IELTS: THE TRICK to identify THE RIGHT SPELLING in the LISTENING audio

The IELTS Listening module turns out to be challenging for many due to the rather challenging accents that are used in the audio clips. 

Read ahead to find out how this can be tackled.

In IELTS listening, even when your answer is right, you will not be awarded marks if you cannot spell it correctly. Thus listening and comprehending the words correctly is the key.

Accents also play a role when it comes to getting the spelling right,

For example:

The Australian's tend to 'FLAP' their 'tt' and 'dd' words.

Butter, ladder in British English sounds different when an Australian says it.

So what can be done?

The best method is to familiarise yourself with different accents and listening to such different accents regularly is the best way to go about this.

SO where do I look for to get good audio materials to practice?

Try the BBC news channel or just any news channel that will expose you to various accents around the world. TED TALKS is another good source which is freely available on YouTube. You could also resort to English podcasts from different countries like Australia, the UK, New Zealand, the US, Canada and so on. 

For when you put those headphones on, on the day of the test, nothing should come as a surprise to you !