Hearing for details is one skill that the Listening section will test you for.  Therefore, knowing and practicing how to do this is key to getting a high IELTS Listening score.  

Many test takers make the mistake of focusing too hard on specific words, like the exact words written in the questions.  However, the Listening test and its audio recordings will often use synonyms (a different word or phrase that has the same or similar meaning).  The purpose is to make the test more challenging and reflective of real-world conversations.  This means that if you are listening for specific words, you might miss the answer!

Instead, try to first understand the key message and be aware of other words that a speaker might use to give the same meaning.  For example, the question sheet might say “you can hear clearer if you sit at the back”.  However, the audio recording might say “you can hear better if you sit at the back”.  Even though ‘clearer’ and ‘better’ are different words, the meaning in this sentence is the same.  If you are listening only for the word ‘clearer’, you will miss the answer to the question.  Remember, you only hear each recording once.

More tips on how to listen for details:

• Think of synonyms for words as soon as you see them on the question sheet.  For example, if the question talks about the “countryside”, you might prepare your brain to listen to synonyms such as ‘rural area’, ‘farmland’, ‘grassland’, or ‘remote area’.
• Keep listening even when you are finished writing down your answer.  Many test takers get too confident when writing down an answer and miss the following ‘but’ or ‘however’ in the IELTS Listening audio.  Instead, keep asking yourself questions about whether your answers match the key ideas in the recording.  This way, you will not fall victim to ‘misinformation’, and you will be able to hear the correct details in the audio so that you can write your answer with confidence.