 So today I'm going to answer a very common question that we get at IELTS Advantage Which is how do I get a band 8 or a band 9 in IELTS listening test? And the problem is really the fact that the listening test is divided into four parts Part one is the easiest part and then it gets more and more difficult with part 3 and part 4 being the most difficult Especially part 4. So most of the students struggling to get a band 8 or band 9 have no problem with part 1 They find part 2 quite easy, but once they start getting into part 3 and part 4 They come across some very common problems and then what they try and do is they try and solve it the wrong way So there are two ways that students try and solve this problem And if you are doing these two things you're never going to solve This problem of trying to get a band 8 or a band 9 So the first common problem is they will rely on strategies Now strategies do work, they do help you, but unless you have three other things that are way more important than strategies Strategies will be useless. So strategies are useful, but they are one piece of the puzzle The bigger mistake that we see students doing is doing lots of listening tests So often students will come to us and say I have done every single listening test I can find But I still cannot get a band 8 or band 9 Strategies and especially listening tests are not going to help you get beyond a band 7 They are not going to help you solve part 3 and part 4 The three things that will really help you for part 3 and part 4 are Number one, listening skills Number two, vocabulary And number three, focus Especially the ability to focus on multiple speakers speaking at the same time So let's take a sentence from a listening test And analyze it to show you that these two things are useless until you address these three things And then at the end we're going to give you a technique that we teach our students That helps them improve their listening skills, their vocabulary And their focus on listening all at the same time And you will enjoy yourself whilst you're doing it It's not often you enjoy something while you're studying IELTS So let's say on a listening test We hear this sentence Do you want to go to the jazz festival? So unfortunately, especially in parts 3 and 4 The speaker will not speak as clearly and as slowly as I am speaking right now I do not speak to my friends and my family in this very slow well-spoken way If I was to ask this question to one of my friends I would not say do you want to go to the jazz festival It would sound more like do you want to go to the jazz festival So that is something that is very difficult for people in part 3 and part 4 Not that the person is speaking quickly but they are speaking naturally The way I am speaking to you right now is not my natural voice I am speaking to you right now because I know that you are an English learner And I am trying to speak as clearly and as slowly as possible So what the person really says for part 3 and part 4 When they are saying this sentence Sounds more like this Do you and this connects together Wanna connects together Go to Go to the jazz festival So there are a few problems here for most people who are trying to get a Band 8 or Band 9 They are not used to connected speech So here we have connected speech, here we have connected speech And here we have connected speech And these schwa sounds, reduced sounds This is how most native English speakers actually speak to one another And they are testing your ability to understand real English So one of the skills is understanding this connected speech And without this skill it doesn't matter how many listening practice tests you do It doesn't matter how good your strategies are If you don't understand do you want to go to You will never be able to answer this question Also if we have a look at two key parts of this sentence Jazz, do you understand what jazz is? Lots of students trying to get a Band 8 or Band 9 Have no idea what jazz is Also do you really know what a festival is? And then when we combine these do you really understand what a jazz festival is? There is no way that you will be able to answer this question If this is the key part of the listening If you don't understand what jazz and festival means And you cannot understand connected speech So this is why listening and vocabulary are so important Also you have to be able to focus for long periods of time Think about the last time that you really focused on listening to something in English And think about how long that was It's probably only one or two minutes for most students Also think about the fact that you're not just listening You're reading, you're thinking, you're writing all at the same time Unless you are able to focus for a long period of time Listening and thinking and writing in English You're not going to be able to get part three and part four questions correct But don't worry we'll show you a really easy technique that you can use That helps you improve all three of these things So let's say this is person one and then person two says No, I've got to study for my finals So what does this actually mean? You may have never heard of this word in this context So you also have to guess what this word actually means From context No, I've got to study for my finals So you might not know what finals means But from the context of the conversation You might be able to guess that this means exams or a test Their final test Normally a university student, their final test, their final exam They will call them their finals So you will never be able to understand 100% of the vocabulary But you need to get used to guessing the meaning of some words in context While listening at the same time And thinking at the same time And writing your answer and deciding your answer all at the same time Now that sounds very very difficult But it does not need to be difficult But before we show you this technique called micro listening Please do not go and look up some strategies Do lots of practice tests And then waste days and weeks And you're still below a band 8 or a band 9 Please use this instead So what is micro listening? So let me show you exactly what it is So the first thing we're going to do Is you're going to pick something you enjoy listening to And the keyword there is that you enjoy it Why? Because you're going to have to do this technique Every day or 3, 4, 5 times a week Over weeks and months If you came here looking for a quick tip That is going to guarantee that you're going to get a band 9 You're watching the wrong video We don't teach you those things Because those things simply do not work Anyone teaching you quick tips to get a band 9 and listening Was never a real IELTS teacher They're a YouTuber who is pretending to be an IELTS teacher So once we pick something that we enjoy So this could be a podcast Or it could be a YouTube video But not English learning YouTube So not someone trying to teach you English on YouTube Because that is not real English And most of the English learning on YouTube Is going to make your English worse, not better Pick something real Like two people talking to each other Who are native English speakers Or TV show Or for example a news program Whatever you're interested in Or it could be a movie Whatever you're interested in Just make sure that it is real English native speakers Or very high level English learners talking naturally I would strongly recommend podcasts Because A, they're free And B, there isn't a single topic in the world right now That there aren't hundreds if not thousands Of really great podcasts So pick the topic that you love You could love cooking, cricket Reading, business, leadership Whatever you're into Pick something to listen to And here's where the micro listening comes in Alright so you're going to listen Until you don't understand So you don't understand So imagine we are listening and we hear this Do you want to go to the jazz festival You might not understand that Because of the connected speech Do you want to go to So you would stop Then stop The podcast, the YouTube channel, the movie Whatever it is Just stop Then you're going to listen again Until you can write the sentence Don't worry if you cannot understand the sentence fully Just listen again a few times So listen again, pause, go back, listen again You're just listening to one or two sentences That is why it's called micro listening Until you feel comfortable enough That you can attempt to write out the sentence So for example let's say you're listening To me interviewing another IELTS teacher And you hear is it okay If I to you about click bait So you might find some of the connected speech Difficult here So is it, is it So it sounds like a z Is it okay if I If I it's connecting together Talk to you So it's reduced sound here About click bait What is click bait I don't understand this So you're listening until there's some connected speech Or maybe the person is speaking a little bit too quickly for you Or there's some vocabulary That you don't quite understand So we're focusing on our listening skills Our vocabulary And we're improving our focus All at the same time Whilst we're listening to something that we're actually enjoying So listen as many times as you need to fully understand The sentence Don't worry if it takes you 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 times But if you do that What will happen is all this connected speech Will start to make sense in your brain And you'll start to become used to How real native English speakers actually speak You don't have to worry About practicing your pronunciation at this stage You can if you want to But most of the students who we work with Who have this problem Don't really have a pronunciation problem They have more understanding connected speech Rather than a problem with pronouncing this And then what we're going to do Is if there is a new word or a new phrase Don't look up the meaning Guess meaning from context So what does context mean? It means the words around this word It means the sentences around this word You could think about the title of the podcast Or what the general topic is They're talking about So maybe I'm interviewing another teacher About why they keep putting clickbait titles That mislead students into their videos In order to get views rather than teach students You would be able to guess the meaning of this word Clickbait is when you focus on tricking the viewer Into clicking on your video That shows that you're more concerned About growing your YouTube channel Than you are about actually helping your viewers Get better So from this context You can guess what this means Remember, you will hear words That you probably will not be familiar with When you're looking at part 3 and part 4 Or looking at, listening to part 3 and part 4 There will always be some words You don't quite understand You need to develop this as a skill One of the skills that we teach Is guessing meaning from context Not only is this going to help you Guess meaning from context If a new word comes up You are improving the range of your vocabulary So you're reducing the number of words That you don't know So again, you're enjoying yourself You're improving your listening skills You're improving your ability To guess meaning from context And you are improving your vocabulary Not only will that help you in the listening test It's also going to help you in the reading test In the writing test and the speaking test All at the same time So it requires a little bit more work Than just going on to YouTube And looking up top 10 tips to get a band on But this is way more effective Finally, add new vocabulary To a vocabulary notebook Can be a paper notebook Can be a digital notebook But don't lose this new vocabulary If you don't use it, you will lose it And then finally, review new vocab You can review it by using it in example sentences For example, there are many many many things That you can do to review vocabulary I'll maybe make a video soon On how to review new vocabulary And then what you do Once you have listened Use micro listening on one or two sentences Then just keep going Start again Keep listening to that podcast Or that movie or that TV show Until you find something that you again Don't understand Pause it Start the whole process again What you can also do is Most podcasts and YouTube channels And TV shows have subtitles But turn the subtitles off while you're doing this And only turn them on to check that you are correct Because often you'll hear a sentence And there will be a few words that you just Really don't understand at all Try to understand them first And then turn the subtitles on at the end And check them But just be careful on YouTube Sometimes the subtitles are not accurate Most of the time they are But sometimes they are not If you want more help with listening You can go to our website IELTSadvantage.com I've got lots of articles Free resources for listening Or if you click below You will find a fundamentals course That covers writing, speaking, reading And listening And has a great video on listening To help you understand the fundamentals Of how to improve your IELTS listening score Hopefully you enjoyed this lesson And the key really is to do it If you just watch this lesson And don't actually do any of this You are not going to improve in any way Don't waste your time on things that don't work Especially doing lots and lots and lots of listening tests Do things that really do work