Note Making: Your best friend to crack IELTS Listening

Have you ever been talking to a friend only to realize some minutes later that you actually didn't hear what he or she said? In this age of multitasking where everyone is busy with their phones or various apps, texting or browsing or doing random things, the art of listening is somewhat getting cornered.
We hear things most times but never actually listen. Listening in effect means to be focused on our attention on the conversation at hand. Hearing can often mean the conversation goes in the background and that is where we lose the plot and often end up missing the conversation entirely.
Now with IELTS listening tests where you will be listening to 4 important sections playing out the audio, just by adopting a hearing speech is a recipe for disaster. Why? Since you only hear the audio once.

Overcoming the hearing vs listening syndrome
To be honest, the best way to ensure your IELTS listening tests go well is to be focused on the audio totally. The problem is that you may need to focus on keywords and this can often lead to a lapse in concentration thus leading to missing an important conversation. The best way out is to adopt a strategy where you make notes along with the audio. Try and ensure the audio does not recede into the background as you make notes and remain active. 

Practice making good notes 
Making notes can be difficult especially if you have never really followed the strategy. The good news is that you can start practicing note-making without having to spend any money. There are various free online resources that can help you start with Note-making.

TED Talks your best free resource for Note Making
Listening to TED talks is something that works wonderfully well for IELTS listening candidates. Not only do such talks help you seek inspiration, but it also helps you in note-making as well as in understanding various English accents. 
Start playing out a TED talk video and focus on the keywords being spoken by the speaker. Jot down the keywords and make essential notes. Make sure that your note-making speed is apt with the conversation flow. Ideally, you should be able to make notes that do not require you to pause the audio or video. Also once the AV plays out entirely, check the notes to see if they make sense and if you can recall the content just by looking at your notes. 

Note Making complements keyword underlining strategy
Note making is a strategy that will work well as you highlight keywords in the questions before the audio plays out in IELTS Listening. With underlined keywords in front of you, you can make sure to make a note of the keyword so that all keyword related information is available to you for answering various question types. 

Opt for Sample Tests to check your preparedness
Sample tests like the ones available by FourModules are a good way to test your note-making preparedness. With the sample tests, you can play out the audio multiple times to work out an apt note-making strategy.