Listening Practice Test Papers
The IELTS Listening test is designed to assess a wide range of listening skills, including the ability to understand main ideas and detailed factual information, the opinions and attitudes of speakers, the purpose of an utterance, and the ability to follow the development of ideas. The Listening test is the same for both IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training modules.
Here’s the structure of the IELTS Listening test:
- Length: The test takes approximately 30 minutes, plus 10 minutes transfer time to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.
- Questions: Each section contains 10 questions, making a total of 40 questions in the entire test.
- Audio: Candidates only hear each recording once. The recordings feature a range of accents, including British, Australian, New Zealand, American, and Canadian.
- Sections: It consists of four sections, each with a different context and set of tasks.
- Section 1: A conversation between two people set in an everyday social context (e.g., a conversation in an accommodation agency).
- Section 2: A monologue set in an everyday social context (e.g., a speech about local facilities).
- Section 3: A conversation between up to four people set in an educational or training context (e.g., a university tutor and a student discussing an assignment).
- Section 4: A monologue on an academic subject (e.g., a university lecture).
- Types of Questions: The test includes a variety of question types such as multiple choice, matching, plan/map/diagram labeling, form/note/table/flow-chart/summary completion, and sentence completion.
- Scoring: Each correct answer receives one mark. Scores out of 40 are converted to the IELTS 9-band scale. Scores are reported in whole and half bands.
To prepare effectively, it’s important to practice with a variety of listening materials and become familiar with the types of tasks you’ll encounter on the test.