Have you been struggling with IELTS Listening Section 4?
If you’ve been preparing for IELTS, you know that the last listening section is the most difficult.
IELTS Listening Section 4 is a monologue, or only one speaker. That makes it more difficult to follow.
Plus, the topic will be more specialized, often academic.
So, how can you gain confidence in this last listening section?
Improve Overall Listening Comprehension
- Practice listening to one speaker.
- This is hard to keep track of! Especially if it’s a boring topic.
- Resources for practicing: TED Talks, and interview shows like Fresh Air, where the guest speaks for at least 2-3 minutes sometimes.
- Try to find resources with transcripts. Listen and follow along with the script. Then, listen again with eyes closed to focus on comprehension.
- Listen to resources which provide a variety of accents. Be ready for a British, North American, or Australian lecturer in this section.
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- Listen to a wider variety of topics.
- As this section is more specialized, unlike Sections 1 and 2, the topic may be unfamiliar to you.
- Get out of your comfort zone.
- Choose TED Talks on subjects you know nothing about. Take notes on interesting ideas and vocabulary you hear.
- Many of the top universities offer open courses online– free courses, available to all. Check out the free courses offered by Yale- truly incredible.
Tackle IELTS Listening Section 4 with Confidence
- Learn strategies.
- As has been noted, Section 4 is challenging for most IELTS candidates. As with all the most difficult parts of the exam, you need to be prepared with specific IELTS strategies going into the exam.
- In Section 4, for example, here is a bit of IELTS exam knowledge: All the answers come in order. Underline the key words in the questions before you listen. Track the key words as you go, pointing to them with your pencil as the come up.
- Remember- the answers will be words that you know, if you are of an intermediate/upper-intermediate level.
- Don’t get distracted by unfamiliar vocabulary! Focus on the question, and your predictions of the answers.
Above all, practice makes perfect!
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