IELTS Lesson #9 - Listening 3 - Difficulties

IELTS Listening Level of Difficulty

I have clearly mentioned in the previous lessons that IELTS Listening sections are in the order difficulty. So, in this particular lesson, we are going to discuss about the various ways in which the questions are made difficult in the later sections of IELTS Listening tests.

Before, you start learning the points given below make sure that you have an IELTS Question Collection so that you can relate to the things I explain here.

Level of difficulty due to paraphrasing

In the later sections of IELTS Listening test, the questions on the question booklet seem to be more paraphrased that the earlier sections of IELTS test. In other words, the way the sentences are presented in the questions booklet is not exactly as they speak on track. In contrast, the IELTS Listening section 1 and 2 are easier and the words seen of the questions paper and the audio track seem to be in the similar order.

Level of difficulty due to question type

Form completion, Table Completion, Short Answer Questions and Sentence Completion question are considered to be the easier question types in IELTS Listening test. In fact, IELTS Listening test section 1 and section 2 have more of these types of questions.

On the another side, section 3 and section 4 of IELTS Listening test consist of question types such as Multiple Choice Questions, Matching the sentences, Classification, Lecture, Map Completion and others.

Level of difficulty due to Time Gap

As already discussed in Lesson 8, Section 4 has the least time to prepare the questions. This makes it difficult for many students.

Level of difficulty due to Multiple Choice Questions

Generally, Multiple choice questions are in section 2 and 3 of IELTS Listening test. But, whenever the Multiple choice questions are asked in section 3, the options are longer. This makes it difficult for the listeners or candidates to read the options completely before the track starts to play.

Level of difficulty due to Instructions

Specially, in classification questions or matching the sentences questions, candidates are expected to write Alphabets instead of real answers. This makes it difficult for some candidates to write the corresponding answers in terms of alphabets. For instance, “A” refers to “Temple”, even if I know the answer is temple, I will have to check the corresponding alphabet for Temple i.e. A. This consumes time in some cases.

Level of difficulty due to Surprise

Surprises are never good in the examination. When a candidate does not recognize the question being asked in the booklet. That simply means it is a troublemaker because you do not have a ready-made plan for it.

Level of difficulty due to lack of knowledge about Signposts

As we all know, the IELTS listening track explains a lot of things that are not actually mentioned in the question booklet. Furthermore, when you do not keep yourself guided with the track, the chances of losing the attention is high. And, you may end up being nowhere. This is because the later sessions are generally made difficult and you need to cling yourself with the Signposts.

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