Exam skills: 6 more tips to help with your listening exams

Rob Listening exams don't need to be scary! Be

prepared and together with some of our top tips, you can improve your performance when

the exam day comes. You might be worried about not hearing something

the first time – examiner, Mark Shea, has out first tip…

Mark Shea, Examiner Make sure you’re familiar with the structure

of the exam. Sometimes you’ll hear things one

time only; sometimes you might hear things twice.

Rob So find out before the exam how many times

you’ll hear the text. It will affect the way you listen. Next, read the question carefully

before the listening audio begins. Know what you’re listening for. Are you listening for

specific details? Or more general points? If you miss something during the exam, don’t

panic, just keep going and try to focus on the rest of the exam. Listen to the advice

this student gives…

Student Well, when you didn’t catch the answer and

you have to leave a gap because you didn’t understand it, then try not to care about

it and try to forget the mistakes and go straight to other things.

Rob Next, how do you focus your listening? Language

teacher, Margaret John, has an idea…

Margaret John, Language Teacher Keep your finger on the question. Don’t

be distracted by all that other language going around. So keep your eyes on the question.

When you’ve heard the answer to that question, move straight to the next question, and put

your finger on it, and pay attention to that and that alone.

Rob So carry on, don't get distracted – put

your finger on the question and listen only for the answer to that question. If you have

the chance to hear things twice, try and form an opinion the first time you listen, and

then the second time you listen you should be confirming that your guess was right the

first time. Make sure that you do listen the second time, and don’t just think that you’ve

got the answer right the first time round.

Finally, if there's time at the end, check your answers and see if they make sense.

Good luck!