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This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode

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1366. Avoid

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these three IELTS listening traps.

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Get your estimated band

0:32

score now with our

0:35

2-minute quiz. Go to

0:37

allearsenglish.com/my score. IELTS

0:43

exam writers love to include

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tricks and traps throughout the

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listening test. Today we share

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the three tricks you are

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guaranteed to face on every

0:53

IELTS exam and strategies

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for making sure they don't trip

0:58

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1:34

Aubrey, do

1:36

you think the IELTS listening test

1:38

is a tricky fox? Is

1:42

a tricky fox. I love that metaphor. Yes,

1:45

it's so there are intent. The writers

1:47

are intentionally creating these tricks and traps,

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all of these pitfalls, in

1:52

order to make it difficult for you to get the

1:54

answers correct. You can't just listen to the audio and

1:56

know you'll for sure get every answer right. There are

1:58

some ways to get the answers correct. strategies there are

2:00

tricks that you need to be watching for

2:02

in order to score seven or higher. Yes,

2:05

so we had a fantastic question

2:07

from a YouTube subscriber. Guys, if

2:09

you're not watching us on video

2:11

right now, you can

2:13

go to YouTube and

2:16

search IELTS Energy TV.

2:19

So we had a great question from a

2:22

subscriber on there. And

2:24

this will introduce tip number one.

2:26

So stay until the end guys,

2:28

because remember, we have three tricks

2:31

and traps that IELTS puts on

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every listening test. So listen to

2:35

all three guys so you will

2:38

get more correct listening answers. All

2:40

right, Aubrey, what did that student

2:42

ask us on YouTube? All right, here's the

2:44

question. So I listened very

2:46

carefully to the speaker on the listening

2:49

audio and I heard them say wire.

2:51

But the answer was wires, plural.

2:53

So I checked the audio script

2:56

and the speaker did indeed say wire.

2:59

The sentence was the program provided

3:01

the necessary wire for making them.

3:03

And the question format was the

3:06

program provided and then the number

3:08

question blank for the fences. So

3:11

then talking about the answer, what does

3:14

the bracket in the key answer mean?

3:16

Does this mean that wire or wires

3:18

would be the correct answer on the

3:20

real exam, which would be correct? Oh,

3:22

this is a very good question. That's

3:25

a fantastic question. It's confusing.

3:27

Yeah, sometimes there's more than

3:29

one right answer, right? So if you're looking

3:31

at the answer key, guys, and this is

3:33

true for listening and reading. If

3:35

you're looking at the answer key to score

3:37

yourself, right to see what you got correct

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and incorrect, you will see

3:43

two possibilities here when there's more

3:46

than one answer

3:48

that's correct. So here, for example, it says

3:51

wire and then in parentheses, there's an

3:53

S in parentheses. So that means guys

3:55

that yes, wire and

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wires both those answers

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are correct, they're considered correct.

4:03

Now, sometimes you will see

4:05

slashes like if

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the answer is two, for example, you might

4:10

see like the number two slash and

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then TWO because both of those

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would be considered correct answers, right?

4:18

So whatever you see in the answer key is

4:20

a correct answer even if there are options.

4:23

Yeah, so this leads right into our first

4:26

tip, which is you've likely

4:28

heard us say this before, that it's

4:30

so important that on IELTS listening, you

4:32

almost never have to change the grammar.

4:34

You can always write exactly what you

4:37

hear. It's so rare that you would

4:39

have to change the verb

4:41

to match a different subject, just like

4:43

here, wire and wires are both correct

4:45

and you're not expected to change the

4:47

grammar. Exactly, exactly.

4:51

So yeah, the last part of that student's

4:53

question before we get to tip number two,

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just real quick, the

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subscriber asked if this happens

5:00

on the real test. Yes, it does.

5:02

There are sometimes more than one possible

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correct answer on listening and reading. It's

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exactly like you see in the Cambridge

5:08

books, guys. So when you're looking at

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those answer keys, it's very similar on

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the real exam. But

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don't worry about all of those options,

5:17

guys. Just follow this first golden rule,

5:19

write exactly what you hear.

5:22

Don't change anything. Don't change the grammar.

5:24

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6:59

let's get into tip number two.

7:01

What is that Aubrey? Yes, this

7:03

tip is all about distractors. These

7:06

are things that exam writers are

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intentionally creating inside both the listening

7:10

audio, what the speakers are saying,

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and the questions that are meant

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to distract you from getting the

7:16

answer correct. Exactly. So

7:19

as you guys probably know, if you have

7:22

been listening to IELTS Energy for a while,

7:25

I write textbooks, a lot of

7:27

textbooks, a lot of tests. I make

7:29

all of that stuff. These

7:32

tips, guys, these tricks, I should

7:35

say, I use all

7:37

of them and they're all going to

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be on your IELTS listening exam as

7:41

well. So distractors, like Aubrey said, we

7:45

as test writers, we hide

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correct answers after

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or In between things that

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also sound correct that distract you from

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getting the right answer. So We're going

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to give you an example here, okay?

8:00

Now the listening tests question

8:02

would be what was the

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title of the book Jess

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read? Okay, that's the question.

8:08

Now here is the audio that

8:10

will give you the answer. Aubrey

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Is my Professor Lawrence. That. Just.

8:16

Your a fantastic students but you haven't

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been keeping up with the reading list.

8:21

Honestly, I don't find those

8:23

books interesting. I mean, to

8:25

kill a mocking bird is

8:27

a sheds. I recently enjoyed

8:29

this book a fairy tale

8:31

from Stephen King. It was

8:33

extraordinary. Well. If you

8:35

like horror, you should read Mary

8:37

Shelley's Frankenstein. It's on the list.

8:41

Of act as such a good

8:43

example because there's three never book

8:45

titles their rights. That is a

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perfect example of distract ourselves. Aubrey:

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What is the answer? Their: what

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books did I read? Death Rate

8:55

Just Talks About To Kill A

8:57

Mocking Bird and Fairy Tale from

8:59

Stephen King and then the Professor

9:02

mentions same constrained Mary Shelley but

9:04

when she says I recently enjoyed

9:06

Fairytale from. Stephen King. That's a

9:08

parallel expression for I. Recently read this

9:11

book and liked it. So the answer would

9:13

be Fairytale by Stephen King. Yeah.

9:16

Of our an also have

9:18

Now the last way that

9:20

I'll tricks you guys is

9:22

by giving you an answer

9:24

that seems possible that sits

9:26

with the question and then

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immediately saying. No. That's

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not right and giving you the

9:33

real answer, right? So that's why

9:35

guys, you have to listen very

9:38

carefully. I'm ok. Here's an example

9:40

of this trick. Now that

9:42

listen question is how many hours

9:44

of sleep are sufficient for optimal

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health and the audio the listening

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says once. it's as

9:51

it is widely believed that eight

9:54

hours of sleep is the minimum

9:56

for optimal health when in reality

9:58

six hours his at Oh,

10:01

that's tricky. That is such a

10:03

good example. So first we hear

10:05

eight hours, right? A

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lot of students will just write that immediately

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and then go to the next question. You

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can't do that guys. You have to

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listen carefully. So immediately after saying eight

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hours, the speaker negates

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that and says when in

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reality, six hours is adequate.

10:25

So six hours is the

10:27

answer. Yes. And it's

10:29

also about when you're looking for keywords,

10:31

if you just see, oh, optimal health

10:33

in the question, optimal health in the

10:36

passage, it must be eight hours. And

10:38

if you're not thinking about what sufficient

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means, what adequate means, you have to

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realize these are all parallel expressions. So

10:44

when we're looking, once we find keywords,

10:46

that's when we read closely. Read

10:49

the full sentence, maybe the sentence

10:51

before and after closely to make

10:53

sure you're not missing one of these tricks

10:55

that IELTS throws at you. Exactly.

10:58

Exactly. And all

11:00

of these tricks and more guys, there are

11:02

more ways that IELTS tries to trick you

11:04

and stop you from getting the right answer.

11:07

All of these are in our online

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course. Now you have lifetime access and

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exam. Get scores, get advice

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speaking and writing. Check it

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out now guys, allearsenglish.com/K E

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Y S. Awesome. We'll

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see you in there. I love that course. I love

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the community. So hopefully we'll see you guys there soon

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and I'll see you next time. Awesome.

11:32

Have a good weekend. All right. Bye.

11:34

Bye. Thanks

11:40

for listening to IELTS energy.

11:42

Hit subscribe now and don't

11:44

forget to find your estimated

11:46

band score at allearsenglish.com slash

11:49

my score.