 This video will give you a strategy that thousands of students have used to get full marks in IELTS listening maps questions. Not only that, I'm going to give you two free practice tests. First of all, I'm going to talk you through exactly how to use the strategy using a practice test. And then I'm going to give you a practice test at the end that you can use to test your ability to use this new strategy. So without further ado, let's get into it. Let's start off by looking at the strategy for listening maps. Step number one, read the question carefully. Read the instructions carefully. So for this particular map, we need to write the correct letter A to H. We're not writing the actual place names. We're not writing Old Museum Northgate. We're not writing Lake. We are picking the letter and putting it in here. I know that sounds very, very obvious and I'm wasting your time, but you would not believe the amount of students that deserve a band nine that don't get it because they don't read instructions. Make it a habit to really focus in on the question and the instructions. Step number two, look at the map and understand the map. So for example, if we were to look at this one, what is it? It is a park. So there is one big circular path. There's a little path that goes off here. There are trees. There's a lake in the middle. There's a museum in the middle. There's two gates, Southgate and Northgate. Adventure playground here, glass houses here. Just basically look at the map and understand it. I know that sounds super obvious, but again, when you're under stress and you're tired and you're getting towards the end of the test, a lot of students don't do this. Next, look at the different options and think about what these might be. What might they say about these things? So let's start at the Southgate. G, there are trees. So they might say the woods in the south or south woods or forest beside the Southgate. That might be those things. So you're thinking about what they might say. If we move up here, A, so think about what they might say to get to A. So if we start at the Southgate, it will say if we turn left to go past the lake and there is a path or there is a trail or there's a footpath on your left. That's going to show you where you're going to go to get to A. D, it could be the museum. It could be the old museum, but it might be new museum or new building or toilets or cafe beside the museum. B and C are going to be next to the adventure playground. B is going to be as you go through the Northgate. So they might start at the Northgate. C is going to be next to the adventure playground. F will be beside the glass house. It might be the glass house or it might be something next to the glass house. And then H might be something next to the glass houses or it could be the wood or the forest or something like that. So you're thinking about what it could be, but you're also thinking about if I walk through this map, what directions or what things will I hear that will get me to each of these? And this might sound like it will take a lot of time and you won't have time to do it, but the more you do it, the quicker it will become until it becomes natural. So imagine you're standing at the Northgate. What direction would you go if you were going to go to A? So if we're standing at the Northgate, it probably will say if you follow the path to your right. So we're standing here. We move down and that will get us to A. If you go left, you will see the adventure playground. You'll see the museum in front of you. You want to actually visualize walking around this thing before you even hear it. That is going to make it much easier for you to visualize as you are listening to it. Now we want to look at the different options here. So 11 to 16. So we want to think about two things. Number one, will there be any synonyms? So cafe, what is the synonym of cafe, coffee shop, maybe restaurant, toilets. There aren't many, there are a lot of synonyms for toilets, but they might say something like if you need to go to the bathroom. So think about those synonyms and then think about where might these things be? Are there any obvious places where they would put the cafe or where they would put the toilets? They're probably not going to put the toilets deep in the middle of the woods. Maybe they might do, I don't know. But it's probably more convenient for them to put the toilets beside the old museum or beside the glass houses or beside the adventure playground. Same with the cafe. The cafe is probably going to be next to the old museum, for example. Wild flowers. So wild means people are not really curating it. People are not doing anything to it. So that's probably going to be out of the way. It's probably going to be A or G or maybe H. So by following all these steps, before the recording even starts, you're just making everything easier and easier and easier. If you take two students, one is really, really good at listening and they don't follow those steps or you have a student that is not very good at listening but they follow those steps. The student that is not very good at listening will get a higher score than the student that is good at listening. That's how powerful these strategies are. The next step is to listen to the beginning of the talk very, very carefully because this is going to tell you where the talk begins. So they might begin at the south gate here or they might begin at the north gate. Those are the two obvious places where they will begin. You must go through a gate. You must go through an entrance but it's not guaranteed. Probably will happen and if they started the north gate then if they say to your right, that is going to be different from to your right at the south. So if we have a look here, if they started the south gate to your right are trees, H and glass houses. But if we start at the north gate to your right, we're going down here towards A. So you need to really listen carefully to the beginning so that you understand where you're going. So now the recording is starting. You want to try to visualize actually walking through these places. You can close your eyes if you want. Probably not a great idea because you have to take notes but try to actually walk down the path. Try to actually imagine that you're walking past the glass house, past the lake. What is to the right of the lake? What is to the left of the lake? As we go past the adventure playground, what is here? What if they're talking about a bend in the road? What are they talking about here? This is really going to help you. And as you are listening, you can make notes if it's paper-based tests and think about what the correct answers might be. The next step is to be very careful with traps or distractors or tricks they might play on you. For example, they might say, let's start off at the south gate and to your left used to be the cafe but we moved it next to the old museum. So if you put G for cafe, you would be wrong. They said we used to have it there but we moved it over here. They will often talk about things closing down. They moved things. They might be building something in the future so they might say the opposite. They might say, well we're going to build a cafe, a new cafe to the left of the south gate here but that's going to take a few years. If you want something to eat, you should go next to the old museum. The right answer is going to be D. So they're not really trying to trick you. They're just setting you little challenges to help determine who's really bound 9, who's bound 8, who's bound 7, who's bound 6. The next thing to be aware of is signposting language. So signposting language is things let's start off at the south gate. There are little flags, little indications about where they are. So let's start off at the south gate and if we go to the left here, you will see the beautiful lake. Now let's go back. So they're going back here and let's go past the glass house. Let's finish off at the north gate. Think about this signposting language. Literally think of it as the signposts on the street. They're giving you directions. This is going to help you understand where you are. Navigate the map and then finally choose the correct answers and if it's paper based, transfer them over. If it is computer based, just choose the correct answer. If it's computer based, it will normally be just a drop down menu with like a b c d e f on it. Now again, I know I'm repeating myself. Do not watch this video. I think I've mastered IELTS listening maps questions. Get some practice tests. Get real practice tests. We'll show you those in the video and practice that strategy and it will become much, much, much easier. A lot of the students that I work with, they say, I hate maps. I'm not good at maps. Well, how many times have you actually practiced the strategy once or never? Also what you should do when you are practicing maps and practicing these strategies is go slow. All right. If you need to rewind and play the recording multiple times in this scenario, that is absolutely fine because what you're doing here is you're trying to learn the strategy. You're not trying to perfect the correct answers. You're not trying to judge your ability. Start off very, very slow. The goal is for you to master the strategy and become comfortable with maps and then get a little bit faster, a little bit faster until you are at exam speed. Again, using the driving analogy, you don't go and drive 100 miles an hour in less than one of your driving tests. So what we will do now is I'm going to take you through step by step using a practice question and take you through this strategy. Then I will give you another question and I'll allow you to do that by yourself. So let's start off with this one and let's use the strategy slowly. So the first step is read the instructions carefully. So label the map below, choose five answers from the box. So if they choose here and write the correct letters 8H next to questions 6 to 10. So we're just picking the correct letter. We're not writing out the full name. We are picking the corresponding letter. So if it's food court, we write A, we don't write food court, for example. Next we need to understand the map. So we have a ticket office, we have horse riding, we've got a cinema, bumper cars, a snow house motion simulator. And then if we look here, we have a helter, skelter, parking area, pirate ship, roller coaster. So just you might not know what these mean, but if you know what some of these mean, you'll understand that it is a theme park or an adventure park or a leisure park of some kind. Now let's look at the map in a little bit more detail. So first of all, where could the tour, it's probably going to be a tour of this place, where could it begin? It might begin at the ticket office. It might begin here. There seems to be an entrance here, or they might come in here through this building. So just being aware of where the tour, where the talk might start is very, very important. Next, let's try and predict the directions and predict what might come up. So I think probably the most likely place that we're going to start will be the ticket office. So we'll probably start here and we'll work our way around here. And then they'll say something like turn left. And if we turn left here, we'll be going around this area. Let's have a look at the options now and see if there's any way that we can predict what is going to happen. So food court, nothing really standing out there, haunted house, nothing there, helter, skelter, paddle boats, there's nothing really showing anything about water or a lake or boats or anything like that parking area. This could be the parking area because parking normally happens outside of the main part of a theme park. So number 10 could be the parking area, pirate ship, roller coaster, shopping area. So there's nothing really here to indicate what is going to happen. Sometimes you'll get a map where it will be very, very obvious. Sometimes you won't. Don't panic if that happens. The only really possibilities may be car park, parking area, 10 and they might say car park or bus park instead of parking area. Now let's have a prediction of the directions that they might come up with. So if we're going down this way, they'll say horse riding is to the left. If you keep going past the horse riding or beyond the horse riding is probably going to be number six. If we turn right opposite the 3d cinema or on the other side of the road or the other side of the path or something like that, they might talk about this number eight being in the middle or being in the center. And then number nine, it might be in between the motion simulator and the snow house or next to the motion simulator or next to the snow house or to the left of the snow house. So we're using visualization to actually, you know, visualize walking around this and what what it will look like. Number 10, they might talk about it being outside or you have to go past the snow house or outside of the park. So really just preparing our mind for what might come up, but always keep an open mind. Some unexpected things might happen. But in general, the things that you do predict and the directions that you predict probably will come up. Okay, now that we've done all that, we can listen to the beginning. Hello to all of you and welcome to Happy World Fun Park. So what they've given us there is the context. They've told us that it is a fun park. So why is this information useful? Well, you might be looking at these and think like Helter Skelter, Pirate Ship, Roller Coaster. I've never heard of these. What do they mean? But when you get the context of it as a fun park, it makes it much easier to guess what these things mean. So listening to the beginning is very, very important. We will leave the ticket office behind us. So that is very, very important. We will leave the ticket office behind us. So you need to visualize leaving the ticket office and you are now here. So you're walking along here. And go into the park itself now so that you know where everything is and you don't waste any of your time by getting lost. If we continue straight here. So remember we are here and it says if we continue straight. So he's talking about what will happen if we go along here. This will bring you to the parking area. But you don't need to worry about that. As your bus driver will come into the park to collect you all once again. Once you're ready to go at the end of the day. So what he is saying is if you continue straight you will get to the parking area. But as you can see the map ends here. So what they're doing is they're doing a little trick. They're playing a little trick on you trying to distract you. So you see parking area and you're oh it must be straight on and I'm going to really focus on that. But then he says you don't need to worry about that. And it's not actually on the map. So not everything that you hear is going to come up. We'll take the left here. So remember we were leaving the ticket office and they said take the left. So we are now here. So when we are standing here the horse riding is to the left and whatever is number seven is on the right. On the left you'll see the horse riding center. So the horse riding center it is labeled already. But the reason why we need to listen carefully again is because we know where we are now. All right. We know we are here around this area. This is one of our most popular attractions but we have plenty of horses for everyone which means you won't need to wait too long for your turn here. Straight ahead you'll see the haunted house. So remember we are here and they say straight ahead you will see the haunted house. So by visualizing where we are it makes it much easier to find the correct answer. Six haunted house B. So there weren't any synonyms or anything like that is exactly as he said it. So we can put B here. It's not for the faint of heart. So if you scare easily add advise you stay far away from that one. So they're adding in some unusual language in there. They're saying it's not for the faint of heart if you scare easily. If you come across language like this that you don't understand remember that it is not essential that you understand what that means in order to find the correct answer. You'll have to walk back here later for those two because I want to show you the rest of the park first. So we need to turn right at the intersection here. So he says turn right at the intersection here. So an intersection is otherwise known as a crossroads. Okay. So it looks like a cross. So we were here. They kept talking about to the left is the horse riding straight ahead the haunted house and now they're saying turn right. So we are here you're so you're visualizing yourself turning right walking down this road and to the left is the 3d cinema and to the right is whatever he says is to the right. So what you should be doing now is really listening out for what is to the right or opposite the 3d cinema to see all the other attractions. So out the window on your left you'll see the 3d cinema to the same to the left 3d cinema and on the right is the food court. He says on the right is the food court pretty simple but that wouldn't be simple if you were completely lost and that is why it is so important to use this visualization technique. So seven food court a seven a Mr. Smith will decide what time you're all going to have lunch there but you will all need to go together. So make sure that you know what time you need to go there before you all split up. Next on the left here is the motion simulator. Okay so next on the left we pass the 3d cinema we pass the food court and on the left is the motion simulator so we're right here and on the right are the paddle boats and on the right paddle boats eight paddle boats D so eight is D. The paddle boats are pretty much the center of the park. So now they're talking about the paddle boats are at the center of the park so they've actually helped you there so they're not always trying to trick you they've told you twice where the paddle boats are to the right of the motion simulator and in the center of the park. So there are really good place to meet up with your group again if you lose anyone as we round the paddle boats you'll see the shopping area so he says as we round the paddle boats so we're going around here you will see the shopping area so nine shopping area H next to the motion simulator and then he says again next to the motion simulator so next to the motion simulator nine the shopping area this is where the helter skelter from our sign outside the front used to be located so there's a little distraction they said this is where the helter skelter used to be located used to be in the past but we had to take it down last year so he said we took down the helter skelter last year if you might not know what a helter skelter is all you need to know is that it used to be here they took it down it's not there anymore it's the shopping area now there are plans to build another one but we're not sure how long it'll be before we can do that then that brings us to the snowhouse so we're at the snowhouse and finally we'll stop outside the bumper cars so here now oh did I forget to mention something yes of course the roller coaster that you've all been staring at since we got here to get there you'll need to use the passageway on the left of the snowhouse as it is located at the back of the grounds so they said use this pathway next the left to the left of the snowhouse and it's outside of the ground so our prediction was that it was the parking area it wasn't it is actually the roller coaster so again predictions are good they do help you but you need to keep an open mind so I believe that's everything you need to know fine I and that's the end so it's pretty straightforward there were some distractions there were some tricks in there but the key really was visualizing where we are okay so now it's your turn to do it without my help we're going to do it at exam speed I'll give you 30 seconds just to look at this map and understand it and then I'll play the recording and then just follow the steps that we've taught you follow the strategy and then I'll give you the answers at the end so now that you know exactly what you can do let me give you this map and explain some of its features to you the entire complex covers two quite large city blocks so to save time you'll need to know exactly where everything is right thanks I do enjoy a bit of exercise but it's quite hot today exactly to begin we're currently in the parking lot facing west just across rock street from us you can see the main library that's where you'll find almost all of our resources into collections including our collection of children's books and an area where they can create art all of that is accessible to you however the building that is connected behind it is the research wings which is not that's where professional scientists and researchers get to work in peace and quiet I see now just to the north of the main library is the davis restaurant and cafe which I mentioned earlier behind it you'll find the state historical museum I think both of you and your children will find the exhibits they're quite interesting definitely thanks aside from that just to the north of us and also along rock street you can see the robert's library of state history and art the collections inside it are quite valuable but I'm not sure your children will appreciate it as much as you might feel free to take a look if we have time we sat me well now just behind us in the triangular building or long river market avenue you'll find the bookstore at library square inside you can shop for souvenirs and many interesting children's books as well as literature about our state's history and just to the north of the bookstore on the corner of the same street and president clinton avenue is the ron robinson theater that's where your children can watch a play about the history of our state you said the second performance is at 2 p.m. that's right make sure to get there a bit early so you can all get seated together okay so let's see if you got them all correct or not so let's play and I'll take you through the correct answers so now that you know exactly what you can do let me give you this map and explain some of its features to you the entire complex covers two quite large city blocks so to save time you'll need to know exactly where everything is great thanks I do enjoy a bit of exercise but it's quite hot today exactly to begin we're currently in the parking lot so what she said to begin we're currently in the parking lot so there's only one parking lot we can see that none of the other options are parking lots our car parking so we are here facing west just across rock street from us so it says to the west across rock street so we are here she's talking to the west so we see w west west across rock street you can see the main library the main library okay so we're here to the west across rock street the main library so six is f that's where you'll find almost all of our resources into collections including our collection of children's books and an area where they can create art all of that is accessible to you however the building that is connected behind it so the building that is connected behind it so you can see that there is a main building here and then a building that is connected behind it is the research wings which is not not as the research wing so seven e that's where professional scientists and researchers get to work in peace and quiet i see now just to the north of the main library so just to the north of the main library so main library just to the north is the davis restaurant and cafe which i mentioned earlier and that is the davis restaurant and cafe so eight is b behind it you'll find the state historical museum and then they talk about behind it so behind b the state historical museum that is not an option so we don't worry about that one i think both of you and your children will find the exhibits that are quite interesting definitely thanks aside from that just to the north of us so she said just to the north of us so remember we are in the parking lot so just to the north of us and also along rock street you can see the robert's library of state history and art so just to the north of us and along rock street so we're here so they're talking about the robert's library so not the bookstore at library square they're talking about an actual library not a bookstore at the library so c is not one of the options the collections inside it are quite valuable but i'm not sure your children will appreciate it as much as you might feel free to take a look if we have time we sat me well now just behind us in the triangular building our long river market avenue so remember we are here just behind us in the triangular building you'll find the bookstore at library square bookstore at library square so nine g inside you can shop for souvenirs and many interesting children's books as well as literature about our state history and just to the north of the bookstore and then just to the north of the bookstore on the corner of the same street and president clinton avenue is the ron robinson theater they said the corner of the same street and president clinton avenue so this is the corner of the same street that g is on and president clinton avenue on that corner is the ron robinson theater so ten is d that's where your children can watch a play about the history of our state so i hope that you got them all correct if you didn't don't worry don't panic no strategy can guarantee that you will get full marks every single time if you are still getting a few wrong it just means that you need to work on that strategy a little bit more so i hope you enjoyed that video now you need some practice tests and the good news is i've put together another video for you that shows you where you can find real reliable practice tests for free click on this video and it will show you exactly where to find these for free 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