IELTS LISTENING
Save Time & Money Preparing for IELTS Listening
Step-by-Step Guide
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The best guide to the IELTS reading and listening section is the Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS.
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For both the reading and listening section, I tell my students to just do the reading and listening sections Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS, then do 3 practice tests.
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This entire process should take around 15-20 hours.
​What about youtube videos?
There are some very good youtube videos that explain the reading and listening sections, but I don’t recommend them because they are not necessary and they are too long…
They are not necessary
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If you watch the videos, you will still have to do the Official Cambridge Guide and 3 practice tests.
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If you only do the Official Cambridge Guide and 3 practice tests, watching the youtube videos probably won’t improve your score further.
They are too long
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In total, it will take at least 20 hours to watch all of them, and then you have to do the Official Cambridge to IELTS which will probably take another 10-20 hours.
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So if you watch the videos as well that could be 40 hours total, which is a lot of time, especially when you still have to work on speaking and writing.
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Many students lose motivation if they spend this much time.
I have completed the Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS and done 3 practice tests. How can I improve my score further?
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Do not continue to do practice tests! This is a waste of time. It will not improve your score.
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Instead, you have to improve your actual reading and listening skills, and your vocabulary.
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This takes time, maybe several months.
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If your exam is in 4 months or less, I recommend you continue to the writing and speaking sections.
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If you still have time after that, you can focus on reading and listening.
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To do that, I recommend using one of the following course books...
If your average score is less than 6 and you want to get a 6.5...
If your average score is 6 or higher and you want to get a 7 or higher...
Important! Only use REAL practice tests...
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There are a lot of free practice tests online.
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Unfortunately, not all of them are real IELTS tests.
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Fake tests are a waste of time.
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It's basically impossible for you to know the difference between real and fake tests.
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Use real practice tests only...
Action Plan
Using the Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS​...
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Do the reading section
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Do 3 practice reading tests at the back of the book
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Do the listening section
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Do 3 practice listening tests at the back of the book
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Continue to writing task 2
Meet the Instructor
John Bird (BSc, CELTA)
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Born in Chicago, USA
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Certified by the British Study Centre (Oxford)
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English teacher at Chang An University, Xi’an, China (2016-2020)
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Self-employed English teacher from (2020 - now)
IELTS Success Stories
While teaching at Chang An University, I helped around 180 students improve their IELTS writing and speaking scores by an average of 1 band score in 4 months!
Marysia, IELTS 7.5
Ana, IELTS 8
Roman, IELTS 7
Zhen, IELTS 7
Artem, IELTS 6.5
Anna, IELTS 7
Pascal, IELTS 6.5
Ana, IELTS 8
Martina, IELTS 8
