan menguntungkan atau merugikan Anda ketika Anda melakukan TES IELTS? Bagaimana Anda memecahkan permasalahan yang akan timbul?

IELTS Listening : Focus and Steady

Do you find the IELTS listening exam more difficult than other listening exams you have done?  What makes it seem difficult?  It has the same format as other exams – filling in spaces, completing information, matching exercises, and a variety of accents.  So why does it seem more complicated?