预测是十分重要的一环。烤鸭们可以在考官允许打开试题册后，迅速浏览整套题的题型结构。建议考生将处在section中间位置的选择题提前读一下，因为我们知道，位于一个section开始位置的题目是有时间提前读题的。如果没有提前读题进行预测，正确率一定会大打折扣。

那么怎样进行预测呢?

最有效的方法就是划出关键词。关键词有两种，一种叫做”高调词”，如比较显眼的专有名词，人名，数字甚至是引号。以下是几个例子：
剑桥真题四test 3
22. The ‘Study for Success’ seminar lasts for____.

分析：题干中，课程名称既用了大写又加了引号，显而易见是所谓的”高调词”，所以考生可以毫不犹豫地等待音频中的原词重现。 

剑桥真题五 test 2
14. What does Dan say about the town of Rivas?

分析：题干中，Rivas是个明显的专有名词，应该是一个地名。考试中建议考生将这个词默读一下，熟悉其发音，便于听时定位到这个词。 

剑桥真题五 test 2
15. What problem did the charity face in August 2000?

分析：这是一道以数字和月份为关键词的题目。
      
另外一种叫做”低调词”，即常见的实词名词，形容词，动词等。相比而言，后者被同义置换的概率要高。

剑桥真题四 test 3
23. In the seminar the work on writing aims to improve
A. confidence
B. speed
C. clarity
分析：这道题目中录音文本提到一句: … techniques to write clearly. 在此，clearly明显地为clarity的paraphrase, 这是副词与名词间替换的典例。

除了预测之外，
还有一项也是十分关键，需留心注意——
强转折信号词

所谓强转折信号词，不外乎but, however, yet. 只要是出现这类转折词，尤其是but后面的内容一定是考点。这也是帮助考生突破阶段性瓶颈至关重要的一点。而许多考生在备考的过程中并未重视这一考点，或者说在听的过程中没能够抓住这一考点，原因是什么呢?

造成后者的原因其实很简单，就是所谓的“强读”与“弱读”。以but为例，正常发音是:[bʌt],但考试中音频经常为[bət], 甚至[bə], 而且速度非常快，导致众多考生没法识别出来。

一定记住一点：雅思听力选择题的套路往往是把A,B,C三个选项分别阐述一下，再转折，接考点。所以强转折一定要加以注意。

剑桥真题五 test 4
25. What does Karin think the company will do?
A. look for private investors
B. accept a takeover offer
C. issue some new shares

分析：
TRANSCRIPT：
Obviously they have the choice of accepting the very favourable terms that another company… have given them to buy them out. Or they could decide on a bolder move and offer some new shares if they wanted. But I think they are more cautious than that and expect that they will start trying to find individuals who’d be prepared to back them with some of the capital they need.

在这里，B和C的同义置换均有所出现。buy out即买断，对应B项的takeover; offer some new shares对应C项。但是下文又都予于否定，重点就在于but之后的内容。所以建议考生在听力过程中积极识别强转折信号词。正确答案选A。

剑桥真题五 test 4
26. How does the tutor suggest the company can recover?
A. by appointing a new managing director
B. by changing the way it is organized
C. by closing some of its retail outlets

分析:
TRANSCRIPT:
Sometimes there is a simple fix such as changing the guy at the top. If they truly are cautious, then I suspect they will seek to shut down some of their shops. But a more ambitious approach, and one which I think would have more chance of success, would be to alter how they’re running things-the management layers and processes.

显而易见，听力文稿中三个选项都有所提到，changing the guy at the top对应A项，即换掉头儿;shut down some of their shops即关掉部分零售店，对应C项，但but之后的内容才是我们应重点关注的对象。另外注意选择题中paraphrase非常活跃，所以三个选项都有所替换，同时but后有较长的插入语成分，注意辨析，正确答案选B。