How to Stay Focused in the IELTS Listening Test
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Chris from IELTS Advantage discusses key strategies to improve focus during the IELTS listening test. He emphasizes four main areas: health, preparation, stress management, and practice. Chris shares how maintaining good health through proper diet, exercise, and sleep enhances focus. He advises understanding question types to avoid surprises and reduce test-day stress. Stress is natural, but preparation can significantly reduce it. Finally, Chris highlights the importance of consistent, active listening practice to improve performance. He also provides resources for further IELTS preparation on his website.
Takeaways
- 😀 Health is crucial for focus during the IELTS listening test. A healthy diet, regular exercise, and sufficient sleep can improve performance.
- 💪 Students who are healthy perform better and are more focused during the test.
- 🍏 Small changes like eating healthy meals and getting 8 hours of sleep before the test can significantly improve scores.
- 📝 Preparation is key. Familiarity with different question types (e.g., summary completion, multiple choice) helps maintain focus during the test.
- 📚 Developing a step-by-step strategy for each question type can help reduce uncertainty and mental energy on test day.
- 😰 A little stress is beneficial during the test, but too much can overwhelm and hinder performance.
- 🧘♂️ Proper preparation reduces stress. The more practice tests students complete, the more confident they feel on test day.
- 🔄 Practice consistently over time, gradually increasing the duration of focused listening practice, just like training for a marathon.
- 🎯 Don’t book the test until consistently achieving the desired scores in practice tests. Magic won’t happen on test day without preparation.
- 🌍 Resources such as full lessons, strategies, and practice tests are available for free on the IELTS Advantage website.
Q & A
What are the four key elements discussed for maintaining focus during the IELTS listening test?
-The four key elements discussed are health, preparation, stress, and practice.
How does health impact performance on the IELTS listening test?
-Health impacts performance because students who maintain a healthy diet, exercise, and get enough sleep tend to focus better during the test. Poor health habits, such as lack of sleep or unhealthy eating, can lead to underperformance.
What are some short-term health recommendations for the day before the IELTS test?
-Short-term recommendations include eating a healthy dinner, having a nutritious breakfast, going for a walk, and getting at least eight hours of sleep the night before the test.
Why is preparation important for maintaining focus during the listening test?
-Preparation is important because being familiar with different types of IELTS questions and knowing how to approach them reduces panic and helps students stay focused. Proper preparation allows students to focus on the actual task rather than worrying about unfamiliar questions.
How can stress affect performance in the IELTS test?
-A little stress is natural and can help with focus, but too much stress can lead to overwhelm and make it difficult to concentrate. The key is reducing stress through preparation to avoid being overly anxious on test day.
What role does practice play in staying focused during the IELTS listening test?
-Practice helps students build the endurance needed to focus for the entire duration of the listening test. By gradually increasing the time spent on focused listening, students can improve their ability to stay attentive during the actual test.
Why should students avoid relying on luck or last-minute preparation?
-Relying on luck or last-minute preparation is ineffective because success in the IELTS test comes from consistent hard work and practice. Students need to be well-prepared in advance to achieve the scores they need.
How can students familiarize themselves with different types of IELTS listening questions?
-Students can familiarize themselves with different question types such as summary completion, multiple choice, form filling, and labeling maps by reviewing strategies and practicing these question formats in mock tests.
What is the recommended approach to dealing with stress during the IELTS test?
-The recommended approach is to reduce stress by being well-prepared. Students who have done enough practice tests know what to expect, which helps them stay calm and confident during the actual test.
Where can students find additional resources for IELTS listening practice and strategies?
-Students can visit the IELTS Advantage website, which offers free lessons, strategies for different question types, and practice tests. They can also contact the instructor for additional support if needed.
Outlines
🧠 Importance of Focus During the IELTS Listening Test
In this introduction, Chris discusses the main challenge students face during the IELTS listening test—maintaining focus throughout the test. While vocabulary and listening skills are not a problem for most students, many struggle with staying focused. He outlines four key elements to improve focus: health, preparation, stress management, and practice. He emphasizes that these elements will be explored in detail throughout the lesson.
🍎 The Role of Health in Maintaining Focus
Chris highlights the importance of health in achieving optimal focus during the IELTS test. He explains that students who maintain a good diet, exercise regularly, and get enough sleep perform better. Poor health habits like lack of sleep and poor nutrition can lead to underperformance. He advises making long-term health improvements and taking care of one’s health on test day by having a healthy breakfast, walking, and getting a good night's sleep. This can be the difference between scoring a 6 or a 7.5 in the IELTS exam.
📝 Preparation is Key to Preventing Panic
Chris discusses how lack of preparation can cause students to lose focus during the test when they encounter unfamiliar question types. He stresses the importance of knowing the types of questions that will appear and having strategies to tackle them. By practicing and understanding these questions, students can avoid the panic that leads to distractions during the test. He offers a step-by-step strategy to make the question-handling process automatic and seamless on test day.
😨 Managing Stress for Optimal Performance
Chris explains how stress can affect students during the test. While a little stress is beneficial for focus and performance, too much stress can be overwhelming. He advises that preparation is the best way to reduce stress. Those who have done the necessary work and practice will feel more confident and less stressed on test day. He shares his own experience with stress during his driving theory test to illustrate that being prepared leads to reduced anxiety and improved results.
🏋️♂️ Practicing Active Listening for Success
Chris emphasizes the importance of active listening practice to perform well in the listening section of the IELTS test. He compares it to training for a marathon or lifting weights—it requires consistent effort over time to build focus and endurance. He advises starting small and gradually increasing practice time, ensuring that students are consistently hitting their target scores before booking the test. He warns against relying on luck and stresses the importance of hard work and practice.
🎯 Strategies and Resources for IELTS Preparation
In the final section, Chris provides information on where students can find resources and strategies to prepare for the IELTS test. He directs them to his website, IELTS Advantage, where they can find lessons on different question types and strategies for tackling them. He encourages students to take action by applying these strategies in practice tests and offers his help via email if needed. He concludes by inviting students to like and subscribe to his channel for more helpful content.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Focus
💡Health
💡Preparation
💡Stress
💡Practice
💡Test strategies
💡Mock tests
💡Vocabulary
💡Sleep
💡Diet
Highlights
The main problem students face during the IELTS listening test is maintaining focus for the entire test.
Four key elements to improve focus: health, preparation, stress management, and practice.
Health plays a crucial role in performance. Students who maintain good health through diet, exercise, and sleep are able to focus better and perform well.
Small changes like eating healthy, getting enough sleep, and exercising can improve students' test scores significantly.
Preparation is essential. Knowing the types of questions you'll encounter in the listening test helps reduce panic and improves focus.
Strategies for different question types, such as summary completion and multiple choice, should be automatic, allowing students to focus on answering rather than overthinking.
Stress is natural, and a little stress can actually be beneficial by improving focus and clarity.
Excessive stress, however, leads to overwhelming feelings, which can harm performance.
Students who prepare thoroughly by practicing with different question types are less fearful and stressed during the test.
Mock tests and practice are essential for reducing stress and improving test performance.
Active listening practice is critical, not passive activities like watching movies or casually listening to podcasts.
Consistent practice over time builds the ability to stay focused for extended periods during the test.
Gradual preparation, such as listening in short intervals and progressively increasing duration, helps improve focus.
The importance of practice is emphasized—students should not expect to perform well without consistent practice leading up to the test.
Chris encourages students to visit his website for additional resources, strategies, and practice material for the IELTS test.
Transcripts
hi everyone Chris here from Isles
mantich and here is another life lesson
today we're going to focus on how to
focus during IELTS listening test many
of you have contacted us and explained
that vocabulary isn't a problem
listening skills they're not a problem
but really your main problem is how to
remain totally focused on what you need
to do for the duration of the listening
test so that's what we're going to look
at today and there are four key elements
that we're going to look at number one
is your health number two preparation
number three stress and number four
practice and we're going to look at each
of these
take a look at health first not
obviously I'm not a health expert or a
dietician or an exercise expert or
anything like that but what I've noticed
with thousands of our students is and
dealing with students both face-to-face
on online the students that looked after
themselves were healthy were able to on
test they were able to focus for the
whole day and that was not a problem but
I've spoke to many students who had a
pure diet didn't really exercise they
were maybe overweight and they didn't
really get a lot of sleep because of
their job or because they had kids or
because they were you know checking
Instagram at 3 o'clock in the morning
and they found it really really
difficult and they always underperformed
so they should have got about 7 or AB on
date and they always consistently got a
6 or 6.5 and this isn't the case for all
students but for some of those students
by just making tweaks to their diet and
starting to eat healthy food and going
for a walk each day and getting eight
hours of sleep was the difference
between them getting six six point five
and seven seven point five eight and
because again it doesn't matter how good
your English is if you cannot focus
especially in the listening and the
reading test you're not going to do very
well so think about health both
long-term on short term long term
obviously improving your diet your
exercise your sleep is going to make you
healthier happier more productive you're
going to be able to focus and get higher
scores on the IELTS test but also short
term the day before your test on the
morning of your test make sure you eat a
healthy dinner and a healthy especially
a healthy breakfast I know some some of
you eat like a chocolate bar before he
go into the test or like a count of Coke
or something like that obviously eat
something healthy and go for a walk the
day before the morning of a hundred
percent make sure that you get at least
eight hours of sleep the night before
your test I know you're going to be a
little bit stressed out but we'll talk
about that in a second
preparation know what's coming up I know
how to deal with it so one of the main
reasons students lose focus during the
test is they see a question and they
have no idea how to
so I'm not talking really about the
content of the question or the
difficulty of the question just a
question that comes up that they're like
I've never seen this before it's really
unusual like and then they panic and
they don't know what to do
so number one know what's going to come
up know exactly which types of questions
you're not going to be able to predict
exactly what the content is going to be
but you will be able to reliably predict
the types of question summary completion
multiple-choice filling out a form
labeling a map all of these different
types of listening test test questions
and if you are aware of those then
you're not going to be surprised on test
day and you will remain focused also
more importantly know how to deal with
each of those different types of
questions so students that I work with
they I give them a step-by-step strategy
for each of those different types of
questions so that they know exactly what
to do on test day and they're not
thinking about strategy because it's
automated it becomes automatic because
we teach them exactly what to do they
practice doing that and they know
exactly what to do on test day so
they're not spending all of their time
and all of their mental energy thinking
like what is this question and how do I
do it they're totally focused on reading
listening thinking about the question
writing the correct answer darn spelling
all of those important functions that
you're going to need those are going to
need priority not oh my god I've never
seen this question before so at the end
of this lesson I'll show you where you
can find the different types of
questions and and how to deal with them
strategies for them number three stress
so believe it or not a little bit of
stress during your IELTS test is good
it's a totally natural human response to
get those stress hormones going when
you're in a test environment any test
that I've ever done I recently did my my
driving theory test and when I sat down
even though I know I knew a hundred
percent that I was going to pass because
I'd done so many practice tests and I
got a little bit nervous it's totally
normal and that's actually good because
a little bit of
cortisol a little bit of adrenaline
these hormones are going to help you
focus and they're going to give you the
energy and the clarity that you need
however if you've got too much stress
you're going to get completely
overwhelmed and you're going to be you
know you won't be able to focus on
anything so it is about reducing stress
as much as possible nobody no student
I've ever worked with has ever said yeah
I was you know I sat down and I'd no
stress no nerves whatsoever
they're lying every single student gets
a little bit but it's about reducing
those stress levels as much as possible
and this is really really important
in the IELTS contact stress is just
another word for fear so what do I mean
by that
well the students that I work with for
their listening test anyway they know
what scores are going to get before they
do the tests why is that we've given
them all the different types of
questions we've given them strategies
we've helped them with the vocabulary
help them with their listening skills
help them with their with their test
taking strategies and they've done so
many different practice tests just like
when I did my driving test there my
theory driving test I knew and they knew
what score they were going to get before
the exam because they done so many mock
practice tests same with with here those
students are not fearful at all they
know what's going to happen the students
that sit down and are overcome with
stress on test day are the students who
didn't do any work they knew that they
just didn't do the work they know that
they're going to fail if you know that
you a haven't done any work and you know
you're going to fail how are you going
to feel you're going to be completely
overwhelmed with stress so what's the
solution to reducing stress as much as
possible preparation if you put in the
hard work you do everything you need to
do you're not going to be nervous I
guarantee it but if you don't do the
work
you're going to lie to yourself for
weeks and months and you'll pretend that
nothing bad is going to happen but when
you're sitting down in that chair and
you open
paper and you know you haven't done the
work then stress is going to come and
interplay so simple do the work before
last but not least practice so when was
the last time you actively listen to
English for more than thirty minutes and
I don't mean watching movies because
half the time when you watch a movie
you're not really focusing on what's
happening or YouTube videos or podcasts
you know if you're listening to a
podcast on your way to work and looking
at the window thinking about the weather
or what you're going to do that day it's
not really focusing on what you're doing
it is a it is something that is quite
difficult to sit there for 30 40 minutes
and listen to English and think about
the answers and read and think and think
about spelling and all of these
different things for that extended
period of time just like running a
marathon is very very difficult but
anybody can do it if they put in enough
hard work or lifting 100 kilograms is
really really difficult if you go to the
gym and try and do that it's really
difficult but with enough hard work
anybody can do it and if you want to run
a marathon or lift a hundred kilograms
you don't just go and start to run a
marathon you would run a little bit each
day same with lifting weights you would
lift increasingly heavier weights each
day over a long period of time same with
this don't try and do a practice test
the night before your test and be like
oh I'm going to fail I couldn't do it
did it start off months before and start
off with five minutes then 10 minutes
then 15 20 25 30 until you're able to
stay completely focused on what you're
doing and I'm able to get the score you
need before you do the test don't book
the test until you are consistently
getting those scores you need nothing
magic is going to happen on test day
it's not like you're going to like a
magic fairy is going to come down and
move the pen for you luck it and prayer
and all of these things are not going to
help you and doing the work is going to
help you so if you do these four things
if you work on your health your
preparation work on your stress and make
sure you get enough practice getting the
score you need is just a formality
and you're not going to be a stressed
out you're going to be able to focus
exactly on what you need to do and you
can apply that to not only listening but
to reading and to speaking and to
writing as well so I promised that I
would give you some information about
strategies and the different types of
questions and if you go to my website so
if you type in IELTS advantage and
you'll find a lot to help task 1 task 2
speaking reading listening vocabulary
but click on listening and then scroll
down you'll get lots of information
about the test there's a video about the
test and how to practice improving your
listening skills but then if you go down
here there's some lessons full lessons
with strategies so summary completion
form filling questions multiple choice
labeling a plan labeling a mop to go in
there look at those strategies but most
importantly take action apply them to
practice tests learn the strategy you're
going to make life so much easier for
yourself but it's all just about taking
action and if you need help with
anything else you can go to the home
page we've helped with tasks one size
too speaking reading listening
vocabulary help yourself
it's all free you can work at home for
free if you need my help don't know why
I keep saying 2017 every change that
still doesn't work if you need my help
with your preparation you can send me an
email so you'll find my email at the top
of the website and I can't guarantee
that I'll be able to work with you
because I only work with a small number
of people but we do run the most
successful online or offline IELTS
course in the world so if you are
interested in improving your scores feel
free to send me an email we can have a
chat or one of my team will have a chat
with you thank you very much guys hope
that you enjoyed that and if you enjoyed
the video give it a like or subscribe to
the channel and so that you can get
further videos in the future thanks guys
and see you again soon
buh-bye
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