IELTS Listening Test Format

The Listening test is the same for both the Academic and General exams.

     Timing – 30 minutes (plus 10 minutes to transfer the answers to your answer sheet)

     Number of questions – 40

Each correct answer is awarded 1 mark. Your score out of 40 (raw score) is converted to the corresponding IELTS band scale level using this conversion table:

IELTS Listening Test Conversion Table

The Listening test is made up of four sections. In each section, you will listen to a recorded text and then answer a series of question on it.

The text will be played only once.

Over the course of the test, you will hear a variety of voices and native-speaker accents such as British English, Australian, American and Canadian. You may also hear a range of different regional British accents.

The Four Sections

These are the 4 parts or sections of the IELTS Listening test.

A monologue is where just one person is speaking.

As you can see, the first two sections of the test relate to social situations, while sections three and four relate to educational and training situations.

Although parts three and four have an academic context, you are not expected to have a detailed knowledge of the topics. It is your listening skills that are being assessed, not your understanding or knowledge of the subject.

2 points to note: