IELTS Listening Tips: Section 4

IELTS listening section 4 is often considered as one of the toughest by students simply because it offers a monologue on an academic subject. This may mean a lot of technical terms or important jargon used in the lecture etc. These could very well be from a subject that you as a student may not have much idea about. 
A student with a literature background may get a monologue on biology or chemistry. This can easily lead to a panic situation where you may feel hard. Well, not anymore as by implementing the following tips and suggestions you can make Section 4 as easy as the earlier sections of Listening. 

First things first- allocate ample time to the section 
Section 4 may take a little more time than the previous sections. Allocating and budgeting time is a skill you must master before attempting your final IELTS exam. Opting for sample tests like the ones offers this benefit where you can work out your time-saving techniques ensuring you have that extra 30 seconds to 1 minute for understanding the questions or tracing keywords in the audio when it comes to Section 4.

Don't try to understand everything
The one big mistake many students commit is to try and understand the content. It may not be easy or even possible to understand the content or the terms in one audio lesson of 20 minutes. So how to go about it then you may ask? Understand the flow of the conversation and mark important keywords. This will give you a far more essential detailing than trying to understand everything technically.
Being an academic lecture, the conversation is likely to be smooth in transition from one subject to the other. This means if you are attentive from the first word, you can witness the flow of the conversation as the talk goes on.  Practicing on sample tests listed by FourModules is a great way to build this skill of tracing the flow of the audio without getting caught up in the words and terminology.
Remember, after all, your motive is to score well in the listening section of the exam and not master the context of the subject.

Cut out the stress
Staying calm may not sound like much of a trick but can work wonders in Section 4. Remember if you have done the 3 previous sections well, even if you miss out on a few answers in the section, your score would still end up quite high. Always attempt Section 4 without the extra dose of mental pressure and you will cut out any unforced errors or silly mistakes immensely. 

And finally- practice, practice, and practice
Just like good cricketers spend hours in the nets knocking balls a day in and day out or a boxer spends hours in the ring blocking punches of his coaches, practice delivers its importance on the big day. I would suggest to check out the wide range of IELTS Listening Tests. These can help you slowly build confidence and develop a final strategy to crack the listening sections with ease.