COMMON MISTAKES IN IELTS 

Common IELTS Listening Mistakes

Now, we’ll discuss these common IELTS Listening mistakes, such as not listening carefully, missing instructions, ignoring predictive skills, spelling errors, and not using transfer time wisely. Tips on how to avoid these errors and enhance performance will also be provided.

1. Not Listening Carefully

You’re sitting in the IELTS listening test, and the room is quiet except for the recording playing on your headphones. Suddenly, your thoughts drift, and you lose focus on the audio. Minutes later, you snap back to reality, realizing you missed crucial information.

This common scenario can cost you points. To avoid this, train yourself in active listening. Tune out distractions, hone in on keywords, and sharpen your concentration skills through regular practice sessions.

2. Missing Instructions

How often do we scan directions only to find later that we overlooked an important detail? Please precisely follow instructions during the IELTS Listening test to avoid expensive blunders. A task, word limit, and format instructions are there for a purpose, and failing to follow them may result in a point deduction.

So, practice reading and comprehending instructions carefully before beginning the listening section. Pay great attention to the work requirements and any particular directions that have been supplied. You’ll be more prepared for the test if you practice following directions correctly throughout preparation.

3. Ignoring Predictive Skills

The worst error you can make is attempting to predict replies before thoroughly understanding the material.

Focusing on a predetermined answer while listening to the paragraph can lead to missing the correct response. It’s essential to remain open-minded and let the audio guide your decision-making process.

Ideally, you want to grasp the audio and questions offered by being open-minded about the possible answers. Allow the audio to direct you to the appropriate decision.

4. Spelling Errors

In the IELTS Listening test, precision is paramount. Any misspelled word, whether a common term or a proper noun, like names of places or cities, risks marking your answer correctly. Even grammatical slip-ups can detract from your score. It’s crucial to address these common pitfalls to overcome this issue.

Furthermore, immerse yourself in diverse English materials such as novels, newspapers, and podcasts. These resources expose you to correct language usage and enhance your understanding of sentence structure. Attention to detail is critical; a single letter can make all the difference between success and a lost mark.

5. Not Using Transfer Time Wisely

As the IELTS Listening test transitions between sections or questions, a brief period is allocated for transfer time. Unfortunately, many test-takers overlook this opportunity, squandering it instead of reviewing their answers. This oversight can result in missed chances to correct mistakes and lower scores.

However, utilize time wisely to review your answers and make any necessary changes. Resist the temptation to rush through this period and instead focus on ensuring the accuracy of your responses. By utilizing transfer time effectively, you can boost your confidence and maximize your score on the IELTS Listening test.

Tips to Maximize IELTS Listening

Having addressed common IELTS listening errors and approaches to overcome them, discussing some tips to maximize IELTS listening scores is crucial. Below are some straightforward tips to consider:

  • Familiarize yourself with the entire test format
  • Develop active listening skills
  • Improve your vocabulary
  • Practice with authentic materials
  • Enhance your time management skills
  • Learn from your mistakes
  • Predict and Anticipate

Conclusion

Overcoming the IELTS Listening mistakes is vital to achieving your academic and professional goals. By avoiding these top 5 common mistakes and implementing the above strategies, you can enhance your performance and increase your chances of success. Whether you’re preparing for the NAATI or PTE, remember to practice active listening, follow instructions carefully, utilize predictive skills, be careful with spelling, and use transfer time wisely.

Mistake #1 – Not reading the instructions carefully.

Don’t try to save time by skipping this part. The instructions give you important information about what exactly what you need to do and how many words there should be in your answer.  Going over the word limit is a common cause of wrong answers so if the answer requires one word and you write 2 or 3, the whole answer will be wrong- even if one of the words is a or the. So, for example if the correct answer is vegetables and you write the vegetables, you would lose the mark.

Mistake #2 – Not leaving time to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.

There’s no extra time in reading to enter your answers on the answer sheet so make sure you get them  all down within the 60 minutes.

Mistake #3 – Leaving a blank.

Make an educated guess, especially in multiple choice type questions. At least, you’ll have a chance at the answer, whereas leaving an empty space means you have no chance.

Mistake #4 – Getting stuck on unknown vocabulary.

There will surely be words you don’t know the meaning of. Ignore them- most of the time you won’t need them- you can answer the question from the context- ie the words around. They will give you an idea of the meaning of the sentence and you can still answer the question.

Mistake #5 – Copying the answer incorrectly.

When transferring your answer, copy the word exactly as it is in the passage, don’t change it and be sure to spell it right as if a word is misspelled, it will be marked wrong. You are allowed to write in capitals and lower case but you will lose marks if you do not use a capital for the first letter of proper nouns such as the United Kingdom or for the title of a book.

Mistake #6 – Incorrect grammar.

In gap-filling exercises, make sure that the gap you have completed is grammatically correct. For example, if the gapped sentence reads an ——— event, the missing word must begin with a singular countable noun which starts with a vowel (aeiou).it could be for example, an unlikely event or an important event but it would not be an regular event as that is grammatically incorrect.

Mistake #7 – Being unprepared for lengthy passages.

IELTS reading passages are quite long so you definitely need to develop your reading skills in order to read as efficiently as possible. Practise skimming over an unknown academic passage in a minute for the general meaning. Read passages  taken from textbooks or articles in university publications. You can find many academic style articles on the BBC website or the Guardian. This will help you get accustomed to the types of passages and structures you will come across in the test.

Mistake #8 – Panicking.

Stay calm if the subject is unfamiliar – most of the time they are. You can still find the relevant answer in the passage using reading techniques. In my course, I explain the best possible techniques with real examples. This will help you not only avoid mistakes but also achieve a high band score in reading and in the listening, speaking and writing modules. You’ll also find lots of practice material so you can put these into practice and be ready to take the IELTS test.

Writing Task 1

1. Not knowing what to expect.

A lot of candidates who fail the exam or receive a lower score do not know what kind of visuals they can face in Task 1 and what to pay attention to in each of them. You will always benefit if you are familiar with all types of tasks. Know the names of the visuals and pay attention to the key features like trends, stages and steps, changes that have taken in places etc. We have already written about how to understand IELTS visuals.

2. Including personal opinion or reason.

What kind of information should you include in your response? Firstly, you have to write about figures, i.e. numbers that illustrate changes. Secondly, write about the facts from the chart, such as changes, rise and fall etc. You might get a penalty if you write about: — reasons why changes happened; — your opinion about the situation; — predict the future of the situation.

3. Starting writing immediately.

Many candidates start writing their reports the very same moment they receive the task. This is the best thing you can do … to fail or complete the task in the wrong way. What you have to do is: — read the description of the visual carefully. If you don’t do so, you might misunderstand some information. — analyse the chart. Carefully look at the axes, measurements, names of columns, dates, periods of time, trends etc. It will help you choose the vocabulary and grammar for your writing. — plan how to organize your writing. For example, grouping trends by similarities or differences will help you organize your response more effectively, and lead to a higher score. — spend 3 – 5 minutes on the things mentioned above. However, if you practice a lot before the exam, it might take shorter time to do these things.

4. Not summarizing main features.

Candidates who do not prepare for the exam, do not report on the main features, and, most importantly, don’t focus on the summary of main features. Do not just describe the details from the chart because it is only the part of the score. It is not enough to complete the task successfully. Provide the summary because its absence will lead you to a penalty. If you want to receive band 6+, follow the criteria, which say that you need ‘to present an overview with information appropriately selected’. Unlike band 5, where the candidates simply ‘recount details mechanically with no clear overview’. As you can see, knowing what to write about is an important point to consider.

5. Describing every single detail immediately.

Sometimes, students or candidates don’t know what kind of information to describe, and they describe everything they see. They also do not know how to organize it. What you have to do is to organize your response into paragraphs. For example, if you group your trends by similarities and differences, which is a good strategy, you will: — paraphrase the task in paragraph 1 + overview of main trends; — write about similar trend in paragraph 2 (e.g. downward trends); — write about different trends in paragraph 3 (e.g. downward and upward trends). Before you start writing, you must have a kind of draft of how you are going to describe your response. Without it, the score might be lower. If we do not organize the information, it is difficult for the reader (examiner) to follow it.

Writing Task 2

1.Forcing Vocabulary

Many students try to prepare for IELTS writing by learning long lists of ‘academic’ words and then try to include these words in their essays. The problem with this is that it leads to candidates using words that are either inappropriate (the meaning is wrong) or inaccurate (the grammar is wrong). It is important to have a wide ranging vocabulary to get one of the higher band scores, but this doesn’t mean you should try and force as many complicated words into your essay as possible. That approach will only lead to mistakes and reduce your score. Instead of learning long lists of words, try to read about the common Task 2 topics and note down any new words. You can do this by reading online newspapers, magazines or blogs. You should note the meaning, grammar, example sentences, synonyms and collocations. You can then review them regularly. When you know a word 100% you can use it in your essay, until then stick to the words you already know.

2.Small Grammar Mistakes

Most of the candidates I help have a very good grasp of grammar, but everyone makes small mistakes. If most of your sentences contain small errors, it is difficult to get over a Band 6 for grammar. Some common grammar mistakes include articles, countable and uncountable nouns and subject-verb agreement. You should get a native English speaker or teacher to look at your writing and help you identify your common grammar mistakes. Most people have 2 or 3 things that they regularly get wrong and by identifying these you can then review the grammar, practice and produce more error-free sentences. You should also give yourself 2-3 minutes at the end of the test to proofread your writing. Make sure you do this when you are practicing and you will remember to do it in the real exam.

3.Overusing Cohesive Devices

Cohesive devices are words like ‘For instance‘, ‘To conclude‘, ‘despite this‘ and ‘in addition‘. They tell the reader what we are doing in a sentence and indicate what the relationships are between the different clauses, sentences and paragraphs. One of the biggest misconceptions about cohesive devices is ‘the more you use them, the better.’ They do have a purpose but they should only be used when necessary. If you look at Band 9 answers or academic writing in a journal or text book you will notice that they are used far more sparingly than you would expect. Make sure that every sentence does not begin with a cohesive device and try to limit yourself to only 2-3 per paragraph. By doing this your writing will become more cohesive and coherent.

4.Not Addressing BOTH Parts of the Question Equally

Many Task 2 questions have two parts and some have two separate questions. A question could ask you to ‘discuss both views’, ‘discuss the advantages and disadvantages’ or ‘discuss the problems and solutions’. If you write 8 sentences about one and only two sentences about the other, you haven’t really covered both parts of the question. You could also be asked a double questions like the one below:

As most people spend a major part of their adult life at work, job satisfaction is an important element of individual wellbeing. What factors contribute to job satisfaction? How realistic is the expectation of job satisfaction for all workers?

This task would require you to address both of the questions properly for you to get one of the higher scores for Task Response. Lots of students spend too much time on the first question and then only write one or two sentences about the first. To avoid this make sure you plan your essay before writing and also be aware of the different structures you can use for each type of question.

5.Writing About the Topic NOT the Question

One of the most frustrating things is marking an essay that has great grammar and vocabulary, but completely misses the point when it comes to answering the question. The most common problem here is writing everything you know about the general topic without actually addressing the specific question. Let’s look at an example question:

Computers are being used more and more in education and so there will soon be no role for the teacher in education. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

The general topic here is computers in education, but the question wants you to talk about how this affects the role of the teacher. If you write generally about computers in education you have not really answered the question. A good answer will talk specifically about how computers affect the role of the teacher. When you analyse a question think about what the general topic is, but then also think about what the question is specifically asking you to do. Remember it is not a knowledge test, the examiner is not interested in how much you know about the topic, they are testing your ability to answer the question.

6.Not Developing Ideas

I call this the ‘shotgun approach’- listing as many ideas as possible in 40 minutes. For example, the task might ask you to ‘discuss the advantages and disadvantages’ and you write 6 advantages and 6 disadvantages. The problem with this is it is just a list of undeveloped ideas and not really an academic essay. It would be better if you had just two ideas and you developed them fully with explanations and examples. Here is an example: The question might ask you to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of working from home online. A ‘shotgun approach’ paragraph might say:

There are many advantages to working at home. Firstly, it cuts down commuting time because you don’t have to travel to work. Secondly, it is more flexible because you can choose the time you work. Thirdly, it is very convenient because you don’t have to leave home. Fourthly, it saves costs. Lastly, it means you can spend more time with your family.

All of these ideas are relevant but none of them are really developed. You can develop them by explaining what they mean and how they answer the question. You can also illustrate them by giving an example. The paragraph below takes just two ideas and develops them fully:

The main advantage is the fact that it means that we do not have to commute to and from work. This saves us lots of time because we are not stuck in a car or train every morning and evening. For example, a recent report in The Times stated that the average person working from home saved around 20 hours per month. A related benefit is that it enables us to be more flexible with our time. By removing the need to be in the office from 9-5 people can start earlier or work in the evenings. Personally, I prefer to work at night and the internet has given me the freedom to spend time with my family in the morning and work after they have gone to bed. 

A good way to think about writing is that the person reading can’t ask you any questions like they would if you were speaking to them, so you need to explain each of your ideas fully to make sure they are clear and easy to understand.

Common Challenges In The IELTS Speaking Section

#1: Not knowing what to expect:

One of the gravest mistakes you can make is going to the test center not knowing what is coming. Before your test, make sure to thoroughly acquaint yourself with the test format and pattern by taking some practice tests, so that there are no nasty surprises on the exam day.

#2: Lacking confidence

The IELTS interviewers aren’t expecting you to be a brilliant orator: it’s more than enough if you talk as you normally would to a friend or colleague. That said, it is important to make good eye contact with the interviewer, smile every now and then, and talk politely and courteously.

#3: Giving yes/no answers

The objective of the IELTS is to test your English language fluency, so it is necessary that you answer at least at some length and do not simply give monosyllabic answers.

If you’re asked where you’re from, don’t simply reply with Coimbatore.

Instead, say something like “I’m from Coimbatore, which is one of the major cities in Tamil Nadu. It’s a wonderful place, with a lot to see and do.”

#4: Going off-topic

Many students, in the midst of their interview, lose sight of the question asked and tend to go off on a tangent. Talking more is not the same as talking correctly.

Remember, the interview questions are usually straightforward and simple, and don’t need more than a 3-4 sentence long answer.

#5: Remaining silent

Giving no answer is much worse than giving a poor one—again, remember that these questions are about you— there is nothing you don’t already know. If there’s a word or phrase in the question you don’t understand, it is perfectly OK to ask the interviewer to clarify it, but choosing to give no answer will be seriously detrimental to your overall score.

#6: Memorising answers

It is usually very easy to tell when a candidate has memorized his answers, and doing so is likely to reflect poorly on your scores since the interviewers are looking for spontaneity and ability to respond correctly and quickly.

#7: Wrong pronunciation

A native-like fluency is not expected of you, but it is important regardless to only use words whose pronunciations you are confident about; otherwise, choose a synonym you can actually pronounce.

#8: Repeating the same word

One of the things the IELTS seeks to examine is the breadth of your vocabulary, and using the same word over and over again will not win you any favours.

Phew! That’s a long list.

But now that you know what to watch out for, read this 7 Genius Tips To Speak Confidently and Correctly! 

If you find any other difficulties with the IELTS Speaking Section, do comment and let us know. We’d be happy to help you solve it at the earliest!

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