This is the IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1587.
What if I get lost on IELTS listening?
Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English downloaded more than 35 million times with examiner-trained IELTS whiz Aubrey Carter and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer.
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It's easy to get lost on IELTS listening if you don't know how to prevent it.
But if it happens, what can you do?
Find out today in this part one of a two-part series.
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Hey there, Aubrey.
How's it going?
Welcome back to the show.
I'm a great Lindsay.
How are you doing?
Yeah, I'm doing well.
But I have a question.
You're a podcast listener, right?
We're podcasters.
So we probably listen to podcasts.
I love podcasts.
I listen to podcasts whenever more than music for sure.
When I'm out walking, when I'm doing chores, I'm constantly listening to a podcast.
Same here.
Same here.
It's fun to co-listen to a podcast too.
Like yesterday, I went for a walk with my partner and we had one headphone in one ear one person's ear and the other in the other person's.
And it's like a political podcast.
It's fun, right?
And then you can chat about it or after you can chat about it.
I love that.
Yeah, co-listening.
But when you listen, Aubrey, do you ever get distracted?
Do you ever lose track?
Yeah, absolutely.
Sometimes I'll find my mind wandering, especially if I'm multitasking.
And even if I'm not, even if the only thing I'm doing is listening to the podcast sometimes you just start thinking about what you've got going on.
Or, like you were saying, if it's a political podcast, you might just be thinking about politics, history or ramifications, or getting worried about the state of the world and you just sort of lose track and suddenly I'm like okay, rewind 10 seconds, 10 seconds, get back to what I've missed.
Oh, it happens to me constantly.
Yes.
Absolutely.
I feel like I'm constantly rewinding, having to go back or I just miss part of it and I just keep listening.
Experienced that.
You're taking an IELTS practice exam or maybe your actual listening exam on test day.
And there are so many things that can cause you to get lost during that IELTS listening audio.
So we are going to talk about this today because that can be devastating for your score, oh my gosh, and it can be panic inducing too, right.
So how do you get back on track?
How do you make sure it doesn't happen to begin with?
We're going to talk about all of this today, and more Exactly
But first, we want to share the results of a recent poll that was really interesting.
We asked if you have used AI for IELTS speaking feedback.
We shared our feedback about what we're seeing that AI is giving for IELTS speaking feedback.
And what were the results of our poll?
So the answers were yes, 71.4% of you.
That's very high, right?
Yes. have looked for feedback through AI and then no 28% of you, about 28%.
Yeah.
Interesting.
So if you missed that episode, it was 1567, how to use AI for IELTS speaking feedback.
Definitely go check it out.
This is a tool that you can be using, but with the caveat that the feedback isn't always totally accurate.
So be careful.
Guys, don't forget to hit the follow button right now, right here on IELTS Energy.
We have the most up-to-date information and we track directly to the examiner's scoring system.
So everything we teach you here is based on what's in the scoring system.
It's not based on what people think might be on the exam, what's on other exams.
It's based on the scoring system.
That's the key here.
Yes.
And remember that AI is pulling from everything that is online and not all of that information is accurate.
So you do have to be careful when trusting the speaking feedback, but it can be useful at times.
Yeah.
So Aubrey, I think the biggest way to prevent getting lost is knowing why it happens.
So why does it happen to students on getting lost?
So there are a few things that can happen, right?
Of course, if your mind is wandering, right?
Some audio passages are boring.
It can be difficult to stay focused.
If you are only used to listening to podcasts that you find extremely engaging, TV shows you find extremely engaging.
This might not be totally preparing you for the IELTS exam, because they intentionally are often giving you audio.
That's not that interesting.
So the mind can wander, right?
I totally agree.
So is the answer to...
I mean, we'll talk about the answers in a second.
First of all, we're just talking about why it's happening.
So your mind might just wander because it's not extremely exciting.
And you may not realize that you missed an answer.
So you might be listening for keywords.
This can happen even if you are totally focused listening for the keywords.
You've made predictions.
And then not realizing that the audio has moved to the next question.
And you just find yourself sort of lost.
You're hearing chunks of audio, not recognizing any keywords.
So you suddenly realize you're lost in the IELTS listening passage just because you may have missed something.
Keywords or parallel expressions.
Yeah, that could really, really throw it off.
And then high cognitive load, because maybe you're multitasking, right?
What about this?
What's happening here?
Yeah, because as you listen, you have to write those answers, right?
You are glancing back to the question.
So your brain is rereading that question, writing that answer and listening all at the same time.
This is a skill that must be practiced.
If you are not used to it, that's a lot for your brain to do at once.
You're also thinking about the spelling of the answer, right?
So there's a lot of things that you're thinking that can cause you to lose track of that audio.
And also another reason why this tends to happen is that students take time to second guess or change their answers before the audio is done right.
Yes, this is a huge mistake.
We'll talk more about this later, but don't ever do this, right?
Write the answer you hear and then start listening for the next keywords.
Don't second guess answers.
Don't change them.
Once the audio is finished, you can maybe make guesses for anything you missed, but don't change anything, because our brains might remember things wrong as we go.
You want to fill it out as you go and don't change your answers.
All right, good to know.
So now we have some advice, right?
What to do if this does happen?
What's our first piece of advice?
Yeah, the first thing is, as soon as you recognize that you have gotten lost in the audio, that you have missed an answer, maybe do not panic, right.
Allow yourself just one second to realize you've missed an answer.
And mentally reset.
Calmly say to yourself, move on.
And then you need to hear the next thing that is said in that audio.
And if you take too long to panic.
I actually looked online and I saw quite a few places where people were giving the advice of giving yourself five seconds to reset.
Realize that is a long time.
A lot of audio is going to pass in five seconds.
You could miss two or three more answers in five seconds.
I think that's terrible advice.
You're going to take that one second just to realize it, mentally reset, calm yourself and then start focusing on the audio again.
Listen to the keywords according to the predictions you've made.
Get back on track in that audio.
I agree, Aubrey.
That's a good point.
In a non-testing environment, that's great.
Maybe you made a mistake in a presentation at work.
Take your time.
Go get a snack.
But not on the test every second is going to matter.
We're in a true testing environment here, right?
Absolutely.
Exactly.
So you can't take that time.
And this must be practiced, right?
If you have never felt that sinking feeling of realizing you've missed an answer, it could really throw you off if it happens during the exam.
So we're going to give you a lot of details today about how you can practice this.
You want to have felt this before.
You want to have felt this panic and know how to handle it, how to immediately get back on track.
I mean, that is a huge key for all of the exam, not just listening, but everybody.
You want to have felt what you're feeling on test day before multiple times.
And you know what to do.
You have a procedure and a process to follow every time.
Yes.
Anything that you experience for the first time on test day could throw you off.
You want to have practiced all of that.
Plan for every eventuality that you can.
Control what you can.
100%.
So the next piece is get back on track is the next thing we want to do.
Aubrey, how?
How do we do it?
So your plan is to immediately move on to the current question, right?
If you missed question number four and realize the audio is at question number six, just move to question number six and listen for that answer.
Don't give your brain that chance to grieve for four and five.
Don't worry about it right now.
Immediately move to question six and get that answer.
And remember that the audio only plays once.
It's not like they're gonna replay this audio for you.
So dwelling on that missed answer, like we said, does cause that chain reaction of missing more answers.
So you'll get yourself deeper into a hole.
Right.
Exactly.
So anything you've missed, leave it blank for now.
Focus on identifying which question the audio is currently discussing.
Find that next keyword.
And then once the audio finishes.
You'll have a few seconds to make a guess for any missed questions.
And you'll have the context of the entire audio you heard.
So you will likely be able to get that correct based on the context of the question and what you heard.
And there is no penalty for a wrong answer.
So definitely fill those blanks in with your best guess.
Right.
But the key point is, once the audio finishes right, not trying to not do this while the audio is still going.
You'll miss more answers.
Yeah, exactly.
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All right, Aubrey.
And number three, of course, this all leads to practicing. staging these situations, right?
Or running into them ahead of time.
So tell us about practicing to get back on track.
Exactly, right?
These steps that you need to take in order to immediately get back on track, without giving your brain time to panic and miss more questions.
This must be practice.
So, first of all, of course, active listening practice.
Listen to podcasts, the news, to train yourself to maintain concentration for 30 minutes.
This can't be just pop culture podcasts, true crime, if that's what you find really engaging.
Listen to the news.
Find some podcasts that are a little more boring, maybe a little more monotone, that are monologues, TED Talks, things like this, that are a little bit harder to stay focused with.
Yeah, because we're at a bit of a disadvantage these days.
I mean most of what's put in front of us on social media.
Even the movies are so whiz bang boom, things that are in front of us.
The scenes are changing constantly, right?
Yes.
Listening to TikTok reels that are meant to you know, change focus and keep you very engaged are not helping you practice for IELTS listening.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
So seek out this kind of more boring content intentionally to practice this, to practice staying focused, and we're going to give you keys on how to get back on track.
But another thing you need to practice is listening to different accents.
The IELTS exam will have accents from all over the world Australia British New Zealand, American accents.
And if you only hear maybe British or American, you won't be prepared for that audio on test day.
So you need to be finding podcasts, TV shows, TED Talks from speakers from all over the English speaking world.
And then another thing we can do is to follow along, right?
So that means in map questions we can actually do a maneuver where we keep our pencil moving on the map as the speaker's giving directions.
I feel like I would use this.
This would be useful.
Yeah.
So this is especially for diagrams and maps.
You're finger or a pencil, you need to follow along, as they're describing, so that you can keep track of what they're talking about.
And that also just keeps your brain focused.
And then you're listening for those signpost words opposite, next to, across from when it's a map.
And then just follow along so that you can keep track of what they are describing currently.
Yeah, and then parallel expressions need to be recognized instantly on the test, on the listening test.
Aubrey, how can we make sure we have the ability to recognize parallel expressions?
Yeah, so this is our big advice on how to practice this.
You can work with a speaking partner or use AI, or both in conjunction to practice recognizing parallel expressions, because often the IELTS listening audio won't say the exact words from the questions.
You have to be listening to synonyms, to parallel expressions, and you have to train your brain to look for these as you listen to the audio and you can practice this in advance.
So we're going to share how you can do this and details in part two.
So, because what you can do is have AI or a speaking partner pull, create synonyms and parallel expressions from an audio that they can then give you, and then you listen to the audio, listening for those parallel expressions, right.
Oh, very nice.
Then while you do that, you're practicing not panicking, getting back on track if you miss one.
I love that idea.
So that will be coming up in a couple of episodes.
But Aubrey, we do have a key poll today that we want to announce to our listeners.
So they go over and take a vote.
Yes, go vote on Spotify.
We are curious, how often do you find this happening?
You know, just do you ever get lost during IELTS listening audio?
Answer yes or no.
This is about practice exams as well as if you have taken the actual IELTS exam.
Does this happen to you?
Let us know.
Perfect.
And then there is another episode to check out.
It's 1585, Journey, Trip, or Vacation?
Tips for IELTS questions about travel.
And we had some good answers.
We had a student question for that episode and a good answer there. vocabulary there.
Go check it out if you missed it and definitely hit follow for part two.
We are going to show you how to do this with a speaking partner or with AI, and we will provide sample practice that you can use right here on the podcast to practice these skills.
Awesome.
All right.
Sounds great, Aubrey.
Thanks for being on the mic today.
Great advice, great tips, and I'll see you next time.
Awesome.
See you there.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy.
Hit subscribe now, and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglishcom.
Slash my score.
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Engineered for whatever.
