IELTS Listening: one play, exact spelling and answers the speaker takes back
IELTS Listening has four recordings with ten questions each, about 30 minutes in all. Each recording plays once, answers follow the order you hear them, and spelling counts. Speakers often mention a wrong option and then correct it, so wait for the final answer before you write.
A speaker says Tuesday, you write it down, and the next sentence changes it to Thursday.
What you will hear
Listening takes about 30 minutes and has four parts, with ten questions on each. The recordings use a range of accents, including British, Australian, New Zealand and North American. Each recording plays once only, and the answers come in the order you hear them.
| Part | What you hear | Example situation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A conversation between two people in an everyday setting | Booking a trip or a course |
| 2 | One speaker in an everyday setting | A talk about local facilities |
| 3 | Two main speakers in a study or training setting | Students discussing an assignment, perhaps with a tutor |
| 4 | One speaker on an academic subject | A university lecture |
The parts move from daily life towards academic study. Parts 2 and 4 have a single speaker, so you need to follow one voice for several minutes and keep hold of its main points.
Wrong answers arrive first
Speakers frequently mention a wrong option and then correct it. A day is suggested and then changed in the next sentence. If you write the first thing you hear, the correction costs you the mark.
Keep listening after a possible answer until the speaker settles it. Noting a possible answer while you wait is fine, as long as the answer you finally enter is the settled one.
Spelling is part of the answer
A spelling mistake loses the mark. Names that a speaker spells out must be copied letter by letter, and numbers and dates need the same care. Many completion tasks also carry a word limit, such as no more than two words and/or a number, and an answer over the limit is marked wrong.
Practise form completion with spelled names, numbers and dates until you write them without hesitation. Those are the easiest marks in the section and the ones most often thrown away.
One hearing changes how you practise
On test day you cannot rewind. If you practise by pausing and replaying, you train a skill the test never allows. Play each practice recording once, answer, and only then read the transcript.
When you check a miss, ask which of four things happened:
- You did not hear the word.
- You heard it but wrote it wrongly.
- You wrote the first option and missed the correction.
- You lost your place in the questions.
Each cause has a different fix. The first needs more listening, the second needs spelling practice, the third needs patience and the fourth needs a habit of reading ahead.
Where the marks sit
Listening is 40 questions at one mark each. IELTS publishes approximate raw figures: about 23 correct answers for band 6, 30 for band 7 and 35 for band 8. Exact figures vary by test version. If you need band 7, aim for a few marks above 30 in practice.
Questions readers ask
Does the recording play twice in IELTS Listening?
Do spelling mistakes lose marks in Listening?
Are the answers in the order I hear them?
This article is independent and is not endorsed by IELTS partners. Facts change: confirm them on the official page before you act.