IELTS mock test listening
IELTS mock test listening – You will need about 30 minutes to complete the four sections of the Listening practice test.
Each question consists of four answers. One mark is awarded for each question.
In each part of the test, you will have the opportunity to look through the questions and to check your answers.
You will be given the following instructions during the actual test:
You should not open this question paper until you are instructed to do so
Fill in the space at the top of the test paper with your name and candidate number
Follow the instructions carefully for each part of the paper
Provide all the answers to the questions
Answer the question paper while you are listening
Your answers must be copied onto the separate answer sheet using a pencil within 10 minutes after the test
After the test, you will be required to hand in the questions.
This month, you can test your listening skills at:
How to Do MCQ Type of Questions in ILETS Listening?
This article title contains a spelling error, have you noticed it? I appreciate your point of view! The name of the test should change from ILETS Listening to IELTS Listening. Please take note of the commonly misspelled word “IELTS” that is highlighted in the title.
We will now discuss how MCQs can be answered now that the spelling issue has been addressed.
Listening’s most challenging questions are MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions), which have several options to choose from. Depending on the question, there may be one correct answer or a number of correct answers.
There is no doubt that candidates taking IELTS have a fear of MCQs. Here is an example of how you can ask MCQ questions in IELTS Listening.
The following is a breakdown of each MCQ type according to its difficulty level so that all strategies can be better understood.
Strategy 1
Underlining the keywords is the best strategy for solving MCQ questions.
MCQ Difficulty Level – Easy
There are two types of MCQs: easy and difficult. In easy MCQs, there are options for one word or two words. When listening to an audio and answering a question at the same time, it is extremely easy to concentrate. Using the example above,
Which of the two things are included in the tour cost?
Accommodation
Picnic
Fishing trip
Table tennis
Restaurant meal
In the above question, “two things” and “tour cost” are the major keywords you should focus on. In the options, “accommodation” and “picnic” are two “one word” options that are easy to focus on, but in the other three options, you can put more emphasis on words such as “fishing”, “tennis”, and “meal” even though you cannot ignore the other words as well.
Strategy 2
MCQ Difficulty Level – Moderate
When you highlight a few main keywords in the moderate type of MCQs, you will find short statements as the options. The following are some examples:
In the year 1994, Michael Willson went to Japan
As a part-time student
As a volunteer worker
As a businessman
There is at least one word in each option in the above question. Leaving aside prepositions, determiners, etc., you can only underline the main keywords, as highlighted above.
Strategy 3
MCQ Difficulty Level – Advanced
Listeners in advanced MCQs have a harder time understanding the audio conversation and concentrating on all the possible answers at the same time. The following are some examples:
How did the company deal with the problem in 1999?
Inability to meet sales targets leads to a reduction in sales
Compared to competitors, we had a weak market strategy
As a result of the company’s failures, the media began criticizing it
There are too many statements in the options in the above question. By understanding these options and underlining the keywords that define the main aspects, you can determine what the main aspects are in each one.
Keeping the gist of MCQ questions in mind when trying to find an answer while understanding the audio is another important strategy. If you are considering the options for the above question, you must focus on the problem faced by the company, such as reduced sales, weak marketing strategy, or criticism of the media.
Finally, a very important strategy is to identify the “focus” or “stem” of the question so that you can carefully choose the right response. To take example for this, let us alter the above question itself as below:
What major problem did the company face in 1999?
Not meeting the targets leading to reduced sales
Market strategy was weak as compared to competitors
Media started criticizing the company for its failures
The change in the above question is the word “major”This question focuses on the phrase “major problem” since in this case, you’re required to choose only one problem that had a major impact on the company, and not just a problem at all.
How to Do Matching Heading Type of Questions in IELTS Listening?
In addition to multiple choice questions, matching heading questions are another tricky type of IELTS listening question. Matching headings refers to matching a list of questions with another list of options, as the term suggests. There may be one-to-one or one-to-many questions in these types of questions. In one-to-one matching heading questions, there is a match between question no.
1 and option no. When the answer to a question is C, then no other question can be answered by C. In one-to-many questions, however, the answer to one question matches the answer to the other. If C is the answer to another question, then C can also be the answer to that question. This is where solving such questions becomes difficult. The difficulty of one-to-many questions is comparatively higher than that of one-to-one questions.
Audio Information is Always in Order
It is important to keep in mind that the audio conversation in matching heading questions is always heard in the same order as the questions themselves. It is therefore important to pay attention to the audio in this manner. Moreover, you should be aware of the transition point, so you should pay attention when the speaker stops talking about a question and moves on to the next one. It is here that you need to pay close attention.
Keep your Eyes and Ears Open
It is imperative that you keep your eyes on all the options for the matching heading question of IELTS listening in order to be able to select the right one, while at the same time keeping your ears open to make sure you can track the information well for each of them. That’s the most important tip for IELTS listening. In order to prevent getting confused or messed up, it is important that you do so. When you lose your grip on the audio and the options, you will be unable to find the right answer, which would leave you with only one option: guessing.
Underline Keywords in Options
Using the same strategy that works well for IELTS listening questions also works well for matching headings questions. It will be especially useful in cases where your options are long statements. So, instead of underlining all the prepositions, articles, etc., underline the meaningful words in the options. Moreover, it would be easier for you to think about all the options at once, which would make it easier for you to pick the right one. If you want to be able to concentrate well while listening to the audio, you may want to encircle some major keywords.
Focus on Understanding Audio
In addition to all this, you should ensure that you pay close attention to the audio conversation when you are listening in IELTS. No matter how many keywords you underline, you can’t be sure whether you marked the right answer if you don’t understand what the speaker is saying. Hence, you should always understand the whole conversation before marking your response.
How to Crack Section 3 of IELTS Listening?
The IELTS Listening module is divided into four sections. In this section, there are three sections: Section 1, Section 2, and Section 3. Among all of these sections, Section 3 allows you to listen to audio conversations between four people. As you have to listen to several people, this section is perhaps one of the most challenging. Because when you try to relate this audio to the question, you may get confused with the voices and conversations going on, which can make it difficult to keep up well in IELTS Listening Section 3. You read some tips on how to crack IELTS Listening Section 2 in the previous article.
Let us now discuss in detail how to crack Section 3 of IELTS listening test:
In IELTS Listening Section 3, you may encounter any of the following questions: table completion, MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions), matching headings, flow charts or diagrams. In this section, forms are not usually filled out or sentences are not usually completed.
When attempting Section 3 of the IELTS Listening test, there are some unique things that you should keep in mind, but the basic things remain the same regardless of what type of question you have. By taking an example of an MCQ type of question, let us discuss the approach you can adopt for IELTS Listening test Section 3:
Underline Keywords
IELTS Listening Section 3 can be solved most effectively by highlighting key words in the question. The minute you have been given prior to listening to the audio conversation can be used for this purpose. Here are a few tips for underlining keywords:
Simple MCQ
Joy has been working in the hospital for
Three years
One year
Four years
The main keywords you should focus on in the above question are “joy”, “working”, and “hospital”. By underlining these keywords, you can emphasize their importance. Once the audio starts, keep the underlined keywords in your head to get the gist of the question while keeping your eyes on the three options; “three”, “one” and “four”.
In order to solve this type of question easily, you must choose the answer from those three numbers only. A bit difficult question can also be answered with the same strategy:
Difficult MCQ
Here are some examples of difficult MCQs:
Because of his dedication to his business, John was successful
recruited hundred more employees
was the highly skilled professional
could reach out to maximum customers
Whenever it is comparatively difficult to concentrate on a question such as the one above, you can underline keywords as highlighted above. Let us now review some important points for solving the third section of the IELTS Listening test.
Essential Tips for IELTS Listening Section 3:
You will be able to recognize different voices well if you listen carefully to the introduction and example audio.
As you focus on the underlined keywords in the question, it is also important to understand the question because some of the keywords in the options or the whole option may be paraphrased in the audio.
You can familiarize yourself with the questions by spending 1 minute getting an overview of the section.
It is important that you are quick enough to look over all the questions and options as you listen to the audio so that there is no chance of skipping a question.
Last but not least, please keep in mind that information in the audio always follows the order of the questions. Rather than going back to look for a slipped question or unsurely marked answer, you should move on to the next question immediately.