The IELTS Listening test is conducted by playing out recordings of conversations and monologues and asking candidates to answer forty questions based on these. It extends for a total of 30 minutes and has four recorded monologues and conversations.
Question Modeling & Structure
- There are four major varieties of questions. The first are multiple-choice questions.
- The second type deals with yes/no/not given or true/false/not given questions where you are to select any one option.
- You have fill-in-the-blank questions as well, which are asked in the form of questionnaires or forms to be filled.
- Then you have the short answer questions to be answered generally using not more than four words.
- The last type is the matching question variety where you are to match a given set of information with another similar set.
How to Improve Your Skills
The Listening test aims to check whether a candidate is able to understand spoken English or not. It tests how well a candidate can follow a conversation or speech in English and whether he is able to identify the main idea, understand information, be able to make out the attitude or opinion of the speaker from his tone and other skills.
- Developing your overall communication skills is a dire requirement for you to perform well in this particular section.
ExamFocus brings to you hundreds of IELTS Listening practice samples to help you enhance your skills. On clicking the following five links, you shall go to the page that offers hundreds of sample questions for your practice.The IELTS Listening test aims to check whether a candidate is able to understand spoken English or not. It tests how well a candidate can follow a conversation or speech in English and whether he is able to identify the main idea, understand information, make out the attitude or opinion of the speaker from his tone and other skills.
IELTS Listening Test Structure
- The IELTS Listening test is common for both the testing modules; the General Training as well as the Academic module.
- The Listening test area consists of four sub-sections and needs to be attempted in 30 minutes approximately.
- The variety of question types that appear in this test area include multiple-choice, matching, plan/map labelling, flow-chart, form, note and table completion etc.
- In this test area, your listening skills are widely tested based upon your ability to understand the idea and interpret opinions.
ExamFocus’ Practice Support
Ensure that you have practiced this section well before you decide to take the test. After all, a perfect score can be achieved only if you practice and prepare well. Use ExamFocus’ sample practice questions to get yourself ready for the IELTS Listening section.
Testing & Scoring Scheme
- The Listening test is conducted by playing out recordings of conversations and monologues and asking candidates to answer forty questions based on these. There are in all four recordings that are played and lastly, a monologue by a person on an academic subject.
- Before playing each recording, candidates are asked to read the questions based on that recording.
- After the recording has finished playing, they are given time to finalize their answers.
- Each correct answer is accorded one mark. Thus, the total score is the number of correct answers out of 40. This raw score is converted to a band score by converting it to a number on the scale of 1 to 9, where a band score of 9 signifies expertise in this particular language skill.