IELTS Tips: What to Expect in the IELTS Listening Test
Today’s IELTS Success blog post is about the listening section. We’ll look at the 4 sections and tell you what to expect during this high-pressure test where you can only listen once. Let’s get started!
The IELTS Listening test is divided into 4 sections. Although you can never predict what topic each section will be talking about, you CAN predict the structure and general situation you will be listening to because they are always the same.
Part 1: The Transactional Conversation
Number of speakers: 2
Common Situations: applying for a job, making a reservation, inquiring about an event, registering for a service, etc.
In this section you will hear two speakers engaging in a transactional or social dialogue. That means that one person will be requesting information from another person, who will then respond by providing that information. This usually includes details like a name (that they may spell out with individual letters), a date, a location, or a number, among other things.
This is the easiest section of the listening test, so aim for a perfect score of 10/10. This will give you more room for errors in the more difficult sections later in the test.
Part 2: The Informational Monologue
Number of speakers: 1
Common situations: a tour guide giving a tour, a coordinator giving instructions to volunteers, a historian talking about their local history
This section will have only one main speaker, though other people rarely chime in to ask a question. This section is more likely than the others to contain map labelling question where you are given a map and must label the buildings as you listen to the description.
You probably won’t have any words spelled out for you, so the names tend to be words that you should know. Think about directions (north, left, across, etc.), geographic features (mountain, park, bay, etc.), or architectural features (castle, centre, mine, etc.)
Part 3: The Academic Conversation
Number of speakers: 2-4
Common situations: planning a presentation, reviewing a document, choosing courses, giving feedback on a project
This section is often described as the most difficult section because of the number of speakers and the speed of their conversation. You will hear a group of between 2 and 4 students (this may also include a tutor or professor) discussing a topic related to post-secondary education.
In this section, you may find that speakers are sharing ideas and convincing others to change their minds. Watch out for these distractions and don’t assume the answer is the first thing you hear.
You are very likely to find multiple choice questions in this section. These can be a selection of 1 answer (either A, B, C, and sometimes D) or it could be selecting multiple items from a longer list of letters (up to J or K!)
Part 4: The Lecture
Number of speakers: 1
Common situations: always a university lecture
In the final section of the test, you will listen to a university lecture on a randomly selected topic like chemistry, sociology, psychology, art history, or business. It’s helpful to imagine this section as if you are sitting in on a university class as a guest. The questions here usually take the form of notes on this lecture in which some words have been erased. Your job is to fill in the blanks as you listen. As always, be cautious of paraphrasing and distractions.
You can’t prepare yourself for the specific topic but practicing a variety of lectures will help you get acquainted with this format. Pay attention to discourse markers like then, next, after that, furthermore, and now I’d like to talk about to help guide you through the questions.
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