The four parts
The Listening test has 40 questions in four parts and takes about 30 minutes. You hear each recording once. On the computer-delivered test you get 2 minutes at the end to check your answers; on paper you get 10 minutes to transfer them to the answer sheet.
- Part 1: a conversation between two people in an everyday situation, such as booking a course or reporting a lost item. Often a form or notes to complete.
- Part 2: one speaker in an everyday context, such as a guide describing a facility. Map and plan questions often appear here.
- Part 3: a discussion between two or three speakers in an educational setting, such as students and a tutor talking about a project.
- Part 4: a lecture or talk on an academic subject, with no break in the middle.
Band 7 typically needs about 30 of the 40 answers correct.
Accents beyond the client call
Many people in Cyber City and Udyog Vihar spend hours on calls with clients in the US, so American English feels natural. IELTS recordings use a range of accents, with British, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian voices common. Differences that catch people out include:
- Vowel sounds ("can't" with a long "ah", "bath", "path").
- Dropped "r" at the end of words ("car park", "water").
- Different vocabulary: "flat", "timetable", "postcode", "car park", "fortnight".
IELTS Learning's 88 practice sets are recorded with British voices. Mix them with British radio, podcasts and documentaries in your downtime to tune your ear.
Spelling and numbers
A surprising number of marks are lost to spelling, not understanding.
- Spell carefully. A misspelled answer is wrong. Common slips: "accommodation", "environment", "necessary", "government".
- Double letters. Speakers often say "double L" or "double S" when spelling names.
- Numbers. "Fifteen" and "fifty" sound alike in fast speech. Listen for stress: "fif-TEEN" versus "FIF-ty".
- Dates, times and prices must be written exactly as heard, within the word limit.
- Letters that Indian listeners often confuse in spelt-out names: A/E/I, G/J, B/V and M/N. Practise writing spelt names at speed.
Maps, plans and question order
Map questions worry many candidates. Before the recording starts, study the map: find the starting point, the compass direction and the labelled features. Then follow the speaker's route with your finger or cursor. Listen for direction language: "opposite", "to the left of", "just past", "at the far end".
One helpful feature of IELTS Listening: answers come in the order of the questions. If you miss question 14, let it go and listen for 15. Getting stuck is the most common way to lose two or three answers in a row. Our sets follow this order exactly, so you can practise moving on.
Practising with headphones in a busy city
Real concentration is hard in a crowded office floor or a flat on a busy road. Some practical points:
- Always use headphones, even at home. You will wear headphones in the computer-delivered test, and it is a different experience from a phone speaker.
- Practise at least one full test a week in silence, with no pausing or rewinding.
- Use the commute for passive listening, not timed sets. The Rapid Metro and Yellow Line are too noisy for scored practice, but fine for a podcast that trains your ear for British English.
- If you work night shifts, do your timed sets after you have rested. Listening suffers more from fatigue than any other module.
Common errors to avoid
- Writing the first word you hear when the speaker then corrects it ("Tuesday... sorry, Wednesday").
- Exceeding the word limit ("No more than two words").
- Forgetting plurals ("tickets" not "ticket").
- Leaving blanks. There is no negative marking, so always guess.
- Mixing up similar-sounding words such as "fourteen/forty", "walk/work" or "hall/whole" when you are not following the context.
Every mistake you make on IELTS Learning goes into your Mistake Notebook automatically, so you can review your patterns. When your scores reach 30 or more consistently, move to the harder Charged Listening sets.
Try a set
Whether you are in a high-rise off Golf Course Extension Road or an older Gurgaon sector near Sadar Bazaar, the same rule applies: quiet room, good headphones, no pausing. Put them on and try a free Listening set on the practice tests page, then check your band with the Band Score Calculator. For the full library and Charged sets, register here.