IELTS listening

Listening is an essential life skill applicable in your academic and professional life. The IELTS listening test is used to evaluate your ability to understand a conversation or a speech, understand the core intent, evaluate the content shared, and draw conclusions. The listening test is similar for both the IELTS test formats and is conducted for 40 minutes. 

In the IELTS listening test, you will be hearing the audio once to answer the 40 questions given in 4 sections. The listening band score will range between band 9 to band 1. In this article, we have discussed the listening test, tips to clear the sections, question types, etc. Make use of this article to have a complete understanding of the IELTS listening test. 

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IELTS listening test highlights

1. The IELTS listening test is used to assess the aspirants ability to listen, understand, evaluate, and provide responses based on the given recording. 
2. The listening section is common for both IELTS academic tests and IELTS general training tests. 
3. In this module there are 4 sections and 4 audios will be played. The audios are 

• Recording 1: Social context conversation between two people. 
• Recording 2: A monologue or a speech of one person in a social context. 
• Recording 3: A conversation or a discussion between 2 to 4 people on any topic related to the academic or educational context. 
• Recording 4: Monologues or a one-person talk on an academic subject. 

4.   The total time duration of the listening test is 40 minutes. 
5.   The audio will be played for 30 minutes and 10 minutes will be provided for transferring the answer to the answer sheet in paper-based format. 
6.  In computer-based format, you will be given 2 minutes to verify your answers. This is because you will be directly marking your answers on the computer as you listen to the audio. Thus you will not be given 10 minutes of answer transferring time. 
7.  The total number of question types in the listening test is 6. 
8.  You will be given separate time to read the questions before the audio. 
9.  Separate instructions will be provided for each section. Every question may have its own word limit and answer type. So you must pay attention to the given instruction to give the perfect answer for the particular section. Exceeding the word limit or answering on your own will be marked wrong. 
10.  Spelling and grammar accuracy play a vital role. Hence, make sure there are no misspelled words in your answer sheet. 
11. The listening test will be scored on a 9- band scale, with 9 being the highest and 1 as the lowest. As the points increase on a 0.5 range, half bands (like 5.5, 6.5, 4.5, etc,) and whole bands (Like 9, 8, 4, etc.) are possible. 

IELTS Listening Tips

To clear the listening exam with a high band score, a few essential tips are to be followed. Here we have given some of the expert-proven IELTS listening tips that would guide you in scoring a Band 8. The tips are as follows, 

• Pay attention to the given instructions before starting your test. 
• Get yourself familiarised with accents to understand the content that is discussed in the audio. 
• Try to understand what is the situation of the speaker, what they are discussing and why they are conversing, etc. 
• You will be reading the question, and writing the answer by listening to the audio. Thus you must be focused on the audio and try to identify the answers on time. 
• The audio will be played only once. Thus you must listen to the audio carefully and identify the keywords at the same time. 
• To understand the intent of the speaker you must give importance to the signpost words like, however, whatever, although, etc. 
• Familiarize yourself with all the question types. There are 6 question types and each question has its answering strategy.
• Thus practice regularly to get a clear understanding of the tasks. 
• While preparing, try listening to the audio only once even during your practice session. 
• Each question carries one mark, the raw score will be 40. As there is no negative marking in this module, you must try to answer all the questions. 
• Be careful while transferring the answers to the answer sheet. The answer must be spelling error free and grammatical error free. 

The above given IELTS listening tips will guide you through the entire listening task. 

Make use of these listening tips to secure a band 8 in your IELTS test. 

IELTS Listening Practice test

To develop your listening skills, you can make use of the IELTS listening practice test questions given here. These questions will guide you in getting familiarized with the exam pattern, recognizing the solving strategy, and answering the questions within the time frame. As the AC and GT test are similar, both test takers can evaluate their preparation progress with these IELTS listening practice tests. 

Instruction to the test takers

The following instructions are given in the actual test to aid the students in answering the given questions. 

The question paper should not be opened until you are told to do so. 
At the top of the page, you must write your name and candidate number. 
Carefully listen to the instructions for each part of the paper. 
Answer all the questions. 
You can write your answers on the question paper while you are listening to the audio. 
Use a pencil to transfer the answer to the answer sheet within the given time limit of 10 minutes.

Sample test questions 

1. Andrea is feeling happy because listening answers
2. Apartment for rent listening answers
3. Arranging storage listening answer
4. Cheapies car hire listening answers
5. Children's art and craft workshops IELTS listening answer
6. Clark's bicycle hire listening answers
7. Conference registration form listening answers
8. Dear diary listening answers
9. Details of customer purchase listening answer
10. Dominic's summer sports camp listening answers

IELTS listening question types 

The IELTS listening test consists of 4 sections and each section has 10 questions. The questions in each section can be from 2-3 question types. There are 11 IELTS listening question types and can be combined into 6 tasks namely:

1. Task type 1: Matching 
2. Task type 2: Multiple choice 
3. Task type 3: Short answer questions
4. Task type 4: Table, note, Form, Flowchart, Summary completion
5. Task type 5: Sentence completion 
6. Task type 6: Plan, Map, and Diagram labeling

The IELTS listening question types are, 

• IELTS listening matching questions
• IELTS listening multiple choice
• IELTS listening note completion
• IELTS listening form completion
• IELTS listening table completion
• IELTS listening sentence completion
• IELTS listening summary completion
• IELTS listening short answer questions
• IELTS listening map & plan labeling
• IELTS listening diagram Labelling
• IELTS listening flow chart completion

Listening band score

The IELTS listening test is scored on a 9-band scale ranging between 1-9 in 0.5 increments. The listening Band score is calculated based on the number of correct answers given. This test has 40 questions and each question carries one mark. Thus the overall raw score will be 40 as there are no negative marks for incorrect answers. The raw score will be converted into a Listening band score and will give an insight into your listening skills. The scores can be in full or half bands (7, 6.5, 5. etc.) 

You can use the below-given table to understand the listening band score chart.

Download the IELTS listening answer sheet pdf. 

Summary

Use this article to learn everything about the IELTS listening test. Develop your skills and understanding of the different question types and tasks using the practice questions given. Make sure to prepare well for a band score of 7 and above. 

FAQ on IELTS listening

1.How can I get an 8.5 band score on the listening test?

To secure an 8.5 band in your listening test, you can follow these steps.

• Step 1- There is no shortcut for your preparation. Hence practice regularly with numerous mock tests and practice tests to prepare for your exam. 
• Step 2- Understand the answering strategy of all the question types.
• Step 3- Time management is the key to cracking the exam with ease. 

2.How is the listening test conducted in the IELTS exam?

The listening module is used to assess the listening skills of the test takers. Here you will be listening to 4 audio recordings and must answer 40 questions in 30 minutes. The audio will be a conversation or a monologue in a social and academic context. 

3.Is the IELTS listening test hard?

The IELTS listening test is considered difficult because you will be listening to the audio only once to answer all 40 questions. If you have good observation skills and focus, you will be able to clear the exam easily. 

4.Does the questions in the IELTS listening test repeat?

No, the questions in the IELTS listening test cannot be repeated. 4 audios will be played only once in 30 minutes. You will be answering the questions as you listen to the audio. 

5.What are the common mistakes in the IELTS listening test?

• Listening to the audio blindly, without paying attention to the keywords. 
• Not utilizing your prediction skills to identify the answer.
• Skipping the instructions provided. 
• Leaving unanswered questions
• Spelling and grammar errors.

6.Are all recordings the same in the IELTS listening test?

The 4 recordings provided in the IELTS listening test are different. The monologues, speeches, and discussions will be in academic and social contexts.