Listening
One speaker, an academic talk, and no pause in the middle. With a practice exercise.
IELTS listening Section 4 is the last and hardest part of the paper: one speaker giving an academic talk, for around seven minutes, with no pause in the middle. Everything you did to prepare has to carry you through the whole thing.
That single fact changes the strategy. In Sections 1 to 3 you can recover in the mid-section break. In Section 4 there is no break, so losing your place early can cost several answers rather than one.
What is different
Six differences from the rest of the paper.
Sections 1 to 3 stop halfway so you can read the next questions. Section 4 plays straight through from beginning to end.
You get about forty seconds beforehand rather than twenty, precisely because there is no break later. Use all of it.
No second speaker to signal a change of topic. The signposts have to do that work instead.
University-level topics, often unfamiliar. You are not expected to know the subject, only to follow the talk.
More abstract nouns and longer sentences than the earlier sections, which is why keeping your place matters more than understanding every word.
Concentration is lowest exactly when the demand is highest. That is a real effect and worth planning around.
Method
Six strategies, most of them decided before the audio starts.
At the end of Section 3 you are told to check your answers. Do that briefly, then move to the Section 4 questions instead.
All of them, not just the first few. There is no second chance to look ahead.
Key words and qualifying words in every question. Marking them physically works better than reading them twice.
The announcer tells you the subject before your preparation time. Use it to predict the vocabulary you are about to hear.
If questions 1 to 3 concern one place and question 4 moves to a person, that shift tells you where you are in the talk.
If you lose an answer, put something down and rejoin. Waiting for a lost answer is how one missed mark becomes four.
Practice
Decisions about how to handle Section 4.
Section 3 has just ended. The recording says you now have thirty seconds to check your answers.
Section 4 will begin shortly: a lecturer talking about deforestation, ten questions, no pause in the middle.
1What should you do in the thirty seconds after Section 3?
Glance at Section 3, then start reading Section 4. You get two minutes at the end to check your answers. This is the only chance you get to prepare for Section 4.
2How long is the preparation time before Section 4?
About forty seconds. Longer than the other sections, because there is no mid-section pause to catch up in.
3You miss the answer to question 34. What should you do?
Put something down and move on. The answers come in order, so waiting for a lost one means missing the next ones too.
4Why is Section 4 harder than Section 3?
No pause in the middle. Every section has ten questions, and the recording is played once throughout. The missing break is the real difference.
5What should you do with the topic announcement?
Use it to predict vocabulary. Being told the talk is about deforestation prepares you for words such as logging, habitat and soil erosion before you hear them.
That is the Section 4 pattern, and it usually starts with one missed answer that turns into waiting rather than moving on.
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Strategy you can learn from a page. Whether it holds under seven minutes of academic English is another matter.
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By design. The section tests whether you can follow an extended academic talk without a break, which is closer to a real lecture.
Around seven minutes of audio with ten questions, preceded by about forty seconds of preparation time.
No. Section 4 topics are academic but you are not assessed on subject knowledge, only on whether you can follow what is said.
Put an answer down and rejoin at the next question. Waiting for a missed answer costs the ones that follow, and the answers come in order.
Yes. The listening test is identical in Academic and General Training, including Section 4.
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