Listening Section 4
- is a lecture
- has gapfill or multiple choice questions.
When preparing for Section 4, review the tips and strategies that apply to all parts of the Listening Test:
Things you can do BEFORE the Listening Test:
- plenty of practice tests
- analyze the tapescript (noting synonyms)
- listen widely and actively
- build vocabulary
- learn about signals and signposts
- learn about distractors
- improving your spelling
Things you can do DURING the test:
- Read the title to ‘activate your schema*’
- Read through the questions
- Anticipate answers
- Guess the gaps
- Analyse the type of word (noun, adjective etc) needed in the gap
- Check your spelling
- Double check for singular/plural nouns when you transfer the gapfill answers
- Check that your answer fits the space grammatically
- Avoid distractors
- Listen for synonyms
*’activate your schema’ – when you have prior knowledge of a subject (your schema), you are more likely to engage with it, so when you read the title, your brain will start accessing what you already know about the subject.
One of the key skills in Listening Section 4 is keeping your place, as there is no ‘pause’ in this part, and you’re probably getting tired and starting to lose focus.
There are very clear signals and signposts that you need to train yourself to become more aware of – learn more about these as you go through the practice lessons on my website.
Improve your Listening in 28 days with my IELTS Listening Course.
Check out the Listening Course Syllabus
