IELTS Listening. Test format

Before beginning your preparation for IELTS Listening, let alone actually doing it, you really should find out what to expect. This article deals with the format of this paper, so let’s begin.

The Listening paper is the same for both the General and Academic modules; it consists of 4 sections (10 questions in each) with an increasing level of difficulty, and takes 30 minutes to complete. You will also be allowed 10 more minutes to transfer your answers to your Test Report Form. All the recordings are only played once, so be attentive!

A section could be broken down into two to three groups of questions; before you begin a section or a group, you’ll be given some time to look through it. After the end of each section, you will have some time to check your answers. Once you’re told to turn the page to the next section, do it immediately; on the one hand, the invigilator will be watching you follow the instructions, and on the other hand, struggling to think of an answer for the section you’ve just done could cause you to miss the beginning of the following section.

On the plus side, at the IELTS exam you will not hear any terrible, inconsistent, rambling speech typical of native English speakers. All the recordings contain clear language and are of good quality.

Now, shall we take a closer look at the Listening paper?

In Section 1 you’ll hear a conversation on an everyday topic, like hiring a car, getting information about a course, booking a package holiday, and so on. At the beginning of the section you will be given an example. Use it to tune into the piece of listening and under no circumstances let your thoughts switch to anything else; you won’t even notice the first question being addressed in the recording, and… I do hope you know by now why it’s not good, right? Also, since this section is the easiest, I always advise my students to give it their best shot when doing it – this is where a lot of test takers tend to score the most correct answers.

Section 2 is built around a monologue on a particular topic. It’s slightly more difficult compared with Section 1 in that the language used will be a bit more complex and you will probably be exposed to some specific terms, names and notions. As in any other section, you will not need any special knowledge to answer the questions; the main thing here is not to let any topic-specific words catch you off-guard. Even if you don’t know what some of them mean, it is still possible to answer the questions correctly.

In Section 3 you will be listening to a conversation taking place in an educational environment, e.g. students discussing research methods, a university lecturer and a student talking about a project, etc. There’ll be 2 to 4 speakers, and it will be easy to tell their voices apart. During the preparation time, scan the tasks to identify the topic of their conversation; it is easier to process information in context rather than trying to understand unrelated pieces of data.

Section 4 is a monologue on an academic topic. As in Section 3, you should analyze the questions to figure out the topic of the talk and understand the information layout, which will be following a certain logic, e.g. stages of development, research on different age ranges, introduction – main body – conclusion, cause – effect, etc.

I’m often asked whether the Listening part of the IELTS exam is difficult. Well, it depends. If your level of English matches the desired IELTS band and if you are aware of the test structure and know a few tips, it’s not that difficult. Some test takers even reported being bored and having nothing to do at some points, but if your aim is getting the best score you can, you’ll hardly have a minute to spare. You’ll want to double-check that:

• your answers are as you’ve heard them,
• your answers fit the context in terms of common sense,
• your answers fit the context in terms of grammar,
• the spelling is correct, 
• you’ve made no mistakes transferring your answers to the Test Report Form.

Now that the formalities are done with, you need to make up your mind whether you should prepare for the Listening section. To answer this, take a practice test (of which there are plenty, including free official preparation materials) and do the Listening paper, following the instructions you hear on tape. Having finished, check your answers against the key and see the grading scale for the respective band. If you’ve done quite well and are satisfied with your result, I don’t see any reason to take pains trying to make it better. Instead, I suggest you focus on the other papers, paying particular attention to those that you are not so confident in. The only other thing I’d do is take a few practice tests a day or two before the test date just to make sure you are “fit” for sitting the exam.

However, if you find your score doesn’t make you happy, I’m here to help! I suggest you start off reading some tips on how to improve your IELTS Listening results.