The four parts of IELTS Listening
The test has four parts and 40 questions, and takes about 30 minutes. You hear each recording once only.
- Part 1: a conversation between two people in an everyday situation, such as booking a tour or registering at a gym. Usually form or note completion: names, numbers, dates, addresses.
- Part 2: one speaker giving information, such as a guide describing a museum or a manager explaining a new facility. Map or plan labelling often appears here.
- Part 3: a discussion between two or three speakers, usually students and a tutor, about an assignment or research project.
- Part 4: a single speaker giving a lecture on an academic topic, with no break in the middle.
In the computer-delivered test you have 2 minutes at the end to check your answers. In the paper test you have 10 minutes to transfer them to the answer sheet. Roughly 30 out of 40 correct answers gives band 7.
Accents and why British voices help
The IELTS Listening test uses a range of accents, including British, Australian, North American and others. Students in Kandy often hear plenty of American English from films and online videos, and Sri Lankan English at home and at work, but have less exposure to British speech, which is common in the test.
IELTS Learning's 88 practice sets are recorded with British voices, so you get used to features such as dropped "r" sounds at the end of words, and vowel sounds that differ from Sri Lankan pronunciation. For variety, also listen to podcasts or radio from Australia and New Zealand, especially if you are planning to study there.
Spelling and numbers: easy marks to protect
In Part 1, many students hear the right answer and still lose the mark. Common reasons:
- Spelling. Words like "accommodation", "necessary", "environment" and "Wednesday" are frequent. Wrong spelling equals a wrong answer.
- Letters spelled aloud. Speakers say "double S" or "double T". Practise writing letters as you hear them, including names.
- Numbers. Fifteen and fifty, thirteen and thirty sound close when spoken quickly. Listen for the stress: "fifTEEN" vs "FIFty".
- Prices and times. Note whether it is "pounds", "dollars" or "pence", and whether a time is "quarter to" or "quarter past".
- Word limits. If the instruction says "no more than two words", three words is wrong, even if the meaning is right.
Maps and plans
Map questions worry many students, but they follow patterns. Before the audio starts:
- Find the starting point marked on the map, usually "You are here" or an entrance.
- Note north, south, east and west, and anything that helps you orient yourself, like a car park or main road.
- Learn direction language: "opposite", "next to", "beyond", "at the far end", "on the left as you enter", "diagonally across from".
Think of describing the route from the Kandy clock tower to the Temple of the Tooth for a visitor. That is the kind of language you need to follow quickly in English.
Answers in question order
Answers in IELTS Listening come in the same order as the questions. If you miss one, do not panic and do not stay on it; move to the next question and keep listening. Our practice sets follow the same rule, so you build the habit of moving on.
Practising with headphones in Kandy
Kandy's sounds can make home practice harder: heavy rain on the roof during the monsoon, traffic and three-wheeler horns on the main roads, temple bells, and loud neighbours on festival evenings. Use closed headphones to cut out background noise, and choose a quiet time of day.
Keep a daily routine:
- Short sessions: one practice set a day of 20–30 minutes, on your phone or laptop.
- Review straight after. Check every wrong answer. Was it spelling? A missed signpost word like "however"? A trap where the speaker changed their mind?
- Use the Mistake Notebook. Wrong answers are saved automatically, so you can see your recurring problems.
- Do full Listening tests inside mocks once a week.
Common errors in IELTS Listening
- Writing the first thing you hear, when the speaker corrects it a moment later
- Ignoring plurals: "bag" and "bags" are different answers
- Losing focus in Part 4 because the lecture is long
- Not using the reading time at the start of each part to predict answers
When you are scoring around 30 consistently, move on to Charged sets, which use faster speech and closer distractors for students aiming at band 7 and above.
Start with a free sample Listening set. Create your free account or browse the practice tests.