IELTS Listening
The IELTS Listening test is identical for both Academic and General Training candidates. It evaluates your ability to comprehend main ideas, specific details, speaker opinions, purpose, and attitude, as well as your ability to follow the flow of information.
You will listen to four recordings and answer 40 questions based on them. The first two recordings focus on everyday situations, while the last two explore educational or training contexts. Recordings 1 and 3 feature conversations between multiple speakers, while recordings 2 and 4 are monologues.
The questions range from multiple choice to matching information, headings, features, and sentence endings, as well as sentence, summary, note, table, diagram, or flowchart completion
A quick look at the IELTS Listening test
30 Minutes Time
The Listening test is identical for both IELTS Academic and General Training candidates.
You’ll need to answer 40 questions based on four recordings.
These recordings will include a combination of monologues and conversations from various native speakers. You’ll only hear each recording once.
There are 10 questions for each section of the Listening test.
These questions assess your ability to comprehend:
- Main ideas and specific details
- The opinions and viewpoints of the speakers
- The purpose of a statement
- The progression of thoughts and ideas
Listening Section Details:
Recording 1: A conversation between two people in a common social setting.
Recording 2: A solo speech on a general social topic, such as local services.
Recording 3: A discussion involving up to four people in an educational or training context, like a university tutor and student discussing an assignment.
Recording 4: A lecture on an academic subject, such as a university presentation.
Multiple choice
Multiple choice questions can have one or more correct answers. Always read the question carefully to determine the number of answers required.
In a multiple choice question with one correct answer (A, B, or C), you’ll see:
- A question followed by three possible answers.
- The beginning of a sentence followed by three ways to complete it.
In a multiple choice question with multiple correct answers, you’ll be given a longer list of options and instructed to choose more than one.
Multiple choice questions assess a variety of skills, from detailed understanding of specific points to overall comprehension of the main ideas in the listening text.
Multiple choice
The matching task requires you to connect a numbered list of items from the listening audio to a set of options on the question paper, which may be criteria or characteristics.
This task assesses your ability to listen for details and understand information in a conversation about everyday topics, such as identifying different types of hotel or guest house accommodations. It also evaluates your ability to follow a conversation between two people and recognize relationships and connections between facts in the listening text.
Plan, map, diagram labelling
You’ll be required to complete labels on a plan (like a building), map (such as part of a town), or diagram (like a piece of equipment).
You can typically choose your answers from a list provided on the question paper.
This matching task evaluates your ability to comprehend and connect a description of a place to a visual representation. This may involve understanding directions (e.g., straight ahead/turn left/opposite).
Form, note, table, flow-chart, summary completion
In this completion task, you’ll be asked to fill in the blanks in an outline of part or all of the listening text.
The outline will focus on the key ideas and facts presented in the text. It could be:
- A form: Used to record factual details like names, addresses, and phone numbers.
- A set of notes: Used to summarize information and show how different items relate to each other.
- A table: Used to summarize information organized into clear categories, such as place, time, or price.
- A flowchart: Used to summarize a process with clear stages, showing the direction with arrows.
You’ll select the missing words in one of two ways:
- From a list provided on the question paper
- From the recording itself
Remember to adhere to the word limit stated in the instructions and use the exact words from the recording.
Read the instructions carefully, as the number of words or numbers you can use will vary. A word limit is given, like “NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER.” Exceeding the word limit will result in an incorrect answer, so double-check the limit for each question. Contracted words (like “don’t”) won’t be tested. Hyphenated words (like “police-man”) count as single words.
This gap completion task emphasizes the main points a listener would naturally note down in such a situation.
Sentence completion
In this sentence completion task, you will read a set of sentences summarizing key information from either the entire
- listening text or
- one specific part of it.
You will then fill in a gap in each sentence using information you hear in the listening text. The number of words or numbers you can use for each answer is limited, so read the instructions carefully to avoid being marked incorrect. Contracted words and hyphenated words are considered single words.
This task tests your ability to identify the most important information in the listening text and understand the relationships between different pieces of information, such as cause and effect.
Short-answer questions
In the short-answer question type, you will read a question and then write a short answer using information you hear in the listening text. Some questions may ask you to list two or three specific pieces of information.
The number of words or numbers you can use for each answer is limited, so read the instructions carefully to avoid being marked incorrect. Contracted words and hyphenated words are considered single words.
This question type tests your ability to listen for and remember concrete facts in the listening text, such as places, prices, or times.