Before the listening starts you should imagine the situation…

…and the language.  This will make the listening easier to understand.

If you don’t understand something in the listening you can…

…use your experience of the real world, your imagination, and common sense to fill in any answers you may have missed.

Questions to think about before the listening begins:

Where do you think the conversation is taking place?  Who are the people talking?  What questions do you think you will hear?  What vocabulary related to the situation do you think you may hear?

Notes and form completion tasks…

…don’t include actual questions.

Before you answer a note and form completion task you need …

…to think about what type of information is required in the blank.

Correct spelling is…

…very important in the IELTS listening test.

Before listening, you should change the form completion tasks into questions.  You don’t need to write the questions down…

…just think about it.

Section 1 is a non-academic dialogue.  Two speakers have a discussion in social situations, such as…

…arranging an appointment, buying goods or services, et cetera.

You should always read the directions carefully to…

...see how many words you are allowed to use.  Remember that if you write down too many words, your answer will be marked as incorrect.

In form completion tasks, you need to write down exactly the same words you hear on the recording….

…If you write down different words from the ones that you hear, your answer will be marked as incorrect.