IELTS Listening Overview

IELTS test format

IELTS Listening

 

The first part of the the IELTS exam.

The IELTS test format is in 4 sections:

First - listening
Second - reading
Third - writing
Fourth - speaking

Let's start with the listening. For the academic and general tests the listening sections are the same.

There are 4 sections, 40 questions, 30 minutes to answer the questions and 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. 

Section 1 is usually the easiest set in a social context between two speakers. Tip: really know your alphabet and your numbers - telephone numbers. If a name, address or anything of the like is spelt out and your misspell the word you will lose points. For Turkish takers of the exam learn the following letters properly: a, e, i, / c, s / g, j / u, y / v, w.

Section 2 is usually one person speaking or it could be a radio interview format so it will be a question / answer format or a presentation. This is also set in a non-academic / social situation. A little bit more difficult than section 1 but not that much.

Section 3 is up to 4 speakers usually a lecturer with students discussing a lecture, problem solving. This section is not really difficult, but you have to keep level-headed due to the number of speakers.

Section 4 I'm not going to lie here, but as you may have guessed the most difficult of the four sections. In this part there is only one speaker but it is a lecturer giving a lecture on a particular subject. One of the things I have to say here is not to be frightened by the topic but to focus on the questions and to answer the question.

Get in the habit of listening; first of all watching series, films, a lot of students have commented that Lost is probably one of the best series to watch for learning as the actors tend to speak slower and clearer. And once you start to feel more relaxed with listening start listening to radio programs and podcasts.