IELTS Listening Test

IELTS Listening Test
The test lasts 40’, includes 40 questions and each correct answer is worth one mark.
Timing
You will listen for approximately 30’, and you will have 10’ to transfer your answers from the
question booklet to your answer sheet. The audio is played once only.
The four sections
• A conversation in a social situation, such as buying theatre tickets
• Someone speaking in a social situation such as giving an overview of the facilities in a sports
centre
• A conversation in an educational context, such as a seminar
• A lecture on an academic subject, such as climate change
1 - Three things to get right
You are given time to read the questions ahead of the listening so it is vital that you analyse
them here; look for key words in the questions (usually nouns or verbs, underline or circle
them)
As the recording is played just once, you need to work out some strategies in advance.
Here are three tips you will find useful:
 Make notes before you listen: First read the questions so you know what you are
listening for, then listen and make notes. If you know what the question is asking you to
find, it’ll be much easier to recognise it when it comes up in the audio, especially
important for computer-based IELTS, where you can make notes on the question paper
as you listen. Don’t worry if your notes are untidy. It is useful to practise good note-
taking using lots of different material, like TED Talks. In this case choose a lecture and
listen to it once, twice, three times, if you need to, and click on ‘Show transcription’.
At the end, you have ten minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet (at which
time you do need to be neat and tidy)
 Be accurate: You need to be very precise when answering the questions. For example,
let’s say the question paper asks you to complete the phrase ‘in the…’ and the answer is
‘morning’. When you write the information on the answer sheet, only ‘morning’ will be
marked correct. If you write ‘the morning’ or ‘in the morning’ you will not be given a
point (despite the fact that you know the answer). This rule also applies to
spelling. Spelling is extremely important — all your spelling must be accurate
otherwise you run the risk of losing a mark
If in doubt, guess: There are two reasons for this:
 You do not lose points for having the wrong answer, so there is no risk.
 Leaving spaces can get you into trouble as you might write a correct answer in the
wrong place later.
Try to do at least four or five practice tests in advance to get used to the preparation and test
time, reading and listening to the questions, and writing accurate answers.
2 – Help! I do not understand the accent
IELTS is an international test, so you might hear a range of different accents, including
Australian, British, New Zealand and North American so you should at least be familiar
with a range of ‘standard’ accents that you may come across.
The solution
Start by reading this extract from a report from the US Library of Medicine:
‘It is well known that there is a processing cost when listening to speech in an accent other than one’s
own, but recent work has suggested that this cost is reduced when listening to a familiar accent widely
represented in the media, and/or when short amounts of exposure to an accent are provided.’
This means that ‘short amounts of exposure’ to an unfamiliar accent really can help you to
understand it. So when preparing for your test, it’s sensible to spend some time listening to the
test’s most common dialects. It’s not difficult to find content online from all around the world.
Radio
To start off, you can try listening to these radio stations and podcasts:
 ABC Radio from Australia

 CBC Radio from Canada
 BBC Radio 4 from the UK
But you don’t have to restrict yourself to these accents, or even radio stations. You
can find all sorts of media to practise listening to different accents.
SUMMARY
 Before listening
After the audio introduction, you will have 30 seconds to read the task. Use this time to
read the instructions, and make sure you know what to do. Look at the situation (e.g. a
library) and predict the vocabulary you will hear (loan period, library catalogue, digital
resources). For each question, predict the type of word you are listening for. Is it a
number, a place, a noun, a verb or an adjective?
 As you listen
Note down key words, but don't try to write everything you hear. You won't be able to,
and you will miss important information. Listen for signpost words and phrases such as
rstly..., now I want to talk about... to help you structure the information in your mind.
Be aware of synonyms: if you hear a game of football, the answer could be football
match.
 After listening
Remember that you have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. Make
sure you don’t write more than the maximum number of words allowed. E.g. the
question might ask you to WRITE NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS. Check your
spelling and grammar. Make sure you write the plural forms of nouns when needed. If
in doubt, guess. You do not lose marks for a wrong answer, so there is nothing to be
gained from leaving an answer blank.

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IELTS Listening Test

The four sections

• A conversation in a social situation, such as buying theatre tickets

• A conversation in an educational context, such as a seminar

• A lecture on an academic subject, such as climate change

1 - Three things to get right

If in doubt, guess: There are two reasons for this:

2 – Help! I do not understand the accent

 ABC Radio from Australia

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