On this page, you will find:

Timing of listening
Format of listening
Types of questions
Free lessons
How to Calculate band scores

IELTS listening test timing:

When you take the IELTS Listening Test, approximately a recording of 30 minutes will be played, during which time you will actually listen and answer questions, plus there is an additional 10 minutes transfer time. Transfer time is your opportunity to copy your answers from the question paper to the answer sheet.

Format of listening test:

The Listening Test is organized into 4 parts and each part has an audio recording; each part has 10 questions on your question paper, which you should answer while listening. So, in total, you have to answer 40 questions for the whole test.
Furthermore, each part uses a different type of recording and also on different topics.

Part - 1: you will normally listen to a conversation between two people on a general, everyday topic. For example, Telephonic conversation between the students and university accommodation service centre.
Part - 2: In the part - 2, it is still about something general and non-academic, however, you will notice that there is only one speaker. In this part, you will hear a talk given by one person on a particular topic.
Part - 3: In this part, a discussion involving up to four people in an academic situation will be played. Normally, multiple-choice type questions or classification type question can be seen in this part.
Part - 4: you will need to answer questions while listening to an academic lecture.

Types of questions:

You will hear the recording only once, so it is important that you should make yourself familiar with different types of question. Each type of question accesses different types of skills.

How to calculate your listening band scores?

You will get 1 point for each correct answer. However, there is no negative marking for incorrect answers. Your band scores will be given according to the number of correct answers. See the table below for more information.

Listening band scores