Training your ear — once through, shadowing, and note habits
Practise once, like the test
- Every recording in the test plays once. Practising with replays trains a skill the test does not measure.
- Play a recording once, answer, then replay it to see what you missed. That order is the whole method.
- What you missed on the first pass is your actual weakness. What you got on the third pass is not evidence of anything.
Practice
What is the right order when you practise a recording?
The test plays everything once. What you missed on the first pass is your real weakness; what you caught on the third is not evidence of anything.
Shadowing
- Play one sentence, pause, say it back immediately. Then the next.
- It forces you to hear the whole sentence rather than the words you already know.
- It improves listening and pronunciation at the same time, which is why it is the best value in your practice hour.
Practice
What is shadowing?
It forces you to hear the whole sentence, not just the words you already know — and it trains pronunciation at the same time.
Accents
- The test uses speakers from North America and elsewhere. Listen to a range on purpose.
- Practising only with the accent you find easiest leaves you unprepared for the one you do not.
- Give yourself two or three minutes of an unfamiliar accent every day rather than an hour once a week.
Frequency beats duration
- Fifteen focused minutes a day beats two hours on Sunday. Listening is a habit of attention.
- Attention is trained by frequency, and it decays fast. A week off costs more than a week's practice gained.
- Put it somewhere it will actually happen: the walk to class, the queue, the bus.
Practice
Which schedule trains listening better?
Listening is a habit of attention, and attention is trained by frequency. It also decays fast, so a week off costs more than a week's practice gains.
Notes while your ears keep working
- Most students can listen or write. Doing both is a skill, and it takes about two weeks to build.
- Use abbreviations you already know: arrows for cause and result,
+and-, initials for long names. - ⚠ Inventing a note system on test day costs you the first recording. Have one before you sit down.
- Format facts checked on the ETS website on 13 September 2026.
Practice
You can work out a note-taking system on test day.
Inventing one under the clock costs you the first recording. Listening and writing at the same time is a skill that takes about two weeks to build.