Getting that Elusive 9: Listening and Reading

So how do IELTS Niners do it? I've been going though some review materials and this is an update of the things I’m learning. Hopefully this will all help us get that elusive nine for whatever reason we are trying to achieve them.

LISTENING:

• Listen carefully (That's obvious).
• The 1st 2 sections are on topics of general interest. Normally, the 1st is a dialogue and the 2nd is a monologue.
• Sections 3 and 4 focuses on education and training. It will either be a lecture or a discussion between 2 to 4 persons.
• To get a high score: PRACTICE.

READING

• Question types: Summary completion, Matching headings to paragraphs, Identifying the writer's views, Multiple choice, Selecting factors, Table completion, Matching causes and effects, Sentence completion, Short answer questions.
• Read instructions carefully.
• Skim thought the questions so you will have an idea what information to look for in the text.
• While reading, note which sections of the text the questions cover.
• Mark the text. Mark names, dates, the words you saw from the questions and all other information you think is relevant to the questions you've read earlier.

There. I hope that helps. Next post will be for writing. If you have other suggestions or pointers to share, post them on the comments below so we can help one another get that elusive 9.Ü

P.S. Thanks to Rita for the spelling corrections.