Listening

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  7 free ways to prepare for IELTS

  04 August 2020

  How are you doing? I am personally finding life very strange and stressful at the moment thanks to the impact of COVID19. However, I also know that I cannot control what is happening outside my apartment walls, so all I can do is stay inside and try to make the best of this difficult situation (which means finally starting to make some new teaching videos!!!!!!). So, if like me you would like to make the most of this extra time at home, here are seven great free ways to prepare for IELTS!

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  IELTS Listening Part 1

  28 July 2020

  Most students think that IELTS Listening Part 1 is the easiest part of the test, but I disagree! I have seen many high-level student lose marks here, which can be a complete disaster if you are aiming for the highest band scores, like an 8.0  for CLB9. So today, I want to show you the 4 most common reasons why students make errors in this part of the test, and explain what you can do to avoid falling for these IELTS “traps”.

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  The WORST way to prepare for IELTS reading and listening!

  19 June 2020

  How do you prepare for IELTS reading and listening? I think that for 99% of students, the answer is just “practice, practice, practice”. But almost every week, I get an email or a message on Facebook from a student that looks like this: Hey Shelly, I have finished Cambridge books 5 – 14. Can you recommend another source for reading and listening practice? Messages like this make me really sad because there is no reason at all for any student to ever run out of Cambridge practice tests! 

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  Introduction to IELTS Listening

  01 March 2020

  Welcome to the third lesson in our IELTS 101 series – an introduction to IELTS listening. I think that listening is usually the easiest of the four tests, but it can still definitely be very tricky if you don’t prepare well. As usual, Nick and I start the episode by giving you some basic facts about the IELTS listening test, such as the types of conversation that you will hear in each part and the types of question you will have to tackle.

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  Changes to the IELTS Listening Test (Jan 2020)

  12 February 2020

  Hey! Cambridge recently announced that there will be three small changes to the IELTS listening test from January 4th 2020. In today’s blog, I want to look at what these changes are and what they mean for your IELTS preparation.

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  My Top Five Podcasts for IELTS

  30 September 2019

  Hey! My name is Shelly, and I’m a podcast-aholic. I’m not joking. I spend around 2 – 3 hours EVERY DAY listening to podcasts and, if you ever meet me in person, I bet it will take me less than five minutes to tell you something interesting that I have heard in one.  In fact, I strongly believe podcasts are one of the best free resources that IELTS students can use to improve both their listening skills AND their ideas for the speaking and writing tests. If you are not using podcasts for IELTS now, you are really missing out!

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  IELTS Multiple Choice Questions: Listening

  20 September 2018

  Test-takers often find that IELTS Multiple Choice Questions (or MCQ’s for short) are the most difficult to answer in the Listening Exam. This is perhaps not surprising as there is a lot for your brain to process while answering them. Unlike the other types of question that require you listen for ONE answer, MCQ’s require you to assess the viability of THREE possible correct answers – all while trying to follow the audio-script and not get lost!

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  6 Reasons why I love using podcasts to help IELTS students

  19 April 2018

  I love using Podcasts to help IELTS students improve their listening skills. In fact, if you join me in My IELTS Classroom, you will soon get bored of me recommending episodes to listen to! But, why do I love podcasts so much? ❤ Well, there isn’t one answer to that question, there are six! Seriously, if you are struggling with listening or need a very high score (for CLB9 for example) then podcasts really are the way forward. 

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