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TEN GOLDEN RULES FOR LISTENING COMPREHENSION.

RULE 1

Read and listen to all instructions very carefully.

RULE 2

If you are in any doubt at all about what you have to do, ask the examiner or a monitor for further clarification.

RULE 3

Don't try to read through the whole Paper at the beginning. Read each Part as you are instructed.

RULE 4

Whatever you have to look at – multiple-choice items, true/false statements, a chart, a form, a map, a graph, etc. – read or study everything very carefully in order to try to predict what you will hear!

RULE 5

You will listen each audio extract only twice. Listen the first time and do as many of the items as you can. Listen the second time to check your answers or to fill in those you may have missed.

RULE 6

Concentrate during the listening phase. Remember, unlike Reading Comprehension, you can't glance back and forth to check for detail.

RULE 7

Mark the answers on the answer sheet that you mean to. If you can do items 1 and 2, but not item 3, for example, remember to leave a gap for item 3 on your answer sheet when proceeding to item 4.

RULE 8

If you don't understand a word or phrase, don't agonise over it. What is meant in the audio may well become clear from the context, or it may even be explained later.

RULE 9

At the end, when checking through your answer sheet for the whole Paper, do not leave any gaps. Put in something for items you have left unmarked!

RULE 10

In the period leading up to the exam, listen to as much spoken English as you possibly can.