Today you’ll get IELTS Listening Part 4 practice!
You’ll learn the strategies for how to complete these questions.
We’ll then share the audio with 3 questions.
This guided practice will ensure you get IELTS Listening questions correct on test day!
Strategies for the Listening exam
The first step, before you listen, is to look at the questions.
Before the audio begins you will have a little time to do this.
In 3 Keys IELTS, we teach you how to identify key words and predict the answers.
This is a vital step that many students skip.
You must have an idea what to listen for!
If you don’t, you will definitely miss answers.
Question #1
The first two questions are sentence completion.
The directions are ‘Write no more than one word or a number.’
- Keywords: 4th of July, holiday
After identifying keywords, you need to make predictions!
Question #1
The 4th of July is a ________ holiday.
When predicting, you will see that an adjective is required here.
It will be a word describing ‘holiday.’
It could be ‘fun’ or ‘exciting’ or ‘3-day.’
Question #2
Every non-necessary government institution is ______ that day.
- Keywords: non-necessary, government, institution
You may hear parallel expressions for these words.
Non-necessary could be ‘not needed’ or ‘not vital.’
Parallels for government might be ‘authorities’ or ‘federal.’
Institution might be ‘organization.’
You should also actively think about synonyms and parallel expressions.
Next, predict what you need.
It is also an adjective and could be a past participle.
It will be something describing these non-necessary institutions.
Question #3
The next question is a multiple choice question.
Which of the following is a typical 4th of July activity for many families?
- Keywords: 4th of July activity, families
You underline keywords because those are the words you’re listening for.
Next, read the possible answer questions.
You also should underline or highlight keywords in possible answers.
Keywords in these answer options:
A- decorations
B- parade
C- post office
If you have time, you should eliminate answers that are impossible.
You can eliminate ‘going to the post office.’
This has nothing to do with holidays or cultural celebrations.
Listening audio for today’s practice
Independence Day is a holiday in the U.S., famous for the patriotic displays held across the country. It’s a federal holiday, so all non-essential federal institutions (such as the post office) are closed on that day. If the 4th of july happens to be on a Saturday or Sunday, then federal government employees will instead take the day off on the adjacent Friday or Monday.
Families often celebrate Independence Day by hosting or attending a picnic or barbecue; many gather with relatives or friends, especially if it’s a 3 or four day weekend. Decorations like streamers and banners are always colored red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag. Parades are often held in the morning, while fireworks displays occur in the evening after dark at such places as parks, sports stadiums and beaches.
Listening Part 4 questions
Below you will see the instructions followed by questions for today’s practice.
Write no more than one word and/or a number.
1. The 4th of July is a ________ holiday (federal).
2. Every non-necessary government institution is ______ (closed) that day.
3. Which of the following is a typical 4th of July activity for many families?
A. Making red, white and blue decorations
B. Attending a parade
C. Going to the post office
Guided practice
For the first question, you were listening for an adjective describing the holiday.
Hopefully you caught the answer!
You can find it below once you have completed the questions.
For the second question, you heard the parallel expression ‘non-essential.’
The final question was multiple choice.
The answer options about the post office and making decorations are distractors.
You hear about the post office being closed and decorations being seen, but these answers are incorrect.
Don’t let vocabulary from the questions fool you into thinking those answers are correct!
Takeaway
It’s not enough to know the strategies for IELTS Listening.
You must practice them!
Let us know if you’d like more IELTS Listening practice.
Leave us a comment on the YouTube video or email aubrey@allearsenglish.com!
For all the strategies you need on IELTS, sign up for our online IELTS course!
What questions do you have from today’s episode?
Please leave a comment below.
