IELTS Step-by-step Mastering Listening

Watch the video and complete the test at the same time as me; the downloadable PDF is in the resources attached to this video. The audio file is also available for download.

Go through the answers to IELTS Test #1 step by step, with commentary.

Learn about why this task type is very common in the IELTS Listening exam, and how to go about answering this task type.

Distractors: the options in Multiple Choice questions that try to take your attention away from the correct answer. But should you read all the options? In this video I explain that you should, even though in the first seven IELTS Listening tests I don't, and that might be why I don't get such good grades initially.

You may know the English alphabet very well, but will you be able to keep up with someone spelling a complicated name when they say something like 'my first name's spelt T, E, double S ' or 'my name's "Simon" but with an E at the end '?

Go through the answers to IELTS Test #2 step by step, with commentary.

Learn about why this task type is very common in the IELTS Listening exam, and how to go about answering this task type.

How many words are you allowed to fill into the gaps? Can you use numbers? Find out which task types you should always read the rubric (instructions) of.

You don't have to wait for the narrator to say 'now turn to section 3'—if you're ready, go straight to it. In this short video, I'll explain why.

Please note that the answer for Number 1. is NOT "business studies", it is just the word "business".

Learn about the most common task type in the IELTS exam — Multiple Choice Version 1

The audio in the Listening exam seldom uses the same wording that's on the question paper—they usually use synonyms (words that have similar meanings). Learn how to expand your range of vocabulary using synonyms so that you're not caught unawares.

Did you know that if you're unable to produce a certain sound in another language, it becomes difficult to identify that sound when listening to it, resulting in confusion? Watch this video to see how you can improve your ability to say certain difficult sounds in English to improve your listening skills.

Go through the answers to IELTS Test #4 step by step, with commentary.

The three most common English accents that you'll hear in the IELTS Listening exam are British, American and Australian. Are you confident when it comes understanding them? This video will help you to improve your confidence levels with each accent.

Did you know that you'll get no points even for a tiny spelling error? There's no dedicated IELTS exam for grammar or vocabulary, so it's tested in the Listening and Reading exams (and Writing, of course)—lots of spelling mistakes will result in a bad mark.

English spelling can be very complicated because its a mixture of many different languages with their own spelling rules. This video will help you to identify the most common spelling patterns in English.

Do these practice exercises to improve your spelling.

Go through the answers to IELTS Test #5 step by step, with commentary.

Learn about why this task type is quite common in the IELTS Listening exam (especially in Sections 3 and 4), and how to go about answering this task type.

Time is limited in the exam—how do you highlight the important information in each question? Identifying and underlining key words is the answer.

Taking advantage of the context around a gap in a cloze/gap-fill task can help you to make an educated guess of what word(s) is (are) missing, giving you a better chance of getting the correct answer.

Go through the answers to IELTS Test #6 step by step, with commentary.

'Honey' lexis is a term I've come up with that explains the type of words or phrases that often congregate around an answer. Examiners, it seems, create questions from sentences and phrases that are near 'honey' lexis.

Go through the answers to IELTS Test #7 step by step, with commentary.

Watch this short introduction to the main Learner Training video coming up next.

Did you know that the voice actors in the audio deliberately stress the answers to a certain extent (at least, until question about 35 and in gap-fill type tasks)? Being able to hear that stress can actually help you to identify where the answers are hiding.

Go through the answers to IELTS Test #8 step by step, with commentary.

Go through the answers to IELTS Test #9 step by step, with commentary.

Learn more about this task type that often comes up in Section 2 of the exam.

Most languages don't have such pronounced weak forms, but English does. Knowing what they are can improve your comprehension skills considerably, not to mention giving you an opportunity to get an improved score in 'pronunciation' in your IELTS Speaking exam.

Go through the answers to IELTS Test #10 step by step, with commentary.

Especially in Section 4, there are terms that even a native speaker would probably not know. But does that stop you from answering the question? No. Use the context around the word or term to guess its meaning, and focus on the question itself.

Spoken English has something called 'connected speech' which, if you don't know what it is, can cause you to misunderstand words and phrases and perhaps even write an incorrect word into a gap or choose a distractor. This video gives you the rules of connected speech so that you can identify it easily and even use it yourself in the IELTS Speaking exam.

Go through the answers to IELTS Test #11 step by step, with commentary.

Learn more about this task type that sometimes comes up in Sections 2—4 of the exam.

Why get flustered if you miss an answer when it's only going to make you miss more answers later on in the exam? Learn to realise the importance of focusing on the task at hand with this short video.

Go through the answers to IELTS Test #12 step by step, with commentary.

Even though this task type is uncommon these days, it's important that you know how to tackle it.

Learn how to make your own listening exercises where you can practice listening to a text of your choice and testing your spelling skills.