How can I improve my IELTS Listening score?
For this lesson, I’m using a Section 2 Listening from Book 15 (Test 1) called ‘Matthews Island Holidays’ for examples.
Scroll down for the video and podcast.
1. Pronunciation: why is it so important in IELTS Listening?
Pronunciation is THE MOST NEGLECTED area of IELTS test preparation.
In the Speaking Test, pronunciation is worth 25% of the marks, yet most of the students and teachers that I know pay very little attention to it.
In the Listening Test, a knowledge and awareness of the features of pronunciation is absolutely essential. Working on pronunciation will improve both your Speaking and your Listening scores.
After working with IELTS students for many years, I’ve found that pronunciation causes more Listening problems than vocabulary for many learners. Students often know a word when they read it but fail to recognise it in connected speech.
Below are some examples taken from the test.
👉 Learn more about pronunciation and connected speech for IELTS Listening.
Pronunciation features you need to work on:
- single sounds
- connected sounds*
- weak sounds
- dropped sounds
- reduced forms
- intrusive sounds
- similar sounds
- word boundaries*
- word stress
- sentence stress
- accents*
- intonation patterns*
*see examples below
Pronunciation: Connected sounds
Example:
‘Meet you’ sounds like ‘me chew’ in fast connected speech, when the /t/ is followed by the /j/ sound of ‘you’.
Listen:
Q12 Where can customers meet the tour manager before travelling to the Isle of Man?
A Liverpool
B Heysham
C Luton
The speaker says:
[ANSWER]: “Our holiday starts in Heysham, where your tour manager will meet you”.
Check out the course and workbook:
Pronunciation: Word boundaries
In fast speech, word boundaries move. Listen to the audio below. You need to hear the phrasal verb (‘looks out’), and recognise it as a synonym of ‘has a view of’ in order to get the answer.
Q15 The hotel dining room has view of the ________________
[ANSWER] ‘The hotel “look sout” (= ‘looks out’) at the RIVER.’
Notice also the STRESS on the answer – use this to help you fill gaps.
Teacher Tip: The answer is often right at the end of the sentence. Get used to recognising this when you do practice tests (see more examples in Q16 and Q17 below).
Pronunciation: Accents
The speaker in this Listening Test has a British accent from the NORTH of England. So she pronounces the /ʌ/ sound in the key words ‘lunch’ and ‘covers‘ like the ‘oo’ /ʊ/ in ‘book’.
Q13 How many lunches are included in the price of the holiday?
A three
B four
C five
[Answer] “You have five nights in the hotel, and the price covers five breakfasts and dinners, and lunch on the three days when there are organised trips.”
Practise the Australian accent here (Bronze).
Practise the South African accent here (Bronze).
Pronunciation: Intonation patterns
The speaker uses intonation to signal the important information.
Q11: According to the speaker, the company
A has been in business for longer than most of its competitors.
B arranges holidays to more destinations than its competitors.
C has more customers than its competitors.
[ANSWER] “What we do is build on our many years’ experience – more than almost any other rail holiday company.”
2. Why are Vocabulary and Grammar important?
Of course you need a good vocabulary to understand what’s going on in the Listening Test.
Keep a vocabulary notebook to develop your knowledge of synonyms and an awareness of paraphrasing (saying the same thing in a different way).
For example:
Q11 ‘has been in business for a long time’ = ‘we have many years’ experience’
Q12 ‘the hotel looks out on’ = ‘has a view of’
Q13 ‘are included’ = ‘the price covers’
Q14 ‘for a small administrative fee’ = ‘you have to pay extra’
Q14 ‘to change the start date’ = ‘for transferring to another date’
Q16 ‘it may have been’ = ‘it is claimed that’
Q16: ‘founded’ = ‘it dates back to’
This also requires a good knowledge of grammar and how language works, because in order to paraphrase, you need to restructure the sentences, perhaps by changing the verb from active to passive.
Q13: ‘are included’ (Passive) = ‘the price covers’ (Active)
Sometimes, you need an awareness of style and register, because the test translates spoken dialogues and monologues into written form (tables, notes etc).
Here’s a good example of that:
Q18: ‘The company provides a pass’ (Formal, written English) = ‘using the pass which we’ll give you‘ (Informal, spoken English).
In the example below, you need to know that the grammatical structure of ‘used to’ means ‘in the past but not now’, which is a different way of saying ‘former’.
Q20: former capital = used to be the capital
👉 See also
Ability to recognise cohesive devices
Q16: Tynwald may have been founded in _______________, not 979.
[Answer] “It’s claimed that this is the world’s oldest parliament that’s still functioning, and that it dates back to 979. However, the earliest surviving reference to it is from 1422″.
You often have to understand errors and corrections in Listening Part 1.
Here, the speaker tells us that a fact may be wrong “It is claimed that…”.
And you need to recognise that “may have been founded” tells us that they are not sure about the facts.
So we can expect the “However” signal to tell us the correct date.
As in Listening Part 1, you need to understand numbers and dates to get this answer right.
3. How can ‘real-world’ listening skills help?
‘Real-world’ skills, such as background knowledge, can help you understand the ‘overall meaning’ rather than small features of the language.
Background knowledge
The background knowledge that you bring to the test about how things work in real life will help you answer the questions.
Here, for example, if you understand how a Tour Company works, you’ve got a better chance of answering Q14 and Q15 (the fact that some things are included, and that there may be additional costs).
Retaining information
The Listening test is not a memory test, but you need to be able to retain ‘chunks’ of information.
This is especially important because you only hear each section ONCE.
Look at this question.
Q18: Company provides a ___________ for local transport and heritage sites.
[Answer] “Day four is free for you to explore, using the pass, which we’ll give you. So you won’t have to pay for travel on local transport, or for entrance to the island’s heritage sites.”
By the time you get to the key words in the table (local transport and heritage sites), the answer has already been given.
The test often uses reference words (it, this, them) which refer back to the previous sentence, so for this reason you need to develop your ability to retain information and know what the reference words refer back to.
We saw another example of this in Q12:
Q12: Our holiday starts in Heysham, where your tour manager will meet you.
And also in Q16:
Q16: “It’s claimed that this is the world’s oldest parliament that’s still functioning, and that it dates back to 979. However, the earliest surviving reference to it is from 1422″.
Recognising meaning and extracting key ideas
This sounds obvious too, but it’s important to be able to distinguish between the ‘filler’ language.
IELTS test writers give you time to write the answer while they carry on talking about something which is not important.
If you look at the tapescript, you’ll notice that the answers are evenly spaced throughout the text, so you can safely ‘ignore’ the unimportant parts and train your ear to listen for key information.
Look at the long introduction to Q17. Most of it is unimportant, so follow the key words until you get to the gap:
Q17: Travel along promenade in a tram; train to Laxey; train to the __________ of Snaefell.
[Answer] “Day three we have a trip to the mountain Snaefell. This begins with a leisurely ride along the promenade in Douglas in a horse-drawn tram. Then you board an electric train which takes you to the fishing village of Laxey. From there it’s an eight-kilometre ride in the Snaefell Mountain Railway to the top. Lunch will be in the café, giving you spectacular views of the island.”
Your general knowledge about mountain railways might help you guess/predict that it will take you to the top, and your knowledge of grammar might help you predict what comes after ‘the’ and before ‘of’.
According to the official IELTSidp website, the Listening test assesses
- Your ability to follow conversations (Parts 1 and 3)
- Your ability to understand and follow monologues (Parts 2 and 4)
- Your ability to process information and extract details.
- Your ability to draw conclusions from opinions, facts and attitudes of the speakers.
4. Test day skills and strategies
The exam skills and strategies that I list below are a summary of a number of lessons that you can find on my website and in my courses.
Making predictions
Your background knowledge and your understanding of word forms and sentence structure will help you guess answers and then confirm them as you listen.
Use your time wisely to read and underline key words, and make predictions about what might come in the gaps.
Spelling accurately
Sadly, the Listening test also tests your spelling. This is something you have to consider in your preparation, and there are specific lists available for you to study.
A typical example of how they test spelling patterns is in Q19.
Q19: Take the ____________ railway train from Douglas to Port Erin
[ANSWER] The last full day, day five, is for some people the highlight of the holiday, with a ride on the steam railway, from Douglas to Port Erin.
Again, you will need to separate the key information (steam railway) from the background information (last day, day 5, highlight, Douglas to Port Erin).
But ‘steam’ is a ‘long e’ word, which is often tested because of different sound-spelling associations (compare words like ‘weather’ with a different pronunciation /e/, and words like ‘theme’ ‘piece’ ‘key’ and ‘caffeine’ with different spellings but the same /i:/ sound).
Following instructions
This involves not only checking how many words you’re allowed in the gapfill but also transferring answers to the question paper.
Remember some simple guidelines
- don’t leave any gaps on your Answer Sheet.
- don’t forget to add the ‘s’ on any plurals
- write in CAPITAL LETTERS if you want to (it doesn’t matter)
- practise spelling names, and writing numbers and dates
Maintaining focus
The listening test lasts about 30 minutes, so it’s essential that you can maintain your focus, especially as the texts get more difficult when you progress to Sections 3 and 4.
Spending time listening to longer texts and doing practice tests in your preparation will help you cope with this aspect of the test.
Becoming more familiar with the language of signals and signposts will help you keep your place.
Learn more: how to keep up with the speaker in IELTS Listening (Bronze).
Avoiding distractors
You can train yourself to identify distractors (wrong answers) when you do practice tests.
Go through the audio script every time you do a practice test. You will soon become familiar with the way that distractors are written.
You can see many examples in this listening. For example, many numbers are mentioned in the section relating to Question 13, so underline the key words (lunches) and just listen for the number attached to it:
Q13 How many lunches are included in the price of the holiday?
A three
B four
C five
[Answer] You have five nights in the hotel, and the price covers five breakfasts and dinners, and lunch on the three days when there are organised trips: day four is free, and most people have lunch in a café or restaurant in Douglas.
Learn more: How to avoid distractors in IELTS Listening (Bronze).
Question types
You need different strategies for different question types, so make sure that you do plenty of practice with each type.
- Multiple Choice
- Maps and Floor plans – following directions
- Choosing from a list/ categorising/matching people
- Form completion
- Note completion
- Table completion
- Flow-chart completion
- Summary completion
- Sentence completion
Final Thoughts
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my IELTS Listening score not improving?
Many students believe they need more practice tests, but the real problem is often that they are not learning from their mistakes.
If you complete a Listening test, check your score and immediately move on to another test, you are missing the most important stage of learning.
The strongest students spend time reviewing the transcript, identifying why they missed an answer, and looking for pronunciation, vocabulary or paraphrasing patterns.
In my experience, students’ scores often plateau because they focus on test-taking rather than skill development. To improve, you need to work on pronunciation, vocabulary, paraphrasing, grammar awareness and recognising key signals in the recording—not just answering more questions.
Is IELTS Listening mostly vocabulary?
No. Vocabulary is important, but it is only one part of successful listening.
Many students know the vocabulary when they read it but fail to recognise it when they hear it in fast, connected speech. Others understand individual words but miss the overall meaning because they do not recognise paraphrasing.
For example, the question might contain the phrase “included in the price”, while the speaker says “the price covers”. If you do not recognise that these phrases have the same meaning, you may miss the answer.
To achieve a higher score, you need a combination of vocabulary knowledge, pronunciation awareness, grammatical understanding and the ability to recognise synonyms and paraphrases.
How important is pronunciation for IELTS Listening?
Pronunciation is one of the most overlooked aspects of IELTS preparation, yet it has a huge impact on Listening scores.
The IELTS Listening test contains fast, natural speech, which means words often sound different from the way they appear in a dictionary. Native speakers connect sounds together, drop sounds, stress important words and use different accents.
I often find that students think they have a vocabulary problem when they actually have a pronunciation problem. They know the word when they see it written down, but they don’t recognise it when spoken naturally.
Improving your understanding of connected speech, word stress, sentence stress and different accents can dramatically improve both your Listening and Speaking scores.
How can I improve my IELTS Listening from Band 6 to Band 7?
The jump from Band 6 to Band 7 is usually about accuracy rather than knowledge.
At Band 6, students often understand the main ideas but miss specific details because they:
- lose concentration
- miss signposts and signals
- struggle with paraphrasing
- fail to recognise distractors
- mishear key words in fast speech
To reach Band 7, focus on quality rather than quantity.
I recommend that you:
- Complete one Cambridge Listening test.
- Review every incorrect answer using the transcript.
- Highlight examples of paraphrasing.
- Listen again and identify pronunciation features that caused problems.
- Build a vocabulary notebook of common IELTS synonyms and collocations.
Students who analyse their mistakes carefully usually improve faster than those who simply complete more practice tests.
Is it better to do more practice tests or review transcripts?
Reviewing transcripts is usually much more valuable than doing additional tests.
Practice tests tell you how many questions you got wrong, but transcripts explain why you got them wrong.
After completing a test, read the transcript while listening again. Ask yourself:
- Which words did I not recognise?
- Which examples of paraphrasing did I miss?
- Did pronunciation affect my understanding?
- Did I fall for a distractor?
- Did I lose track of the speaker’s argument?
Many students improve their score simply by changing their study routine from:
Test → Score → Next Test
to:
Test → Score → Transcript Analysis → Listen Again → Learn from Mistakes
In my experience, transcript analysis is one of the fastest ways to improve an IELTS Listening score because it turns every mistake into a learning opportunity.
Ready to practise more IELTS Listening skills?
Explore these free lessons:
- Listening Part 1 Tips and Strategies
- Listening Part 2 Tips and Strategies
- Listening Part 3 Tips and Strategies
- Listening Part 4 Tips and Strategies
- IELTS Listening Maps: Strategies and Practice
- Complete guide to Listening Skills
Resource Library
- Australian accents (Part 3 – Australian bees)
- Avoiding distractors (Part 4 – Underground House)
- Choosing from a List (Part 2 – Dolphin Conservation)
- Distractors in Part 1 (Camera Club)
- Distractors related to TENSES (Part 2 – Dinosaur Museum)
- Distractors related to TENSES (Theatre + MAP)
- Distractors in MCQs (Part 3 – Thor)
- Distractors in MCQs (Part 4 – Moving Pictures)
- Essential Vocabulary for Listening (Soil and CO2)
- Gap-fill strategies (Public Buildings)
- Gap-fill in Section 4 (Gender and Finance)
- How to follow directions in Part 2 (Fiddy Farm)
- How to keep up with the speaker in Part 4 (Elephants)
- Labelling a MAP (Fiddy Farm)
- Modals in the Listening Test (Part 4 – Ireland)
- MCQs and Tables (Part 4 – Wildlife)
- MCQ practice (Asiatic Lions)
- MCQs in Section 4 (Doctors)
- Pronunciation for Listening
- Signals and Signposts (Part 3 – Sandy Tutorial
- Signals and Signposts (Part 4 – Business Cultures)
- Synonyms, Antonyms and Paraphrasing (Part 3 – Science Experiment)
- Table completion tips (Part 2 – Manham Port)
- Table completion tips (Part 2 – cots)
- Uncountable nouns in gapfill (Part 4 about soap)
Want structured practice for every part of the test?
My IELTS Listening: 28-Day Course takes you step-by-step through every section and question type, with detailed lessons, practice activities and exam strategies.
Get my ebooks
Learn more about how to deal with fast, connected speech:
Learn the most common gapfill answers in the Listening test:
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- Connected Speech for IELTS Listening.
- IELTS Listening Course.
- Speaking and Pronunciation Course.
- 101 Most Mispronounced Words Course.
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Hi Paola. Many thanks for your question. Definitely the skills I’m referring to would apply to any Listening Comprehension Test, though there may be one or two that are less relevant for the Cambridge exams. For example, the fact that you only hear the IELTS Listening test once means it’s important to be able to retain chunks of information and to make the most of signalling and cohesive devices. Is there anything from this list of skills that you think would be more important for the Cambridge exams?
Best wishes
Fiona