The IELTS Listening test is designed to assess a wide range of listening skills, including how well you:

  • understand main ideas and specific factual information
  • recognise the opinions, attitudes and purpose of a speaker
  • follow the development of an argument.
Format You will listen to four recordings of native English speakers and then write your answers to a series of questions.

  • Recording 1: a conversation between two people set in an everyday social context.
  • Recording 2: a monologue set in an everyday social context, e.g. a speech about local facilities.
  • Recording 3: a conversation between up to four people set in an educational or training context, e.g. a university tutor and a student discussing an assignment.
  • Recording 4: a monologue on an academic subject, e.g. a university lecture.
Duration The IELTS Listening test takes approximately 30 minutes, and you are allowed an extra 10 minutes to transfer your answers from your question booklet to your answer sheet.
Number of questions 40 questions.
Task types A variety of question types are used, chosen from the following: multiple choice, matching, plan/map/diagram labelling, form/note/table/flow-chart/summary completion, sentence completion.
Marks Each correct answer receives one mark. Scores out of 40 are converted to the IELTS 9-band scale. Scores are reported in whole and half bands.

Source: https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/