Improve your IELTS Listening score
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WELCOMEWelcome to IELTS Online Listening
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Meet Your Course Trainers
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Course Overview
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Using the Platform
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IELTS LISTENING TESTIELTS Listening Test2 Topics
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LISTENING SKILLS AND STRATEGIESIntroduction to Skills and Strategies
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General Skills and Strategies6 Topics
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Skills and Strategies for Part 16 Topics
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Skills and Strategies for Part 24 Topics
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Skills and Strategies for Part 34 Topics
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Skills and Strategies for Part 46 Topics
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QUESTION TYPESIntroduction to Question Types
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Common Strategies for All Questions
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Multiple Choice Questions8 Topics
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Matching Questions8 Topics
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Labelling Questions8 Topics
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Completion Questions8 Topics
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Sentence Completion Questions8 Topics
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Short-answer Questions8 Topics
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IELTS PRACTICE TESTSIELTS Listening Mock Tests2 Topics
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COURSE CONCLUSIONOverall Tips for a Greater Score
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Congratulations on Course Completion
Guessing Unknown Vocabulary
Guessing Unknown Vocabulary
Another important skill needed in all parts of the listening test is guessing unknown vocabulary.
When you listen to different topics, you might hear words that you don't know the meaning of. You don't need to understand every word in order to be able to answer the questions.
Let’s look at two strategies for guessing unfamiliar vocabulary: using context and looking for related words.
When you hear a word that you don’t understand, try to guess its meaning from the context; that is, the words around it.
Let’s see if you can guess the meaning of words using context.
Activity
Read the sentence below and answer the questions that follow.
The abundance of rain after such a long drought made the farmers rejoice because they knew their crops would not fail.
Another method for guessing unknown vocabulary is to look for related words. Some words are related because they are in the same category (e.g. clothes: shirt, shoes, singlet, pants).
If you know one word in the passage, you can make a logical guess that some of the other words may be related to it.
Consider the sentence below. What do you think the words in bold mean?
The country’s mining industry not only focuses on diamonds, but also copper, quartz and mica.
| If you don’t know the meaning of ‘mining’, you could guess that it’s an industry connected to diamonds. |
| You can guess that it is some kind of material similar to diamonds. |
Let’s see if you can guess the meaning of a word using related words.
Activity
Read the sentence below and answer the question.
The successful candidate is required to produce reports, spreadsheets, emails, patomes and other office correspondence.