Listening: How the Test Actually Works

IELTS Listening has four parts. Each part has 10 questions, so you answer 40 questions in total. The recording lasts about 30 minutes and is played only once — no part is repeated.

In the paper-based exam, an extra 10 minutes is given after the audio ends to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. The computer version has no transfer stage: you type your answers straight into the boxes on the screen while you listen, and at the end there are about 2 minutes for checking.

At the start of each part you hear a short introduction:

You will hear a conversation between a student and a landlord about renting a room. First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 5.

This introduction tells you who will be speaking and what the topic is — listen carefully, because knowing the context helps you understand the questions faster. The number of correct answers you collect is converted into a band score from 1 to 9.

Part 1 — an everyday conversation between two people: registering for a course, a hotel booking, renting a flat, buying tickets. The question types are usually form, table or note completion. Here names are spelled out letter by letter, and phone numbers, dates and prices are spoken:

My surname is Whitfield — that's W-H-I-T-F-I-E-L-D. The membership fee is forty-five dollars a month.

The difficulty is often not the language but the speed and the details: the speaker may correct the information (Oh wait, sorry — it's the 14th, not the 4th.).

Part 2 — a talk by a single speaker on a social topic: a museum guide, the opening of a sports club, a radio announcement. Typical questions: map or plan labelling, sentence completion, multiple choice. Words that show direction play a decisive role here: opposite, next to, past the fountain, on your left.

Part 3 — a discussion between 2–4 people in an academic setting: students talk with a tutor about a project, a presentation or research. The main difficulty is telling who said what and catching opinions:

I'm not convinced that method would work. Exactly — that's why I chose the survey instead.

Question types: multiple choice, matching, table completion.

Part 4 — a single speaker in the form of a university lecture. The questions are usually note completion. The speaker uses signal words that show the structure — when you recognise them, you can feel the next answer approaching:

• Today we're going to look at...
• Moving on to the next point...
• This brings me to...
• Finally, to sum up...

In Part 4 there is no pause for writing (there is only the reading time at the start and the standard checking pause at the end), so reading speed and the ability to split your attention are especially important.

Paper version: you write your answers in the question booklet while listening. When the audio finishes, 10 minutes of transfer time begins. Use it like this:

1. Make your handwriting clear — an illegible letter can be counted as wrong.
2. Check your spelling — a misspelled word does not earn a mark.
3. Re-check the word limits, for example NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER.
4. Write a guess for the questions you left blank — marks are not deducted for a wrong answer.

Computer version: you type the answers directly, there is no transfer; about 2 minutes of checking time is given at the end. Because there is no automatic spell check, you have to check the spelling yourself. You can mark a question you want to come back to with the flag for review function.

In the computer version the sound comes through headphones and you set the volume yourself before the exam; in the paper version, depending on the test centre, the sound may come through headphones or through the room's speakers.

The test mainly covers British, Australian, New Zealand, American and Canadian accents. Listen to a variety of accents from the first day of your preparation:

At the beginning, differences in accent may make you miss an answer. So vary your listening habits: British news, Australian podcasts, New Zealand documentaries — all of them create the "soundscape" of the exam. An important point: you don't need to imitate an accent; recognising it is enough. Even if the same word sounds different in different accents, its meaning does not change.

At the start of each part you are given time to look at the questions — this is the most valuable resource in the exam. Plan your reading time like this:

1. Note the word limit immediately (ONE WORD ONLY, NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS).
2. Underline the keywords: names, numbers, places.
3. Predict the type of answer — a number? a name? a date? a noun?

Since January 2020, in BOTH formats there has been no completed example at the start of Part 1 — old coursebooks still mention it; reading time, however, is given in both formats. In Parts 1–3, when a short pause is given in the middle of a part, check your answers and look at the next questions. Remember: using the pauses within the recording to read the next questions is a big strategic advantage.

The whole strategy boils down to these five rules:

1. The audio plays only once. Missed a question? Move straight on to the next one — going back makes you lose two questions at once.
2. The questions follow the order of the recording. The answers come in the order of the question numbers; once you have found one, the next is close.
3. Respect the word limit. If it says NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS, a three-word answer is automatically counted as wrong.
4. Spelling counts. Both "colour" and "color" are accepted, but a misspelled word is never counted as correct.
5. Never leave an answer blank. A wrong answer does not reduce your score — a guess costs you nothing.

Frequently used terms:

A beginner-level candidate who masters these rules already has the "map" of the exam in hand.