1. How to effectively capture the key points in listening materials?

One of the most important things to do is to focus on the questions. In each test you will have time to read the question paper before you listen.

While you read, I would recommend writing suggestions in English or Chinese as to what the answers might be. This could be like: “date” “地點”. Listen for these words during the test.

2. I am poor at matching types of questions which I found extremely difficult to even keep up to the audio in listening test. Are there any tips?

The IELTS test can be difficult for listening when they speak quickly. The best advice for this is… Lots of listening practice! In particular, get used to the kinds of questions that they often use in the test.

Also, make sure you analyse the question so that you can listen out for individual words. If you know the answer is, for example, a day of the week, you might be able to hear the word “Tuesday” even if you don’t understand the rest of the dialogue.

3. I found it's difficult to understand British accent but I think my listening is good enough to understand the daily conversation. Is there any shortcut which can make me transfer American accent into British accent quickly?

I’m not sure what your question means… If you are asking how to speak with a British accent, then don’t try! An American accent is fine, if you already have one.

If you are talking about making listening easier, the best way is to practice listening to English accents, such as on the BBC. You can also try watching British English TV, though this can be harder to understand.

4. In listening part, how can I distinguish a pronunciation is a word, two words or words with -? For example, under sea, undersea or under-sea.?

Often you can’t distinguish just by listening. I would say all these three words in exactly the same way.

However, you can make sure you listen clearly to what kind of word it is. Sometimes words will be spelt differently if they are used as an adjective or as a noun, for example. The only way to be correct is to make sure you know which words are spelt in one word, like undersea or in two, like ice cream/ice-cream.

5. I have some trouble in Ielts listening part, is it necessary for me to listen the same section again and again until I understand every word and sentence when I take the Cambridge ielts serie books 5-9 ?

You won't be tested on your ability to understand every word. Rather you are tested on your ability to listen and identify facts and details, listen and identify the main ideas or speaker opinions etc. Also Cambridge books are there to help you get familiar with the assessment tasks used in the listening test. You won't hear the same samples in your actual test. Our preparation tool Road to IELTS has more advice about listening skills and the IELTS test.

6. How can we prepare the text, especially listening and writing part, more efficiently?

You need to make decisions about what is most important. Many students try to do everything or focus on those parts of an exam that they are best at or prefer. It can be a good idea to work out which skills (listening, reading, writing, speaking) you are best at and which you need to improve. Then spend your time working on the those areas you need to improve. A good English teacher will be able to help you identify the areas you need to work on. Good luck!