【IELTS-Listening-02】Listening Tips and Tricks | How I got a band 9 (聽力技巧與訣竅 |我是如何獲得 9 級的)

【聽力(Listening)】 結構: 4部分，40題，約30分鐘（加10分鐘抄寫答案）。 Part 1：日常對話（2人）。 Part 2：獨白（生活情境）。 Part 3：學術討論（2-4人）。 Part 4：學術講座（獨白）。 題型：選擇、填空、配對、表格、地圖等。 高分技巧: 預讀題目，標記關鍵詞。 專注同義詞替換。 熟悉各種口音（英、澳、美）。 練習速記關鍵資訊。 檢查拼寫與格式（數字、日期）。 Structure : 4 sections, 40 questions, ~30 minutes (+10 minutes for answer transfer). Part 1: Casual conversation (2 people). Part 2: Monologue (daily life). Part 3: Academic discussion (2-4 people). Part 4: Academic lecture (monologue). Question types : Multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, matching, tables, maps. High-Score Tips : Pre-read questions, highlight keywords. Watch for synonyms. Familiarize with accents (British, Australian, American). Practice quick note-taking. Check spelling and format (numbers, dates). The listening test in IELTS can be divided into four parts one of which is a conversation between two people. The conversations are mostly based on social settings. Take a test to know the type of conversation and how well you fair in it. Topic: Hotel Stay
Find exercise: Listening > 2 People > Hotel Stay > click square before timer IELTS Listening Practice Lessons: Multiple Choice Tips Tips on how to improve your listening skills for multiple choice type questions. IELTS Listening Multiple Choice Tips There are certain things in this kind of question that can easily trip you up  and lead to mistakes. Learning about these will improve your ability to listen and identify the correct answer.

What are the difficulties with IELTS Listening Multiple Choice Questions?
Hearing all the Words In this type of question, it is very likely that you will hear ALL the words  that you are given in each choice . Two choices will not be referring to the answer, so you need to listen very carefully to make sure you get the correct one.
Similar Choices Another problem is that you may be given very similar choices . For example, all the choices may refer to ‘years’, so it is easy to choose the wrong one. Also, the information you hear about each choice may be quite similar.
Paraphrases and Synonyms Sentences and words that you hear will often be paraphrased in the actual listening script. The test would be quite easy if you could heard exactly what you see in the question, but it will be changed in some way.
Different Order The person you hear speaking may not necessarily give you the information or choices in the same order as the question  you see on the paper.   Example 1 Taken from section 2 IELTS Listening, so it will be slightly easier than a multiple choice that you would get in sections 3 or 4, but the same principles apply. Below the question is the section of the listening script  that refers to the question.
Qu 1:   PS Camping has been organising holidays  for
A.  15 years
B.  20 years
C.  25 years ____________ Thank you for coming to my talk this evening. It’s nice to see so many people in the audience. For those of you who don’t know very much about PS Camping, let me start by giving you some background information about the company.
The company started twenty five years  ago. It actually started as a retail chain selling camping equipment, and then twenty years  ago, it bought a small number of campsites in the UK, and began offering camping holidays . The company grew rapidly and has been providing holidays  in continental Europe for the last fifteen years .
So you should be able to spot some of the difficult things: You hear all the words - 25 years, 20 years and 15 years.
There are similarities in the choices  - in years with a mix of numbers ‘ twenty ’ and ‘ five ’ and they all mention about the company or holidays.
The question stem has been paraphrased   - nowhere does it say “ organising holidays ”. Instead you can see phrases like “ began offering holidays ” and “ providing holidays ”. This can be particularly confusing because you have to understand which one fits with the question.
The possible answers are in a different order   to the audio – you hear ‘ 25 ’ first and ‘ 15 ’ last. How do you answer this multiple-choice question? 1. Look through the questions .
You have 30 seconds to do this before you hear the audio.

2. Underline  key words  in the question stems.
Underline “ Organised Holidays ”.

3. Look at the choices so you know what to listen out for.
Note that you are listening out for ‘ years ’.
In this case, its in the 2nd paragraph
The company started twenty five years ago.  It actually started as a retail chain selling camping equipment, and then twenty years ago, it bought a small number of campsites in the UK, and began offering camping holidays. The company grew rapidly and has been providing holidays in continental Europe for the last fifteen years.
So when you hear this, make sure you are looking carefully at the question  and the choices and about each year so that you can identify the right answer: 1. PS Camping has been organising holidays  for:
A.  15 years
[ has been providing holidays  in continental Europe for the last fifteen years]
B.  20 years
[twenty years ago, it bought a small number of campsites in the UK, and began offering camping holidays ]
C.  25 years
[The company started  twenty five years ago] You can see how the question tries to trick you! It distracts you from the correct answer by giving other statements that are quite similar to the correct answer. The answer is B , but you could easily end up thinking it is A  or C  if you are not listening carefully enough.
The company started   25 years ago, but that is NOT   when they started offering holidays for camping. It later clarifies that they did not start offering / organising holidays  until 5 years later (20 years ago) when they bought a campsite.
It is not A  because this is just when they starting providing holidays  in Europe, which came later. That is not what the question asks. Example 2 2.  Which country has the  most  camping sites  in? A.  France B.  Italy C.  Switzerland ___________ If you book a camping holiday with us,  you'll have a choice of over three hundred sites . In  Italy  we have some 64 sites that we either own, or have exclusive use of.  France  is where we have the  majority of sites , and we currently have a project to expand into  Switzerland . We also have a number of sites in Northern Spain, particularly the mountainous region of Picos de Europa. We've upgraded all these Spanish sites, and improved them considerably from their original three-star rating. The first sentence in red indicates you have reached question 2. After that, they start talking about countries. You'll see again that all the countries / choices are mentioned , meaning you have to listen very carefully to the information about each country. You should be able to identify that A  is the correct answer, and that a paraphrase of 'most sites ' is used: ' majority of sites '. Exercise 1 Volunteering Abroad Script Ok, everyone, thanks for coming today and for your interest in volunteering abroad. For those who don’t know much about our company, Time Abroad, let me start by telling you a bit more.

Time Abroad is one of the largest volunteer abroad organisations in the UK. The company was founded in 2000. In 2007, the company grew by joining with another company, PT Travel, making us even larger. In 2014, we sent 10,000 people abroad on a variety of service projects and internships overseas, more than any other company. All participants receive the best support from our full-time, professional staff to ensure that the experience is safe, worthwhile and fun.

We have lots of very experienced staff working for us. We have around 150 full-time staff members, many of whom are former volunteers themselves inspired by their own experience. Some of these people are even part of the original groups of volunteers back in the early 90s. About 75 of those staff are not located in the UK at all, and spend their whole time in another country supporting the volunteers. They are experts on the local communities you are working in, having spent their whole lives there. They have vast experience in fields such as community development or education.

The times that volunteers join the program vary a lot. Some join in July because they have just finished studying at college or university and want to do some volunteering before they move on to work or further study. The winter months are also popular because people want to escape the cold weather in the UK. But there are no set start dates, and programs run continuously throughout the year, so the majority of volunteers start when it is best for them.

Time Abroad is an entirely independent organisation which does not receive any funding from religious bodies, political parties, development organisations, or other sources. And of course, we don’t request money from our partner organisations in the developing world. All our work is 100% funded through your contributions as a volunteer. We do get help from the government, but that is from reduced business taxes, not financial contributions. It is this financial independence that gives us the freedom to set up projects wherever we think it may be useful and where we think that our volunteers can make a valuable contribution.

Now I’m going to tell you about some of the more popular opportunities in a bit more detail. One of the most popular volunteering choices is teaching. You’ll find a warm welcome awaits you from our students around the world. The main thing you will do is assist with English conversation because although the local teachers are very capable of teaching the structural aspects of the English language, such as grammar, they do not use the correct intonation or pronunciation, because they lack the confidence of a native speaker. By providing conversational English teaching, you can greatly enhance the learning experience of thousands of children and adults with whom we work in the developing world.

You can also volunteer in agriculture and farming. Access to safe and healthy food is a major concern of any society. Volunteers work on a farm with the aim of promoting sustainable local food sources and responsible farming. Using pesticides and other destructive agricultural techniques can have a long-term negative impact on the environment and threaten the future well-being of whole regions. Time Abroad’s agriculture & farming projects focus on organic farming practices and educating local communities on their benefits.

You could also volunteer in the field of veterinary medicine. If you do this, you will be working alongside a vet in a local veterinary practice. You will help the vet when people bring in sick animals or join the vet on visits to people’s houses or other places. You will gain fantastic insight that would not be possible in your own country. You are likely to see many exciting types of animals like snakes, big cats or even elephants! And you will develop a better understanding of the problems people are faced with in both urban and rural areas of the Third World.

So, I hope that has helped you to learn a bit more about Time Abroad. Does anybody have any questions?
Exercise Script w/ answers Exercise 2 Media Studies Course
LOUISE : I’m looking for some advice about doing a Master’s Degree in Media Studies. Am I at the right place?

MARK : Yes, my name’s Mark, I’m head of the Media Studies course. Nice to meet you, and you are…

LOUISE : I’m Louise, nice to meet you too.

MARK : So how can I help you?

LOUISE : Well, I’ve seen the prospectus for the course, but I’m still a bit confused about a few things and about some of the options for studying.

MARK : What’s your situation at the moment? Are you working?

LOUISE : Yes, I’ve been working as a journalist for a local newspaper for the last 3 months. Prior to that, I had two jobs in the media – at a small local radio station for about 2 years and at a TV station for about 4 years. So I’ve worked in media for about six years in total.

MARK : Ok, well, that’s useful if you want to do the course. What is your motivation to do further study?

LOUISE : I enjoy my job a lot at the moment, but I feel the opportunities for promotion are quite limited. It’s not that I think a Master's will help with this, though. I’ll probably leave my job, maybe to go into TV or something, but basically, I think wherever I end up going in the future, employers prefer to see someone with post-graduate qualifications these days.

MARK : And are you intending to study full-time?

LOUISE : Well, I’d really like to keep working as I need an income. What are the options for me if I want to work whilst studying?

MARK : You could do certain modules over a number of years, you like. It’s up to you how many you do. Basically, you get credits for the ones you complete. People usually do the Master's in anything from 18 months up until 4 years. It depends on your time. If you wanted a fixed schedule and attendance and did it part-time then that would be a total of 3 years.

LOUISE : So what are the admission criteria to join the course? MARK : Well, there are a few things that are useful but not essential, but there are some requirements. Usually, to join a Master's people must have a bachelor’s degree, but we are prepared to overlook this if someone has enough work experience. But you must have one or the other. It’s useful if you have research experience, as you have to complete a thesis, but we can train you on this if not. It’s essential that you have motivation if you want to join the course, as it is very demanding. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
LOUISE : What about the costs for the course? MARK : The fees for a year if you are studying part-time are £2250. No, sorry, they have gone up this year – £2400. Of course, you are paying for all other living costs.
LOUISE : Is there any kind of bursary or scholarship available to help with the fees? MARK : Yes, there are things available, but you have to meet the criteria to get funding. Often, though, the university will actually contact you about funding. Universities have a certain budget available to provide funds, so they will look for the best students and offer them something if they think they will be suitable. You would have to have a firm offer in place to join the course, though, before you’d be considered for any funding. LOUISE : Where can I go to find out more about it?

MARK : The best place to look for information about funding is on our university website. All the details about whether you’re eligible, what help is on offer, and how to apply will be there. If you can’t find the information you’re looking for, you can always come and speak to us again, and there will be a number you can ring. LOUISE : Ok, thanks for that. And is it easy to get hold of you if I need to speak to you further? MARK : Yes, I’m here most days, but you can always phone the office first to check. It’s best to book an appointment in case I’m not around.            ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Exercise Script with Answers Practice Exercises Test Part 1 Practice Test Part 2 Practice Test Part 3 Practice
Dealing with Listening Distractors Avoid being tricked into writing the wrong answer.
Map Labelling How to label a map, a task that sometimes comes up in Section Two of the test. Learn about the language of location and other top tips to score well.  Signposting Language for Section 4 Section 4 is the most difficult part of the listening test. Learn useful signposting language to improve your score for this section.
Pre-Listening Activities - Predicting the Answer Predicting what you are going to hear is a really important skill that can help improve your listening and increase your score. 
Sentence Completion Strategies Strategies to deal with sentence completion questions.
Grammar in IELTS Listening Key tips to avoid grammar errors and use grammar to get the right answer. Listening Exercises Full Practice Listening Test One
you can input your answers onto the question sheet in the same way as the test  Section 1-4
 Full Practice Listening Test Two Section One  - Booking a Hotel Section Two  - Volunteering Abroad Section Three  - A Media Studies Course Section Four  - History of Indian Railways
Full Practice Listening Test Three Section One  - Bus Tour of London Section Two  - A Talk on Pandas Section Three  - A Business Studies Course Section Four  - Behaviour of Dolphins
Full Practice Listening Test Four Section One  - Host Family Application Section Two  - Soccer Club Meeting Section Three  - A Business Case Study Section Four  - Library Talk Listening Tips and Tricks | How I got a band 9
Accademic Listening https://ieltstutorials.online/sample-questions/cue-card https://www.ieltsbuddy.com/ielts-speaking-samples.html
50 Recent IELTS Speaking Topics for Parts 2 and 3 for IELTS 2025
https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-speaking-part-1-topics/ IELTS Speaking Sample Questions with Answers for IELTS Speaking Part 3 https://www.ieltsjacky.com/ielts-speaking.html https://ieltsmaterial.com/50-ielts-speaking-part-2-3-topics-2020-with-model-answers/ https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-speaking-free-lessons-essential-tips/ https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/take-ielts/prepare/free-ielts-english-practice-tests/speaking https://ielts-up.com/speaking/ielts-speaking-test.html https://leapscholar.com/exams/ielts/practice-test/speaking/part-1 https://ielts.org/take-a-test/preparation-resources
IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors  - Speaking Assessment Criteria What is the IELTS Speaking test?   Four Skills   33 interview questions for students (with sample answers)   Interviewers usually ask these questions for students to learn about their basic knowledge and abilities. They also ask these questions to get a better understanding of your interests, attitude, and personality. Some common general questions include: Can you tell us about yourself? How did you learn about our organization/ university? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses, and how do you overcome them? Why did you choose your school? What motivates you? How do you believe you can contribute to our growth? Where do you see yourself in the next five years? Can you tell us why you think you're the best fit for this role? Do you have any questions for us?
Experience and Background The interviewer may ask questions about your background and experience to understand your responsibilities in previous roles and how you handled them. They also ask these questions to envision you in the role and determine whether you fit their company culture. Below are examples of these questions: Tell us something about your field of study. Which academic accomplishment are you most proud of? Do you have prior experience in this role? Do you have any academic goals you hope to achieve before you graduate? What are they? What skills and experience do you hope to gain in this job? Do you have plans to further your education? Do you participate in any extracurricular activities? What are they? What do you wish you knew before choosing this career path? What steps have you taken for your professional growth and development? Do you think your education helped to prepare you for this role? In what way?
In-depth Questions Interviewers ask in-depth questions to get detailed information about your behaviour or abilities. These questions usually relate directly to the role and give the interviewer an idea of how well you'd perform. Examples of in-depth questions include: Can you give an example of a time you applied your leadership skills at work? How do you work under pressure? How do you handle stress? Do you prefer working alone or with a team? Why? Tell us about a time you exceeded your expectations. Have you ever missed a deadline? Why and what was the result? Describe how you organise your schedule and prioritise your tasks. Have you ever managed multiple tasks simultaneously? How did you handle them? How do you manage two projects that are due at the same time? How do you intend to make an impact in this role?
Discussion Questions (Tests) (1) What images spring to mind when you hear the word ‘test’? (2) Do you get nervous when you take tests? (3) Are there any kinds of tests that you love? (4) Do you follow any special routines before you take a test? (5) What test has made you most nervous? (6) What do you think about while you wait for the result of a test? (7) Have you ever cheated on a test? (8) Have you ever taken an IQ test? (9) Do you think testing is useful or a waste of time? (10) Do you think your test scores reflect your true ability and intelligence? (11) Do you like taking tests? (12) Are you good at taking tests? (13) What was the last English test that you took like? (14) Have you ever had a blood test? (15) Would you be more nervous before your driving test, a blood test or an English test? (16) What’s the best way to prepare for a test? (17) What medical tests have you had? (18) What was the worst test you ever took? (19) Are there too many tests in school? (20) How do you feel when you fail a test?