28-Day Planner: Week 3
Listening Section 3
- is a dialogue
- has 2 or more people discussing an Academic subject
- is often a student talking to another student or tutor
- is sometimes an expert being interviewed on an academic subject
The normal rules apply to all parts of the Listening Test:
- Read the title, if there is one
- Read through the questions
- Anticipate answers
- Guess the gaps
- Check your spelling
- Avoid distractors
- Listen for synonyms
However, because it is usually a dialogue, with 2 people trying to agree on something like
- how to prepare their project or presentation,
- how to improve the resource centre,
- how to write their dissertation,
there are a very clear signals and signposts that you need to train yourself to become more aware of.
These will lead you to the answers.
Things to notice:
- Emphasis
- Ordering and numbering
- Fillers
- Questions
- ‘That’s good, but…’
- Negative tones
- End of sentences
- Suggestions
- New points
- Rhetorical questions
For more details on all of these points, please see my lesson:
Get more listening practice here.
How to listen for signals and signposts (especially in Section 3).
Why you need to learn Modals of Deduction for the Listening Test.
How to keep your place in Listening Part 4.
How to do Multiple Choice Questions in Listening Part 4.
How to identify the distractors in Listening Part 3.
How to deal with a difficult Listening Part 4.
How to do a Gapfill Summary in Listening Part 4.
How to choose from a list in Listening Part 2.
How to complete a table in Listening Part 2.
How to label a map in Listening Part 2.
How to recognise distractors in Listening Part 4.
Multiple Choice and Tables in Part 4.
Listening to an expert interview (and an Australian accent) in Part 3.
How to review IELTS vocab topics through Listening Part 4.