Listening
Four sections, forty questions, played once only. Free guides and practice with answers.
The IELTS listening test is the same in both modules. Four sections, forty questions, about thirty minutes of audio, and every recording played once only. That last point is what makes it difficult: there is no going back.
The sections get progressively harder, moving from an everyday conversation to an academic talk. Most of the technique is about what you do in the pauses rather than what you do while the recording plays.
IELTS is now delivered on computer, so listening answers are typed straight into the screen as you hear them. Where a centre offers the Writing on Paper option, that applies to the writing paper only. Listening and reading are on screen either way.
The test
Same for Academic and General Training candidates.
A conversation between two people about an everyday subject, such as booking something or joining a club. Often includes personal details, spelling and numbers.
One speaker on a non-academic subject: a tour, a facility, a local service. No second voice to help you follow the thread.
A conversation between two or more people about study or a project. Harder, because speakers interrupt, disagree and change their minds.
One speaker giving an academic talk. The hardest section, and the only one with no pause in the middle, so losing your place is costly.
British, American, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian voices all appear. You are never asked to identify an accent, only to understand it.
You type your answers straight in as you go, then get two minutes at the end to check them. There is no ten minute transfer, because there is nothing to copy anywhere.
Free guides
Guides to the question types, each with practice and explanations.
Method
Most of these are about preparation rather than hearing.
You are given time to check your answers. Spend it reading ahead instead. Checking is what the two minutes at the end are for, and reading ahead is worth far more marks.
If you hear the answer to question 5 while still waiting for question 4, you have missed 4. Accept it and stay with the recording.
Before the audio starts, work out whether each gap needs a name, a number, a date or a place. It halves the work when you hear it.
Speakers say a number then change it. The second one is the answer, so keep listening after you think you have it.
No more than two words means two, and a three-word answer is wrong even when it contains the right two.
There is no penalty. In the two minutes at the end, put a sensible guess in every empty space.
Yes. Listening and speaking are identical in both modules. Only reading and writing differ.
Once. There is no repeat of any section, which is why using the pauses to read ahead matters so much.
About thirty minutes of audio, plus two minutes at the end to check your answers. The ten minute transfer applied to the paper test, which is being retired.
Yes. The answers follow the order of the recording, so if you hear a later answer first you have missed one.
Not on the computer test. You type answers directly into the screen, so nothing needs copying, and you get two minutes at the end to check instead.
A range, including British, American, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian. You are never asked to identify the accent.
Full membership
You can sit listening tests all week. What you cannot do alone is find out whether your score is stable enough to book the test on.
IELTStestONLINE assesses your writing and speaking against the four IELTS criteria, instantly and as often as you like, using a system built by a former IELTS examiner and examiner trainer. It keeps every score in one place with an estimated band, and it carries no advertising.
See what membership includes