IELTS Listening: strategies that raise your band

Each recording plays once. Read the questions in each preview window and mark keywords — names, numbers, plurals, prepositions. That preview time is the strongest predictor of accuracy.

Speakers rarely change topic without a signal. Watch for however, on the other hand, moving on to, another point is, in fact — these words often precede a corrected or updated answer.

In Part 3 and Part 4, the speaker often lists items with first, second, another. If your question expects three items, wait until you hear all three signposts before writing.

Distractors are wrong answers that sound correct because they use words from the question. Real answers are often paraphrases. If the question says accommodation and you hear accommodation followed by a rejection ("we thought about a hotel, but actually chose a hostel"), the answer is hostel, not hotel.

Answers must be spelled correctly to score. If the text says minutes, write minutes, not minute. Numbers can be written as digits (14) or words (fourteen) unless the instruction says otherwise. Dates and telephone numbers are usually said one digit at a time.

Preview the questions, underline keywords, guess likely answer types (number, name, plural). While listening, write short answers in shorthand and cross out options as they are eliminated. If you miss an answer, keep moving. On the paper test, use the 10-minute transfer window to check spelling and to complete anything left blank.