Level B2 (approx. band 5.5-6.5) · Academic and General Training Some candidates use good words and good grammar, yet they sound flat, rushed or robotic. Every word gets the same weight, the voice never moves, and pauses fall in strange places. The listener has to work hard to find the message. In this episode: • Falling and rising tones • Sentence stress that carries meaning • Chunking into thought groups • Shadowing drills • Listening lab • Language bridge • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key points: • Fall for finished ideas, rise for open ones, and fall-rise when a "but" is coming. • Stress content words, keep small words weak, and move the stress only when you want contrast. • Pause between thought groups, never inside them. • Shadowing trains stress, tone and chunking together, in just a few minutes a day. IELTS Complete Course: a self-study podcast from A1 to C2 for Academic and General Training. Listen, pause and answer, then take the 52-question quiz. Audio voiced with AI from an original script by Dr. Rashmi R Nair. Independent course, not affiliated with the IELTS test owners.