Do you find the IELTS listening exam more difficult than other listening exams you have done?  What makes it seem difficult?  It has the same format as other exams – filling in spaces, completing information, matching exercises, and a variety of accents.  So why does it seem more complicated?

Here are some tips and activities to help you with the listening exam.  Practise predicting what information you must listen for, judge how well another learner has done and see where they have gone wrong and see if you can do better yourself.  You also look at some typical problem features like spelling and distinguishing between similar-sounding numbers.  

These tips are given in two parts.