Review and download IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book for free

IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book is one of the books that helps students improve their listening comprehension effectively. After studying it, you will know how to grasp the main ideas and keep up with the speed of the audio. In today's article, let's review the overall content of the book together!

I. Introduction to the book IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book

1. General information

The IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book is compiled by two authors, Mike Wattie and Phill Biggerton. Regarding the author Mike Wattie, he has been an examiner in Taipei and Australia and owns the website www.ieltsanswers.com, which provides practical test materials. Meanwhile, author Phil Biggerton has also been an examiner for the British Council in Taiwan.

This book is written based on the accumulated experience of the two famous authors in scoring and preparing for the IELTS test, so you can completely trust its quality.

2. Target users of the book IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book

The IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book is suitable for those who have a solid grasp of grammar and vocabulary, at an IELTS level of approximately 4.0 or above. This is because the book mainly provides common question types and practical test exercises. Therefore, you need to have a good foundation before being able to practice effectively.

II. Review of the content of the book IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book

1. Main content

The IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book is compiled to help students improve their listening comprehension. Specifically, the book will help you grasp the main ideas and perspectives of the speakers in the audio, as well as keep up with the speaking speed in each part. The main content of the IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book includes the following parts:

• Essential skills and strategies to improve your score.
• Common question types/exercises along with tips for solving them.
• 4 complete test exercises with a difficulty level similar to the real test, along with a series of common question types in the test. The authors also provide detailed strategies for answering questions to help you develop comprehensive skills and easily achieve high scores in the IELTS test. Through these practical test exercises, learners can assess their proficiency level, familiarize themselves with time pressure, and overcome their own mistakes.
• Providing and practicing skim-reading skills to predict answers, thereby identifying keywords to listen for in the audio recording.
• How to answer different question types that appear in the test.
• Common mistakes and how to avoid them.
• Time management skills to complete the test efficiently.

2. Table of Contents

2.1. Chapter 1: Introduction to the test

In the first part, The IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book will provide an overview of the Listening test, which aims to assess your listening comprehension ability in specific topics, band score levels, test format with 4 sections, and time allocation.

2.2. Chapter 2: Strategies before listening

The IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book will guide you on strategies to prepare before the audio starts playing. By utilizing the 30 seconds given, you should quickly perform the following steps:

• Check instructions.
• Set the context.
• Underline keywords and think of synonyms.
• Predict necessary information.

2.3. Chapter 3: Strategies while listening

In this section, the book provides detailed solutions for understanding the main ideas in the audio and keeping up with the speaking speed. The specific methods include:

• Setting the context.
• Listening for key words.
• Listening for synonyms of keywords in the passage.
• Working with the current question while previewing the next question.
• Skipping missed answers and continuing.
• Being cautious of distracting elements and misleading options (incorrect answers)..

2.4. Chapter 4: Strategies in the last 10 minutes

At the end of the listening test, you have 10 minutes to transfer all your answers to the answer sheet. The IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book will help you utilize this time effectively by:

• Carefully transferring your answers.
• Checking for common spelling or grammar errors.
• For the answers you couldn't hear, try to guess based on the context and available information.

2.5. Chapter 5: Question types in the IELTS Listening test

In this part, the IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book provides various question types that commonly appear in the test. This helps you recognize each question type and understand the strategies to solve them effectively and achieve high scores. It includes the following types:

• Multiple-choice questions.
• Matching questions.
• Map/diagram/plan questions.
• Form/note completion questions.
• Sentence completion questions.
• Short answer completion questions.

2.6. Chapter 6: Practice Test

Finally, the IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book includes 4 full practice tests that are equivalent in difficulty to the real test. It provides answer keys and detailed transcripts for self-assessment.

III. Advantages and disadvantages of the book IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book

1. Advantages

• The book provides detailed strategies before listening, helping learners know the necessary preparation steps before the audio starts to achieve effective performance.
• The exercises and tests closely resemble real test scenarios, and they provide specific answer keys and transcripts, allowing learners to accurately evaluate their proficiency level.
• The layout of the IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book is clear and visually appealing, with interspersed images to avoid boredom.

2. Disadvantages

• The IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book is written entirely in English, so learners need to have good reading comprehension skills to study effectively.
• The book does not provide foundational knowledge of vocabulary and grammar beforehand but immediately jumps into practice exercises and real test scenarios.

IV. Guide to studying the book IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book

IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies is a specialized book for practicing listening skills, so the amount of knowledge it provides is not excessive, mostly focused on exercises. Therefore, you can complete the book within 1 month if you know how to study effectively as follows:

• Set a daily goal of studying this book for about 1.5 - 2 hours.
• For chapters 1-4, you can finish one chapter per day. That means you will complete 4 chapters after 4 days.
• For chapter 5, study each question type in the IELTS test for 2 days. After 12 days, you will have completed all 6 types.
• For chapter 6, it is recommended to allocate one test at the end of each week to assess your progress after each week.
• During the study period of the book "IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies," you can intersperse some days to study other skills like Reading, Writing, and Speaking to improve and develop all four skills comprehensively.

V. Download the book IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book

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Above is the detailed and objective review of the IELTS Listening Skills and Strategies book. PREP hopes this article serves as a useful reference for you. Good luck!