IELTS Listening

Listening:

• 30 minutes to listening
• 10 minutes to transfer
• 4 sections, each with 10 questions
• only hear the recordings once
• answers are always in order.
• various English accents

Question types:

• gap-fill
• multiple choice
• matching

Section 1

• a conversation between two speakers
• about social needs (eg: making a booking)
• one speaker gives basic information
• simple gap-fill missing details
  names, addresses, dates, times, numbers
  be very careful about your spelling
• easy

Section 2

• a monologue
• about social needs (eg: tourism)
• gap-fill, multiple choice, matching
• easy

Section 3

• 2 or 3 speakers (up to 4 people)
• about educational or training (eg: tutor and student)
• gap-fill, multiple choice(difficult)
• underline keywords in questions and choices
• listen for keywords or synonyms

Section 4

• a monologue
• about an academic topic
• no break in the middle
• gap-fill, multiple choice
• underline keywords in questions and choices
• listen for keywords or synonyms
• faster speech, more content, extra information

Suggestions

• Read ahead
  only check back at the end
• Underline keywords
• Listen for keywords or synonyms
• Be careful with spelling
• Don’t get stuck on a difficult question - move forward
• Concentrate
• Use the breaks to read ahead