The best listeners are engaged with whatever they’re listening to – whether that’s a lecture at school or a conversation with a friend. Have you ever been chatting with someone and suddenly realised you have no idea what they just said, because your mind had drifted? We’ve all done it. And the same thing can happen in your IELTS Listening test, with much more serious consequences.

The introduction to the IELTS Listening test goes something like this:

You will hear a number of different recordings, and you will have to answer questions on what you hear. There will be time for you to read the instructions and the questions, and you will have a chance to check your work. All the recordings will be played once only. The test is in four parts.

If you’re sitting the paper-based test, there’s an additional period at the end to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. On computer-delivered IELTS – which is how most candidates now take the test – you type your answers directly as you listen, so there’s no transfer time.

The challenge is the same in both formats: you have to listen, read, and write all at once. And you only hear the recording once – if you miss something, it’s gone. It can feel daunting, but there are things you can do before and during the test to improve your performance.

Tip 1: Practise good note-taking

Since you only hear the audio once, your first job is to train yourself to be an attentive, engaged listener. A great way to practise is to watch talks or videos and take good notes as you go.

Take, for example, this TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson, Do Schools Kill Creativity? As a practice exercise, watch the video and, as you watch, make notes that allow you to answer the following questions. The more information you capture, the better.

• What is Sir Ken ‘interested’ in?
• What does he believe about children?
• What does he want to talk about in his speech?
• He tells the story of a little girl. What is she doing?
• He tells the story of his son. What play was his son in?

You’ll find the answers to all five questions in the first five minutes of the video (and at the end of this blog post).

Tip 2: Look before you listen

Spend the time before each recording reading the questions carefully. The test deliberately gives you this time, and you should use it actively – to anticipate the kind of information you’re about to hear.

Ask yourself: what sort of information am I listening for? Is it a name, a date, a topic, an idea, a belief? What words am I likely to hear? For example, when listening for what someone ‘believes’, you might hear ‘I think…’, ‘I’m sure that…’, ‘It seems to me that…’, or ‘It’s my belief that…’.  Train yourself to listen for synonyms and paraphrases too – the audio rarely uses the exact same words as the question.

Make it a habit

You can become a more engaged listener by doing the things you already enjoy: listening to talks, listening to music, watching films in English. Start by taking notes on talks that genuinely interest you (TED’s list of most popular talks is a good place to begin). The more you do it, the more natural it becomes.

Remember, good note-taking is just one piece of the puzzle. Take a look at two other things you can do to improve your Listening score here.

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Answers:

• What is Sir Ken ‘interested’ in?
  ‘I have an interest in education.’

• What does he believe about children?
  ‘They have extraordinary capacities for innovation… All kids have tremendous talent.’

• What does he want to talk about in his speech?
  ‘I want to talk about education. And I want to talk about creativity.’

• He tells the story of a little girl. What is she doing?
  ‘The girl said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.”‘

• He tells the story of his son. What play was his son in?
  ‘He was in the nativity play.’