IELTS Listening Preparation (Part2)
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UNIT 6: Being aware of stress, rhythm and intonation.
Public speakers and lecturers make use of stress, rhythm and intonation patterns, along with signpost words, to divide their information into 'chunks' of meaning. Learning to recognise these speech patterns will help you to understand formal spoken English whether you are listening to a live or a recorded talk.
Focus on:
• How do intonation and word stress help us to understand?
Test instructions
At the beginning of each section, the speaker will give a brief introduction to the situation. For example,
"You are now going to listen to a conversation in a language school. Paulo is registering for a course and talking to a lady at the student services counter."
You will then be given instructions:
"Read questions 1 to 6. As you listen to the tape, write the correct answer in the spaces provided."
You are then told to look at the questions:
"First, you have some time to look at the questions 1 to 6."
The tape will be silent for about 30 seconds. Then the speaker will repeat which questions you have to answer:
"Now listen and answer questions 1 to 6."
Question types
The types of tasks are:
1. Multiple Choice
2. Short-answer questions
3. Sentence completion
4. Notes/table/summary flowchart/diagram completion
5. Labelling a diagram which has numbered parts
6. Classification
There are 40 questions in total and about 10 questions in each section and at least two types of questions in each section. Both the texts and the tasks increase in difficulty as the test progresses.
The Question Types 1. Multiple Choice.
There are three types of multiple choice questions in the IELTS listening exam.
1. Where there is one possible answer. ( Sometimes picture multiple choice)
2. Where there are multiple answers for only one mark.
3. Where there are multiple answers and one mark for each.
For these questions, you may be given the start of a sentence which you have to complete with one out of four or more choices. Or you may be presented with a question and asked to find two, three or four items in a list of answers.
Look at the examples below.
(Type 1)
Questions 1 and 2
Circle the correct letters A-C.
1 When did John finish the book?
- A. on the way to Japan
- B. in Japan
- C. on his way back from Japan.
2 What did John think about the book?
- A. He thought it was funny.
- B. He couldn’t understand it.
- C. He didn’t enjoy it.
(Type 2)
Questions 3 and 4
Choose TWO letters A-E.
3 John likes to read novels…
- A. on his way to work.
- B. during his lunch break.
- C. on his way home from work.
- D. after dinner.
- E. when he goes to bed.
4 John would like the library…
- A. to open on Sundays.
- B. to have more magazines and journals.
- C. to employ more staff.
- D. to have exhibitions.
- E. to do some renovations.
(Type 3)
Questions 5-7
Circle THREE letters A-F.
What types of books does John like to read?
- A. Science fiction
- B. Thrillers
- C. Adventure
- D. Romance
- E. War
- F. Biographies
Also note that you may be asked to circle ONE, TWO, THREE or FOUR letters.
How to do the multiple choice questions-
- Read the instructions carefully and check how many letters you need to circle.
- Skim the questions and the answer choices quickly before the recording starts and during the 30 seconds given. As you do this,
- Underline the keywords – the words that give you the most information, such as the ‘wh-’ words and nouns.
- Try to work out what you are going to hear from the vocabulary of the questions and/or pictures.
- Translate any pictures into words and look for details that are different in the options.
- Decide what kind of information you need to listen out for.
- Listen to the introduction given carefully.
- Answer the questions as you listen. Circle the letters. The information will be given in the same order as the questions, although it might be expressed differently. Be prepared not to hear the first or even second answer choices mentioned.
- Remember to make notes beside the question if you are not sure of the answer, so you can go back later.
- Don’t leave any questions unanswered.
Remember:
-- To listen for people correcting themselves when speaking. They may discuss one of the answer choices and then reject it.
-- To eliminate unlikely answers.
The Question Types 2. Short Answer Question.
These questions require general information or specific details which you will find by listening to the text. There are two types of short answer questions in the IELTS listening exam.
Type 1. Questions
Type 2. Lists
These questions will always tell you to write your answers in NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS. So you can answer with one word, two words or three words but no more. Also, note that the answers should not require a hyphenated word (e.g. non-smoker) or a contraction (e.g. They’ve). If the answer requires a number, you can write it as a numeral (e.g. 6) or a word (e.g. six) or a combination of a numeral and a word (e.g. 6 million).
Look at the examples below.
(Type 1)
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS or A NUMBER for each answer.
1 On which day of the week is the museum closed?
……………………………………………………
2 How old is the museum?
…………………………………………………….
(Type 2)
List THREE things which the museum has recently bought.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
3 ……………………………………………….
4 ……………………………………………….
5 ………………………………………………..
How to do short answer questions-
- Read the instructions carefully.
- Skim the questions quickly before the recording starts and during the 30 seconds given. As you do this,
- Underline the key words.
- Try to work out what you are going to hear.
- Decide what you need to listen out for.
- Look out for question words like ‘where’ and ‘who’ which indicate you should listen for specific things like places and people.
- Listen to the introduction given carefully.
- Answer the questions as you listen. The answers will be given in the same order as the questions although they may be expressed differently.
- You may use your own words.
- Make notes beside the question if you are not sure of the answer.
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