IELTS PRONUNCIATION: RISING & FALLING TONES

Intonation is an important feature of pronunciation, one of the assessment criteria in the IELTS speaking test. Using appropriate intonation and fully understanding the intonation used by the interviewer matter a great deal. Intonation is very essential in speaking English because it conveys

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IELTS PRONUNCIATION: SENTENCE STRESS

English is a very melodious language – you can go up and down with your pitch, pause before or after a word, or even speed up or slow down just to give certain words in a sentence more meaning than the other words. In fact, you can say the same sentence in different ways with different

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How to understand IELTS essay questions

Being able to understand what the essay question is asking you to do is essential if you want to score highly in task 2 of the IELTS writing test. There are 3 steps. Watch the video below to learn what these are and how to use these steps to analyse an essay question.



Don’t forget to

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy: IELTS Task 2 Writing

It’s really important to know the factor you are being assessed on in your writing. The video below shows you exactly what your examiners are looking for in terms of your grammar and how you use grammar to link ideas logically in your writing. You'll also get advice on how to score more highly

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IELTS Task 2 Writing: Lexical Resource

It’s really important to know the factor you are being assessed on in your writing. The video below shows you exactly what your examiners are looking for in terms of your vocabulary and how you use words and also provides advice on how to score more highly in the criteria of lexical resource.

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IELTS LISTENING: SENTENCE/SUMMARY COMPLETION

Prediction is a vital skill that can give you a push to focus specifically in section 3 of the listening test, where sentence/summary completion aims at testing your ability to guess information. In this section, you will hear a number of speakers discussing a topic.  Here are some tips that

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IELTS READING: SCANNING THE PASSAGE

Scanning is a speed reading technique that you can use to save time in reading a passage, which is very helpful in taking a timed test like the IELTS. Although it is the same with skimming in process, scanning is different in purpose. It aims at spotting a specific name, date, statistic, or fact

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IELTS READING: SKIMMING THE PASSAGE

The reading section in the IELTS is a timed test. You are then not advised to spend too much time reading the passage. The better thing to do than to slowly read is to put to work a speed reading technique namely skimming. Skimming involves rapid movement of the eyes over text, aimed at

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IELTS Task 2 Writing Criteria: Coherence and Cohesion

It's really important to know the factor you are being assessed on in your writing. The video below shows you exactly what your examiners are looking for and also provides advice on how to score more highly. You'll learn the differences between a bandscore 6, 7 and 8.



Don’t forget to

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IELTS Task 2 Writing Criteria: Task Response

It's really important to know the factor you are being assessed on in your writing. The video below shows you exactly what your examiners are looking for and also provides advice on how to score more highly. You'll learn the differences between a bandscore 6, 7 and 8.


Don’t forget to sign

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IELTS Vocabulary: Narrow It Down!

It is believed that there are, at the very least, a quarter of a million distinct English words in a dictionary. That’s quite a number and pressuring yourself to knowing all of it can be overwhelming and may not be that helpful at all. Remember that learning new words also requires

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IELTS Grammar: Using Future Real Conditionals

Structurally, a conditional statement has two clauses, and together, they make up a sentence that has a condition concluded by a specific result. One of the conditionals that we often use is the future real conditional.
We use this conditional to express real possibilities that are more likely

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IELTS Grammar: Using Present Real Conditional

Structurally, a conditional statement has two clauses, and together, they make up a sentence that has a condition concluded by a specific result. One of the conditionals that we often use is the present real conditional.

We use this conditional to express a specific habitual condition that

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How to Remember New Words

Not only is memorizing lists of words ineffective, it is also found lacking. For a word to really become a part of your vocabulary bank, you have to see and hear it used in several different ways over a period of time.
 The following tips will help you remember new found words:


Make the

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IELTS Grammar: Using Causatives

We use causatives to give reference to actions that we ask other people to do for us.

have/get + object + past participle
We use this formula to talk about things that other people do for us.

I will have my car repainted next month.

have somebody + bare infinitive; get somebody +

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IELTS Grammar: Using Relative Clauses

Relative clauses are used to give additional information pertaining to the subject of the sentence. Additional information is sometimes necessary to emphasize what we are referring to, but there are cases when nothing necessitates it.
Defining relative clauses are used to pinpoint which

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SPEAKING FOR IELTS: PROVIDING INFORMATION

Opinions are not graded in IELTS speaking – the examiner doesn’t really mind which side of the issue you are on. However, a lot of weight is given on how you express your opinion.  Use the time to show off your good command of the English language. You can accomplish this by providing

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Reading Task Type: Multiple Choice with Multiple Answers

In tackling a multiple choice question with multiple answers, you are asked to pick out more than one item from a list. The question may require you to look for ideas that are mentioned, that are not mentioned, or that are true or false. This can be quite tough because you will be choosing from

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READING TASK TYPE: CLASSIFICATION & MATCHING

Classification and matching in IELTS reading simply aims at your ability to identify relationships between ideas. A numbered list of ideas will be laid out in the text, but there are occasions when these ideas are not in the same order in the text as the numbered list.

In matching, numbered

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Listening Skills for IELTS: Notes/Table Completion

In this specific task of the listening section, your ability to predict information that could be used to complete notes and tables will be tested.

When you have to complete notes and tables:

• Read each question carefully and predict what kind of word or phrase you will need (e.g.

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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: Describing How Data Changes Over Time

In task 1 of the writing section, you will be looking at visual diagrams, and these include line graphs, bar charts, pie charts, tables, maps and objects. Much of the information in these diagrams gives description of changes that have taken place in the given course of time. Often, your job is

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Things to Avoid While Speaking English

It is understandable that inadvertent errors are made when speaking a language that is quite foreign to you. Despite the number of hours you practice whenever time allows it, you still make mistakes, causing you to wonder what in the world you have been doing wrong. Well, you probably have an

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Top 10 Recommended Sites for Listening

We do know that the best way to improve listening skills is by listening. You don’t learn riding a bike by simply reading a manual that instructs you to hop on and pedal without losing your balance. What you need is an actual bike that you can ride.  The same way with listening – you need

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Top 10 Commonly Confused Pairs

There are words in the English language that seem confusing because they sound very much alike but convey utterly different thoughts.  Electronic spellcheckers won’t be of any help in such a case, and you might get a put-down from someone reading your writing.
Here’s a list of some

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Top 10 Commonly Mispronounced Words

Intellectuals do express disgust toward people who mispronounce certain words, but the ugly truth is we all mispronounce words despite the best efforts we make. Although getting fixated on proper pronunciation may be snobbish sometimes especially when taken overboard, we cannot completely set

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Top 10 Tongue Twisters

Top 10 Tongue Twisters
Similar sounds, words and syllables -- they are repetitive and challenging. But despite the slip ups the tongue makes, they are all fun. As fun as they are, tongue twisters have benefits in speech therapy.  They can fix stutters and lisps. They can also bring back verbal

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The Reading Passage

Getting the grip of the context is the key to understanding the entire passage.  Context is the part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. Let’s say you pick a newspaper to read – those headlines, graphics and photos you see can

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Determining and Completing The Writing Tasks

The completion of the writing tasks is very important. In each task, a limited amount of time and a minimum number of words will be given. Avoid going beyond the allotted time and writing fewer than the minimum number of words. You can write more words though, but make sure that you work within

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Writing For A Specific Audience

Targeting your audience is of great importance to understanding what should go into your writing. It filters out the unnecessary, giving you enough focus to put more weight on what really matters. Here are some guided questions that you may want to look into:

Who am I writing to?
What will

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IELTS Grammar: Verb + To …(Infinitive)

Infinitive is the unchanged or base form of the verb which is preceded by the word ‘to’.

Verbs like offer, agree, refuse, decide, plan, arrange, hope, aim, learn, deserve, afford, forget, attempt, manage, fail, promise and threaten are followed by to + infinitive to express

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IELTS Grammar: Modal Verbs

A modal verb is used to express likelihood, ability, permission and obligation. Examples include may/might, will/would, can/could, shall/should and must.

Can vs. Could

We use can + infinitive to express possibility and ability.

I can make reservations at Nemo’s if you like.
We can

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IELTS Vocabulary: Think Synonyms

Picking up words from different sources that you have chanced upon on should be an integral part of your vocabulary learning routine. In fact, jotting down a word on your notepad is the initial step you have to take towards extending your vocabulary. However, you need a way of organising the

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Hot Tips for IELTS Reading

In any standardized test, reading is always the biggest challenge, and IELTS is not an exemption. Many test takers complain of having a very short amount of time to answer tons of questions referring to very complicated texts. You need to have very good reading skills and a range of strategies

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IELTS Writing Task 1: Understanding and Interpreting Data

In this particular writing task, you will be looking at graphs where you are to understand what each axis is measuring, bar and pie charts where the key tells you what each different bar or area represents, and tables where the reading of the data across the rows and down the columns help you

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Band Score in IELTS Writing

The writing task in IELTS may have different presentations, but the key elements in producing a well-crafted written response is not that different from those of other standardized tests. Just like in other standardized tests, planning your writing is of great importance before actually

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Listening Skills for IELTS: Matching

In this task, you will hear items in a numbered list in order throughout the listening. The numbered list is always in the same order as you hear it in the recording, but the ideas in the said list may be expressed in a different way in the recording. This task tests your ability to use synonyms

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Listening Skills for IELTS: Short-Answer Questions

This task tests your ability to predict the type of information needed to answer the questions. So, predicting what the speaker will talk about is an important skill you must have. Here are some tips to guide you.

•Read the questions before you listen to the text and consider what the

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Listening Skills for IELTS: Multiple Choice

Some IELTS multiple choice questions test your understanding of synonyms and some test your understanding of different parts of speech. Here are some tips that you can use as you approach multiple choice questions of the listening section:

•A brief introduction is given at the beginning of

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How to Improve Your Vocabulary Through Reading

Reading, without question, is the one of the best ways to boost your vocabulary. Not only do you see words used in context, but also you expose yourself to new words. So invoke interest in reading, and this is achievable by simply picking reading materials that you find enjoyable and

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Grammar Made Easy: Talking about the Present Using the Passive Voice

Sentences can be expressed in two voices, active or passive voice. You are required to pinpoint the difference between the two to be able to speak fluent English.

In active voice, the doer of the action is called “subject” while the receiver of the action is called “object”. Consider

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English Grammar Made Easy: Talking about the Present

#1 The simple present is used to express actions that are habitual or usually repeated. It could be a hobby that you are very fond of doing or a habit you have developed over the years

Dad leaves for work at 7 am.

Maria usually pays her bills on time.

The train leaves at 3 pm, so we

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Speaking Skills for IELTS: Discourse Repair and Fluency

Remember:

In the interview, it’s quite normal to hear yourself make factual mistakes as you speak. Should this happen during your exchange with the interviewer, use appropriate phrases like or rather, no, sorry, I mean, I should say for correction and continue to speak fluently.
Do not

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Speaking Skills for IELTS: Summarizing and Explaining

Speaking Skills for IELTS: Summarizing and Explaining

 In section two of the interview, you are expected to give your opinions or views, and you are to give reasons to support any information or ideas you have to impart. Your vocabulary and skills relating to summarizing and explaining will

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Reading Question Type: Diagram/Flow Chart Completion

In this reading task, an incomplete table which summarizes or paraphrases given information from the reading text will be given. It aims at testing the test taker’s ability to locate relevant information in the text, comprehend the gist and paraphrase.

How to Approach the Diagram/ Flow

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Speaking Skills for IELTS: Expressing a Preference

Speaking Skills for IELTS: Expressing a Preference

In the first section of the speaking test, we sometimes have to express a preference. Commonly, we use prefer and rather to express preference, but their usage differs.

Prefer is used to express general preferences.

e.g. I prefer

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The Interview: Section 4

Oftentimes, we see ourselves in situations where we need to talk about the future. This is true in the IELTS speaking specifically, in the section 4 of the interview. Here, the interviewer will ask you about your future plans using your CV as the reel-off point as well as some of the relevant

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Reading Task Type: Sentence Completion

In this reading task, you will be given a number of incomplete sentences for you to work on using details from the reading text. In most cases, the statement must be completed in three words or fewer. This question type aims at testing your reading skills of skimming and scanning, recognizing

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The Interview: Section Two

In this section of the interview, the examiner will delve onto one or more general topics of interest to test your ability to speak for extended periods. As you take longer turns in this speaking task, you may need to describe, explain and express or justify an opinion. Rightly so, your

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Reading Task Type: Identifying the Writer’s Views

Reading Task Type: Identifying the Writer’s Views

This question type aims at testing your ability to spot information and opinion, make inferences and use synonyms. Specifically, the task will ask you to decide if the given statements agree or disagree with the information in the text. You

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Reading Task Type: Multiple Choice

Reading Task Type: Multiple Choice

This question type tests a variety of reading skills specifically, your ability to identify misleading information and your use of synonyms.  It may also require you to have a solid grasp of the gist-content as well as a detailed understanding of particular

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Useful Pronunciation Tips

It’s hard to make yourself speak when you don’t feel confident with your pronunciation. This is probably the toughest barrier in getting your message across using the English language. But to get better at English pronunciation, you have to practice. So, where do you start?

Speak as much

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IELTS Useful Speaking Tips

Before you start the speaking task, take a moment and do some deep breathing. This will help you speak in a relaxed way.


It is quite natural and acceptable to take a few moments before answering, but you should not be silent during this period. Use functional phrases like That’s a

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How to Approach Section One of the Interview

There are a variety of questions and prompts the examiner will use to get you to talk in the IELTS speaking test. In this section of the interview, the examiner will attempt to break the ice and set a friendly atmosphere by throwing in easy questions that are based on the CV that you will be

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How to Approach Matching Headings to Paragraphs

How to Approach Matching Headings to Paragraphs

Matching headings to paragraphs is a common task encountered in the IELTS test, and it aims at testing your ability to identify topics and main ideas in the paragraphs, and your skills in using synonyms and English definitions. In this task, you

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How to Approach Summary Completion

Summary completion question aims at testing your ability to paraphrase and locate information in the original text. In this task, you will work through a summary (a paraphrase of the reading text) containing a number of gaps, which will be filled in by choosing from a list of selected words.

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Common Grammar Mistakes - Are You a Grammar Ninja?

Watch the video and see how many common grammar mistakes you can correct...



Don't forget to sign up to our weekly newsletter (on the right). If you need more help with grammar, check out these listings of Grammar study aids.

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Listening Tips: What to Do and What Not to Do

The listening test is often a very stressful part of the IELTS exam - it's so easy to lose concentration and miss a question or two... The tips below might help reduce your stress and increase your IELTS listening score.

What to do...

1. There are four parts to the listening test.

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15 Common Grammar Mistakes and How to Fix Them

I've mentioned the importance of recording your writing grammar mistakes in an error correction notebook. These 15 common mistakes may raise your awareness of what to look out for in your writing and also give you some ideas about how to fix the problems. Click on the link below and download the

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Boost Your IELTS Vocabulary With These Exercises

A wide vocabulary is the foundation of all English language skills. You need to be learning new words, phrases and collocations EVERY day. This means you need to work with words in many different ways in order to make words you recognise in listening and reading into words you can USE in

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Using Hedging Language in Your IELTS Writing

You may be asking what hedging is. In academic writing, claims are often expressed using cautious or tentative language. This is known as ‘hedging’. Look at these two sentences:

Water shortages trigger conflict between nations.
Water shortages may trigger conflict between

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Check Your IELTS Grammar with This Grammar Checker

Try out this grammar checker. Just copy and paste your text into the window and receive information on more than 250 advanced grammar rules, spanning everything from subject-verb agreement to article use to modifier placement.



Don't forget to sign up to our newsletter to receive tips

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How To Notice Your Grammar Mistakes

One of the fastest ways to improve your grammar is by keeping an error correction notebook of all the mistakes you make in your writing. This will make you focus on and notice what mistakes you are making in your writing. Then, when you come to write again, you should look over your notebook to

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FREE IELTS General Training Writing Practice Test

The British Council have a free IELTS General writing practice test that you can download and complete. It also has model answers. The IELTS academic writing test will take 60 minutes, and there are two tasks.

In the actual test you will do your writing in an answer

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FREE IELTS Academic Reading Practice Test

The British Council have a free IELTS academic reading practice test that you can download and complete . The IELTS academic reading  test will take 60 minutes, and there are three sections.

The three parts of this practice Reading test are presented over three separate web pages. Make

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5 Tips to Improve Your IELTS Vocabulary

Building your vocabulary is absolutely essential if you want to score highly in the IELTS test. You will also need thousands of words once you get to university or start living in your new country. Therefore, you need to be organised in how you record and review the new vocabulary you come

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Boost Your Writing By Understanding the IELTS Writing Descriptors

It's really important to know the criteria you are being assessed on. There are four main areas.

task response - this involves how well you answer the question
coherence and cohesion - this involves how well you structure your essay
lexical resource - this involves how many different

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Overview of the Academic and General Training Writing Modules

The short video below provides an overview of what is involved for the writing tasks (1 and 2) for both the General and Academic training modules. It also talks briefly about each of the 4 areas that you will be assessed against:

task response
coherence and cohesion
lexical

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4 Ways to Improve Your Grammar For IELTS

Improving your grammatical range and accuracy is essential if you want to improve past an IELTS 6 bandscore. Watch this short video covering:

the criteria against which you'll be assessed
tenses
varying your sentence structure to include complex sentences
basic editing once you've

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The 4 Most Important IELTS Reading Skills

Watch the short video below to get an overview of the IELTS reading exam as well as the key reading skills you need to practice:

skimming - to get the general idea
scanning - to locate specific information
intensive reading - to understand the details
reading with a specific purpose -

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Free IELTS Listening Practice Test

The British Council have a free IELTS listening practice test that you can complete online. The IELTS Listening test will take about 30 minutes, and you will have an extra 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.

The four parts of this practice Listening test are presented

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101 IELTS Part 2 Speaking Topics

Developing your speaking fluency is a matter of "practice makes perfect". Try using these 101 part 2 cue cards that are all based on common IELTS topics. Don't be afraid to practice the same topic multiple times. As you practice each cue card again, try to increase the range of your

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5 Dictation Exercises To Boost Your Listening and Speaking Skills

Dictation is one of the quickest ways to improve your listening and speaking skills. It helps you to hear individual sounds and what happens to sounds when native speakers speak at a natural speed.

While you are developing your ability to hear sounds, don't be afraid to replay the recording

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