I’m sure you are curious to find out as much as possible about the IELTS Listening
Test, but why don’t we begin by looking at some important facts.
Let’s start with facts about the timing of the test.
When you take the IELTS Listening Test, it will take 30 minutes, during which time
you will actually listen and answer questions, plus there is an additional 10 minutes
of what is called transfer time. Transfer time is your opportunity to copy
your answers from the question paper to the answer sheet.
And by the way, when you do this, you should not use any abbreviations and your answers
must be spelled correctly.
The Listening Test is organised into 4 sections and each section has an audio recording,
which you listen to, and 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.
You are probably also wondering what the recordings are about.
Well, each section uses a different type of recording;
for a start, the topics are different, for example, one listening may be about sport,
but another would be about something completely different,
but also some are monologues, that is with one person speaking,
while others are dialogues, with two or even more people having a conversation.
Why don’t I give you some more detailed information about this.
For Section 1, you will normally listen to a conversation between two people on a
general, everyday topic. But when you get to Section 2, although
it is still about something general and non-academic, you will notice that there is only one speaker.
In Section 3 , there is a discussion involving up to four people in an academic situation,
and finally in Section 4, you will need to answer questions while listening to an
academic lecture.
As a teacher, I often get asked how difficult the Listening Test is.
Well, that varies from person to person. How easy or difficult you find the test overall
really depends on you, your listening experience and your ability.
But, I can say that the Listening Test is designed to increase in difficulty as the
test goes on. So, Section 1 is usually the easiest to
complete, but Section 4 is the most difficult. You should also remember that you can only
listen to the test once – you can’t listen again if you missed something.
To prepare well for the IELTS Listening, you need to get practice in all of the 7 possible
question types. The question types are used randomly and are
called: form or notes or flowchart completion,
multiple-choice questions, short answer questions,
sentence completion, labelling a diagram or map,
classification, and finally, matching.
You will be able to practise answering these types of questions in this course.
So, what happens to your test when you have finished?
Well, it is marked and 1 point is given for each correct answer.
Remember, you will lose points for incorrect spelling.
The total number of points is then converted into an IELTS band score for Listening, for
example, 6.0 or 7.0. It is also possible to be given a half band
score, such as 5.5.
So, now you have some basic information. But remember, although these facts are important
background knowledge, there is a lot more to learn which will help you do well in the
IELTS Listening Test.