The good thing about the listening test is that it lasts for only 30 minutes, but they are grueling 30 minutes. The listening test is similar for General Training test-takers as well as for Academic module test-takers.
The listening test is divided into 4 sections. Each section contains 10 questions. These questions are in the sequence of the audios. These 4 audios uncover the answers to the 40 questions.
The first audio is a conversation between 2 individuals discussing a generic topic. These can range from a customer talking to a hotel receptionist, a student calling up the university office to enquire about a course or a vacationer phoning a tourist place to know about the various activities that she can do while her visit to the city.
Mostly, the type of questions this section has, are the completion of the sentence better known as fill in the blanks. This is the most scoring part of the test as the pace of the audio is slow and there are only a few distractors. A student should try to score full on full in these. This is an exemplary opportunity to start the test with a confident note.
Nevertheless, let us talk about IELTS listening practice test 2 or some might know this as the section where a student is presented with a Map or a Diagram question.
This is the most dreaded part of the listening test and many of the students pray that they do not get this type of question. And to some extent, I agree that this fear is legitimate as map-based questions can be a nightmare for a lot of us.
Having said that, this fear can be overcome by doing a lot of IELTS listening practice for test 2. There are a couple of strategies that can help a student ease this. Map questions can be of several types.
They can be a layout of a museum, theatre, a city eye. The most important thing here is to read the map or the diagram. Secondly, look for a compass in the question. If the compass is not there, the student should make one on the rough paper. Such preparations will help the student to focus only on the audio without worrying about the directions. A noteworthy point here is that this section is a monologue.
This is an advantage as the exam taker has to focus only on one voice. Implementing these strategies and taking help from one of the best IELTS coaching institutes will make your band score shoot up.
If a student intends to give a paper-based test, he should practice the map questions strictly on the paper. Whereas, the student who aims to give a computer-based test must do IELTS listening practice online only to avoid any surprises in the actual test.
Coming to section 3, multiple-choice questions and matching type questions can be anticipated here. The audio’s inclination is towards academic topics. Nevertheless, it does not deal with too many technical details.
The 3rd audio can be a conversation between a professor and a student discussing the project and the student getting feedback or two students preparing a thesis on a topic and discussing the details of the same.
Rarely, there is a chance of a conversation between 3 people, one professor and two students. But one must not rule out this option completely.
The distractors in this section are several. The student’s attention should be sharp at this point. He needs to filter out the correct answer out of the various options and eliminate the rest. To solve this section of the listening exam, a student needs diverse skills apart from listening keenly.
Last but not least is section 4. I should remind you that this being the last section and the last audio, the challenge here is at its peak. The audio is full of distractions.
However, relief is that this section generally contains complete sentence type of questions. This audio has only one speaker that is, it is a monologue too. Though a student might find this section complicated, it has been noticed that it can be a scoring one too.
To recapitulate, the IELTS listening module can be worrisome for some students but the solution lies in rigorous training under good guidance and polishing one’s skills by following tips of the best IELTS coaching institute which will assist you to ace the subject.
About the Author
I am a certified IELTS teaching professional and have vast experience in training IELTS students to crack their test successfully and nurturing the IELTS trainers with their training journeys.