Time Management in Listening
Time is really crucial in listening
Imagine, you have got a test with the following divisions of questions.

Questions Questions
Section one 1 to 10 Section two 11 to 21
Section three 22 to 30 Section four 31 to 40

There can be subsections for all four sections, or at least for three sections.

For example, Section one: First, look at questions Nos 1 to 6
Now look at questions 7 to 10

Here you have a little liberty on two things. First you have a little time before the real test begins. You’ll get a minute. You read the first few questions clearly, and are better positioned to answer the initial questions, for you have a better idea about what is asked for.

By the time you come at answer question number 6, you’ll have the freedom to wait till you get the last word of the audio of that particular subsection. You need not be confused on whether the audio part of a particular question is over or not.

This is helpful in two ways: firstly, you will get a better answer because, you do not have another question following, or, you are not under any pressure. Secondly, you are going to get a little time before the next section begins. Here the presenter has to interfere to tell you to look at question numbers 7 to 10.

When the second sub-section begins, you are better positioned to answer the first question, that is question number 7. Then you are taken forward to read and answer questions 8 and 9. By the time you reach at question now 10, you have a few more advantages.

First thing is that the section itself is over. Secondly, you are relaxed and glad to know that there is 30 seconds left to go back to your answers. Thirdly, you can have a little ‘reading ahead’ of the following section provided you have written all your previous answers well or not so badly. Time saved by writing legible/clear and right answers in the first attempt itself will give you the advantage of minimum 20 seconds to read ahead the following section.

Now let us see the section Number. 2

First the presenter will tell you what is going to happen. The moment you know of the topic, you can go to questions straightaway. When the presenter tells you, ‘look at questions ‘11 to 16’, ‘11 to 17’ or even ‘11 to 20’ (taking the whole section in a single go), you are not surprised, because you know what is in store. You can follow the same pattern as you did in the first section.


The only difference you would find in one section after the other is that you will be asked to answer different types of questions. Apart from that, what you are going to do to answer questions, say 21 to 28 or 31 to 36 or whatever, the process involved is the same. But the freedom you get is much more, primarily because, at the end you have the sweet feeling that the test itself is over.

Secondly, you have got 30 seconds to check your answers together with a 10 minutes to transfer your answers. These times are to be better managed to perform better in listening.

Student problems:

• Different accents, at times, in the same test.
• Falling and rising tones. Falling tones at times go poorly heard or virtually inaudible.
• Homophones: words with almost same pronunciation but with different spellings.
• Spellings of some regional, geographical, cultural and social words and expressions.
• Long discussions leading to an answer in multiple-choice questions.
• Quick answers: a sentence carrying more than one answer.
• Answers not in succession.
• The last word of a talk becoming an answer.
• Adjectives that make or mar an answer. E.g. a job instead of a challenging job.
• Phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions, jargons and regional/dialectical expressions

Solutions.

1. Listen to various TV programmes. News bulletins, talk-back programmes, discussions, interviews, phone ins, commentaries and so on.
2. Listening to interviews, both audio and audio visual, is good.
3. List out for common homophones and familiarize them.
4. List out typical English expressions and be in touch with them.
5. Doing comprehension passages and reading. Eliminating the wrong ones, culling out the right one, ignoring the unattended one, selecting only the attended options etc. are simple ways to find the right answer.
6. Listen. Listen and listen to see how packed a sentence could be.
7. Comprehension of passages. Attending lectures and talks.
8. List out common phrases and idioms, practice them while writing speaking and listening. An associative approach to learning is needed.

A jaypeedoc. 31/10/011