This post is all about seven easy tips that will help boost your IELTS reading score. These tips shared in this post are guaranteed to help you achieve a high band, as they have been tried and tested by thousands of IELTS students I have coached. 
IELTS Listening Score
Looking for ways to boost your IELTS listening score can be challenging, especially because of the amount of information you find online. It can become overwhelming and you may not know how to try the tips that will help you boost your IELTS listening score.
As an IELTS mentor for the past 7 years, I have seen many students feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to look for exam preparation material. That’s why I wrote this article, to help you find all the information in one article.
You are going to learn strategies on how to increase your overall IELTS listening score band, what exactly to expect from the Cambridge IELTS listening test, where you can find practice IELTS listening test with audio and answers, and the top IELTS listening tips that will help you score a band 7 and higher.
This post is all about the top tips that will help boost your IELTS listening score.
Boost Your IELTS Listening Score
Understanding The Cambridge IELTS Listening Test
Before you try to look for ways to boost your IELTS listening score, you should have a general understanding of what to expect from the Cambridge IELTS listening test.
During the Cambridge IELTS listening test, you will hear four different recordings and will be required to answer forty questions throughout the recordings. So that means you will need to answer 10 questions per recording.
Something to take note of is that the difficulty of the recordings increases throughout each audio. Especially because some of the recordings you hear will have multiple people speaking which can get confusing.
If you want to learn more about the different recordings you will hear during the Cambridge IELTS listening test, check out this article titled IELTS Listening. It’s important you understand these different recordings because this will help boost your IELTS listening score band.
How To Boost Your IELTS Listening Score Band
There are so many different ways you can boost your IELTS listening score band, however, if you are looking for the quickest methods, I highly recommend you to consider these:
- Don’t waste time, especially the moment you are handed the questions. Take advantage of highlighting potential keywords that you may listen for in the audio recording.
- Remember Synonym Language when you are listening in the audio for the potential keywords you highlighted. Remember that this is an English test so it is very unlikely that you will hear the same keyword from the questions in the recording.
- You don’t need to understand everything in the recording if you want to boost your IELTS listening score band. Rather, listen for words that may mention your keyword before or after that particular word.
- Become familiar with different English accents if you want to boost your IELTS score band. Especially because you may hear different accents in the recordings, such as Australian, Canadian, American, and British.
Here are a few IELTS listening tips that will also really help boost your IELTS listening score.
IELTS Listening Tips
Knowing and practicing these IELTS listening tips will help you achieve a high band score:
1. Identify your weak point – If you have an understanding of what you struggle the most with IELTS listening, this will help you prepare the best way possible. For example, if you know that you struggle the most with the fact that you only get to listen to the recordings once, then practice this method by only allowing yourself to listen to practice recordings only once when answering questions. Being able to identify your weakness and practice working on it will help you boost your IELTS listening score.
2. Make a plan – Once you identify your weakness, plan out how you will take action to improve it. It’s one thing to tell yourself you will only allow yourself to listen to one recording, but how will you improve by doing this? Will you test yourself by trying to answer the questions when playing the recording only once?
3. Look up words you aren’t familiar with- this is one of the most important IELTS listening tips you should practice. When you are completing practice tests, you should make an effort to look up words you have a hard time understanding the meaning. Especially because it can be a synonym of a keyword you may have highlighted in the questions.
4. Become familiar with different recordings – While you are preparing for IELTS listening, you should become familiar with different recordings such as a lecture in an academic environment, a conversation between two people and maybe another recording of group members talking about their assignment or course. These types of recordings can all be found on YouTube with a quick search!
5. Jot Down Potential Answers – If you aren’t sure that you just heard the right answer during the recording, write it down and keep listening to hear anything else that may give the answer you are looking for. Especially when it comes to a certain amount of money or time. These questions can get tricky.
6. Look For Any Information The Answer Sheet May Give You – On the answer sheet, you will see that the listed questions are usually above a title that is the heading, which can be an indication of when you will hear the potential answer you are looking for.
7. Pay Close Attention To The Instructions – If the instructions to the questions say to WRITE NO MORE THAN 2 WORDS, be sure to follow these rules to boost your IELTS listening score.
Lastly, learn about where you can practice more than one IELTS listening test with audio and answers.
IELTS Listening Tests With Audio And Answers
Although I feel that you should not limit yourself to just practicing different IELTS listening test with audio and answers, you can find many different mock tests online, especially on YouTube.
The reason why I don’t recommend you to limit yourself to only completing different IELTS listening test with audio and answers is that it’s not guaranteed that you will get one of these exact questions on your exam.
Rather, as I mentioned earlier you should listen to different recordings that will increase your vocabulary and enhance your communication skills. One YouTube channel that is worthy for you to check out is TED talks, because these individuals are often speaking in a very casual yet professional manner.
What You Should Know About The IELTS Listening Score Calculator
The examiner counts your IELTS listening score calculator by the number of correct answers you get right. For each correct answer, you are given one mark. The total will be out of 40 marks. Furthermore, your score won’t be shown as out of 40, rather you will be given a band score which can be up to a 9 band.
Something you should also remember is that if you don’t know the answer, you shouldn’t leave it blank. Rather, you should try to take a guess because at least you have a chance of getting it right rather than no chance.
Below you will find a list of IELTS listening PDF documents.
List Of IELTS Listening PDF Samples
There are many IELTS listening pdf e-books online where you will be able to practice IELTS listening tests. One website I always recommend is www.scribd.com.
Scribd is a website where you get access to thousands of IELTS listening pdf ebooks that are authentic and updated. If you sign up for an account, you will be given 30 days of free access where you will have the opportunity to download all the e-books during this time on your computer before the 30 days free trial is done.
I recommend that you cancel your subscription the day you sign up so you don’t forget to cancel it after 30 days. Remember that you will still have the entire 30 days to use the free subscription even if you cancel your membership.
This way you won’t forget to cancel the membership and get charged. The reason why you will love Scribd is that you can actually download the IELTS listening pdf e-books onto your computer to view them at a later date even after you cancel your membership.
Keep in mind that Scribd is a great resource for all the different sections of the IELTS exam. It offers a ton of books for the reading, listening, speaking, and writing sections. I highly recommend that you take time to research different books, download them onto your computer to view at a later date, and then look over them whenever you have time.
Lastly, another great way to view IELTS reading pdf e-books is to contact your local library and ask them if they provide any websites where you can download e-books. Many libraries offer this type of program, especially if you have a library card.
Hopefully one of these options works for you, as these suggestions are great methods to try to boost your IELTS listening score.
This post was all about the top tips to boost your IELTS listening score.
